Reports

A wildfire which measured over 200 square kilometres burned more than 20 structures in the Venables Valley, including at least six homes.  Vedic Eco Village homes were untouched, but the library and books were destroyed.  The Saranagati temple, goshala, and school are ok.

The fire remained out of control for a week in valley.  Hot and dry conditions coupled with gusty winds fuelled erratic and aggressive behaviour on the fire.  200 firefighters fought this blaze.

Everyone including cows were evacuated. The fire then threatened the ranch where the cows were evacuated to, so cows were relocated to a very nice pasture in the mountains near Kamloops.

The next morning, the cows escaped their pasture and started running down the road, hoping to arrive back at their goshala in Saranagati (150km away). We followed them and were able to corral the cows into a horse pasture a mile down the road.  The cows were then relocated again to a good barn with lots of hay. 

Our building techniques improve and evolve with every ecovillage project.  Our traditional vedic mud-stoves (chulha) used for cooking and heating are available in 3 locations. Outdoor kitchen & solar shower facilities are under construction.  Crowded trees from our forest are milled for ecovillage building materials.

Our weekly Dharma Discovery gives children deeper insights into the fundamental values upheld in the Vedic culture, namely the importance of cows, farming and natural building/crafts.  We are starting plants in our greenhouse while harvesting lettuce & spinach greens.

Saranagati Village continues to attract pilgrims to their temple, goshala and pristine mountain landscape.  Community & temple leaders are overwhelmed by the crowds, as they do not provide guest accommodations, food or facilities.  Vedic Eco Village is working hard to increase our capacity to host pilgrims.

We are seeking people to join our efforts to build a Vedic Eco Village and manifest a self-reliant spiritual community with food sovereignty.  Farming, stewarding the forest, milling lumber, building infrastructure, farm planning and fire wood-based activities are ongoing daily. Dharma Discovery class features with building, cobbing, gardening and cooking harvested roots like carrots and potatoes.  Chulha stoves are fueled by cow dung & wood chopped by kids.

An opportunity to experience vedic living. Hands-on learning about cow care, ox cart & plowing, farms, forest, natural building, cob, arts, crafts & markets.  Our first apprenticeship focuses on Vaishya': cow and ox care, farming and trade in markets.  Vaishya knowledge is learned hands-on and not in class.

We have made great progress cooking on a hybrid chulha-mass heater. We have been cooking locally grown veggies, demonstrating that self-sufficiency in cold climates can be obtained with innovation and hard work.

The Vedas say that harvest, produce, and money should be used for self-realization. "So this Krsna consciousness movement is for spiritual enlightenment, not for how to get money, how to earn money. This is not Krsna consciousness" - Srila Prabhupada

By Krishna’s mercy and Srila Prabhpada’s mercy Bhakti Raghava Swami has successfully conducted the Viva Voce Seminar at Osmania University and has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of Sociology.  

The title of the thesis is VAISNAVA VEDIC SOCIOLOGY its Application in the 21st Century.  Dr. Ganesh, the Supervisor for the research requested a book based on the thesis. He further commented that such a subject matter dealing with Vaisnava philosophy is less known and therefore needs to be spread more.