I was serving in Narasimhapalli farm near Secunderbad when I received a call from H.G. Sundar Nimai Prabhu serving as President of ISKCON Habibpur Temple. He wanted some inputs to do natural farming and cultivate paddy and I informed him that right now I am at Narasimhapalli but will be reaching Mayapur in a couple of days. While travelling from Secunderabad I asked Bkt Kautilya to accompany me on this mission and explained the possibility of visiting a temple farm where they are planning to grow paddy organically. He was enthusiastic and excited about it as he did organic farming with desi seeds. He carried two varieties of paddy seeds: black and white “basmati”.
On reaching Mayapur we travelled to ISKCON Habibpur and met Sundar Nimai Prabhu who took us to the fields in the temple premises. With the help of two workers, we immediately prepared the land and also treated with Bijamrita –it is a process of soaking the seeds in cow dung and urine for forty minutes so that seeds germination is healthy and a likely pest attack during germination is reduced. It takes two days for the seeds to germinate and once it germinates it is broadcast into the nursery to grow as seedlings. Later it is transplanted to the main field after 20 days. During the interim period, the mainland is ploughed and prepared for transplantation.
Bkt Kautilaya briefed the farm labour on how to proceed further and H.G. Maharam Sevak Prabhu, who oversees the farming, was also involved in the discussions. After one month Vishnuratha Prabhu and I visited to see how things are shaping up and to our surprise, the devotees followed the instructions through the transplantation was delayed as preparing the land took more time than expected. Now the paddy is almost 20 cms tall and looks very healthy.
During my earlier visit to ISKCON Habibpur I also visited their Goshala which is having about 20 cows and bulls. I noticed they are tied in one place 24×7. They have to eat, dung and urinate in the same place. I explained the disadvantages of this practice and suggested adopting a holistic cow care and serve them with love by the open housing, one-time milking, calves staying with their mothers for twelve hours, etc. The authorities without any further discussions immediately implemented my suggestions. Now when I visited the farm after one month the devotees who are serving cows thanked us for guiding and giving valuable suggestions in serving and caring mother Surabhi.
We thank the devotees serving at ISKCON Habibpur and especially express our gratitude to Sundar Nimai Prabhu who has given us an opportunity to serve mother “Surabhi” and Mother “Bhumi”.
Report by Ram Lakshman das
