Srila Prabhupada pastimes-61-cow products

August 1, 1975 : New Talavana, Mississippi

Before sunrise the next morning Srila Prabhupada left in the rain on a two-hour drive to the farm.

Srila Prabhupada went to his room. When he began speaking about varnasrama, he called for Nityananda. They should try not to use machines, he said. The men and animals should do the work.

When Upendra asked how the milk should be used, Srila Prabhupada explained what he called the Indian village system. "As Nanda Maharaja was keeping cows," he said, "similarly there are many villages. They have a big pan, and whatever milk is collected they put into that pan. It is kept on a fire and is warm. So the whole family can drink milk whenever they like. Then whatever milk remains at night, they have to convert it into yogurt. The next day they use milk and yogurt also as they like. Then after converting the milk into yogurt, whatever remains is stored. If there is sufficient old yogurt, they churn, and then butter comes out. They take that butter, and the water separated from the butter is called whey. So instead of dal, they use this whey for eating with capatis. It will be very healthy and tasty. Meanwhile, the butter they turn into ghee. There is not a single drop of waste."

Nityananda asked whether they should immediately stop using farm machinery. "We are not against the machine," Prabhupada explained. "You can utilize machine. But we should not allow others to be unemployed while we use the machine. This is the point. You can use the machine, but the first thing is that everyone should be employed. If you have got many men, then why should you engage the machine?"

Although for years Srila Prabhupada had given many practical instructions in other areas of the Krishna consciousness movement, this was one of the first times he had given so many practical directions on conducting varnasrama society.

Reference: Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta Volume 6 - Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami