Constructing Temples

As for the development of buildings, Srila Prabhupada has given specific instructions for temples and living quarters. At present New Vrndavana includes 133 acres (more land will be available in the future) of pasture, forest, ponds, waterfalls, mountains and streams, so there are varied settings for numerous buildings. Srila Prabhupada advises:

New Vrndavana is a means for the sincere participants to please the Spiritual Master by progress in Krsna consciousness, and when the Spiritual Master is pleased, Lord Krsna is pleased. Srila Prabhupada writes:

Another important project in New Vrndavana is the development of a school, grades one through twelve, where children from the urban centers can come to learn reading, writing, mathematics, the basic sciences and Krsna consciousness. At present children are being individually tutored, and official State approval is impending the construction of a schoolhouse to meet building regulations. "So you have now taken charge of the sunrise of New Vrndavana," Srila Prabhupada writes. "Our program there is to construct seven temples. One, Rūpanuga Vidyapitha, is to be a school for educating brahmanas and Vaisnavas. We have enough technological and other types of educational institutions; there are none where actual brahmanas and Vaisnavas are produced. So we will have to establish an educational institution for that purpose in New Vrndavana." (Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 1/12/68) As soon as buildings are constructed, the school program can be swiftly executed: "I am encouraged to know that you are very enthusiastic about our projects for developing New Vrndavana. So far as the school goes, we have many qualified teachers, and they are all enthusiastic about going there and beginning their teaching work. The only thing is that there is as of yet no place to accommodate these teachers. So as soon as these facilities are constructed, we can at once start at full force in setting up our Krsna consciousness school program." (Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 12/25/69)

In May and June, 1969, His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada stayed in New Vrndavana for six weeks and gave specific directions for construction and general management. After his visit, he wrote: "I am always thinking of your New Vrndavana. The first thing I find is the taste of the milk. The milk which we are talking here is not at all comparable with New Vrndavana milk. Anyway, there must be a gulf of difference between city life and country life. As poet Cowper said, 'Country is made by God, and city is made by man.' Therefore my special request is that you should try to maintain as many cows as possible in your New Vrndavana. Regarding duties, the men should be engaged in producing vegetables, tilling the field, taking care of the animals, house construction, etc., and the women shall do the indoor activities: taking care of the children, keeping the temple and kitchen very clean, cooking and churning butter. If they cooperate with the boys, then surely very quickly New Vrndavana will develop as nicely as possible." (Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 6/24/69)

In August, 1970, New Vrndavana held its first annual Janmastami celebration, a three day celebration of Sri Krsna's birth, and hundreds of devotees from as far away as Australia attended. Srila Prabhupada, who was in India at the time, sent a Janmastami message, exhorting those interested in transcendental communal living to complete developing New Vrndavana into a village "one mile long and one mile wide." "Regarding Janmastami arrangement, it is going on nicely, and that is very encouraging. We have started New Vrndavana in America, and it must be finished in the American way. In Vrndavana there are so many temples, they say 5,000, or in Vrndavana every home, every cottage is a temple. As far as possible, try to develop New Vrndavana on this standard. In the coming meeting of Janmastami, amongst other business you must have a resolution to finish the development of New Vrndavana in the right sense of the term." (Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 8/20/70)

Whoever is interested in helping-in whatever way-with this challenging project is requested to write: President, New Vrndavana, R. D. 3, Moundsville, West Virginia, 26041.