Cultural Life

As E. F. Schumacher points out in a recent issue of East-West Journal, "Congestion makes city life intolerable, and the emptiness-the mental starvation-makes rural life intolerable." Fortunately, New Mayapur transcends these two extremes and combines the best of both worlds. Sophisticated yet simple, this Vedic community is proving in the West what has long been known in the East: intellectual and spiritual interests flourish when nourished by the peace and energy of nature.

New Mayapur serves as the French headquarters of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT). Formerly, the Vedic classics were known only to the cream of French society (Victor Hugo, Romain Rolland, and Andre Malraux, for instance). Now the devotees are translating Srila Prabhupada's acclaimed English renderings into deluxe French editions and distributing them throughout the French-speaking world.

French scholars have lavished praise upon both Srila Prabhupada and the BBT for the translations of the Bhagavad-gita As It Is and the Srimad-Bhagavatam, among other works. Dr. Olivier Lacombe of the Sorbonne praises what he terms their "authenticity." Dr. Francois Chenique of the Institute of Political Studies, Paris, says that La Bhagavad-gita tell qu'elle est offers his countrymen "their first contact with the true India, the ancient India, the eternal India." Paul Lesourd, writer and honorary professor at the Catholic University of Paris, vows that if the Gita's message "were wider spread and more respected, it would transform the world in which we live into a better, more fraternal place."

The devotees make a thorough study of the Vedic culture (through formal classes, informal discussions, and tests) and that's what distinguishes New Mayapur from a host of other back-to-the-land projects. Visnuma says, "Spiritual life, developing a relationship with the supreme person, is what gives New Mayapur so much harmony and joy. We not only till the land; we also till our minds to come up with ideas that'll please Krsna. That's the real source of our happiness."

New Mayapur also acts as a melting pot. People from more than twenty countries-including France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam-live there. "So many individuals from so many backgrounds are working together happily and communicating with ease. Krsna consciousness is universal," Bhagavan dasa says. New Mayapur's everyday scenes of international cooperation bear out Paul Lesourd's statement that the Bhagavad-gita As It Is offers a key to world peace.

New Mayapur's ambitious social experiment offers us much hope. In a time when the world's secular institutions are hard-pressed to meet even the minimal needs of civilized living-clean water and air, decent schools, parks, and so forth-New Mayapur's achievements are notable. Organic farming, horticultural innovations, ecological planning, natural medicine, book publishing, spiritual education, community cultural life, personal fulfillment-all spring from the community's God consciousness.

"The environmental crisis," one ecologist has noted, "is an outward manifestation of a crisis of mind and spirit." So we can understand why New Mayapur has no crisis: the Vedic culture has always given first priority to spiritual development. Bhagavan dasa says, "We've had no losses by doing that-only gains, in every way."