Statements by Śrīla Prabhupāda on New Vṛndāvana

"The Vrndavana conception is that of a transcendental village, without any of the botheration of the modern industrial atmosphere. My idea of developing New Vrndavana is to create an atmosphere of spiritual life where people in the bona fide divisions of society-namely brahmacaris, (celibate students), grhasthas (householders), vanaprasthas (the retired), and sannyasis (renounced holy men)-will live independently, completely depending on agricultural produce and milk from the cows."

"To retire from activities is not a very good idea for the conditioned soul. I have very good experience, not only in our country, but also in your country, that this tendency of retiring from activities pushes one down to the platform of laziness, and gradually to the ideas of the hippies.

"One should always remain active in Krsna's service; otherwise strong maya (illusion) will catch him and engage him in her service. Our constitutional position being to render service, we cannot stop activity. So New Vrndavana may not be turned into a place of retirement, but some sort of activities must go on there. If there is good prospective land, we should keep cows and produce some grains, flowers and fruits, so that those living there may have sufficient work and facility for advancing in Krsna consciousness.

"Vrndavana does not require to be modernized, because Krsna's Vrndavana is a transcendental village. They completely depend on nature's beauty and nature's protection. The community in which Krsna preferred to belong was the vaisya community, because Nanda Maharaja (Krsna's foster father, with whom He spent His childhood while on Earth) happened to be a vaisya king, or landholder, and his main business was cow protection. It is understood that he had 900,000 cows, and Krsna and Balarama, along with Krsna's many cowherd boy friends, used to take charge of them. Every day, in the morning, Krsna used to go out with His friends and cows into the pasturing grounds.

"So, if you seriously want to convert this spot into New Vrndavana, I shall advise you not to make it very much modernized. But as you are American boys, you must make it just suitable to your minimum needs. Nor should you make it too luxurious, as Europeans and Americans are generally accustomed. Better to live there without modern amenities and to live a natural, healthy life for executing Krsna consciousness. It may be an ideal village where the residents will have plain living and high thinking.

"For plain living we must have sufficient land for raising crops, and pasturing grounds for the cows. If there are sufficient grains and sufficient production of milk, then the whole economic problem is solved. You do not require any machines, cinemas, hotels, slaughterhouses, brothels, nightclubs-all these modern amenities. People in the spell of maya are trying to squeeze out gross pleasure from the senses, which it is not possible to derive to our heart's content. Therefore we are confused and baffled in our attempt to get eternal pleasure from gross matter. Actually, joyful life is on the spiritual platform, and therefore we should try to save our valuable time from material activities and engage it in Krsna consciousness.

"The idea is that people residing in New Vrndavana may not have to search for work outside. Arrangements should be such that the residents will be self-satisfied. That will make an ideal asrama. I do not know whether these ideals can be given practical shape, but I think like that, that people may be happy in any place with land or cow, without endeavoring for the so-called amenities of modern life, which simply increase anxieties for maintenance and proper equipment. The less we are anxious for maintaining our body, the more we become favorable for advancing in Krsna consciousness."

"Now we can work with great enthusiasm for constructing a New Vrndavana in the United States of America. People who came here from Europe to this part of the world named so many new provinces, just like New England, New Amsterdam and New York. So I also came to this part of the world to preach Krsna consciousness, and by His grace and by your endeavor, New Vrndavana is being constructed. That is my great happiness. Our sincere endeavor in the service of the Lord, and of the Lord's assistants, to make our progressive march successful-these are two important things to be followed in the spiritual advancement of life."