Introduction
I happened to visit Puttaparthi
for couple of days and during this trip I got a wonderful opportunity to
interact with Clementien, President of Karuna Society for Animals and Nature: http://www.karunasociety.org/
Among many things, I also learnt
about their unique organic farming project:
Excerpts
from the discussion
Our discussion mainly revolved
around organic farming, animal rights, human-animal relationships and veganism.
I found Karuna Society’s vision, balancing act etc. to be quite interesting and
I could easily see that their attempts are very honest.
At Karuna Society, they believe
that it is practically impossible to produce organic and healthy grains,
vegetables etc. in large quantities for the current population without help
from animals, their muscle power. They don’t see tractors as perfect solution
because of their bad effect on soil. However, they firmly believe in working
together with animals and looking after them with love and care, and definitely
not in misusing them or slaughtering them.
Milking cattle is a thing that
they oppose, and they have observed that entire government policies are deeply
flawed because such policies promote more milking, reduction of male cattle,
more usage of artificial ways of farming etc. Through several practical
examples, people in Karuna Society have observed that there are still many
compassionate farmers and farming techniques in India, and these are fast
eroding due to bad overall policies. Their attempt is to revive the good
farming culture or at least keep them alive.
People at Karuna Society feel
that vegans should not turn blind eyes towards ground realities and remain
arguing only on limited technical lines. For ex: most of the so called vegan
food that we eat are still associated with lot of cruelty on cattle. Even most
of the organic food are also not exceptions. So, is it not better to help and
support organizations like Karuna Society who honestly try to do a great
balancing act? Eventually we may together realize a perfect world where we
completely stop being dependent on animals – but until then we need to choose
what is best available option.
Field
Trip
I felt it would be nice if vegans
visit them with open mind and learn more about/from their practical experiences.
Hence, I am planning a field trip to this place sometime in September. (It is
Karuna Society’s recommendation to arrange this after couple of months because
farming will be more active during that time after the rains.) If you are
interested, feel free to contact me (doesn’t matter if you are a vegan or not).
Details at a high level are as
below; at the moment I am just gauging the initial level of interest, I will
create a refined formal event soon. Meanwhile, subscribe for this thread for
updates.
Trip
Timeframe: September 2012, one of the weekends
Distance
from Bengaluru: Around 150km.
Travel
Options: KSRTC a/c non-a/c bus facility
available; roads are nice and you can have a nice drive also if you wish.
Eating
Options: There is a nice healthy eatery (almost
organic + almost vegan) at Puttaparthi where we can have nice food: http://swamyskitchen.com/
(There are many other regular Indian food options also).
Accommodation:
Good accommodation available at rates cheaper than Bengaluru. (Ex: Sai towers
offers very good single non-a/c room for Rs.550/- per day and a/c for Rs.1000/-
with 24 hour checkin-checkout). Maybe something cheaper/better can also be worked
out, lets see.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.
Regards,
Krishna.
***************************************
Update
on Field Trip (27 Aug 2012)
The
plan at a high level is as below:
- Start from Bengaluru on Sep 22nd (Saturday)
- Stay overnight at Puttaparthi
- Return on 23rd (Sunday)
- Accommodation & Activities: Planning in progress
An event has been created in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/273670789399123/
- Start from Bengaluru on Sep 22nd (Saturday)
- Stay overnight at Puttaparthi
- Return on 23rd (Sunday)
- Accommodation & Activities: Planning in progress
An event has been created in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/273670789399123/
It
would be convenient if you respond to this event through Facebook, but alternatively
you can confirm by posting comment on this blog or emailing me personally also.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.
Regards,
Krishna.
6 comments:
Sir
I would like to know more about this trip. I am from Chennai. MY mail ID rdpgiri@gmail.com.
Thanks & Best WIshes
Giri
Please let me know when you plan on taking this trip. mithuvin_mithuvin@hotmail.com
I understand your view point, Krishna. I agree that a staunch vegan need not be 100% vegan as he or she has to depend upon others to get his so called vegan food. At the same time, I also believe that institutionalising animal usage, in whatever context, is counter-productive for animal rights theory and it helps only in legitimising the exploitation of animals and in the long run,so called 'taking care of animals like family members' certainly backfires. Therefore, I appreciate a policy wherein we strive to avoid all animal products and services in our life, advocate a total ban on animal usage.
With respect and regards,
Shankar Narayan
Dear Shankar,
I totally understand your viewpoint. I am not advocating usage of animals. But if we are not producing our own food, we cannot hide from the fact that animals are indeed used in most of the (so called) vegan food production as well. Is there a practical solution to this?
When we don't have lot of choices to buy various kinds of food (from the source perspective), these kinds of efforts do need recognition. And during the course of our observation and interaction, if we can suggest them to further minimize animal usage, we should do so.
Regards,
Krishna.
we may together realize a perfect world where we completely stop being dependent on animals - sounds like a very sad place to me. there is no perfection in anything and we need to be flexible, tolerant and alow the flow of creation to take place. there is not one perfect solution for any problem, and viewpoints, lifestyles will always differ. that is what life on beautiful planet earth is all about. Tolearnce, adjustment and lots of compromise will be necessary, not our take on what perfect life should be. Sorry, but i love diversity too much, would not want to live in the perfect place someone else envisages.
Probably the apex of spiritual pilgrimages, Puttaparthi was the abode of Sathya Sai Baba who was considered the reincarnation of Sai Baba.The place draws many followers and for accommodation, check out these hotels in Puttaparthi based on your budget and requirements.
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