Grow More Food!

“Many countries have invested quite heavily in plans to bring back into use land abandoned for hundreds of years, or land that has never been used at all. They have brought all kinds of heavy earth moving tractors and machines for land development and introduced new forms of power into their agriculture. In many cases tractors, machines and implements have been brought in without taking into account the position of the cultivator, of the man who works on the land and who must ultimately make these things pay. And frequently they have been purchased before sufficient training and maintenance facilities were available. Of course, there are also exceptions and some land development and mechanisation projects have proved successful from their inception.”

The above is a quotation from the UNESCO Food and Agriculture organisation. The enthusiasm for tractors over other implements has not always proved successful and in many cases, as we have personal experience of some places in U.P., it has often meant false starts on schemes that on paper looked so promising and easy.

The transcendentalist however will not agree that only tractors and other agricultural implements can solve the problem of growing more food and inadequate living standards. Besides the tractor and  implements used by the man who will work on the land of cultivation, there is another supreme hand in the successful termination of the productive enthusiasm. This ultimate cause is called daiva, or the unseen power of God, inconceivable by the human brain. This power can ultimately make all things null and void and conquer over all other enthusiasm and abilities of the human being. In the Bhagavad-gītā we have this information as follows:

adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ ca pṛthag-vidham
vividhāś ca pṛthak ceṣṭā daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam
(Bhagavad-gītā 18.14)

To effect successful results in the attempt of agricultural enthusiasm there are five causes, namely the situation of the land, the man who works in the field, the instruments or implements applied in the enterprise, and above all, the hidden hand of natural forces known as daiva.

Whatever is attempted and done in this world, physically or mentally, by any man which may be right or wrong in the estimation of the public, must have all the abovementioned five causes behind the attempt. Nobody should therefore see only the visible causes for effective result, but must look into the invisible cause called the daiva.

Above all other causes, the daiva cause is the most powerful. This daiva cause, or the Supreme cause, is the ultimate control of physical nature which is the external energy of Godhead. The land, implements, the worker, the attempt – all depend on the ultimate cause called daiva. It is also known as prakṛti.

Everything is done by prakṛti, but egoistic fools think that the work is performed by them. In spite of good tilling of the land and the expert tiller, good tractors or other implements, and the most sincere and accurate plan of work ,it is quite possible that the whole attempt may be frustrated for want of sufficient rains. Without rains all other arrangements will stand null and void due to the reaction of the daiva cause. This daiva cause is made effectively favourable by the process of yajña described elsewhere in this issue.

Along with the creation of the prajas or the living beings, the yajñas or sacrifices on account of Viṣṇu the Supreme Being was also created. By the performance of yajñas, the controlling deities who supply us light, air, heat, water etc. which are all essential factors in the matter of the growing more food campaign, are satisfied. By their satisfaction only everything is produced nicely and sufficiently. When there is sufficient production by the mercy of daiva, the inadequate standard of living is mitigated. Otherwise every attempt becomes futile.

• Gṛha Praveśa (Entering a House) by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura
• Grow More Food! by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda
• The White Bead Bag by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• Daiva Varṇāśrama by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja

• A Vaiṣṇava Householder’s Hospitality to Guests by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Livelihood of Householder Vaiṣṇavas by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Brāhmaṇa and the Vaiṣṇava – Both are Completely Vedic by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Savings of a Vaiṣṇava by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• Begging Alms by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• Brāhmaṇism and Vaiṣṇavism by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Marriage System of Bengal by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura