Chant and be happy...

"We never would have lasted through the first winter," says Kīrtanānanda Swami (director of the New Vrindāban farm, West Virginia), "without faith in the instructions of our spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda and a lot of chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra. And before we built Śrīla Prabhupāda's Palace [left], none of us had ever designed a building or worked with marble or anything like that. But we chanted Hare Kṛṣṅa, and gradually Kṛṣṅa revealed these skills."

Find out more about Kṛṣṅa consciousness in this issue of BACK TO GODHEAD.

Kulādri dāsa, president of the New Vrindāban farm community, with family (W.Va.): "What we're interested in here is simple living and high thinking. We work hard building, ploughing, and tending the cows, and it's all a pleasure because we're always reading our spiritual master's books and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra,"

Bāla-Kṛṣṅa dāsa, manager, Govinda's Mobile Kitchens (Berkeley): "Lots of people ask how the things we serve here can taste so good, and I always tell them it's because we offer everything to Lord Kṛṣṅa. "You might find it a little amazing," I say,"but actually, if you're after yoga and self-realization, the best way to get started is with your tongue: you taste delicious foods offered to Kṛṣṅa and chant the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra."

Paramānanda dāsa, president of the Gītā-nāgari farm community (Pa.): "Chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa is a big part of our lives. By chanting we get a deeper and deeper understanding that all of us are really servants of God. Even these oxen are serving Kṛṣṅa—they pull the ploughs, and the fruits of their labor nourish the whole community. For my part, I'm trying to serve Kṛṣṅa by running the farm and seeing that everyone is working happily. The Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra is so powerful that if everyone chanted it, they'd love God and everyone else, and we'd have a peaceful, God-centered world."