Festival Speakers

Distinguished voices sharing wisdom on sustainable living

This year's festival features an inspiring lineup of speakers dedicated to Srila Prabhupada's vision of simple living, cow protection, and sustainable agriculture. Join us to hear from these experienced practitioners and visionaries.

Kalakantha das

ISKCON Minister of Cow Protection and Agriculture

Kalakantha Das has been serving as the ISKCON GBC Minister for Cow Protection and Agriculture since 2015. He has worked as a SPN (GBC Strategic Planning Network) member since 2013. Born in Brazil from a family of farmers and Agriculture professors, he has been working with farm communities since 1994. He has visited most of ISKCON farms around the world and is currently working on an ethical dairy equation for ISKCON and a platform to assist farm projects to find solutions for a simpler and more natural way of living.

Krishna-kshetra Swami

Author: "Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics" & "Yoga and Animal Ethics"

Krishna Kshetra Swami – teacher, writer, and traveller – is a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He has served as a missionary, temple priest (pujari), and counselor for bhakti-yoga practitioners from the time of his formal initiation in 1972. From 1972 to 1976 he was based in Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark; then he began to participate in Vaishnava missionary activities in central Europe. Almost every year, from 1978 to 1995 he visited India on pilgrimage. He is now a Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Tapahpunja das

Director - Small Farm Training Center

Tapahpunja das serves as the Director of the Small Farm Training Center, dedicated to teaching sustainable farming practices and self-sufficient living in accordance with Srila Prabhupada's vision for simple living and high thinking.

Drupadi devi dasi

Co-Director - Plentitud Puerto Rico & Plentitud Vermont

In 2008, a group of friends and University of Florida graduates living in Gainesville, FL, came together to share everything they could with one another. From that vision Plenitud PR was born; a community of love that could work as an example of people living together in harmony with each other, the earth, and our larger community. In these early days they were farmless, moneyless, and unsure about how to create this community, but what they did have was the Plenitud Manifesto in its infancy and a lot of faith in the goal. The eco farm also happens to be run by Bhakti yogis. Director Vaishnava Das studied natural building at the California Institute of Earth architecture, while his wife, coordinator Draupadi Dasi, worked as an ecological anthropologist.

Varsana Swami

New Vrindaban - Agriculture

From childhood, Varsana Swami was deeply drawn to the workings of the natural world. He became a vegetarian of his own accord at the age of seven and was determined to lead a life of compassion. As a young man, his search for meaning manifested in studying theology in college, visiting ashrams, and hearing from different gurus. Finally, in 1972 he went to New Vrindaban and began what is now over five decades of devotional service. Maharaja has performed a variety of seva over the years that includes: raising and training draft animals for farm work; pujari service; conservation work; and heading up the excavation department, which is responsible for literally carving out the infrastructure and holy places of New Vrindaban. For that purpose in 2007, he founded Dham Seva Inc, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Srila Prabhupada's desire that the holy tirthas of Vraja appear in New Vrindaban.

Yudhisthira das ACBSP

Founder - New Yamuna Valley Farm, WV

"Make Vrindavan and Live Like Krishna Lived...."At any cost DO IT." In 1974 I homesteaded on the present-day location of RVC Temple when we were unexpectedly visited by Srila Prabhupada who told us that "Everything is complete." When he observed our meager tiny cabin and homestead. Because we were depending on nature's gifts, milk from our cow, transportation from our ox team, and placing Radha and Krishna at the center of our lives. Our community chooses to follow the motto, YUKTA-vairagya we should be unattached in material affairs and do everything in Krishna Consciousness. By this system one attains perfection.

Bhakti Raghava Swami

Make Vrindavan Villages Campaign

Born to French-Canadian Roman-Catholic parents in the Province of Ontario, His Holiness Bhakti Raghava Swami Maharaja spent seven years of his undergraduate studies in a seminary before completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Ottawa in 1968, majoring in philosophy and social psychology. After serving as a Social Worker and Counselor from 1968 to 1971, he joined the Hare Krishna Movement in 1974 and was initiated the same year as Raghava Pandit Das.