NOVA VARSANA UKRAINE

Nova Varsana was established in 2013 in the village of Karmalyukivka, Odessa region in Ukraine. At present, six Vaisnava families (12 adults and 8 children) and one vanaprastha are currently living in our community. The houses of devotees are scattered among the houses of non-devotees.

We are organized as a rural yatra. Every Sunday we gather in the house of our yatra leader Yadavananda prabhu to perform kirtan and share prasadam.

We have good communications with the Odessa temple. One of the leaders of Odessa brahmacari ashram, Abhiram prabhu, visits us every month. We also hold a rural Vaisnava festival every May for Odessa devotees.

Yadavananda prabhu and mataji Yoko along with Bhakta Volodymyr and mataji Emily look after one cow called Avandya. They also keep 45 beehives for making honey. The farm is spread over 3 hectares of land and the devotees grow barley, peas and grass for the cows.

Daruka prabhu and mataji Maryna keep a cow called Zorka, a (sometimes) working ox called Mahajan and a calf called Vishnujani. They have a greenhouse on their 4 hectares of land where they grow barley, wheat and grass. Daruka prabhu buys milk from neighbors and makes panir for Odessa temple. He is currently building a goshala for 8 cows.

Bhakta Pavlo and mataji Olya stay together with Bhakta Oles and mataji Natalya and look after a cow called Radha along with two steers called Ishan and Bala. They also have 4 beehives and two greenhouses on their 2 hectares of land where they grow grass.

The families that make up the Nova Varsana, along with our vanaprastha Govardhan Chandra prabhu, are determined to implement the principles of spiritual economy as described by Dhanesvara prabhu in his book Spiritual Economics.