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The Santivana community is situated in the foothills of Lugnaquilla, Ireland's second highest and County Wicklow's highest mountain. It is a small community consisting of four couples and nine children. We also have a few associate members living nearby. Our community is based on the Vedic ideal, which could be paraphrased as a God (Krishna) centered community working on the principle of 'simple living, and high thinking'. Having moved to the Wicklow mountains in 1989, our first priority was to establish a school (Gurukula) for our children. So after the members had settled into their new homes (a series of old cottages located in the same area), we set up our own little trust and collectively bought a ten acre plot of land adjacent to where we live. On this piece of land we constructed a schoolhouse as well as some farm buildings. The school runs throughout the year, breaking for a total of four weeks, two in the Summer and two in the Winter. Six of the adult members teach in the school, four full time and two part time. We have three Jersey cows, one of which is in milk, supplying all the needs of the community. We also have a herd of Llamas, five in all, with three more babies due in a few months. The main reason we acquired the Llamas was to develop Santivana into an 'open farm'. This will hopefully have two benefits, one it will allow people who visit us to be able to see what we are trying to do, and it will also generate some income for us. No matter how simply one can manage to live there is inevitably a need for some money! In addition to the Llamas and cows there are some other things to see and do. One family grows organic vegetables as well as running a small nursery specializing in species roses. Another couple run a vegetarian cafe from their home specializing in pizza! As well as the beautiful scenery with mountain and forest walks, some of the devotees have attractive gardens to relax in. Finally there are three periodicals
produced from the community; "Bhakti Lata Bija" is a children's magazine, "Irish FOLK" is a magazine for anyone who is interested in learning more about the Hare Krishna movement and way of life and "Santivana View" is a magazine giving news and views about our community. So if you ever find yourself in the Wicklow mountains some weekend with time on your hands, pay us a visit. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare © Santivana Dharm 2000 |
