Type of centre: Temple/Farm

Contact details
Address: 31492 Anner Road,
Carriere, Mississippi 39426
USA
Ph: +1-(601)-7499460
E-mail: talavan@mypicayune.com
Website: www.newtalavana.org

History and details of the centre
New Talavana farm community began in June 1974 at the suggestion of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

New Talavana was chosen as a name by Srila Prabhupada while he was visiting the Honolulu temple on May 4th, 1976. (Talavana is one of the twelve forests around Vrndavana. Krishna and His cowherd friends would go there and play, rest, eat and watch their cows as they grazed.)

At first it was just a few devotees from the New Orleans temple who came and slowly began planting gardens. They worked as time permitted and then returned to the New Orleans temple at night; a round trip of about 130 miles.

Soon some devotees began staying on the farm full time. The first cow was purchased from a stockyard and the devotees named her Kunti. She gave the farm its first fresh milk as well as its first calf, named Subhadra. Later more cows were purchased.

The devotees continued to purchase more land over the next ten years. Eventually we reached a total of 1300 acres. This makes New Talavana the second largest Hare Krishna farm community in the world.

Currently New Talavana produces wheat, fruit, and vegetables. We also have about sixty acres set aside for hay and collect hay from another 100 acres not owned by New Talavana. Krishna's cows also produce fresh milk from which the devotees supply our presiding deities with delightful milk sweets.

Deities

Panca-Tattva
The first worship at the temple was of a painting of Panca-Tattva. This painting was originally used by the traveling sankirtana parties in New York. From New York, Panca-Tattva traveled to Buffalo, New York where a preaching centre was being groomed to become a temple.

Panca-Tattva spent a brief time in Buffalo, and then travelled some 1200 miles south to become the first deity in the New Orleans Temple. While at the New Orleans Temple, marble Gaura Nitai deities were installed and Panca-Tattva was moved to New Talavana.
Panca-Tattva was also being worshiped when Srila Prabhupada visited the farm in 1975.

The painting was moved off the alter as marble deities were installed. It was eventually moved into the new temple at the end of November 1983. It is still hanging on the wall in the main temple room.

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai
Installed in 1976The deities of Gaura-Nitai came here from Jaipur, India. They are 36 inch white marble deities of Lord Caitanya (Gaura) and Lord Nityananda (Nitai).

Gaura-Nitai were installed at New Talavana in the summer of 1976 and stood for seven and a half years in the original temple. They were later moved from the original temple to the newly constructed temple in November 1983. They are still being worshiped and are giving great pleasure to all the devotees.

Sri Sri Radha-Radhakanta

While worshiping Garua-Nitai at New Talavana, the devotees wanted to worship Krishna directly, just as the cow heard boys had done in the forest of Talavana in India.

With this in mind the decision was made to install Krishna-Balarama deities. A letter was sent to Srila Prabhupada at the end of April 1976 asking for his advice and blessing in this endeavour.

Srila Prabhupada wrote back that he expected the standard of worship to be very high. "It is feasible only if you have sufficient brahmanas to take nice care. Otherwise no." Srila Prabhupada continued, "You have seen our Vrndavana temple, also the temple in Melbourne and Los Angeles. So things must be at this standard in order to have a temple. The standard must be very high."

With this in mind, and by the will of the Supreme Lord, Krishna, the idea of Krishna-Balarama deities eventually changed.

The temple president went to Jaipur, India in search of Radha-Krishna deities for New Orleans and also for the Buffalo temple. While in Jaipur, he found a Radha-Krishna set for New Orleans right away.

The set for Buffalo was taken from two places. Krishna separated from Radha and joined with a Sita to form the Radha-Krishna set for Buffalo. This set was then sent to Buffalo upon their coming from India.

After the Buffalo temple did not install the deities, they were brought back to New Talavana for several more months. They were finally installed in the original temple in the winter of 1978. They were given the name Radha-Radha Kanta, the same name given to the "sister" set installed in New Orleans. On 28 April 1980 they were moved to the new temple. A week later the original temple and place Srila Prabhupada stayed burned to the ground.

Other Information:

Cow Protection
We started with one cow in 1974. Kunti was an old Jersey/Holstein mix milk cow purchased from a stockyard. She had a young calf, Subhadra. As time went by more cows were obtained from other ISKCON farms or from other sources. This took the numbers up to over 150 cattle at one time. This included several breeds including Zebu, Guernsey, Brown Swiss, Jersey as well as a mix of cross breeds.

All cattle are free-range and live a long stress-free life on the farm. They live to an average age of 16 years but several have lived as long as 21 or 22 years.

Currently we have 132 cows (bulls, cows, ox, etc.) at New Talavana and are milking three.
Sponsors are always welcome to join our Adopt-a-Cow programme. Contact the temple for further details.

How to get there

From Slidell, LA
Take I-10 to I-59 North. Stay on I-59 into Mississippi. Get off I-59 on Exit 10 (Carriere Exit). Turn Right. Go about 10 miles on winding road to flashing yellow light. Look for Berry Patch convenience store on left, by flashing yellow light (Anner Rd). Turn Left on Anner Rd. Go about 3-4 miles on Anner Rd. Look for temple on right.

From Gulfport, Mississippi
Take I-10 to Hwy 49 North. Go about 5 miles to Hwy 53. Turn Left on Hwy 53. Go about 21 miles to Hwy 603. Turn Right on Hwy 603. Turn Left on 1st Road- Jordan Road. Go about two miles. Jordan will deadend on Anner-Necaise Road. Turn Right on Anner-Necaise Road. Road will dead end on Anner Road. Turn Left on Anner Road. Go about 1 mile. Watch for farm on Left. Turn into second drive with sign over driveway, "WELCOME TO NEW TALAVANA!"

From Hattiesburg, MS: Take I-59 South. Get off I-59 on Exit 10 (Carriere Exit). Turn Left. Go about 10 miles on winding road to flashing yellow light. Look for Berry Patch convenience store on left, by flashing yellow light (Anner Rd). Turn Left on Anner Rd. Go about 3-4 miles on Anner Rd. Look for temple on right.

< Back · Top ^