The practice of ‘voluntary austerity’ has become fashionable in parts of the USA. People have opted out of high-paying corporate positions, taken a severe salary cut and sometimes moved to country-like surroundings, professing to be happier and far more at peace with themselves and their families. Many of them home-school their children, live in communities of like-minded families and periodically meet with their neighbors to discuss and reinforce their new-found fortune. This lack of attachment in some ways parallels the alternative mentality of the sixties hippies who Srila Prabhupada once declared were “our best customers.” Such persons should be encouraged to add Krishna to their lives.
Voluntary Austerity