Kutastha and the sunflowers

Suryamukha, the face of Surya. This is the way the plant was named by Kutastha, a French devotee who was in charge of agriculture in New Mayapura, France. It was called thus, he told me, because the flowers follow the course of the sun in the sky.

In the 1970s, after a few years of dedication to book distribution, he decided to focus on agriculture, and stopped book distribution. We can say that this occupation was consubstantial to his person. As someone would say, he had "instinct". After 50 years, I understand he still has a farm today, not far away from New Mayapur. That’s his dharma.

Kutastha was wrong, sunflower flowers don’t follow the sun. When I took the picture, it was morning. Three days later, I went back to the same spot in the evening. The sunflowers were in the same position; the flowers were turning their backs to the sun.

It is not new for me, it has been a long time since I noticed this phenomenon, that sunflower flowers do not follow the direction of the sun. It was a disappointment the first time I realized it. I would have liked to believe in this curiosity, especially because it was in relation to the sun and its deity, Surya; I mean because it was part of India ancient and perfect culture. 

 Like myself, kutastha was in those days a neophyte in Vedic knowledge. He too must have realized this error with time. As I wrote recently, experience is one of the best sources of knowledge.

It can also be said that among his pairs kutastha was the closest to Prabhupada’s desire, to establish varnasrama-dharma, underlying the distribution of the books. 

(The devotee asked; “Srila Prabhupada, what would you do to establish varnasrama?” His reply; “I will go to Gita Nagari, I will sit down and teach you how to live off the land”.)

■