“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
— R. Buckminster Fuller

Our Mission

Humanity is at a crossroads. Modern civilization has brought us enormous prosperity and technological advancement, but at the cost of our humanity, our spirituality and our planet’s delicate ecological balance. Our environment is in crisis. Our relationships are measured by likes, shares, and retweets. Our children are raised by televisions and smartphones. Our food is the byproduct of a rapacious factory farming system. Our lives are spent sacrificing our most precious commodity — time — sitting in cubicles earning money to spend on things we don’t really need. We have never had so much in terms of luxuries, conveniences, and amenities yet felt so unfulfilled, depressed, and burned out. We have never been more connected, yet felt so alone. 

One thing is becoming increasingly clear: modern life is unsustainable.

We need an alternative system that places nature, community and the sacred at the forefront of human existence. Indigenous people have always turned to their ancestors for wisdom and guidance in all things. Could their model for civilization provide a path forward for a world out of balance? We think so.

Dharma Farms is an experiment in sustainable living based on the ancient principles of the world’s oldest spiritual tradition, Sanatana Dharma (a Sanskrit term meaning “Eternal Natural Way” commonly referred to in the West as Hinduism): compassion, alignment to nature, community, self-reliance, and a deep reverence for the sacred in all things. Sanatana Dharma teaches that all life is fundamentally divine and the Earth itself is a manifestation of the Mother Goddess, Bhumidevi, who lovingly and selflessly provides for our every need and deserves our gratitude, reverence, and respect.  

“In India we talk about ‘vasudhaiva kutumbkam’, which means the Earth family. Indian cosmology has never separated the human from the non-human—we are a continuum.” —Vandana Shiva

That is the ethos of Dharma Farms - where dharma refers to our duty to care for the Earth and all its inhabitants great and small. We provide a refuge for cows and other animals, a sacred space where ancient Hindu rituals such as pujas and homas are practiced as they have for thousands of years in India, and a place where a community of like-minded individuals can rediscover the divinity in nature and in themselves. While organic living, mindfulness, local-sourced food, permaculture, and the ethical treatment of animals are becoming increasingly popular in California and across the United States, these concepts have long been the hallmark of indigenous communities in India and around the world. In that respect Dharma Farms is a reversion to a more traditional way of life that had sustained mankind long before massive industrialization and urbanization radically altered the human condition. 

Big things have small beginnings and even the mightiest oaks start off as acorns. Please help us plant the seeds of a better future at Dharma Farms and join us in a peaceful revolution to build a more compassionate, sustainable and humane world.