Dear Vajra Family,

Below you can read the translation of an article written by our Red Gakyil Dmitry for the Russian edition of The Mirror. The article explains our ideas on what I anticipated in a recent post on our “Immigration Project”. To reinforce what Dmitry will explain in detail, we are not seeking people to definitively migrate to Venezuela, but to have practitioners around to help us to function as a normal IDC Gar, as participants in our Dharma activities, to help us to carry out maintenance duties and also get involved in our productive activities. As it will be pointed out, it is important to try to get a visa in your country of origin and we would hope to have you here from 6 months up to 3 years. Of course if conditions manifest you could always make it a definitive migration. In addition, even if we are specially addressing Russian and Chinese practitioners, whoever feels the call and has the desire to come, work and practice here, do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Rolo Carrasco,
Yellow Gakyil

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Dear Vajra Brothers and Sisters!

I am writing to you from Tashigar North, Margarita Island, Venezuela. We need your help. Oddly enough, this is not about money. Although many of you probably know (and not only know, but also participate as much as you can) about the fundraising project for Tashigar North. Many thanks to all those who contributed! Our Yellow Gakyil Rolando Carrasco recently wrote about the progress of this project in the English version of “The Mirror”. Anyone can see the numbers and dynamics https://melong.online/update-from-tashigar-north/.

So, we will talk about another, more valuable resource that Tashigar North is in dire need for many years. That is human resources, we need you, dear Vajra Brothers and Sisters. There are very few of us left. At the moment, we have managed to find a certain rhythm of work that allows us to maintain the technical support and operability of the infrastructure of Tashigar, as well as conduct collective practices. However, the Potential of Tashigar North is much more. Despite unfavorable secondary circumstances, Tashigar may well become a self-sufficient and even profitable gar. Let me give you an example. At the end of last year, we decided to launch an eco-agricultural project, with the ultimate goal of commercializing the production. In other words, to grow vegetables and sell them. With 30 hectares of land,  which a part of it is equipped with an irrigation system, a fairly long rainy season, and a generally very favorable climate for agriculture, it would seem, what could be easier? However, six months later, it became obvious that the project could not actually be implemented sufficiently. And this has nothing to do with soil fertility. Indeed, in addition to direct land work, cultivation, conservation and harvesting, such a project requires serious administrative support – entering the market, advertising products, maintaining constant contacts with retailers, blogging and social networks. Plus bookkeeping and accounting, work on packaging, product delivery, etc. There are not enough of us. At the same time, I repeat, there is a fundamental possibility of implementing such a project. Besides the deep political and economic crisis, commercial projects are still possible. Moreover, everything related to the production of healthy and nutritious food is very, very relevant.

So to the point. Any practitioner who wants to get involved in a large-scale eco-agricultural project, or has his own, will find an immense field of possibilities in Tashigar North. Everything related to organic production, whether it is cultivation or subsequent production, with permaculture, with controlled or direct planting, with the creation of forest gardens, with the production of compost or other eco-fertilizers, with hydroponics and aquaponics, can be implemented here. In a word, you just need to come. We have the necessary tools and technical base. There is no sufficient number of people for its implementation.

And of course, let’s not forget that Tashigar, like any gar, is not a collective farm for growing potatoes, but is for the realization of the rainbow body. The space for practice, yantra yoga classes, personal retreats and courses is still here and it is waiting for you, dear Vajra Brothers and Sisters. Let me emphasize the following point: the practitioners who have visited Tashigar North in its best years may remember the ever-present problem of living inside the gar. Well, now there is no such problem. Anyone who expresses the good intention to come and to implement a certain own project, to support existing ones (yes, in the plural, besides the agricultural, there are others, follow the account on FB https://www.facebook.com/tashigar.norte.9) will be provided with comfortable lodgement inside the gar. Staying in this place by itself contributes to progress on the path to realization, because like other Gars, it did not appear by chance, but was created by our Teacher Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, who gave and received essential teachings while he was on Tashigar North.

And last but not least. The issue of legal stay in the country, please be aware and note that you have to arrange your visa in your own country. At the moment, a program is being discussed to attract a large number of Russian and Chinese practitioners to Tashigar North. This is due to the well-known political discourse, in which Russia, Venezuela and China seem to personify a friendly and indestructible alliance. Well, the employees of the Venezuelan migration service are apparently not informed about this. In any case, no real indulgences are being made for the citizens of Russia. Even as if the opposite, based on my personal rather extensive experience of communicating with migration workers, I can conclude that it is impossible to initially obtain a Cedula (one year visa) while inside Venezuela. But the situation is completely different in the Venezuelan embassy in Moscow. According to the good tradition of Venezuelan state bodies, their website does not work or works intermittently, but you can get through. The consul is quite friendly towards visitors, gives full information about what is required to obtain a particular type of visa. If all the requisites are met, the visa is slapped into the passport, and no shaking of hands is noticed. To summarize: if you want to come to Venezuela for more than 3 months, decide the issue with a visa in Moscow. All those roundabout and direct paths that you might have heard from practitioners who were in Venezuela before do not work now.

Secondary circumstances are impermanent. One thing remains unchanged to this day: Venezuela is the best country in the world, just now it is in bad circumstances, which we, the practitioners, only benefit from. In the current situation, it is simply impossible to think of a better place for the practice of cutting fear and hope. The reality is that Margarita Island is the place that suffered the least from political and economical crisis than other regions of Venezuela. In general, everything bad that you could see, hear, read in the news happened and is happening on the continent. There are difficulties, there are problems, but there are also positive changes. For example, the level of street crime has dropped sharply. It’s just not even clear where all these robbers have gone, and in Tashigar itself, the security system is now well-adjusted, so in this aspect, there are no special obstacles for a long time arrival.

Of course, we are talking about opportunities when the borders will be open again. However, I ask everyone who reads this to think about it, you could put it in your plans or just decide to come here.

We are all in the same boat, but our compartment really lacks rowers.

Dimitry Kalmykov,
Red Gakyil
Tashigar North