New Bhaktivedanta Archives Vault Cements Prabhupada’s Legacy

By Madhava Smullen | Dec 28, 2012

A brand new security vault is being constructed at the Bhaktivedanta Archives headquarters in Prabhupada Village, North Carolina, to preserve ISKCON Founder-acharya Srila Prabhupada’s legacy for generations to come.

The Archives were started by Paramarupa Dasa at the Los Angeles Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in 1977 upon Prabhupada’s passing, as a way of protecting his original books, letters, audio and photos.

In 1993, they were moved to the rural community of Prabhupada Village in North Carolina, where they have remained ever since, housed in a small climate-controlled makeshift wooden room.

There were risks, however, to housing the archival materials in such a structure, as proved by previous unfortunate incidents in ISKCON’s history. Many years ago at the Gita Nagari farm in Pennsylvania, for instance, the entire research archives for Satsvarupa Das Goswami’s Prabhupada biography Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita were destroyed in an accidental fire.

Mukunda Das begins demolition of the old vault

To prevent any such disasters, Archives staff including Paramarupa Das, president Ekanatha Das and conservation and images expert Nitya-tripta Dasi began collecting funds this May for a brand new professional secure vault as part of their new four-phase long-term plan.

With the help of new board member Sravanananda Das, they have already collected the full $75,000 needed for the project.

Keeping the money in the family, they have hired a devotee professional contractor, Mukunda Das (Marc Gauthier). Along with partner Barry Moxley of Moxley Construction, Inc. he began construction on the new vault in early December, and expects to finish in early January.

Tearing up the floor in preparation for the new vault

At 496 square feet, the new vault will be twice the size of the old one, with an insulated concrete roof and fourteen-inch-thick insulated concrete walls. It will be able to withstand tornadoes, blazing fires, flooding and theft.

“The entire concrete structure is tied together from the foundation to the roof with steel reinforcement bars,” says Mukunda. “The massive concrete foundation creates a resistance to uplifting in case of a storm. And the vault is also designed to be impervious to wind-driven rain. The walls have a minimum fire-resistance rating of four hours, which the fireproof drywall adds to.”

Meanwhile staff will enter through a Fort Knox brand 1,800 pound steel bank vault door, with a manual keypad that allows operation even in the event of a power outage.

In addition, in the future, the vault will be equipped with a propane generator that will maintain climate control through power outages without disruption.

Putting in place the vapor and dust barrier

“It’s an archival standard that temperatures and humidity levels be kept stable for materials like audio tape and photos,” says Archives president Ekanatha Das. “Because on a molecular level, they will expand or contract due to temperature fluctuations. So if you keep the temperature and humidity steady, they won’t break down as quickly as they normally would if there was no controlled environment.”

Within the vault, a treasure of Srila Prabhupada’s legacy will be kept in fireproof file cabinets and on industrial-strength steel shelving, and, for the photos, in acid-free boxes.

The massive foundation for the vault

The materials are all originals. There’s 4,500 original hand-written and typed documents; over 9,000 letters to and from Srila Prabhupada; 81,000 book manuscripts; original editions of BBT books; audio lectures and conversations; audio transcripts; and Srila Prabhupada’s original diaries.

The vault will also preserve over 200,000 photo slides; artwork from the BBT and Back to Godhead magazine; dozens of interviews used for Srila Prabhupada

Lilamrita; early ISKCON advertisements and articles; and video films of Srila Prabhupada by Yadubara Das of ISKCON Cinema.

Pouring concrete into the foundation

Once all this has been safely stored in the new vault, the Bhaktivedanta Archives will move on to phase two of its plan.

This involves finding and training devotees to help finish preparing all the materials for archiving.

“Documents need to be de-acidified, and everything needs to be digitized and entered into a database so that it can be cross-referenced,” says image and conservation expert Nitya-tripta Dasi. “In other words, at the touch of a finger, you’ll be able to see on any given day what Prabhupada did and said and what happened in ISKCON.”

Ultimately, however, the biggest part of phase two is finding and training younger devotees to become archival curators and maintain the Bhaktivedanta Archives full-time.

“We’re in our sixties now,” Ekanatha says. “We’re not guaranteed any amount of years. So we need to find and train a dedicated individual or couple, so that we can pass this responsibility on to the next generation.”

Construction is underway with Mukunda Das and his crew

Phase Three of the plan for Bhaktivedanta Archives, meanwhile, is more long-term. Staff want to build a major facility somewhere in the United States where scholars, historians and the general public will be able to access Srila Prabhupada’s original works and other original materials pertaining to his legacy.

Named the Vani Samadhi, it will be similar to a presidential library. It will attract people with its world-class beauty and style, and feature full research facilities, exhibition areas, and a larger and more complex archival vault.

Finally, phase four of the plan will involve setting up an endowment fund to ensure the longevity and maintenance of the Bhaktivedanta Archives.

It’s an ambitious vision, and one that is extremely important for ISKCON’s future.

The entrance to the new vault, where an 1,800 pound steel bank vault door will be installed

“We don’t know what kind of problems devotees may have in the future, philosophically or otherwise,” Nitya-tripta says. “So if we keep the teachings, pictures and documents available for them, they will be able to look for themselves to see what they need to do. They won’t need to go by hearsay. They can look at actual physical evidence and understand how to resolve their problems.”

“Try to imagine having access to Bhaktivinode Thakur’s original works,” Ekanatha adds. “That would be pretty amazing. Well, we have that opportunity with all of Srila Prabhupada’s materials. And now, with the addition of the new vault, we’ll have a location to keep them in, and can be rest assured that they will be protected

from disasters of any kind. So for us this is a major step.”

He’s very excited about the new vault, as are all the staff at Bhaktivedanta Archives. But there’s still work to do.

“Of course, we can’t be sitting around and thinking we’re all done now,” says Ekanatha. “We’ve still got to push forward. We’ve got to find and bring the right personnel on board—people with visions; people who have the ability to make a difference for the future.”

For more information on the Bhaktivedanta Archives’ four-phase plan, please visit http://prabhupada.com/Donations/2012BA-Vision.pdf.

For updates on the vault project and beyond, please visit: http://www.bhaktivedantaarchives.blogspot.com/2012/12/dec-12-2012.html.

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