(RNS) — Businessman Prakash Buchireddy grew up in small villages near Tirupati, India, a hillside pilgrimage site surrounded by lush green mountains and a Hindu temple once known to give potted plants as prasad, or sacred offerings.

These self-sustaining villages of his childhood — where cows, chickens, greenhouses and vegetable and fruit gardens provided communities with the nourishment they needed — inspired Buchireddy to start one of his own for the modern American era. 

He had planned to build his sustainable development company, Sustaino LLC, in his home country but came to a realization in 2021. “Rather than in India, it’s more needed here,” he told RNS. 

Having lived in the United States for more than 20 years, Buchireddy noticed grocery stores increasingly saturated with what he called “slow poison” — ultraprocessed foods with chemicals and preservatives that can be linked to health issues, he said.

As an alternative, Sustaino’s upcoming residential campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Vedic Village, aims to provide a lifestyle for those who are craving a slower pace, homegrown food and like-minded neighbors. It will also be a home for those who are serious in their spiritual pursuits, said Buchireddy, who is Hindu.

Vedic, a term from the Hindu scriptures Vedas, references Hindu reverence to nature. Vedic principles, according to Vedic Village’s website, emphasize living in harmony with nature, personal well-being, community togetherness and higher consciousness. Floor plan names reflect Hindu terms, like Moksha and Santosha, and homeowners will have access to a Hindu temple space.

But Vedic Village isn’t just for Hindus, said Buchireddy: “It’s a New Age community. It’s a one-stop solution for all the problems that we have.”

The 215-acre property — of which 150 acres will be organic farms and natural green spaces dedicated to agriculture, recreation and conservation — will complete Phase 1 at the end of the year, with the rest estimated to be completed by mid-2027. Out of the 180 home lots, 110 have already been sold — a testament, Buchireddy said, to “people who are wanting really to find meaning.” 

“I believe that God is present everywhere,” he said. “God is there in every atom. It’s a self quest, you know, that leads to doing something for the community.”

Pankaj Jain, a religion professor at India’s Flame University who studies dharmic faiths and ecology, said there’s always been an intrinsic connection between religion and environmentalism. Jain, who grew up in the desert region of Rajasthan, where water and monsoons are revered as God-given, has conducted research on Indigenous communities of India that viewed the environment as sacred — like the Bishnoi “tree hugger” community of the 1730s, who were killed saving the sacred Khejri tree from being deforested. 

“It is very natural for Indians to start connecting with nature, to revere trees, to revere water bodies, even a stone when it is sanctified,” he said. ” … Even today, whenever I go to any river in the evening time, you will see millions of people across India worshipping the river.”

India, he said, has the highest rate of vegetarians in the world, a diet with a lower environmental impact than eating meat. He said such non-Western cultures should be looked to more often for their ecological values, rituals and knowledge amid modern-day threats to the natural environment, such as climate change and loss of biodiversity. 

Like Buchireddy, 25-year-old Geethika Thukakula also grew up in an Indian village, in Andhra Pradesh, India, “surrounded by trees, farming and calm.” Now Sustaino’s integration and automation specialist, she said the Vedic Village model spoke to her as a recent immigrant from India, who initially found it difficult to find the sense of community she had back home.

“When I moved from India to here, it’s like, completely different,” said Thukakula, who came to the U.S. as a master’s student in 2022. “We are disconnected to the people. In many parts of India, the neighborhood and family spend time together, and we have strong family feelings. A community like Vedic Village can bring back some home, a feeling and sense of connection.”

Evening walks, for example, will be a staple activity at the village, as will regular neighborhood celebrations and gatherings. It will also have a community kitchen with ample chai, or tea.

And Vedic Village will offer investors an EB-5 green-card pathway — the visa that allows foreign nationals to obtain permanent residency by investing in a new U.S. commercial enterprise.

“It really gives me more energy when customers call me and tell me this is something they were waiting for, or this is something they were dreaming about,” Thukakula said. “It’s not just about building homes; it’s about creating an environment where people can live more conscious, closer to nature, or with a stronger sense of community and a kind of well-being. If we are connected to the nature, we’ll have a more peaceful life.”