On January 29, Wikipedia made a tribute to ISKCON50 by featuring a prominent reference to the 50th anniversary of the Mantra-Rock Dance, complete with an image of the famous promotional poster with Srila Prabhupada, under its "On This Day" section on the Main Page. The Main Page is viewed by up to 30 million visitors a day. The Mantra-Rock Dance took place on January 27, 1967 in San Francisco and became Srila Prabhupada's first major preaching event on the West Coast of the United States. It was organized by then Mukunda Dasa, Shyamasund...

RLTA is conducting an oral history project focusing on Sadaputa’s biographical material as a founding member of Srila Prabhupada's Bhaktivedanta Institute. This interview with Yamaraja dasa, who worked closely with Sadaputa over the years designing the layout and covers for his numerous books and BTG articles, highlights how much he is missed by his many admirers.

Boise architect Bruce Poe designed the first temple in 1999 and the new expansion. Poe is not a Krishna devotee, but he has become a good friend to the congregation, said Gupta. Poe said that designing the temple and complex has been a journey for him, learning about the religion and how devotees regard the world, then coming up with a design that responded to those beliefs and particular rules about temple siting and orientation while fitting into a mostly residential neighborhood.

Five or six hours a day, every day, beating and chanting. “Krsna Krsna, hare hare.” He finds it uplifting and it's fuel for the long walk. Two thousand kilometres from somewhere called Slope Point, a point further south than Bluff, to Cape Reinga. “We all go on a pilgrimage or a journey in this life.” This monk's journey on this occasion has got him to Okere Falls en route to Tauranga. “It's good for my faith and obviously there's a personal challenge here too.” He's not in a hurry. He'll cut it out the 60km in a couple of days. A Hare Krishna life on the road i...

Planners unanimously gave consent for a new community building at a Hindu temple. The Hertsmere Borough Council's planning committee officially granted planning permission for a new development on the grounds of Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Aldenham on Thursday. The application is to build a two storey community building or a Haveli, as well as relocating the existing poly tunnels, greenhouses and playground. Gauri das, managing director at the temple, said: “We are exceptionally pleased to receive planning permission to build our community facility at Bhaktivedanta Manor. �...

When you listen to this audiobook you feel as if you are in his private room hearing him recount every detail of his often perilous and sometimes humorous—but never dull—journey across the earth. The intimate experience of hearing Radhanath Swami tell his story lasts for nineteen hours and is enhanced with thematic music and tasteful sound effects. The book itself touched the hearts of people around the globe. Ram Dass, teacher and author of Be Here Now, described it as “fascinating ...

Possibly the hottest topic at the Fall 2015 ISKCON New Vrindaban and Eco-Vrindaban Board Meetings, and certainly the one that drew the most interest, was the Community Dialog about a proposed new “Village Association.” For decades, New Vrindaban residents have felt a need to be heard more by the ISKCON management and to have more influence on how their community is run. So with a possible solution at hand, they were buzzing as they crowded into the Palace Lodge community hall after l...

By the unlimited mercy of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Guru Parampara ISKCON devotees of Telugu speaking land could offer Sri Chaitanya Charitamritam in Telugu (South Indian language) in the beginning of Golden Jubilee celebrations of ISKCON to the Founder Acharya His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Four hundred years old Sri Chaitanya Charitamritam got manifested in English about 40 years back for the pleasure reading of people around the world by the ...

Graham M. Schweig, a devotee and professor of religious studies, has been invited to write for the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Television Series entitled, "THE STORY OF GOD." He will write six "discussion guide" essays covering the perspective of Hinduism (along with four other writers representing the other major traditions) to be posted on the program's website that will guide the content for the series, a series produced by Morgan Freeman, et. al., a series to air in the U...

'Bhakti without Borders' is a rather apt name for an album of bhajans that has been nominated for the 58th Grammy Awards, to be held in Los Angeles next year on February 15. Eleven bhajans dedicated to Lord Krishna have made it to the prestigious list released on December 7. Why "without borders"? All of these songs have been composed by Krishna devotees from across the world — from Australia to America, from England to India. Nominated in the 'Best new age album' category, the collection, who...

Every December the entire ISKCON world focuses all attention on distribution of transcendental literature, something we all know was so close to Srila Prabhupada’s heart. He was incredibly eager to hear the figures of how many books were being distributed. Indeed, he said it gave him life. When a new book was printed, Prabhupada felt as though he had conquered an empire. He told one disciple – “the best of me is in my books.” At this special time in ISKCON’s history, Bhaktivedanta Manor wo...

Back in the 1960s and 1970s Hare Krishna was considered to be a cult. There were a lot of people who thought it was a crazy thing to do -- it wasn't legitimate, it wasn't authorised, it was another cult like the Moonies. People didn't understand that it is a very ancient religious tradition, based on ancient scriptures like the Bhagwad Gita. You had to constantly explain that to people. That was the challenge: Trying to differentiate us, Hare Krishnas, from the rest of the crazy things that were goin...

We are greatly relieved to report that Mukunda Maharaja’s hip surgery was done this morning from 9:15am till 12:45pm. By your prayers and Srila Prabhupada’s mercy it was very successful. All the medical stats are fine The orthopedic surgeons placed four screws into Maharaja’s hip and thigh under spinal anesthesia. Maharaja is back to his ICU room and is being closely monitored for blood pressure, oxygen level, clotting, infections and other vital parameters. If all goes well, later today the...

MEERUT: In times of rising intolerance over cow-related issues, here is a heart-warming story from Hapur. A Muslim family in city's Sikander Gate colony celebrated the first birthday of their cow, Julie. A 10kg specially-designed eggless cake was ordered and she was also made to wear a birthday cap as guests who came over to attend her birthday relished on pakodas, fruits and sweets. "Julie and her mother Bholi are just like family members to us. We take care of them like we take care of other ki...

I wanted to share a nice story with you all about a wonderful project put on by Mukunda Prabhu at the European Parliament in Brussels. The movie gives the illusion that I am the doer but I am simply the cook, and Mukunda Prabhu is doing a great service by presenting our philosophy to the top brains of Europe. On Wednesday 29.9. 2015 Food for Life Global has co-organised a sustainable food event held on the Esplanade of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Due to the recent passing away of His Grace Brahmananda dasa, in July 2015 I ventured to Sri Vrindavan dhama. Prior to his passing, Brahmananda and I had planned to write an article together for Back to Godhead magazine about Srila Prabhupada translating SrimadBhagavatam in the small Chippiwada temple in Old Delhi in the 1960s. At the time of our discussion, neither Brahmananda nor I had the resources to pursue the necessary research for the article, so now I decided to complete this task on beha...

Hare Krishna devotees established the Bhaktivedanta Swami Gurukula school in 1980 at Eungella on the outskirts of Murwillumbah in northern New South Wales, Australia. The introduction of new teaching programs has resulted in students outperforming others across the nation in this year's tests. Students performed above the national average in all categories in the compulsory literacy and numeracy exams. The school also performed above the average achieved by other Australian independent school...

A wonderful thing just happened. Tadit and I had a meeting with a rep from Amazon.com. They are launching a new program for their Prime Amazon customers in So. Cal. for take out food. We were picked as one of their vendors for take out within a three mile radius of the temple. This is really a big step up for us since they are a premier company for delivery goods as I'm sure you know. They will take our menu put it on the Amazon site and give their customers an app and then the customer sends us th...

Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki today hailed the role played by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for being a "beacon of peace across the globe", even when governments and big organisations fail to put an end to global terrorism. Speaking on the occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of Shri Krishna-Arjuna temple being built by ISKCON at Jyotisar in the district, Solanki said that this was the first time that a temple dedicated to both Lord Krishna and...

By Srila Prabhupada’s causeless mercy, Rose Forkash, who developed the Friends of Lord Krishna (FOLK) program with Srila Prabhupada’s direct encouragement and guidance, will receive initiation at my ashram in Carpinteria on Wednesday, August 19, between 10 a.m. and noon. She is four weeks away from her ninety-fifth birthday. Please bless her that she achieves complete success in Krishna consciousness in this very lifetime.

Surabhi Prabhu, beloved disciple of Srila Prabhupada and the devotee architect of Vrindavan and Juhu Temples, Samadhi Mandir, and Pushpa Samadhi Mandir. left this world at 2:50 this morning in Sri Vrindavan Dhama as he lost the battle with cancer.