Contemplation and prayer remind us that that people of all faiths have an obligation to perform seva, or service to others. And the flame of the diya, or lamp, reminds us that light will ultimately triumph over darkness. Here in the United States, Diwali also reminds us that our nation is home to many faiths and traditions, and that our diversity makes us stronger, which is why I’m proud that this year Democrats and Republicans in Congress joined together for the first-ever celebration of Diwali on Capitol Hill. Over the last five years,...

Nineteen ISKCON devotees were injured when a Vrindavan bound bus rammed against a tree after one of its tyres punctured near Maghera village falling under Vrindavan police station today. "While eleven devotees were rushed to district hospital, eight were taken to Paras Mani Hospital. Nobody is in critical position," Dy SP Anil Yadav said. The accident occurred this afternoon when a tyre punctured and the bus, carrying 50 pilgrims, hit a tree. The pilgrims are on Kartik parikrama, and were proceeding to ISKCON Vrindavan via Goverdhan from Badr...

Everyday, ISKCON devotees around the world sing the song, “Jaya Radha-Madhava” before the Srimad Bhagavatam class. It is also sung in most Gaudiya Math temples -- generally during the time of the Raj-bhog-arati. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Prabhupada was especially fond of this song, which expresses the sweet mood of worship of Vrindavan. Yet how many people know about the Radha-Madhava Deities for whom Srila BhaktivinodeThakur wrote this wonderful song?For the last 14 years Sri Sri Radha-Madhava, the origina...

A brand new Devotee Relations Department was officially established in March 2014 at the ISKCON New Vrindaban community. The new department is headed up by Sukhavaha Dasi, who joined ISKCON in New Vrindaban back in 1974 and has lived and served there for many years. Sukhavaha holds a degree in social welfare from Penn State University, and has taken courses on leadership, leadership training, and compassionate communication. She’s also the author of the book, Revealing the Heart: The Practice of Compassion.

For the last decade in Britain there has been intense discussion about our membership of something called the European Union or ‘EU.’ Are we part of something much bigger than our borders, and if so, what are the terms of our membership? While the political wrangling continues, for the past 13 years we in the Hare Krishna movement have been creating a web of connections between all our temples in the EU and sharing resources and expertise. The annual meetings of European devotees of Krishna have taken place in Spain, Italy, Belgium and Ge...

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent announcement, the Home Ministry has issued a notification that a "Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card" shall be valid for a lifetime. On Sunday, PM Modi, while addressing 18,000 Indian Americans and NRIs at New York's Madison Square Garden venue, declared that those with PIO cards would have lifetime visas and would no longer need to report periodically to a police station while in India. The announcement was met with cheers and applause.

Going the conventional way, Stainless Steel with a gold finish, was the material of choice for the Kalash, Chakra and a few other elements on the temple exterior. The key requirements for the coating included a longevity of at least 500 years and low maintenance. After intensive research by Bhaskara Das and Parvata Muni Das, Titanium Nitride was picked as the material for coating the stainless steel

Patanjali Muni das and Prayojana das have recently been on a preaching tour of South Korea, which included classes held in Kyounghee and Gacheon University’s, in the Shanti Yoga Center, at temples in Pocheon and Itawon, plus house programs with Indian families. Afterwards, Professor Jung was so moved that she expressed her gratitude by inviting the devotees back, not only to her University but also to her own home.

She then told us that she took the Maha Mantra back to her village in Brazil and gave it to all there. She also narrated a story about this one snake that came into their house where they lived and in the morning when they woke up, the snake was all coiled around a picture of Srila Prabhupada she had. Only the face of Srila Prabhupada was exposed in the picture. The snake was never seen again since. So we can say that this mataji could have been one of the early pioneers in the early days that took Srila Prabhupada and the Maha Mantr...

New Delhi/Washington: Among the host of high profile personalities to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his New York visit will be a US politician of especial interest - Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu American in the US Congress and a strong supporter of Modi.

After an arrival lecture, in Gainsville (FL, USA), on July 29, 1971, Srila Prabhupada was asked by a reporter in the audience, “It seems that most of the devotees are young people, persons under thirty, under twenty-five. Why is this so? …” Srila Prabhupada responded, “Why, in the university, you'll find all the students are young boys and girls? Why?” “That's the age of education,” she said, as the realization of her own words sunk in. “That's the age of Krishna consciousness,” Srila Prabhupada reinforced, “old fools, they ...

In the week leading up to Janmastami 2014 and over its 2 day festivities, several politicians, from both local and state level, visited ISKCON’s Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir, Australia. The reason for these visits was to present our kitchen facilities in their need for upgrading and expansion, for which architectural plans have been approved and an application for a $750,000 government grant has been submitted.

The United States Department of Agriculture has listed ISKCON’s Gita- nagari Farm in Port Royal, Pennsylvania as one of the most important success stories of preservation and sustainability in 2013.

We estimate that more than 7 lakh devotees visited the temple on Janmastami day. For security purposes nearly 700 police personnel from the Delhi police were stationed in and around the temple. Additionally, several notable citizens of the country visited the temple for the darshan of Their Lordships, a few of the names are mentioned below: Sri Harshavardhan (Union Minister of Health & Welfare), Sri Amar Singh (Member of Parliament - Rajya Sabha), Sri Satish Upadhaya (President of BJP, Delhi State), Sri Manish (Deputy Director - CBI)...

When God appears in this world, He does not do so because He is forced to. Rather, He appears in this world out of His divine love for all living beings and Mother Earth herself. God loves us and beckons to us to love Him. His very essence is divine love. Krishna is all-loving and all-lovable. And the more our love for Him grows, so does our love for others, regardless of their race, religion, or nationality. Such divine love is the essence of Krishna, the essence of Janmashtami, and the essence of real religion.

The Boston center of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, established in 1968 and now known as New Gundica Dham, was one of the most prominent temples in the early years of the Hare Krishna movement. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada set a number of milestones in Boston, distinguishing the yatra's position as a significant center for the development of Lord Caitanya’s Sankirtana movement in the west. It was at Boston’s Commonwealth Pier in 1965 that Srila Prabhupada first set foot on Western soi...

By Lord Krishna's grace, the first phase of our refugee relief effort in Ukraine has been very successful in transporting, securing, and sheltering the lives of over two hundred of His devotees, including a large number of children. Ukrainian leaders managed to relocate and accommodate the refugees' families, provide adults with temporary or permanent employment and single mothers with adequate maintenance for them and their dependent children. Unfortunately, due to disrupted communications in areas of combat, we cannot provide an exact num...

I'm a qualified accountant, I work in Croydon at the Home Office, and people there call me Ash but at the Hare Krishna temple I'm Acyuta. I got involved with the Hare Krishna movement in my last year of uni about 10 years ago. A few monks came down, and gave a class on karma and why bad things happen to good people, and I found answers I had been looking for. I was initiated in 2007, and given a baptism name: Acyuta Charan Das.

Food for Life in the Northern Island of New Zealand received two glowing articles in the Whangarei Leader. One article featured volunteer Vanessa Hodgon who has served at the FFL kitchen for the last 18 months, while the other reported on the Corrections’ Vegetable Garden that supplies the FFL kitchen and the Salvation Army food bank

I wish to report our recent efforts in Zambia when we met the first President HE Dr Kenneth Kaunda and presented Srila Prabhupad books and Bhagawad Gita As It Is to him by HH Rama Govind Swami during his preaching visit to Lusaka with the undersigned

For the first few years the average attendance was less than 5 students, generally just 1 or 2 students would participate in the weekly events. In recent years, however, the attendance has grown significantly to where 10 or more students participate on average. Weekly yoga sessions were added that helped to bring in more students to the core program of hearing, chanting and honoring of Krishna Prasadam. The St. Louis temple is soon to close on a purchase of a property a block away from the University to serve as a 'Krishna House'

The 2014 Srila Prabhupada Tributes book–”the open Vyasa-puja book”– is now available as a pdf file from www.sptributes.com. The book should be available later this week in epub format. Physical books are on schedule for delivery soon, well in advance of Vyasa-puja.