Welcome to vol. 12 of the “Sannyasa Newsletter.” Srila Prabhupada adopted parts of the Vedic social system of varnasrama that are useful for ISKCON's organization as well as the well-being of its members and their spiritual advancement. Sannyasa is an important part of that system. As Srila Prabhupada writes in the Bhagavad-gita 3.35: “as long as one is on the material platform, he must perform his duties according to the modes of material nature. At the same time, he must have a full sense of Krsna consciousness.”

Our initial response may be to push on with our service regardless of what the civil authorities are directing, but we encourage you to work within the guidelines given by governments and other authorities. As a result, there may need to be some practical adjustments to the worship standards and schedule according to time, place and circumstance. As explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.8.54, the deity of the Lord is installed and worshipped

Your program for extending Sankirtana Party activities to the nearby towns and cities and universities is very welcome. I have received similar good report of such extended Sankirtana Party tours or trips from many other centers in Europe as well as America. Lord Caitanya's desire was that this chanting of the Holy Names be spread to every town and village on the face of the globe, and now His desire is being fulfilled. That is to your credit as sincere servants of the Lord." Srila Prabhupada November 1970

The ISKCON Leadership Sanga 2020 is almost here – only two months to away! Have you enrolled yet? Don’t worry there is still time to register for this wonderful event. ILS 2020 promises to be the largest gathering of ISKCON leaders to date. Five hundred devotees attended ILS in 2012 and the numbers have been steadily increasing. This will be our 5th ILS gathering, and we are anticipating 1,500 leading devotees from all over the world.

The Annual General Meeting of the ISKCON GBC Society will begin on February 11, 2020. Following the ISKCON GBC Society's Rules of Order, the GBC Secretariat requests proposals, duly sponsored by two GBC members, to be submitted by December 15, 2019. Note that NO proposals will be entertained after this date. Please follow the updated format for GBC Proposals, attached as a fillable PD

It’s been just over a year since we launched the completed Chantnow.com on Radhastami, 17th September 2018 and the results have been very encouraging. We began with an experimental Facebook advertising campaign that resulted in a surge of 275 people enrolling in our 7 day Chanting workshop at an advertising cost of just about $1 each. We knew we could generate student enrollments, but could we keep them progressing? To focus on student services, we then turned to fine-tuning our systems of automated cultivation using emails based on our users participation. Users who start the workshop ...

This open access book provides both a broad perspective and a focused examination of cow care as a subject of widespread ethical concern in India, and increasingly in other parts of the world. In the face of what has persisted as a highly charged political issue over cow protection in India, intellectual space must be made to bring the wealth of Indian traditional ethical discourse to bear on the realities of current human-animal relationships, particularly those of humans with cows. Dharma, yoga, and bhakti paradigms serve as starting points for bringing Hindu—particularly Vaishnav...

All other Kartik sacrifices and austerities become glorious by this simple act of reciting a chapter of Bhagavad Gita for few minutes every day without fail. As heat purifies gold and increases its luster, so this simple austerity of reading Bhagavad Gita every day burns away the dirty coverings of the soul and brightens one’s spiritual luster.

ILS is an opportunity for thousands of devotees, either currently or potentially involved in ISKCON’s leadership, to come together in order to share plans and aspirations for tomorrow’s ISKCON, learn new skills to improve ISKCON globally and locally and enliven one another by transformational Vaishnava exchanges like hearing and chanting in the association of the most senior members of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is celebrating its annual Mega Youth Fest ‘UDGAAR – An Expression of Goodness and Joy’, on October 6th at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. The theme for this festival is ‘Anti-Addiction: Making India Addiction Free’. The new world record for “ Largest Drug Awareness Lesson” will be established at the festival which will be delivered by Dr. Vivek Bindra, famous motivational speaker and Business Coach. Through UDGAAR, ISKCON hopes to inspire youngsters to realize their true potential in a clean, healthy and pro...

ILS 2020 Invitational Video. ILS 2020 promises to be the largest gathering of ISKCON leaders to date. Five hundred devotees attended ILS in 2012 and the numbers have been steadily increasing. This will be our 5th ILS gathering, and we are anticipating 1500 devotees from all over the world. Please be one of them! Those who joined Prabhupada’s mission in the 60’s and 70’ are anxious to see ISKCON’s management and leadership transferred safely into competent hands. This was the message Srila Prabhupada’s gave to his followers when he reached his mid-seventies.

According to ISKCON's general counsel, Devakinandan Prabhu, the 2020 ISKCON Global Conference of Devotee Attorneys will offer devotee attorneys, jurists and law students from around the world the opportunity to meet in person for the first time in order to (1) get to know each other in an atmosphere of collegiality and mutual understanding in devotion to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna, and (2) develop an integrated network of legal service providers capable of serving the 21st-century needs of ISKCON and its devotees. The term "devotee attorney" means any devotee or friend of Krishn...

August 14, 2019 - On Sri Balaram Jayanti Mahotsava (the Appearance Day of Lord Balaram), ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (“GBC”) and the Board of Directors of Bharati Center, Inci. (“Brooklyn Temple” or “Temple") won a notable victory in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court (“Appellate Court”). A four-judge panel of the Appellate Court denied a motion brought by the Temple’s former directors (“Former Directors”) for a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Temple’s current directors and officers from undertaking “any conduct . . . ...

Each year, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes a limited number of copies of a Vyasa-puja book—a collection of homages to Srila Prabhupada from devotees and temples all over the world. Srila Prabhupada's unique position as the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) is significant in numerous ways. Essentially, he is the instructing spiritual master for everyone within ISKCON. These books are available below, as .pdf documents for free download. When available, the books are divided into chapters to help you find the section you want faster....

The celebration of the auspicious festival of Janmashtami is a blessed occasion for the innumerable devotees of Shri Krishna. ISKCON has been making a remarkable contribution in spreading the divine philosophy, wisdom and message of Shri Krishna. Its members have been serving the humanity through its numerous philanthropic missions underlining the non-duality of service to God and humanity. The relevance of Shri Krishna's message of peace, unbounded spiritual love and bliss is timeless and universal in its appeal. His sublime instruction to humanity to perform duty without attachment...

In June of 2019, the Bhaktivedanta Archives completed the release of all of Srila Prabhupada’s audio files. It is now confirmed, there are over 2,400 hours of audio in 3,804 files to be listened to attentively. This is a great victory for his devotees! Indeed, the devotees want to hear Srila Prabhupada! Everyday we sing in joy “My only wish is to have my consciousness purified by the words emanating from his lotus mouth.” Srila Prabhupada’s tape ministry in the 1980’s had only 700 hours of audio. The Archives expanded the tape ministry in the 1990’s with another 300 hours. ...

History tells us that the album recordings took place in the famous EMI Studios at Abbey Road and Trident House Studios at Annes Court in July 1969 and January - March 1970. with the first single released in the second half of 1969 and Govinda hitting the charts in early 1970. The album itself was released in the USA on 21st May 1971 and 28th May of that year in Europe. These master tapes, reel 1 & 2, are dated 3rd February 1971. Interesting fact is that Reel 1 has a note written on it stating, 'Title changed to Goddess of Fortune' BBT 101A and Reel 2 says BBT 101B. This was the mo...

In the MetaVision period Mohan filmed many Krishna Conscious events, seminars and festivals. He even went on an European Tour, recording different temples and their local activities. All these were recorded on a semi professional system called Sony U-Matic. These tapes can not be played on your normal house VHS and/or Betamax systems, they are simply to big. Measuring 3/4 inch. According to several devotees, whom I have spoken to, this archive ended up on Inish Rath in Northern Ireland, brought there by Tribhuvanath prabhu. Some devotees claim to have seen the tapes there. But they ...

We have personally seen Srila Prabhupada's eagerness to preach to even one person. It is our honor, privilege and great happiness to continue to serve his desire in distributing HARE KRISHNA! to all parts of the world thus giving access to thousands to view his amazing life story and thus begin their journey on the path of lasting freedom. To date, HARE KRISHNA! has been screened in public movie theaters in 39 countries and has been viewed online in more than 100 countries. All in all, over 14,000 DVDs in the four languages have been distributed since January.

The horrific massacre that unfolded in Christchurch New Zealand on Friday 15th March, in which to date 50 human beings have lost their lives, is truly a very dark moment in history, not only for Muslims but for all who treasure the gift of life. On behalf of the Australian and New Zealand Hare Krishna Movement, I wish to convey that ISKCON members all over the world offer their sincere prayers to all who are suffering due to this insane act of evil madness. Our deepest sympathy goes to those who lost family members, friends and fellow members of the Christchurch Muslim community, as w...

Today we express our heartfelt sorrow to the senseless and horrific atrocities that took place in New Zealand. Defenceless, peaceful people praying in a sacred place taken away in a cowardly act of terrorism. We stand united with the Muslim community against such evil terror.

“It has been a most momentous 50 years. From the devotees first arriving on UK soil to where we are today and everything in between has been some journey of hard work, good fortune, unexpected twists and turns, great struggle and even a sprinkling of miracles! We look forward to the next 50 years and all it has to bring!”

When we began this project one of our primary goals was to provide a way for devotees, especially book distributors, to connect people they meet with a follow-up system. One of our main considerations was to have online courseware to provide people that are interested. Now we have it and we invite you to use it. I'm especially hoping that this facility could be taken up by book distributors during the upcoming marathon.

I was saddened to hear about the fire at the Manor's Goshala but incredibly grateful to Krishna that nobody was hurt and that the cows are safe. I was also very happy to learn that Jagaddhatri, Devaki and Sanjay are all fine after being treated in hospital for smoke inhalation. The quick actions and tireless work of both our devotees and emergency services helped to contain the fire, and avoid what could have been an unimaginable disaster. It is testimony to the devotee...