“Metpally . . . Radha-Krishna installation . . . festival . . .” Our ashram at ISKCON Chowpatty was buzzing with this discussion last week when I visited after a gap of few days. Many brahmacharis were excited about visiting this small town in Telangana, around 800 kms from Mumbai. The temple managers were busy arranging for all the essential services that had to be taken care of in the absence of so many devotees.

From its inception, Avanti’s ethos has been inspired by the Vaisnava teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, creating a 21st century ecosystem that sustains the highest quality of education possible, integrated with unique, holistic and spiritual practices to support the innermost needs of every child.

We would like to inform the ISKCON community that HH Jayapataka Swami has been tested positive for Covid-19 this evening. At the moment Maharaja does not have any symptoms but the doctors and the Seva-Committee are having an emergency meeting to decide on a plan of action for treatment and if it is necessary to move Maharaja to a hospital. We kindly request all disciples and well-wishers to pray to Lord Krsna for the well being of Maharaja and many of his servants who also tested positive.

For the past 3 years, ISKCON Hong Kong has launched an outreach Sri Damodara Street program during the all auspicious Kartik month. This year was no exception. Devotees set up a mini mobile temple on the street and warmly invited the passers-by to offer ghee lamps to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Sri Yasoda Damodara Deities. This program was accompanied with sweet chanting of the holy names, lovely prasadam and book distribution. In the face of the epidemic, we immensely felt that the message of Godhead was much needed in the society to give both the dressed and distressed light and hope...

The BIHS workshop was designed to facilitate intellectual discourse engaging 5th Canto cosmographical models frequently discussed within ISKCON. The workshop explored historical and contemporary models along with new research that enhances the rich devotional culture engaging this topic. The Director of the BIHS, Brahmatirtha das (MS Geology), one of the founding members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute who participated in the original 1977 “Life Comes From Life” conference held in Vrindavan while Srila Prabhupada was present, explained, “We are striving to elevate the discourse to...

This is a revolutionary article from the New York Times in the USA. It came out today. It's a long time coming! And it speaks of Krsna consciousness in a very favorable way as well! A big bravo for Ms.Tavares! Please notice Srila Prabhupada's photo on the wall in the photo. All glories to His Divine Grace!. Ms. Tavares, a Hare Krishna who describes cooking as a sacred act that brings her closer to God, says, “There is a shift of consciousness underway.”

During the extended lockdown due to the pandemic situation, the residents of Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV) took to an in depth study of Srimad Bhagavatam, making the most of the collective opportunity. GEV is the home for many scholarly devotees who share the wealth of their Vedic wisdom across the world. As circumstances would have it, many of them like Sanatkumar Prabhu, Gauranga prabhu, Chaitanya Caran prabhu, Damodar prabhu, Gauranga Darshan prabhu, Balaram Sakti prabhu and Madhav Gopal Prabhu were all in GEV from March to November 2020. It was like a sweetshop being unable to distribute ...

TOTAL GHEE LAMP OF WHOPPING 132,180! HG Jagabandhu das, a disciple of HH Janananda Goswami Maharaj is a humble youth & highly inspiring devotee who distributes Srila Prabhupada’s teachings through his words, actions and preaching by conducting major scale Ratha Yatra, distributing Mahaprasadham, chanting beads & Srila Prabhupada’s books! All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

In September Bhakti Learning were thrilled to receive an award for Best e-learning Design at the Annual LearnX Awards held in Sydney, Australia. The category for the award was Shift-it-Online. We successfully demonstrated to the judges how we shifted traditional learning content to an online platform, using innovative design and delivery methods.

Devotees are so creative in serving ISKCON around the world for different festivals. The holy month of Damodara is no surprise for yet another creative way of honouring Lord Damodar with a mobile Temple. The engineering geniuses behind this amazing service are HG Govindaji Das and HG Anand Prabhu of Durban South Africa. Govindaji das serves in various services for ISKCON in Durban. His most fascinating service is being in charge of the feeding section for Durban Ratha Yatra, ensuring over 10,000 plates a day for 4 consecutive days are served to the visiting community. As we all know...

In the past, ISKCON has already been accepted as a religious community in Serbia, all until 2007 when it was erased from the list with an explanation that its Statute is more suitable for a civil organisation, not a religious one. Last year devotees finally agreed to join efforts and start the whole process of registration again. One hundred signatures had to be collected and all the legal and supporting documents composed. The request was at first reset to a new round due to objections related to two signatures, which made the devotees collect those all from scratch again. After the sig...

With no end in sight, the Corona pandemic continues to take its toll on human health. More in terms of mental than physical. The fatality rate due to the corona has gone up, workplaces are being opened more for economic reasons not because the Corona pandemic is over. In between all these chaotic scenes, Iskcon Chennai-Perambur came up with the idea of providing the sublime knowledge of Bhagavad to masses in form of Bhagavad Gita 18 Adhyay 18 Satra i.e Bhagavad Gita 18 Chapters in 18 Days(1-18 Nov) for Hindi speaking population. Registration was opened on 27th October and Sessions w...

Over 6500 Participated in ISKCON Malaysia’s Virtual Deepavali. The event, which was attended by 6,538 participants from many locations including Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, UK, USA, Russia, and South America, exceeded the previous record of 1,360 participants in the category of Largest Participation in a Virtual Deepavali event in the Malaysian Book of Records.

My wife and I were pondering how to reach out the community with Prabhupada books during the pandemic and we happened to see little birdfeeder-sized, house-shaped structures full of books on the front lawns of houses in our neighborhood. We thought that these would be nice altars for Prabhupada books, and peeked inside. They contained books related to fiction, science, romance, health, and travel as well as kids’ books. As we didn’t see any spiritual books, we thought to place Bhagavad-Gita and other small books of Prabhupada.

Visitors are always asking what they can bring to feed the cows. A cow's stomach is surprisingly sensitive for such a large animal and it is because of this that we recommend only bringing apples, bananas and carrots to feed them. We also have molasses balls made for the cows which you can buy from the shop for $5 for two. If you are visiting on a Saturday or Sunday we feed the cows after prasadam is served.

6 days of Parikrama with 40,000 devotees hearing Gaura Katha from more than 15 Sannyasis and Prabhupad Disciples!! Want to hear our story? in the auspicious month of Purusottama this year when ISKCON Mayapur announced a Virtual Navadvipa Mandala Parikrama. This idea was conceived under the guidance of the Parikrama Commander HH Jayapataka Swami and conducted by Mayapur Tourism Division. It is prescribed in the Purusottama Month that one should visit Holy places and perform as much as extra devotional activities as possible. By doing so one achieves unlimited spiritual benefits. Wha...

HH Candramauli Maharaja has been feeling unwell for some time and recently tested positive for Covid. Maharaja is in stable condition and experiencing flu-like symptoms at present. Please offer prayers for Maharaja's prompt recovery to good health so that he can continue to inspire us all with his humility, kindness, inspiring classes, and ecstatic dancing.

I wanted to share the attached scan of a recent letter Visakha prabhu has received from Buckingham Palace, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen.It is in response to Visakha's article about the Queen entitled: "Royal Duty - Divine Duty" published in the Jul/ Aug 2020 edition of Back to Godhead. It was a very positive article praising the Queen's devotion to her duty, and how everyone can get closer to God through our own attention to duty and service.

The International Shravanam week is not the end of the emphasis on reading every day. It was meant to have a concerted effort to remind us all of the significance of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books every day for every member of ISKCON. At the ministry we have now close to 108 realizations and several recorded interviews that we will release one every week. We hope that with your support we can maintain the enthusiasm until the next year festival and for lifetimes to come :- )

(This is a sticky, always updated post, with the latest news from the World Holy Name Festival). Srila Prabhupada’s greatest desire was to spread the chanting of the Holy Names all over the world. To fulfill this desire, the Governing Body Commission (GBC) of ISKCON established World Holy Name Day to commemorate Srila Prabhupada Arrival anniversary to the west, during Srila Prabhupada's Centennial in 1996. World Holy Name Day, along with many other Centennial programs was a tremendous success.

Gopal’s Glorious Gang (GGG) is a children’s club in Brisbane, Australia with about 80 children, from 4 to 16 years old. Our goal in forming this club is to help each child become a well-rounded human being through intellectual, personal and spiritual growth.

The dream came true! We hit the road for Czech Padayatra again, for the 27th time. It was an absolutely nectarian and merciful highlight of the year. We left the gray comfort zone of our average troubled daily lives - which are full of danger at every step. Danger in the form of forgetting Krishna, Srila Prabhupada’s mercy, and the ocean of mercy of traveling Lords Chaitanya and Nityananda. There are no glimpses of forgetfulness during Padayatra as all are protected here. Wandering from town to town, village to village - with continuous kirtan, book and maha prasadam distribution, we ...

Staying true to ISKCON’s Founder Acharya, AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s, vision that peace and prosperity be brought to the world through the distribution of sanctified vegetarian meals prepared with love and devotion, ISKCON Melbourne has continued to reach wide and far taking part in the distribution of nutritious FREE vegetarian meals.

This project has been the largest single project, since the time of George Harrison donating Bhaktivedanta Manor in 1973. Over the last 40 years we have seen incredible changes; through many trials and tribulations, the devotees have continued to remain focused on their duty and getting on with what needs to get done. Despite the challenges of a world that is constantly changing, the devotion and determination of Krishna’s devotee will definitely ensure a bright future.