On a recent sunny morning, Dr. Piyush Gupta was gazing across a broad expanse of land just west of Hilliard. Many might just see a dew-covered field dotted with groups of trees, but Gupta can imagine a large, white stone temple rising up from the ground. The site, just off Walker Road, is the future home of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness Columbus, of which Gupta is a council member. ISKCON is a society for Hare Krishnas, who believe meditation can purify one’s consciousness. The society, located in a small house near Ohio State University’s Wexner M...

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan, visited ISKCON Ujjain on 6th October. He was greeted by a large group of devotees chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. As he stepped out of his car, he became so inspired by that kirtan that he also started dancing. The GBC mid-term meeting is going on in Ujjain now and when Maharaj told the Chief Minister about that, he expressed his desire to also participate in that meeting. His Holiness then escorted the Chief Minister to the conference hall where the GBC mid-term meeting is being held. While introdu...

Since moving back two years ago, he has been serving as the construction and maintenance manager for ISKCON New Vrindaban, overseeing a team of seven. Together they are assisting the effort to physically revitalize key parts of New Vrindaban, much of which had received little maintenance over the previous thirty years. In his two years there so far Bhagavan and his team have already done an impressive number of upgrades.

A few years back a brand expert was asked about ISKCON UK’s presence on social media. His response was simple and to the point: ‘the good news is that you are not scary anymore, you are just confusing’. Though temples and devotees do have a solid presence on social media, the big question remains, how effective is that presence? To examine this question, devotees from across the UK came together at Bhaktivedanta Manor for a weekend of communications training that focused on social media.

The Hare Krishna devotee community from Nairobi was fortunate to attend and an enlightening talk was given by Her Grace Manasiganga Mataji. She spoke at length about oneness as God's children irrespective of religion and creed and how every living entity is precious before God. In one of her points she emphasized on the protection and care of the environment which is a mother to us, as much as we should take care of the environment, we also need to take care of our spiritual selves. "if we take care of ourselves, and seek to better ourselves as individuals, then the wor...

Uttarakhand is famous as ‘Devbhoomi’ , ‘The Land of Demigods’. It has many beautiful and serene valleys. Definitely a heaven for the yogis! But we are not yogis, we are Krsna bhaktas! Srila Prabhupada’s Krsna Consciousness movement is so nice that any other process than bhakti yoga looks so petty for this age. Anywhere we preach and people are so much attracted towards this timeless philosophy i.e. The Science of Krsna Consciousness.

People are fascinated to watch how we fry the pakoras in ghee (clarified butter), especially in such large woks – and they have become addicted to our tomato chutney, which we now sell in separate jars, along with dry batter and instructions on what to do to make pakoras. People tell me they wait all year long to get our food and that it’s the only thing they’ll eat at the Stomp, that it’s the best food. One year a woman came to the booth and said she wanted some of whatever we were selling. I understood that she didn’t know what they were and asked if she...

To make our books green we are keen on using paper made from controlled, sustainable forestry practices, and working with printers who use environmentally friendly inks, varnishes, and manufacturing processes. While it’s not yet possible to make every book we print completely green (it’s more difficult when we print in Asia, for example), most of our books are FSC-certified. It’s no small thing to get an FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) stamp. These days, the FSC requires that 99 percent of the materials to create a book come from controlled, sustainable, ...

The MSF event was organized with nearly 75 devotees split into 9 groups, spread across the city distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books with electric enthusiasm. The devotees were accompanied on the field by His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu and His Grace Bhima Prabhu. It was as if the people of Pune were getting to taste the nectar of associating with devotees and getting these precious books without even knowing what they are getting! By distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, the devotees seriously damaged Maya’s plans to keep the living entities in ignorance. And this da...