By Avadhutacandra Das
ISKCON Finland obtains the Malmi Manor
ISKCON has been active in Finland for more than 30 years but there has never been a fixed location to serve as a temple. In 2012 the devotees had to vacate the previous temple due to the termination of the lease. Devotees have been working since then to find a temple for Srila Prabhupada and a suitable base for the Vaishnava community in Finland.
The devotees had been promised one property at reduced rate by the Helsinki City Council. Unfortunately, a business group managed to talk the council in selling them the property. When this became known to the public, there was a flood of protests. In what could only described as Krishna’s miracle in Finland, the City offered ISKCON the Malmi Manor for €260,000.
Malmi Manor is a 140-years old prestigious historical property in Helsinki. It is situated in the heart of the metropolitan area, in a protected Finnish traditional area, and is easily reachable by different forms of transport. It consists of two buildings with large grounds with much room for devotees and a beautiful temple room. It is valued at approximately one million Euros.
Despite this miraculous offer, the devotees were in difficulty to raise the funds. The community in Finland is small and mainly of students and other young people. ISKCON Finland decided to hold a crowdfunding campaign in November-December of 2014 and appeal to greater ISKCON. The response brought in almost €35,000 from devotees around the world.
When this amount was added to what we had already collected locally, it was enough to convince the bank to issue a loan for the balance. So because the worldwide community of ISKCON came to the rescue, this beautiful property is now officially in the possession of Srila Prabhupada.
On behalf of all the devotees in Finland, we offer the sincerest gratitude to the international community of devotees for their support in making this dream a reality.
”This was all possible due to not only the contributors to the crowdfunding campaign, but also devotees spreading the word by putting links on their websites, and other coverage like the article in ISKCON News” says Avadhuta Candra das, the Vice-president of ISKCON Helsinki. “The Malmi Manor is now one of the gems in Srila Prabhupada’s crown known as ISKCON that everyone can be proud of.”