By Mayapur Sasi dasaDuring August, in the Large Temples category, Ujjain had the highest increase, 113%, with 10,082 book points. In the middle of India in August it's hot. So devotees doing the austerity of book distribution in Ujjain's heat get some extra mercy. Among medium temples, Baroda had the highest increase, with 1,437 book points, an increase of 355%. Let's pray that the devotees can maintain this higher level. Baroda is in Gujarat, where many pious people want to hear about Krsna. Among small temple...
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- 20 Sep 2016
By Subhangi Devi DasiEvery year over 100,000 people line the streets of Towoomba in Queensland Australia for the Grand Floral Street Parade. This year on the 17th Sept Iskcon Bhakti Centre Gold Coast participated with our Rathyatra cart. Jaganath, Subhadra and Baladev were so well recieved that we won first prize. The theme is flowers so who does flowers better than the Hare Krishnas? The cart was decorated by Sukla Devi Dasi, Rasarani Devi Dasi and Dhruva Das who worked on it for 5hours before the parade. So m...
- 20 Sep 2016
By Lakshmanesvara DasaMany international religious and political leaders honored ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada’s achievements and contributions at a special ISKCON 50th Anniversary Gala Event in Washington D.C. on Tuesday September 13th. The event took place in the Presidential Ballroom at the Capital Hilton Hotel on 16th Street. Three blocks from the White House, the Ballroom has hosted every president since Harry S. Truman and features a permanent eight-foot presidential seal on its wall. Over 300 people...
- 17 Sep 2016
By the Sannyasa MinisterIt is the duty of a sannyasi to become advanced in Krishna consciousness by trying to please the Supreme and serve His mission, by cooperating with other devotees to spread Krishna consciousness to the innocent, and by defeating atheistic propaganda. Srila Prabhupada writes in NOI 5 that “this is the way to cultivate devotional service properly.” Sannyasis teaching these methods of spiritual advancement to the those cultivating pure devotional service, whether acting as diksa or siksa ...
- 17 Sep 2016
By Madhava SmullenReligious and Political Leaders Appreciate Srila Prabhupada at ISKCON 50 Gala Dinner in Washington D.C. The response from the VIPs to the evening was overwhelmingly positive, with many commenting that they had been unaware of the depth of Srila Prabhupada’s scholarship, or the breadth of his contributions in spreading the Krishna tradition around the world. The ISKCON devotees present, meanwhile, were very inspired to see so many esteemed personalities appreciating ISKCON’s contributions. -...
- 16 Sep 2016
By Gokulananda dasAs you walk towards the twin-towered Complexe Desjardins, in the heart of downtown Montreal's popular festival district, just opposite the prestigious Place-des-Arts, you are beckoned by the elegant Bharatnatyam dancer on the 15 x18 ft. banner at the main entrance to come inside to explore the exotic cultural event of Sept. 2-3 : Journey to the Heart of India. Upon entering the impressive central foyer with its 80 ft. ceiling adorned with skylights and saffron/yellow flower umbrellas, you can...
- 16 Sep 2016
By Acarya-nistha dasaMayapur Academy has been established to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire for the development of deity worship and brahminical culture in ISKCON. By creating an educational institution of excellence in Mayapur to teach brahminical culture, arts and sciences, deity worship, cooking, samskaras etc. this vision will be fulfilled.
...- 15 Sep 2016
By Braja Vilas dasSrila Bhaktivinoda Thakur is one of the most important acaryas in our Gaudiya line. He can be seen as the father of modern-day Krishna Consciousness. He, along with his son Bhaktisiddhanta, created an explosion of preaching all over India, and he was also the first Vaisnava to send books to the west. He rediscovered many of the pilgrimage sites in Mayapur and foresaw the day when devotees from all over the globe would arrive here to perform blissful Sankirtana together. Srila Prabhupada often to...
- 15 Sep 2016
By Mayapur Sasi dasaFor the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada this report contains the following North American results of book distribution for the month of August 2016. North American Totals, Monthly Temples, Monthly Weekend Warriors. Monthly Top 100 Individuals, Monthly Top 5, Cumulative Countries, Cumulative Temples, Cumulative Top 100 Individuals, Cumulative Top 5
...- 14 Sep 2016
By Chaitanya Charan DasISKCON of DC, Sunday Open House Talks, This Week’s Talk: Science and Spirituality. We live in the age of science. How does that impact our spiritual practice? Does each one have a role to play in spiritual development and raising consciousness?
...- 12 Sep 2016
By the TOVP teamSeptember 2016 will mark the undertaking of the second TOVP fundraising tour in South Africa in commemoration of ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary and Srila Prabhupada’s sacrifices for the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The first tour in 2013 was a major success bringing in over $3 million (U.S.) in pledges from the devotees. However, this time Lord Nityananda’s padukas (shoes) and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s sitari (helmet) will grace and bless the tour and will be accompanied by His Grace Jananivas...
- 11 Sep 2016
By the TOVP teamThe TOVP Team wants to express its deepest thanks and appreciation to His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja and all his disciples and the devotees of the Delhi Temple for their sacrifice, cooperation and example in facilitating the TOVP fundraising efforts at Maharaja’s recent Vyasa Puja ceremony. This is the second time Maharaja invited us to attend and he and his disciples are leading the charge in India to help finance this dear-most project of Srila Prabhupada.
...- 11 Sep 2016
By Candrabhaga devi dasiPadayatra Iceland was a joint event largely made possible by the efforts of Bhakta Pavel, who last year had gone to the main town of Reykjavik on a book distribution mission. Happy with the success of his mission, he planned another visit for the summer of 2016 both to the city and to a remote tourist area of northern Iceland called Akureyri. While in Mayapur during the padayatra ministry seminars for the ILS event, I thought about how to expand, to do more padayatras to reach the goal of ...
- 10 Sep 2016
By The TOVP teamWhen, by our cooperative efforts worldwide, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is completed at the heart of ISKCON, all of its associated centers everywhere will become more fully manifest as entranceways to the spiritual world. This will be a major achievement—a crowning achievement—of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s project, following Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, of “the respiritualization of the entire human society,” empowering the whole world to “convert the illusory con...
- 10 Sep 2016
By Hari Narayana dasRamadewa is a rural village where the most of the residents are Hindus from Bali. Actually there was no devotee in this village. So how could Lord Jagannath reach this rural village? On one of the ratha yatra in Lampung a year ago, a parliament member of Lampung, Mr. I Komang Koheri, SH, from Ramadewa was invited to participate in the festival. He fell in love with the festival. He approached the devotees in Lampung to also organize a ratha yatra in his village. The devotees were surprised to...
- 9 Sep 2016
By Bhaktirasa dasaFor some time now I have been concerned for the freedoms and safeties of my fellow Hare Krsna devotees in Bangladesh, who are trying to exist peacefully in a socio-political context which is extremely fractious, volatile and imminently inflammatory. I have become aware of isolated incidents of extreme physical attacks on individual priests and small gatherings during their worship practices. Such attacks have been enacted by thugs portraying themselves as Islamic extremist fundamentalists. A fe...
- 7 Sep 2016
By Yasodadulal DasaKrishna’s unbelievable reciprocation: I loved the spontaneity and excitement of the experience. I always felt that Radha and Krishna were alongside me and that Prabhupada was happy with my efforts. There were always people to help. I very quickly learned to see God within the hearts of all people. Krishna responded with unbelievable generosity. It was an incredible challenge, filled with the mystery of the unknown, heightened with risk and yet surrounded in the security of knowing my Lo...
- 7 Sep 2016
By Mathura Lilesvari Devi DasiYear after year many soldiers of Srila Prabhupada are leaving us bereft of their association. These are great Prabhupadanugas who has dedicated their lives for the mission of Srila Prabhupada. There is so much to learn from their lives. Her Grace Kaulini Devi Dasi was born on August 30, 1946 in Sacremento, California. She grew up there and joined ISKCON in 1972 in San Francisco with her then husband, Keshava Bharati Prabhu (now Keshava Bharati Swami). While in San Francisco, she w...
- 6 Sep 2016
By Braja Vilas dasOn this most auspicious occasion of the appearance day of Srimati Radharani, we at the TOVP would like to extend our best wishes to all of you. We hope that on this day everyone can receive Her blessings, which are needed to attract Lord Krishna’s mercy. Srila Prabhupada wrote the song ‘Krishna Tava Punya Habe Bhai’ in his Jaladuta diary, where he explained: “O, brothers! The Supreme Lord Krishna will bestow virtue upon you -- but He will do this only when Srimati Radharani first becomes...
- 6 Sep 2016
By Madhava SmullenDevotees at ISKCON New Vrindaban, West Virginia are in the midst of major renovations on Srila Prabhupada’s Palace. And they’re launching a campaign to help them continue restoring the renowned Smriti Samadhi, or memorial shrine to ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, to its full glory. The effort is a labor of love, just as it was when devotees first started building the Palace in 1973, intending it as a residence for their guru, who expressed a strong desire to retire there and translate his books...
- 6 Sep 2016
By Roisin HendersonNESTLED among the many islands of the Erne is the pretty, wooded isle of Inish Rath, home to possibly Fermanagh’s smallest religious community. For the past 30 years, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known to most simply as the Hare Krishnas, have called the island home. Since 1986, this group has been ever changing, attracting members from all over Ireland and far beyond. While there are currently only 12 full time residents at the settlement – whi...
- 5 Sep 2016
By Sandeep S Thakkar The world holy name week (WHNW-16) was celebrated globally from 28th Jul – 14th Aug 2016. Devotees in Singapore at the Gauranga Centre, played their part of spreading the glories of holy name by doing harinaam sankirtan. Indeed, the holy name week had a rousing start as devotees were led by a senior kirtaniya to an ecstatic round of kirtan. In Singapore owing to a hectic work schedule, devotees decided to dedicate their evenings after work to engage in the service of the holy name sankir...
- 4 Sep 2016
By Anuradha Devi DasiThe evening of Friday, 2nd September saw Durban come out to celebrate ISKCON 50 in grand style through a VIP gala dinner. The event was organised as a special joint effort between the two Durban temples, Sri Sri Radha Radhanath Temple of Understanding in Chatsworth and New Jagannath Puri Temple in Phoenix. The guest list comprised of close to five hundred of Durban’s elite - professionals, businessmen, academics, government members, media and artists– all especially invited to the evenin...
- 4 Sep 2016
By BB Govinda SwamiHis Grace Radha Damodara Prabhu succumbed to cancer last evening. He was surrounded by Vaisnavas chanting the Lord's holy names. He was a pioneer, extremely humble, and it was always a pleasure to have moments of his association. He first heard the Maha-mantra in 1979 and began chanting right away. He soon became one of the leaders of the ISKCON movement, which was then illegal in the Soviet Union. In May 1983, he was arrested and imprisoned for his faith. While in prison, he had to work in dan...
- 4 Sep 2016