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The Hare Krishna movement was built on a pioneering spirit. Srila Prabhupada was the original pioneer who then empowered three couples – Mukunda and Janaki, Shyamasundara and Malati (with their baby Sarasvati), and Gurudasa and Yamuna – with a dream to start a center in London and meet the biggest band in the world, the Beatles, to help spread Krishna Consciousness.
The couples arrived in London in September 1968, and by Christmas, they were chanting Hare Krishna with the Beatles themselves! On 14th December the following year, the Radha-Krishna Temple was officially opened in the heart of London and Srila Prabhupada personally installed the presiding deities, Sri Sri Radha-Londonisvara, the first large marble deities of Radha and Krishna in ISKCON. As Srila Prabhupada decreed, there followed six days of feasting, during which the curtains were kept open all day and people crowded in to see the new Radha-Krishna Temple. It was a historic occasion for the bhakti-yoga tradition a long-standing order of the previous spiritual teachers had been fulfilled.
2019 marks the momentous 50th Anniversary year of this tremendous achievement, which will be celebrated through ‘Love and Happiness Events’.
• This summer, there will be outreach events bringing bhakti-yoga culture, lifestyle and philosophy through kirtan, yoga, karma-free food, wisdom talks and arts for the general public.
• On Sunday 24th November, there will be a Golden Signature Event at Hammersmith Apollo for both the ISKCON community and the general public. This will be followed by a week of Temple festivities, including the actual Anniversary day: Monday 2nd December.
Throughout the year there will also be various events at the temple, including a series of talks entitled ‘The London Story’.
www.iskcon-london.org