The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) hosted a brief visit today by Mohan Bhagwat, leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to ISKCON’s historic first temple in the world, in New York City’s Lower East Side. Bhagwat also visited a nearby ISKCON temple, The Bhakti Center, host of the only Radha-Krishna Deities in Manhattan. Both visits were part of the commemoration of ISKCON’s 60th Anniversary. A month back, the same two temples hosted Hema Malini, the iconic actress, dancer, and devotee of Lord Krishna.
Gauranga Dasa, a member of ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission, welcomed Bhagwat and explained some of the highlights of ISKCON’s 60 years of growth since its founding by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. He noted that from a humble beginning in New York, ISKCON has grown to 1,000 temples, 100 affiliated vegetarian restaurants, and has distributed 600 million books and magazines, including the Bhagavad-gita As-it-Is and other Vedic texts, with translations in over 80 languages.
ISKCON also has distributed several billion free vegetarian meals globally, especially in India, through its Hare Krishna Food Relief and other affiliated programs. ISKCON’s Hunger Free New York project celebrated the one-hundred thousandth (one-lac) plate of free vegetarian food (prasada) during Bhagwat’s visit.
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