Blog

By Nandita Mehta

ISKCON’s Congregation Development Ministry is continually working to help temples and devotee communities grow and flourish by providing various preaching programs, such as Bhakti Vriksha, programs for children, and more. They also want to highlight the success stories from communities and events worldwide that would inspire devotees.

In this article, they highlight the expanding devotees’ service in the Whitefield area of Bangalore, which has grown into a large congregation of

By Kumari Kunti Sherreitt

At the end of the year Malati Devi Dasi will officially resign as a GBC member. In New Vrindavan, at the North American Leadership Conference’s final day of events, a ceremony in the temple room was held to thank her for endless service to ISKCON in this capacity. Anuttama Dasa, Praharana Dasi, Kuladri Das, and Jaya Krsna Das each spoke of her glories and dedication to ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada. As part of the appreciation, she was given a gift and plaque.

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ISKCON released the following statement to the media, “A video of some altercation at ISKCON Patna surfaced yesterday night. It is unfortunate and painful that some differences between different members of the community escalated into something that doesn’t represent the teachings and values of ISKCON, which are practiced by lakhs of its members across the world.

The affected members from yesterday have been offered support by ISKCON.

Being a responsible institution, all grievances are taken se

Why is devotee care important in our society?

We have the most complete philosophy, and Srila Prabhupada has given us the wonderful process of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Part of that process is taking care of the devotees. Actually, Krishna says that He has nothing else to do but to take care of His devotees. And since His devotees are always thinking about Him, He is also always thinking about His devotees. So actually, devotee care is one of the primary angas or aspects of Krishna consciousness

By Jaya Govinda Das

After five months of intense traveling throughout North America to solicit support for the Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), the dedicated team of Jananivas Das, Sunanda Das, and Braja Vilas Das arrived last week on the Canadian West Coast, the final leg of their journey. 

While in Vancouver, they also drove four hours to visit the interior community of Saranagati Village. In addition to their desire to visit the community, they also made the long journey to pre

During the prestigious World Food India 2024 event, held in New Delhi on September 19-22, 2024, Haribol Foods made a significant impact with its strong presence and innovative offerings. The event, known for attracting global leaders in the food industry and thousands of attendees, provided an ideal platform for the company to showcase its commitment to ethically sourced and traceable food products. Haribol’s participation included displaying its wide-ranging products, which feature cruelty-fre

From Back to Godhead

A look at Lord Caitanya’s “Eight Instructions” and their relevance to japa, the individual practice of chanting Hare Krishna.

A friend once told me this analogy about spiritual life: a flock of geese share strength by flying in a V formation, but if one goose goes down, the others can’t help. Similarly, though seekers of enlightenment help each other, success ultimately depends on personal effortand the kindness of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna.

Krishna’s kindness appears i

By Kulavati Krishnapriya Devi Dasi

Syama Gauri Devi Dasi, originally from Hungary, shared some of her spiritual journey in a recent interview with ISKCON News. Her service over the years has taken her around Europe, including temples in Budapest, Scotland, and most recently to Folkestone, UK. She now lives there with her husband, Priya Kunda Das who hails from Liverpool, and together they run a small preaching center called Atma Lounge in the seaside town of Folkestone, in southern England.

Fro

Dear ISKCON Devotees,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

We are deeply saddened to share the difficult news regarding the health of His Holiness Giriraja Swami. Maharaja has been diagnosed with Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). This degenerative neurological disorder has been increasingly affecting him over the past three years, with more significant clinical symptoms emerging in the last year.

This cruel disease is characterized by the progre

This morning an hour and a half was set aside for an initiation of two devotees. From the U.K., now residing in New York, is Joseph, one of the actors from the night before. He’s a good performer, is intelligent, and shows lots of devotional qualities. His Sanskrit name is Jivan Mukta. Suneel is living here in New Vrindavana, is humble, and has a sweet disposition. His new name is Saranya.

A person from Nepal, Gambhira Gaur, received his second diksha, in the absence of Gopal Krishna Goswami who

Dear Malati,

Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 22, 1973.

You write that things are in a crisis in England, with oil shortage and IRA bombing. Therefore, we have to take shelter of Krsna. If Krsna wants to kill us that is not wrong, if it is His desire. Our business should just to be to follow the regulative schedule, deity worship, distributing prasadam, chanting, book distribution and never mind the material danger. Krsna Consciousness means

The secret to protection and universal welfare

“Absorption in Krsna” and “Dependence on Krsna” are the two main aspects of spiritual life demonstrated by Lord Sri Krsna in Sri Vrndavana. A materialist is generally absorbed in one’s own self and has quite a lot of faith and pride in one’s own intellectual capabilities, achievements, resources and contacts. As opposed to such materialists, the Vrajavasis are a group of people who are totally absorbed in the thoughts of how to serve Krsna and are

By Atma Tattva Das

On September 21, 2024, the streets of Rose Belle, Mauritius, hosted the Rathayatra Festival, an important festival on the Vaishnava calendar. The event featured a procession involving the deities Lord Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra. It was organized by a team of volunteers led by Kaunteya, a prominent figure in ISKCON Mauritius.

Kaunteya’s journey in Krishna consciousness began in 1989 when he joined the temple as a new devotee. His dedication quickly found expression in var

By Suniti Devi Dasi

ISKCON Resolve and the North American Regional Governing Body (NA RGB) announced a new free online seminar entitled “Fostering Effective Cooperation for a Unified Mission” hosted by Vraj Vihari Das to be held on Saturday, October 12th,  10 AM – 12 PM EDT. The seminar will be on the Zoom platform and a link will be emailed to you prior to the event.

Srila Prabhupada consistently emphasized that cooperation is essential for the success of his mission. However, as many of us kno

A sign of a good leader is that he does not request those under him to do something that he is not prepared to do. So before we desire to distribute this Vedic culture to the whole world, we ourselves have to be following it in such a way that nobody can find even a minute discrepency in our practice. People are too attached to their sense gratification and wont be so readily eager to give it up, and although they may have some attraction to the Vedic culture, if the mind can find an excuse for

From Back to Godhead

Lessons on life, death, and living in a spirit of devotion

ISKCON devotees commonly use the phrase, “Going back home, back to Godhead.”Have you ever thought about what this means when a traveler is anxious to return home? Home is where our family is, where there are people who love us, who trust us. It’s the place we’re comfortable and happy. It’s the place we feel most natural.

The world we live in is foreign to the soul; we are strangers in a foreign land. In this alien p

ISKCON congregations around the world contributed their part in caring for the Earth, Mother Bhumi, by picking up trash and removing unsightly litter along rivers, parks, and roadways as well as tidying up their own temple properties. Their inspiring efforts were in response to an invitation from the ISKCON Environmental Initiative (IEI) encouraging our communities to participate in the global “World Cleanup Day” initiative.

Originating as a small initiative in Estonia in 2008, World Cleanup Da