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ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village (GEV, http://www.ecovillage.org.in/), a 100 acre sustainable farming community and retreat center, based near Mumbai, India received the Green World Environment Award 2016 in the international campaign to find the world’s greenest countries, companies and communities. They competed against more than 500 other nominations in the Green World Awards for Environmental Best Practice and were presented with their trophy and certificate at a glittering presentation in Th

HG Rasamandala Prabhu, Director of ISKCON Educational Services, facilitated a four day Devotee Care Course-2, pilot course at ISKCON Govardhan Eco Village (GEV), Wada from 27th to 30th Oct 2016. It was organized by Revatiraman Prabhu, Chairman of the Devotee Care Committee and Gauranga Prabhu, Divisional Director for Devotee Care Committee. Rasamandala Prabhu was given the responsibility of creating a world class Course on Devotee Care in the VTE style and was given all the resources created

We’ve decided to implement a new method to keep you up to date. Our new blog, BRC Bulletin, will be continually updated as we make a commitment to keep you more informed and connected to our service developments.
This edition’s topics include:
An index of selected scanned texts in English that have recently been added to online catalog 
A University of Oxford scholar explains how his research at BRC library benefited his latest publication
Highlights from our adaptation of Open Source technolog

Since the day I came to know about God, I was told that God is the giver of everything and so I should unhesitatingly ask him to fulfil all my desires. And from that day or rather from that moment onwards I have always treated God just like a shopping mall from where I can buy anything and everything. The only difference is that in a mall I need to pay but in front of God I do not need to pay. Yes it is true that sometimes like many others I have put some paper notes or coins in a hundi (donati

Odana Sashti is a festival that marks the beginning of winter. During the Odana-sasthi festival the devotees dress Lord Jagannatha and Balarama with starched cloth. This ceremony indicates that from that day forward, a winter covering should be given to the Lord. That covering is directly purchased from a weaver, and freshly purchased cloth is usually starched to preserve it. According to the archana-marga, a cloth should first be washed to remove all the starch, and then it can be used to cover

Remembering Kartik month with His Holiness Subhag Swami

by Ramanuja das

For the aspiring devotee who wishes to be constantly engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna the process of smarana or continuously remembering the pastimes of the Lord as he has heard from the pure devotee or the spiritual master in the association of like-minded devotees is most important as Maharaj Prithu submitted to Lord Vishnu Himself:

sa uttamasloka mahan-mukha-c

“Now, our next program will be to organize farming land to set an example to the whole world how people can be peaceful, happy, and free from all anxieties simply by chanting Hare Krishna Maha-mantra and living an honorable life in Krishna Consciousness. In India especially people are religiously inclined. They like to live in village and also like to love Lord Rama, Lord Krishna. This idealism is running through their blood and veins. We have to organize their natural tendency and elevate them

One who has taken his birth is sure to die, and after death one is sure to take birth again. Therefore, in the unavoidable discharge of your duty, you should not lament. (Bhagavad-Gita—-2:27—-translation)
Yamaraja, the great controller of life after death, decides the living entities’ destinies in their next lives. He is surely among the most confidential representatives of the Lord. Such confidential posts are offered to great devotees of the Lord who are as good as His eternal associates in t

Vaisesika das: In the backyard of my home, I recently set up a bird feeder that I inherited from my father several years ago. For the past few weeks, I have been regularly filling it with Nyger seeds, much liked by Finches. Today, as I watched a group of happy Finches devouring these seeds, I mused at how they have no idea where the seeds come from, or how the feeder magically fills up every few days. They only merrily eat without considering the source of their food.

This is true of most livin

Recently, Gurukula principal, Vinod Bihari dasa, joined 29 other principals and Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, in a meeting organised by the AIS (Australian Independent Schools of NSW) in Sydney.

Vinod Bihari gave a presentation on the programs implemented by the Gurukula that have led to such enormous success. Vinod Bihari talked about how the school is focusing on best instructional practices that tailor to student learning.

The Gurukula has also pioneered a coaching model whereby a spec

Vrindavani Briant: My two-month visit from 21 July to 26 September 2016 to New Govardhana dhama wasn’t a trip I originally planned to make. After I visited New Govardhana briefly in April of this year – also an unplanned trip! – the sweetness of the New Govardhana temple and community made me feel compelled to return. With this in mind, I made inquiries into staying at the New Govardhana brahmacharini ashrama and received such a welcoming and encouraging response that I returned to New Govardha

Feeling unusually sober and contemplative, I wrote a rough poem today about how I feel after reading two devotee memoirs, as I think about compiling my own. While I will share it after this introduction, I have so much more to say, to properly convey, all I am feeling today. I continue to contemplate death as as a motivating meditation to live today, and to endeavor to have no possessive attachment weights, that if not addressed, will propel me to work out issues with others in future lives; to

Modern cosmology is a field of speculative thoughts interspersed with points of evidence. These evidences act like tent poles holding up the fabric of cosmological theories. Theories such as steady state, big bang, M-theory, grand unified theory etc all give different explanations to the origins and the functioning of the universe. Personally, I found it more of science fiction than science.

Regardless, there are some fundamental axioms that physicists accept. Although, I am not a scientist, it

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications

Devotees 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

Preaching will not become successful if we are not endearing ourselves to Krsna. Preaching does not just depend on some techniques otherwise we could all learn hypnosis and with hypnosis, we could take over the world! There are yogis like that who can bring people under their will, “Chant Hare Krsna!” and look into their eyes. This is not the way we want people to chant – by force! We want people to chant voluntarily. We want service to be voluntary.

When Prabhupada invited everyone to come to

Lismore High Religious Studies School Students Visit Iskcon’s New Govardhana Farm Community, Australia. 

Damodara Pandit dasa: Lismore has always been a great place to visit and tell people about Krishna, so it was no surprise when the local Lismore High School contacted us requesting a visit. On Wednesday, 26 October, myself and Ambarish dasa made the journey down south. It was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by Paul Von Bratt, the Chaplain and Religious Studies teacher, who was extremely ha

By Members of Krishna Sambandha

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, please accept my humble obeisances

Hare Krishna dear vaisnavas. I would like to share with you this historical preaching program in our Country.

November 29, for the first time in the history of Chile and its Courts of Justice, a concert was held in the Hall of Honor of the Supreme Court. Never before had there been a musical presentation in this space of great patrimonial and historical value for our country. The concert, consist

The new Mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, Phill Coff, bathing Srila Prabhupada’s murti.
Kalasamvara Das: He also promised to join us for Rathyatra in Queen street on the 10 December.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada, please accept my humble obeisances

“Why distinguish between chanting and book distribution? These books I have recorded and chanted, and they are transcribed. It is spoken kirtanas. So book distribution is also chanting. These are not ordinary books. It is recorded chanting. Anyone who reads, he is hearing. Book distribution must not be neglected.”

*His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada *Letter to Rupanuga
– Mayapur 19 October, 1974

Here’s a recent letter from Vaisesika Prabhu to the devotees in Africa.

It’s actu