By Kasisvar Das
Florida is (pre-Covid) a season of Rathayatra festival parades that take over the crowded beaches or towns, typically with eight events across the state: at the Gasparilla festival in Tampa, Daytona Beach, St. Augustine, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Clearwater Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Tampa Bay, and Orlando.
This year, fewer events are scheduled with the Daytona Beach parade just passed on June 26th, and the Clearwater Beach event is upcoming on Saturday, September 18th. It wi
By Kasisvar Das
On June 26th over five hundred devotees from Alachua and other ISKCON communities gathered in Daytona Beach, a picturesque vacation place in Central Florida, for joining the Ratha Yatra Festival. It was a long-awaited event indeed.
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed everything in the world and many festivals and events were placed on hold for months. Millions of people have been pulled out of their comfort zone to realize what Bhagavad-Gita calls the reality of this temporary miserab
By Madhava Smullen
The Bhaktivedanta Academy in Alachua, Florida, a thriving spiritually-centered Pre-K through 10th grade Montessori and International Baccalaureate school, is seeking applicants for its new internship program for Pre-K and Elementary teachers.
An informal internship program has already been running for some time; however, with the school now looking to double its capacity over the next several years, a formalized program is being launched to prepare for future growth. Beyond b
By Madhava Smullen
A devotee men’s group started in Alachua, Florida in 1992 has offered both spiritual and practical support, as well as close friendships, for members over the past 28 years.
Several current members have been part of the group – named Sadhu Sanga Men’s Group – from the very beginning, while the rest joined between fifteen and twenty-five years ago. Starting when they were young men, the group of householder devotees (both Prabhupada disciples and grand disciples) now range
In the 1970s Srila Prabhupada spoke forcefully against the philosophical materialism which for some time has functioned as the dominant philosophy behind the sciences, and most other academic fields (1). Prabhupada insisted that consciousness and life itself could not be reduced to the unconscious mechanics of material objects and processes. As a direct result of this teaching that “life comes from life” and not from dead matter, the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Higher Studies (BIHS) was formed
By Prabhupada-priya Dasi and Guru Gauranga Das
On March 11, 2020 the University of Florida (UF) suspended on-campus classes and urged students to go home in light of public health concerns related to COVID-19. Several days later, ISKCON Gainesville (also known as “Krishna House”) suspended operation of its “Krishna Lunch” program.
Racking their brains to find a way to keep “Krishna Lunch”going in conformity with public health guidelines, Krishna House president Srutisagara Das and his managemen
Gaura Mandali, a new Kirtan Academy for children – with plans to introduce adult classes soon – has launched in the New Raman Reti ISKCON community in Alachua, Florida.
The project’s director and, so far, sole teacher Thakura Das, grew up in a setting perfect for meditating on the Holy Names, and had a strong attraction to kirtan from early on.
Born and raised on the Nova Gokula farm in Brazil, simple living and high thinking was the norm for Thakura.
“My dad was the cow
First established by Brahmananda Das in the 1970s, ISKCON of Tallahassee, Florida closed down before restarting in a new building in the 1990s. After struggling with financial and organizational challenges in more recent times, the center is once again getting a new lease of life with a new name – the Tallahassee Krishna House – and a new young president, Brajananda Das.
Originally from West Palm Beach in South Florida, Brajananda, 31, joined ISKCON in Gainesville in 2012 and served as a full
On January 9-12, 2020, thirty devotee attorneys, jurists and law students hailing from the United Kingdom, Russia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary, Lithuania, Brazil, Nigeria, Uganda, Singapore and the United States attended the 2020 ISKCON Global Conference of Devotee Attorneys at the Historic Thomas Center in Gainesville, Florida. The term “devotee attorney” refers to any devotee or friend of Krishna, who is an attorney, jurist or law student.
Created by the GBC Body at its 2018 GBC Annual
The Festival of the Holy Name, an annual community staple in Alachua, Florida is celebrating its tenth anniversary starting this week with an incredible ten days of kirtan.
The festival began in 2010, when second generation devotees Govinda Syer, Gaura Shakti Allin and Govinda Cordua decided to create an immersive experience for Alachua community members who couldn’t make it to kirtan events around the country.
The team, under the banner of the Kuli Mela Association (KMA)
By Guru Gauranga das
Venue: The Historic Thomas Center in Gainesville, Florida
Date of Conference: January 9-13, 2020
Gainesville – Sept. 17, 2019 – The ISKCON Law Department has announced that it will host the 1st ISKCON Global Conference of Devotee Attorneys at the Historic Thomas Center in Gainesville, Florida (USA) on January 9-13, 2020.
According to ISKCON’s general counsel, Devakinandan Prabhu, the 2020 ISKCON Global Conference of Devotee Attorneys will offer devotee attorneys, jurists a
