By Madhava Smullen
A Grand Welcome Ceremony will be held from October 14th to 15th to welcome Srila Prabhupada’s murti form to the under-construction Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, during Prabhupada’s 125th appearance anniversary year.
The TOVP, ISKCON’s flagship temple, was set to receive its grand opening during the last quarter of 2022, and construction was progressing at a rapid pace, when Covid struck.
According to Development Director Braja Vilasa Das, operations shut down completely for 7 to 8 months in 2020, before picking up again gradually with strict Covid safety protocols. When the second Covid wave hit India in March and April 2021, the project again scaled down, picking up once more about a month ago.
Driving the effort to complete Srila Prabhupada’s vision as a labor of love is Chairman Ambarish Das, who now hopes to see the temple open by the last quarter of 2024. First, though, will be the Grand Welcome Ceremony for Srila Prabhupada.
“In these difficult times, without the mercy of Srila Prabhupada, we can’t finish this project,” says Braja Vilasa.
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