Thiruvananthapuram, July 31: “Bhagavad Darshanam”, the Malayalam version of Back to Godhead (BTG) magazine, was released to the public today in in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala. Artist Sri Soorya Krishnamurthy performed at the release of the magazine. The first copy of Bhagavad Darshanam was received by Sri Rajagopal, Principal of Police Training College from Bhakti Vinoda Swami Zonal Secretary for ISKCON Kerala.

Jagat Sakshi Das President of ISKCON Thiruvananthapuram delivered the welcome speech. Presenting a short profile of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT), which publishes books in more than 80 languages including Arabic and Russian, he noted that all this had its roots in the first BTG started by the sincere efforts of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Bhakti Vinoda Swami, who also oversees BBT operations in Kerala, emotionally described how the BTG magazine founded by Srila Prabhupada in 1944 is finally, crossing numerous hurdles, coming up in Malayalam language after 66 years. Maharaja expressed great confidence that Srila Prabhupada’s books can offer, like no other, the perfect satiation for the intellectual thirst of Kerala’s educated people.

Kerala’s tourism department calls the state ‘God’s Own Country’. Therefore, among the multitude of magazines that are circulating in Kerala, Maharaja said, the BTG will stand out: “it will help the people of God’s Own Country go Back to Godhead. Bhagavad Darshanam is not a mundane magazine reporting mundane news, it is meant to help people understand, relate to and enter into the reality of spiritual world.” Calling on the eagerness of Keralites to welcome anything new and different, Bhakti Vinoda Swami requested all Keralites to wholeheartedly welcome this unique magazine.

Chief Guest Sri Soorya Krishnamoorthy described that the ISKCON movement is the modern day example of the Vedic mantra ‘lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu’. He quoted from his own experiences while visiting ISKCON’s Juhu centre in Mumbai: he could sense that the devotees’ prayers were never for just their own or their institution’s benefit, it was for the benefit of the whole world. Sri Soorya Krishnamoorthy assured everyone that “God’s Own Country” will most eagerly welcome the Hare Krishna Movement and its magazine, the Back to Godhead.

Kerala a small state tucked away in the southwest corner of India is famous as ‘the 100% literate state’. It is also the birthplace of Sripada Sankaracarya. The people here have a voracious appetite for reading and philosophy; they express friendship to one another by sharing printed materials. Needless to say, the state is full of printing and media activity. BBT Kerala is most hopeful that the avid readers of this intellectual state will experience a new wave of spiritual resurgence when the most coherent philosophy presented by Srila Prabhupada reaches their homes in the form of the Bhagavad Darshanam.

ISKCON News’s Keralite readers may kindly contact HG Govardhana Giri dasa at bhagavad.darshanam@gmail.com.