As thousands gathered for the Diwali fireworks at Bhaktivedanta Manor, the temple leaders and a host of community and political leaders, took to the stage to launch the Nainika Tikoo Memorial Trust’s allergy awareness campaign for places of worship.

The government of Uttar Pradesh on Friday announced that Vrindavan and Barsana are now tirtha sthal – official pilgrimage sites. In a special meeting at the Vairagi Baba Ashram on Parikrama Marg, sants of Braj lauded the government’s move.

An innovative new project called “Go Matsya” has instigated fast growth in distribution of full sets of Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the idea is catching on around the world. BBT Trustee and Sankirtan Strategist Vaisesika Das created the project, which aims to “preserve Vedic culture through mass distribution and education.”

Kalasamvara Das, temple president of ISKCON Auckland, has always been one of those devotees who is having so much fun in Krishna consciousness that it’s infectious. But even by his standards, he’s positively buzzing when we chat to him at the airport on his way back from the Festival of Fiji.

As natural disaster after natural disaster continues to pummel the Americas, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca on September 9^th. This was followed quickly by a 7.1 quake on September 19^th in Mexico City.

An incredible eight thousand devotees flocked to a small village on the Black Sea Coast near Odessa, Ukraine for the mega Bhakti Sangam festival during the first week of September.

“Hey do you guys want a ride?”  So asked a friendly driver as he pulled to the side of the road along the rolling hills 50 miles east of San Francisco. He’d spotted the Walking Monk in his saffron robes strolling down the pavement towards him. He was curious and inclined to help. 

Coming to the U.S. for the first time, Indradyumna Swami’s ‘Discover India’ tour began with a resounding success, performing to a receptive audience of over 500 people at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center in New York on September 10^th. The epic show of dance, theater, martial arts and live music has been touring Poland for 28 years under the name Festival of India, putting on forty events every summer and drawing audiences of three to five thousand people each night.

800 devotees from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia got to immerse themselves in Krishna consciousness in one of the most gorgeous natural settings in the world this August. They were attending the 17^th annual Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania, which ran from August 4^th to 11^th.