At 8:33 am on August 11th in Sri Mayapur, the beloved disciple of His Holiness Jayapataka Maharaja and servant of Srila Prabhupada, His Holiness Bhakti Nityananda Swami, left his body. It is with great sadness that we announce this news, as he has been very dear and important to all of us in our Mayapur community. He has given many years of tireless and steadfast service to ISKCON Mayapur, and the amount of people he was able to bring to Krishna Consciousness has made him truly a leader in Mahaprabhu’s preaching mission.

On July 16, 2022, we reported on Anadi Das is Ukraine, a senior devotee of the Kherson Yatra in Ukraine, and his desperate need to support due to his health.  On August 6th, 2002 Share Your Care reported: We express our special gratitude to the compassion you show to the Vaishnavas, who under such extremely challenging circumstances are forced to deal with severe diseases, have to undergo complex surgeries, etc. We have raised 2 times more than initially required for Anadi Prabhu’s treatment! We wired hiM $2,250. The funds remaining after the hospital bills have been paid will be directed at paying for rehabilitation.

My name is Yuliia Mudrak, I am 25 years old, and I am from Ukraine. Before the war, I lived in Kyiv and worked as a certified preschool teacher. Unfortunately, many devotees had to leave their normal life in Ukraine due to the war. But at the same time, we’ve been able to see wonderful examples of devotees in other countries, who show great concern for us Ukrainian devotees. For the first two days of the war, I stayed in my apartment close to the temple. However when it became too unsafe, I, like many other devotees who lived near the temple, went to live there. There is a very large temple in Kyiv, so it was a good idea to move there at that time. We lived there as a big family for several days, and every time the air raid siren went off, we went down into the basement until it was safe to emerge again. Very often during those times, we would have kirtana, so with the company of devotees, even war has its bright side.

Krishna Bhava Das, from ISKCON Punjabi Bagh community in Delhi, is 68 years old, strongly built, having a sharp gaze of determination yet having an air of humility around him. He is the eldest in his family of 30 members, untouched by modern flare, who prefers to keep to his village roots and culture. He is strong businessman and has also been one of the most enthusiastic devotees when it comes to book distribution. Over the last ten years, he has distributed lakhs (hundred thousand) of Srila Prabhupada's books and contributed to various projects of ISKCON. He was introduced to devotees by one of his relatives approx 14 years ago and his life took a different turn at that point. He was initiated in 2010 and heard through devotees how much Srila Prabhupada and his spiritual master, H.H Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, love book distribution. Taking inspiration and gathering courage he started going door to door with his study class for three years during the December book marathons and they would distribute a total of 250 Bhagavad-gitas as a group.

Urvasi devi dasi passed away last week in Ojai California and will be cremated. She was a beloved member of the ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) movement, worldwide. Below is a compilation of memories and tributes to Urvasi devi dasi. In her honor, a Vanipedia page was created of the letter Srila Prabhupada wrote to her parents, the Kimmels. From Giriraj Swami Urvasi Dasi was Srila Prabhupada’s beloved disciple and my dear godsister. His Divine Grace said that when a Vaishnava departs, we feel simultaneously happy and sad—sad because we will miss the Vaishnava’s association, and happy because we know they have gone to serve Krishna. In the last few months, I have had several programs at my ashram in Carpinteria, and Urvasi attended—and enjoyed—all of them. Her presence—her humanity and divinity—uplifted our spirits and consciousness. She was always pleased to attend our programs, and we were happy to attend hers.

URVASI Devi Dasi – IN MEMORIAM

Peter Burwash, a Canadian-born, world-renowned tennis champion, business entrepreneur, leadership consultant, and affectionate friend of ISKCON passed away on Thursday, July 7 at the age of 77, in California, his longtime home. Peter was a man of remarkable skills and talents. He began as a professional hockey player (with the St. Louis Blues) switched his attention to tennis, and went on to become the winner of 19 International Singles and Doubles Titles. He later founded Peter Burwash International (PBI), which for fifty years has been the world’s largest tennis management company, operating in 30-plus countries.

Govinda Madhava Prabhu left this world on June 9th at his London residence where he had been living since 2005 with his wife Uma Dutt. The news saddens us all the more as he has always been a very devoted Vaishnava to the mission of Srila Prabhupada. Born in Brazil 44 years ago, Anderson Malta met the devotees in 1990 and participated in cultural programs organized by the Goura Vrindavan community in the Vale da Graúna region there, he met Param Gati Swami who gave him initiation.

A fundraising event was held at Ashyana Banquet Hall. The large banquet room was filled with promise and excitement, as all who attended were eager for the completion of this important project. Temple President Premananda Devi Dasi addressed the crowd of over 500 by reminding them what brought them all together: “Why build this temple? When Srila Prabhupada founded this institution, he listed seven purposes of ISKCON”. She then reiterated Srila Prabhupada’s fifth stated purpose: “To erect for the members, and for society at large, a holy place of transcendental pastimes, dedicated to the personality of Krishna. ISKCON Naperville represents precisely this.” She concluded “We are here to serve people of all backgrounds. We are here to serve all of you, the community, present, and future generations. We stay committed to serving you as His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada taught us.”