‘The Kindness Pandemic’: An ISKCON-wide Contest for Young Artists
While the coronavirus is spreading throughout the world, luckily for us, so is kindness. The simple acts of kindness are powerful, cathartic, and could change our lives forever. ISKCON News is calling young artists, aged 3-18, to recognize and capture these little acts of kindness around them and turn them into an artwork.
Restricted Freedom
We’ve seemingly lost our freedom. But when ‘freedom’ means that everything is so available that we become complacent, what’s the benefit? If ‘restriction’ generates an appreciation and gratitude of what we’ve taken for granted all these years, where’s the loss?
South American Temples Struggling Financially Amid COVID-19 Reach Out For Help
The COVID-19 Pandemic is a financial challenge for all ISKCON temples. With their main sources of income such as book distribution, Harinama Sankirtan, in person hundi box donations, preaching programs and more either decreased or halted, many are struggling to make ends meet.
Ontario Devotees Distribute Prasad to Hospital Staff and Sanitation Workers
Devotees in the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario in Canada are doing their part to help their local community during the COVID-19 pandemic by feeding prasadam to essential personnel like hospital staff and sanitation workers.
Seeking Strength in Times of Crisis
We offer our prayers for the well-being of all those affected by the pandemic. We pray for those souls who have passed away, and for their family members and friends. We also pray for those currently ill and their loved ones. And, we pray for those millions of people who suffer from the financial impact of the coronavirus and who worry for the safety of their families.
Kirtan Space to Offer Free Kirtan Course Online During COVID-19
Kirtan Space, an online educational effort that started in 2016, has been revamped and will offer a free ten-week foundational kirtan course on Youtube starting May 25th. “During this time, when you may be not working and may be stuck at home, is a good opportunity to learn a new instrument,” says director Balaram Nityananda Das.
Poem: Look Within, O Mind!
"Your merry rides have been thwarted, / Your house has been fenced, / Amazing you are, O mind, / You still don’t wish to be cleansed..."
Online Srimad-Bhagavatam Marathon Held to Benefit the World
Devotees from the Five Truths Pancha Tattva Center in Omsk, Siberia organized a Srimad-Bhagavatam online marathon, in which the translations of all 18,000 verses were recited over ten days, from April 10th to 19th. The marathon, which aimed to inspire devotees and benefit the world during the current dark times under a global pandemic, was entitled Spiritual Victory in Seven Days.
Little Acts of Kindness
Altruism is defined as having a disinterested and selfless concern for the wellbeing of others. The Bhagavad Gita 16.1-3 describes the same, daya bhutesv aloluptvam or being without greed and having mercy towards others. Putting this concern into action not only aids those in difficulty but also eases your own.
Leaning In, or Leaning Out?
“Let us not squander this hour of our pain” (Rilke)
100 Spanish-Speaking Devotees Participate in Online Bhakti Retreat
With everyone in self-isolation and practicing social distancing due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, devotees are coming up with more and more creative ways to associate with each other and hold events virtually that would previously have taken place in person.
Devotees Use New Innovations to Distribute Thousands of Books Amid COVID-19
With ISKCON book distributors off the streets and staying at home due to the Coronavirus pandemic, you might think their service has completely ground to a halt. Instead, however, they’ve put all their energy into innovations such as mailing, contactless delivery, and e-books to distribute thousands of Prabhupada’s books at a time when people need them more than ever.
The Deepest Conspiracy
Conspiracy theories abound: COVID-19, G5, the New World Order, and, of course, the deep state. I remember a time when life was simpler. There was only one conspiracy in town: Maya, the illusionary energy.
Bhaktivedanta Academy Students Create Artistic Time Capsule to Cope With Pandemic
By giving them exciting creative challenges, the purpose of this project is to help children and their families cope with the emotional toll the social isolation, the anxiety and the uncertainties create. “Most children express their thought and feelings better through different forms of arts, than words. Art has a healing power,” the project coordinator says.
It’s Time to Open Up!
In these unprecedented times, we encourage devotees to share their thoughts, poems, and prayers via ISKCON News' special Covid-19 section. The first offering comes from our GBC Minister of Communications, Anuttama dasa, who lives in Washington DC.
ISKCON Strategic Planning Support Team to Assist Temples Tackle Challenges Due to Pandemic
ISKCON Strategic Planning Support Team, which is a unit of the GBC Strategic Planning Team is extending their support to help devotee communities worldwide to survive, maintain and grow
Valisudana Das Loves Conspiracies
He never found a conspiracy theory he didn't like. Valisudana - not his real name - craves hearing how malevolent groups hatch secret, unlawful, harmful plans for evil, destructive purposes.
Contradictions
A deep fear about losing family and friends… but are we as worried about how we relate to them while their alive?
ISKCON India Distributes Over 12 Million Prasad Meals During COVID-19
While the nation has been affected by the Coronavirus crisis and is observing a lockdown, millions have been stranded with no food and shelter.
Photographer Shares His Experience of Lockdown at Krishna Balaram Mandir
With the streets outside so quiet, devotees have started to hear birds singing sweetly again, parrots landing on the lower branches of the trees, and peacocks calling.
Moose in the Neighborhood
These days, by a reversal of fortune, we are the ones that are locked in like zoo animals, while they are the ones that can roam free. Good for them. They have deserved some break after all the millennia of mistreatment and abuse they had to suffer by our hands.
ISKCON's India Tribal Care Trust Initiative Helps People in Remote Areas Tackle COVID-19
Amidst the coronavirus crisis and the consequent lockdown India’s tribal people are facing double difficulties - scarcity of food and lack of awareness about the preventive measures to curb spreading of the deadly disease.
Food For All UK Distributing 4,100 Meals Daily, Expects to Increase to 20,000
With the UK now about to go into its fourth week of lockdown, people who would be struggling from one week to the next during normal times are now running out of money. Many are also sick or completely isolated in their homes without any family members. In this environment, more and more community groups are calling for free meals to help those in need.
Food For Life Hungary Distributes Prasadam and Face Masks to the Needy
“We see that because of the Coronavirus, more and more people are losing their jobs, and running out of money,” says ISKCON Hungary spokesperson Gandharvika Prema Dasi. “And they have no support. So the number of people in need has been growing.”
We All Have The Opportunity To Save Lives
During a pandemic, the medical care providers are the frontline warriors. Actually, we all have the opportunity to save lives. How? By understanding what life is and what saving it means.