International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) stands appraised and recognized with one of the highest honors in India – the “IGBC Green Champion Award 2020” during the 18th edition of ‘Green Building Congress’ organized from 29th – 31st October, 2020. ISKCON was unanimously chosen as a winner of the 7th IGBC Green Champion Awards under the category of ‘Pioneering Institution in sensitizing the masses by going green’. 

The award was granted in the presence of Mr. V. Suresh, Chairman Indian Green Building Council, Mr Jamshyd N Godrej, Chairman, CII Godrej GBC, Mr Gurmit Singh Arora, Vice Chairman, IGBC, Mr Syed Mohamed Beary, Chairman, IGBC Bangalore Chapter and Mr Shrikant Bapat, Country General Manager and Managing Director, Johnson Controls (I) Pvt. Ltd. 

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is India’s premier institutions accrediting green buildings and offering specialized services like green building auditor training program, memberships with 26 chapters operating nationally.  During IGBC’s annual flagship event called Green Building Congress, the IGBC Green Champions Award are recognized for major achievements towards green practices, including their valuable contribution towards inspiration to millions of people with their environmental advocacy. 

ISKCON’s two projects namely ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco-village and ISKCON Chowpatty Mandir in Mumbai have achieved the Platinum level IGBC green certification. ISKCON also plans to design, construct, operate and certify their upcoming University of Bhaktivedanta Research Centre as a green campus. The international green committee of ISKCON is closely working with IGBC to develop a framework for ISKCON temples across the world to be developed as Green Places of Worship. 

On behalf of ISKCON, Gauranga Das, Director – ISKCON Govardhan Eco-village and Global Duty Officer of ISKCON received the award. 

ISKCON leaders and well-wishers from across the world expressed their gratitude during the event. Gopal Krishna Goswami, ISKCON Governing Body Commission Member, mentioned, “I would like to thank IGBC for promoting the urgent need for having green building project. The Vedic message for having a peaceful, stress-free life is to keep God in the centre and practice simple living and high thinking. ISKCON’s founder acharya Srila Prabhupada took this ancient message around the globe. We are grateful that the IGBC has recognized ISKCON for promoting this message.”  

Jayapataka Swami, ISKCON Governing Body Commission Member expressed, “Thank you for the Green Champion Award on behalf of Śrī Māyāpur Candrodaya Mandir our world spiritual headquarters. We are committed to preserving the planet through our various green initiatives, such as our Zero Waste, recycling project and others” 

Radhanath Swami, Founder Govardhan Eco-village expressed, “The Bhagavad Gita teaches that yoga is the art of living in harmony, the body, the mind, the soul, all living beings, God and nature. All of nature is God’s gift and to see the presence of God’s grace in nature is an inherent teaching of Bhagavad Gita and it is very much foundational to the principles of ISKCON. We are hoping and praying that more and more the world will understand the need for this truth to be practiced.” 

Mr. Alfred Ford, Trustee Ford Motors and Chairman, Temple of Vedic Planetarium shared, “We are very much in sync with the green agenda and we hope that there will be more success along this line. We are coming up with the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP). The temple is larger than the Taj Mahal, it’s going to have one of the largest domes in Asia, its 350 feet high. The kirtan hall will hold 10,000 devotees at a time all chanting.” 

Anuttama Das, Global Communications Director for ISKCON, mentioned, “Our Founder Acharya Srila Prabhupada instructed us that we should follow the principles of ‘simple living and high thinking’ included within that is care for the environment. All of our 700 temples around the world, we are trying to promote this principle of sustainability and learning how to protect the Earth. This award honoring us for those efforts is really appreciated.” 

Gauranga Das shared, “the ancient Indian tradition and culture has always emphasized the importance of balance with nature along with sustainability.  Spiritual wellness along with health & well-being of all the devotees and our staff are of supreme importance to us. Especially in light of the current situation, places of congregation like temples need to further enhance their green quotient. With the help of IGBC we wish to enhance the overall well-being of tens of thousands of devotees and temple communities.”