(Photos by Nitai Caran Das)

Mayapur, India, 10:00 AM– During the morning session of the 2019 GBC Annual General Meeting on March 11^th, much of the time was spent reviewing and voting upon various proposals. 

Throughout the year, ISKCON members are able to submit proposals to the GBC. These proposals go through a review process and are vetted and voted on by GBC Deputies and committees. The final proposals are then submitted to the GBC body for majority voting.

Over the course of the morning, members of the GBC reviewed and voted upon ten different proposals.

These proposals included a proposal regarding the content layout of the ISKCON Law Book; proposals related to the planning of future Vaishnava samadhisin Mayapur; two proposals related to updates to the ISKCON Vaishnava calendar; a proposal that all cow protection projects in ISKCON must first receive a certificate of readiness; and a proposal for the implementation of a global devotee care course.  

Although the proposal voting process could be seen as tedious, Aniruddha Dasa, the Secretary of the GBC Deputies, voiced the mood of the room when he said, “We don’t want to take any changes lightly. We want to make sure that full consideration is given to each of these items by the GBC body.”

The results of the voting will be available soon.

1:35 PM– Hari Sauri Dasa presented a report on the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre. The Bhaktivedanta Research Centre is a Vaishnava library and study center that was established in Kolkata in 2009. Hari Sauri Dasa and Pranava Dasa founded the center to preserve the work of the previous Vaishnava acharyas and to create a library where scholars and philosophers can study Vaishnava texts.  

Hari Sauri Dasa reported that the library currently contains over 22,000 books, including more than 3,000 books and journals from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s personal library.

Hari Sauri Dasa presents a report on the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre

“We’ve stepped forward from just storing the materials to using them to spread Krishna consciousness,” reported Hari Sauri Dasa, who retired from active management at the center last year but remains on as a trustee and advisor. “We have a lot projects and conferences going on.”

Balaram Lila Dasa, one of the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre’s Deans, gave the GBC members a report of some of the center’s projects. “It’s not just a library but a research center,” he said. “We have been doing research projects in accordance with universities from around the world. We’re working on making all of our books available online, cataloguing, digitizing, and uploading them so that they can be accessed from anywhere in the world. We’re working with India’s leading library scientist on this.” 

Balaram Lila Dasa described a few examples of the current research work. The research center is currently creating the first encyclopedia of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. They are also digitizing and researching 5,000 issues of the daily Nadia Prakash newspaper published by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura between 1927 and 1947.

“Hari Sauri, you and your team are doing a fantastic service,” Badrinarayan Das Goswami said in response to the presentation. “Thank you so much.”

Members of the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre team