Four Days with the Walking Monk
“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.
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 17th annual Vaishnava Summer Festival in Lithuania, which ran from August 4th to 11th.
In Alachua, North Central Florida, devotees of New Raman Reti – the largest ISKCON community in the Western World – braced themselves for a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, rarely seen so far inland.
Like many ISKCON programs today, the University of Southern California’s Bhakti Club drew mainly people with an Indian background who were already familiar with the tennets of Krishna consciousness. But a new rebranding and a broader vision based on building relationships has seen a flood of Western students who can’t get enough.
Although Bhaktivinoda Thakura is especially recognised for re-discovering the birth place of Lord Caitanya, he in fact re-discovered and re-established Lord Caitanya’s movement.
Brand, a practising Hindu, continues to prove his fascination with India.
Renowned comic book artist Dheeraj Verma, who has worked with Dark Horse Comics and Marvel Comics in the US on titles such as Night of the Living Dead, Transformers, Dracula and Iron Man is now set to release a graphic novel about the Mahabharat hero Abhimanyu.
Brinda Raval, 21, is offering an inspirational example of how young ISKCON devotees can engage with today’s global concerns. “I’m very interested in social justice issues, and how as a devotee and a spiritual person I can use that to serve,” says Brinda. Through a rigorous application process, Brinda was recently accepted to attend the UN Summer Youth Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
"Our goal is to become steadfast in our Krishna consciousness and in our lives, so that we can one day successfully run the Hare Krishna Movement.”
On Monday 14 August at 6.45pm, on the eve of Sri Krishna Janmastami, Mother Kulangana passed away surrounded by devotees chanting the names of Krishna. Mother Kulangana’s life will remain an inspiration for generations to come. Her dedication to Srila Prabhupada set the highest example.
Mahaprasad das has translated a number of Srila Prabhupada’s books from English to Amharic, the official working language of Ethiopia. 10,000 copies of Introduction to Bhagavad Gita and On the Way to Krishna are currently in the UK and will soon be shipped to Ethiopia.
The GBC, ISKCON’s ultimate managing authority, is attempting to remove Ramabhadra Dasa as president of the ISKCON Sri Sri Radha-Govinda Temple at 305 Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn.
Yasomati Devi, a co-founder of Kirtan Academy in Mayapur, toured important states such as Delhi and Punjab, in North India to educate devotees about Gaudiya kirtan standards. She explained each standard and also engaged in kirtans with devotees.
The devotees from the TOVP team are developing a project called FullDome. This project will be located on a small piece of land near Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi. Operation FullDome is a way to give any visiting guest to Sri Dham Mayapur an opportunity to experience the most unique immersive spiritual experience in a spiritual town.
Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement, and the Swami Who Started It All had its world premiere in June, at the Illuminate film festival in Sedona, in the USA. At the time of writing, the well-known movie review site Rottentamatoes.com, was reporting that 92% of their visitors who rated the movie liked it. The professional critics are not so sure, giving it only 14% on the Tomatometer.
The App is currently available for iPad and iPhone, with an Android version being planned. It contains the full text of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita as it is. You can make notes. You can adjust the font type and size, search the text to find what you need and choose between scrolling or swiping pages.
On July 2nd, while driving to Split in Croatia the Harinama Mandir, a European traveling sankirtan party's bus suddenly started to loose the speed and right away stopped. Devotees heroically pullled and pushed the bus to a nearby town, creating quite a site to the passerbyes.
The sannyasa ashram, or renounced order, is extremely influential in ISKCON. A high percentage of the society’s Governing Body Commission (GBC) members are sannyasis; while the majority of ISKCON’s initiating gurus are too. Yet a large proportion have fallen by the wayside over the years, struggling to maintain their monastic vows. In his new book Yadunandana Swami takes an uprecedently honest look at these challenges.
A 2-minute short film entitled “Transit Point” featuring Hungarian ISKCON devotees taking care of refugees arriving from war-torn Syria is among the best ten in the video contest run by Faith Counts, an American multi-faith organization with mission is to promote the value of faith.
On Tuesday 27th June, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Netherlands of his three-nation tour after concluding his visit to the United States. During the visit, Prime Minister Modi was meeting the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, King Willem-Alexander and the Indian Diaspora in The Netherlands.
On June 23rd, Indradyumna Swami, kirtan singer Bada Haridas, Sita Charana Dasi from Macedonia and Saci Sundari Dasi from Bulgaria appeared on two prime time television programs in Skopje, Macedonia. One of the programs was in the morning, at breakfast time. The other, TV Macedonia 24, was at lunch time. Both were watched by over one million people.
The website, created by developer and second-generation devotee Krishna Kirtan Das, is designed to help devotees search, locate, contact and see the current status of all Srila Prabhupada disciples world-wide. The website is also publishing these disciples’ memories of Srila Prabhupada, encouraging them to share them before they pass away, and to be part of an important historical archive.
Demystifying Reincarnation is an engaging read that analyzes how one of humanity’s oldest questions – what happens after death? – is most coherently and empoweringly answered through reincarnation. The book has three major sections: scientific, inter-religious and metaphysical.
The Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) in Radhadesh, Belgium, is exhibiting the works of famous Indian mandala painter Om Prakash Sharma, whose meeting with Srila Prabhupada left an impact on him. Now 85 years old, Om Prakash has had a long and productive career including serving as Dean at the Delhi College of Art for over a decade. He met Srila Prabhupada at Dr. Mishra’s yoga studio in New York in 1965.
This book by Bhurijana Das contains the essence of his years of teaching experience and his study of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions on education. Included are such topics as the importance of the mode of goodness in teachers and students, how to become self-disciplined, principles of organization and management, ideas for setting and achieving objectives, how to lead discussions, ask effective questions, listen, and counsel.
