H.H. The Dalai Lama's Message for the "Chant for Change" Event
On Saturday October 8th, at Washington’s famed Lincoln Memorial, at the site of one of America’s most famous landmarks, an event never seen before on this scale in Washington will take place. Chant4Change will focus on the performances of dozens of musicians, from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions, who will join together for a day and evening of music calling out to the Divine in chant, prayer, and song. To celebrate the event, H.H. the Dalai Lama also sent a message.
Over 300 people attended the Gala event, seventy-five of them special VIP invitees including religious leaders, media, government representatives and political leaders.
Radha Damodar Das, One of the First Devotees in the Soviet Union passed away on September 3rd evening succumbing to lung cancer. ISKCON Communications Director Anuttama Dasa remembers: "Radha Damodara prabhu was a true, humble and dedicated servant of his guru maharaja and Srila Prabhupada. Despite the dangers and troubles of being a Krishna devotee in the early years in Russia, Radha Damodara was fully committed to Lord Caitanya's mission."
In May 1983, Radha Damodara was arrested and imprisoned for his faith. While in prison, he had to work in dangerous conditions, which included using a poisonous glue. He also suffered from malnutrition. Nevertheless, Radha Damodar continued to follow the principles of Krishna Consciousness and to preach. His health suffered, especially his lungs. Today, it is the lungs that have been affected by a dangerous disease.
Growing every year in size and popularity under a second generation team, Toronto Rathayatra has inspired younger devotees to take on more and more leadership in their community, and senior devotees to hand more and more to them. Today, the festival is put on by thirty-two younger devotees from high school kids to thirty-somethings, heading up twenty different departments.
"His Holiness Krishna Das Swami's life reads like a story from the scriptures, much like his glorious departure from this world." The Executive Commitee of ISKCON's Governing Body Commission has issued a following statement appreciating the service of Krishna Das Swami, who has recently passed away in Vrindavan.
On the eve of Saturday 2nd July in the outskirts of London, a cast and crew of 65 young people who are part of an upcoming performing arts group known as "Something Spiritual", came together to put on a spectacular production depicting the life and struggles of Srila Prabhupada. It was a night that captured hearts, moved people to tears and transformed the lives of many.
The book is an account of painful experiences of the first attempt to spread Krishna consciousness in the USSR, which was Srila Prabhupada’s desire; stories of devotees’ trials in jails and psychiatric hospitals, their encounters with the KGB, but the author Sarvabhavana Das doesn’t lack in humor when he recalls, as he puts it, “his painful but blissful past”.
The words “Kuli Mela” literally mean “celebrate community!” in Sanskrit. And the tenth anniversary of the very first Kuli Mela – coming back to New Vrindaban from June 15th to 19th --will do exactly that.
Russian devotees began their 2016 with the second annual “Our Prabhupada” festival. The first, in December 2014, saw Suresvara Das speaking about Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya. At this year’s festival from January 15th to 20th hundreds of devotees learned about Srila Prabhupada as a person from Hari Sauri Das, who personally served him for sixteen months.
A Letter to All Devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness from the Executive Committee of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission (GBC).
Ananta Shanti das (Anatoli Pinyaev), the firs Russian disciple of Srila Prabhupada, has left his body on June 3rd, 2013, as a result of a stroke.
Although ISKCON guru Tamal Krishna Goswami passed away in 2002 at the age of fifty six, his mother Lore Garrick—affectionately known to devotees as “Mother Lore” or to TKG disciples as “Grandma”—outlived him by eleven years. Her life was a fascinating one.
Yamuna Devi, a pioneer and influential early western convert of the Hare Krishna movement, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), passed away early on the morning of December 20th in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
On Sunday, October 23, Kirtanananda Swami, a controversial former leader in the Hare Krishna society who was excommunicated by the parent organization for serious legal and moral transgressions, passed away in India.
It’s no surprise that Gopiparanadhana should have such an auspicious passing, for his devotion and service in the Hare Krishna movement was truly exemplary.
On the 4th of November, 22:25 PM Moscow time Purnacandra Goswami passed away. It is a great loss for the entire ISKCON community.
The funeral of Karsanji Punja, initiated by Srila Prabhupada as Bhuvan Mohan Dasa and founder of ISKCON Fiji, was held in Lautoka, Fiji on May 24.
Srila Prabhupada disciple Amekhala Dasi passed away peacefully at 6am on Friday April 23rd, after a five-month battle with cancer.
Devotees around the world are mourning Padma Lochan Dasa, a senior disciple of ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada, who passed away at 6:58am on March 27 in the sacred land of Mayapur, India, at the age of 57.
Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaja, the President-Acharya of the international Gaudiya Vaishnava group Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, passed away at 4:30am on March 27th, 2010, at the age of 81.
ISKCON’s seniormost monk Mahavishnu Goswami has peacefully passed away at the society’s Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai, India, at 3pm Indian Standard Time on Monday January 25th. He was ninety-one years old.
Rasajna Dasi, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada who inspired many through her creativity and devotion, passed away in Austin, Texas on December 28th. Her last days were spent in the company of her husband Greg Schroen and other loving family and friends, chanting Krishna’s name by her bedside.
Jaipur, India – Rajmata Gayatri Devi—formerly the Queen of Jaipur, a member of India’s Parliament, and a celebrity christened one of the most beautiful women in the world—passed away on Wednesday, July 29 at the age of 90. For devotees of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), she will be especially remembered for her hospitality to the early Hare Krishna devotees visiting Jaipur and her gift of large Radha Krishna deities to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ISKCON’s founder-acarya.
On July 18 Uttama Chaitanya Dasa, the temple president of ISKCON Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, was attending a two-day seminar hosted by ISKCON’s Congregational Development Ministry. He had complained of some heart pain earlier that day but otherwise seemed fine. As devotees playing futsal (indoor soccer) after the seminar to relax, however, he collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital with devotees chanting Hare Krishna in his ear, but passed away at 5pm.
