Guests staying at Mayapur’s largest and new guesthouse, Ishodyan had the privilege of having their morning shower with hot water heated by solar power. This was possible with the first ever solar heating system installed at ISKCON Mayapur, West Bengal, India, inaugurated on the 4th of March by Jayapataka Swami. The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Pragosh Das and Anuttama Das, Chairmanof ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission for the year 2014. 

Thanks to the solar water heaters, the Ishodyan building will now be saving a whooping 450 KW of electricity. That sums up to the amount of power required to run all the water heaters at Mayapur’s guesthouses!

The efforts for making Mayapur a city that consumes lesser energy started three years ago. “Jayapataka Swami was very keen in making Mayapur eco-friendly and sustainable, so from there came the idea of having a solar water system, to start with”, said Gopijanavallaba Dasa, the man who laid the foundation for the present noble project.

Anuttama Dasa emphatically stated that as Krishna’s devotees, ISKCON needs to lead the world in sustainability. “As devotees we love Krishna, so we also love Krishna’s property. Saving energy and being eco-friendly means we are doing bhakti” , he added. He also reminded the audience that Srila Prabhupada always stressed on the fact that we should never waste Krishna’s energy.

“The water heating project at Ishodyan is just the first step, we have many more lined up and coming up soon”, assures Gaura Narshima das, Co-director of ISKCON Mayapur. Mr. UVK Rao, an international energy expert and Hari Lila das, an engineer with sound technical knowledge are a part of this promising ‘green team’ at Mayapur and help things function at the ground level.” 

In due course of time, the Mayapur management under the guidance of Jayapataka Swami, hopes to run all its heaters with solar power, run the kitchens with Gobar gas, use only energy efficient fixtures, have their own solar power generation plant etc. Not only do these efforts reduce energy consumption but certainly help in cutting soaring energy costs.

Due to the new “Green Revolution”, it is not long before residents and visitors see ISKCON Mayapur transforming into being a truly sustainable Krishna-community.