Managers at the ISKCON complex in Sri Mayapur Dhama, India, have announced that construction will soon begin on a new guest house with many on-site facilities, to be named Isodyan Bhavan.

“Most ISKCON devotees are aware of Mayapur’s accommodation crisis, especially during festival days,” explains Mayapur project manager Bhakti Purusottama Swami. “And with more and more festivals held here throughout the year, we have been flooded with requests to build more guest rooms."

He adds, "Although we have been working on the problem for some time, land has just now become available, and we are ready to build.”

The new guest house will offer a unique solution to the accommodation problem: individual rooms will be made available to donors for a lifetime period. Donors will pay a one-time fee of Rs8,60,000, or three installments of Rs300,000 over three years. This will allow both them and their invited guests to use the room for a total of sixty days per year, including the prime-time Gaura Purnima Festival period.

During the rest of the year, the room may be used to facilitate other pilgrims, and will be maintained by the guest house department.

“As we have only sixty rooms, available on a first-come, first-served basis, we request devotees to book theirs immediately by depositing at least Rs100,000,” says Bhakti Purusottama Swami. “Since the rooms will be available even during the Gaura Purnima Festival, they are a commodity that every major temple in the world should have. That way, they can reliably facilitate visits to Mayapur by their temple devotees and congregation.”

Bhakti Purusottama points out that for ISKCON devotees, booking a room at the Isodya Bhavan is a wise investment in their future. “Due to inflation, the amount you spend on this room will be considered negligible in a few years,” he explains. “For example, devotees who donated only Rs10,000 for a room in Mayapur’s ‘Lotus Building’ when it was first constructed are still enjoying convenient accommodation there today. Meanwhile, other devotees are now willing to pay six lakhs rupees for one of the same rooms, but there are none available.”

With this latest step, Mayapur management hopes to provide devotees with the opportunity to regularly visit the holy town and practice Krishna consciousness there. They invite any ISKCON devotee or community to address their queries to Bhakti Purusottama Swami at bps@pamho.net.