The Krishna Institute (KI) launches its service to the Vaishnava Community on May 21, 2016, at ISKCON of Alachua with Sacinandana Swami and Madhava Dasa facilitating the two-day interactive Dharma Workshop: Discover Your Mission in Life. 

Recognizing the significant contribution the KI will make to Srila Prabhupada’s mission in the USA, the International Coordinating Committee for ISKCON’s 50^th Anniversary Celebrations has scheduled KI’s inauguration as a National Event.

Offered in a newly developed retreat facility surrounded by nature’s beauty in a secluded area of the temple property, the Dharma Workshop will benefit attendees of all ages regardless of how many years they have been ISKCON members. Even a senior devotee can “get a new lease on life” or a renewed and revitalized outlook, as well as potentially discover a deeply satisfying “second career (service to Krishna)” by participating in this workshop and accessing the wealth of knowledge and realization coming in our Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. This workshop is the ripened fruit of Sacinandana Swami’s fourteen years of research into the best way to discover one’s mission in life.

After the Dharma Workshop the KI will offer many other workshops, along with retreats, seminars, and courses, that will systematically equip each participant with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to fulfill their unique mission. On May 23 Madhava Dasa and Radhika-devi Dasi will offer The Qualities and Mood of a Kirtaniya: Realizations from Six Years of Kirtan with Aindra Prabhu, and from May 24 to 26 Sacinandana Swami and Madhava Dasa will lead The Holy Name Retreat.

Both events will offer deeply satisfying experiences, and they are included in Kirtan – From Your Heart to the World(May 23 to June 27), a traveling kirtan experience that will go from Alachua via the Youth Ministry bus to the Sadhu Sanga Retreat, NY Ratha-yatra, and New Vrindavan’s Kulimela and 24-hour Kirtan.

Based upon the association and facilitation of devotees such as Amala Harinama Dasa, Bada Haridas Dasa, BB Govinda Swami, Bhakti Charu Swami, Gauravani Dasa, Giriraja Swami, Indradyumna Swami, Madhava Dasa, Manorama Dasa, Nadia Mani-devi Dasi, Radhanatha Swami, Sacinandana Swami, and Vaisesika Dasa, Kirtan – From Your Heart to the World will inspire chanting from the heart and provide the skills and mood to share the pure name with the world.

Here’s the KI’s schedule subsequent to these initial offerings:

July 2 – 4 | Temple Worship Workshop, with Jayananda Dasa and Raghunatha Dasa

Jayananda Dasa and Caturatma Dasa worshipping Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Shyamasundara in Alachua.

September 18 | Start of a two-year Bhakti-sastri Course. Workshops (English & Spanish) will be held just before the Sunday program. Part-time English-medium facilitators include Dhruva Maharaja Dasa, Hari Parayana Dasa, Janmastami Dasa, Nagaraja Dasa, Nanda-devi Dasi, Nitai-lila-devi Dasi, Prana Govinda Dasa, Rucira-devi Dasi, Sukhada-devi Dasi, and Svaha-devi Dasi. Part-time Spanish-medium facilitators include Bhakti Prabhupada-vrata Damodara Swami, Nanda-devi Dasi, and Krisodari-devi Dasi.

November 4 – 6 | ISKCON Leadership and Management Workshop, with Anuttama Dasa and Tamohara Dasa

November 20 | Start of the Grihastha Training Workshops(twelve 3-hour sessions one Sunday a month for a year), with Tamohara Dasa and Mantrini-devi Dasi

KI’s educational offerings evoke the mood of Srila Prabhupada’s Seven Purposes of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (please review these purposes at the end of the article) when he incorporated ISKCON fifty years ago. ISKCON temples that have imbibed Prabhupada’s mood of education and training, such as ISKCON of Chowpatty and ISKCON of Pune, have become vibrant success stories, with many full-time devotees and enthusiastic congregations to inspire Vaishnavas for generations to come. With this vision the GBC asked the KI team to start the Krishna Institute. 

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Please go to the KI’s website http://krishnainstitute.org/ for more information, or write info@krishnainstitute.org. 

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Seven Purposes of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness:

1. To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.

2. To propagate a consciousness of Krsna, as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

3. To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krsna, the prime entity, and thus to develop the idea within the members and humanity at large that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krsna).

4. To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

5. To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the Personality of Krsna.

6. To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life.

7. With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books, and other writings.