The worldwide activities of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)

World News

North America

NBC television aired a prime-time special last February that featured BTG associate editor Drutakarma Dasa and BTG contributor Sadaputa Dasa. The show, The Mysterious Origins of Man, with actor Charlton Heston as the host, brought out challenges to Darwinian evolution and other commonly held scientific ideas. Half the show focused on research found in the book Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race, by Drutakarma and Sadaputa. Estimated audience: fifteen million.

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously overturned a resolution by the local airport commission that would have stopped devotees from distributing Krsna conscious books at the airport. After seeing Srila Prabhupada's books and hearing from devotees about book distribution, the council ordered the airport commission to work out a compromise with the devotees and other groups who approach travelers at the airport.

Devotees have begun a $100,000 renovation of the Hare Krsna center in Los Angeles. They plan to build a new reception area for tours of Srila Prabhupada's quarters, renovate the altar and the room for Deity paraphernalia, and add windows and decorative work to the temple.

The Religious Public Relations Council (RPRC) elected Anuttama Dasa, national director of ISKCON Communications, to its board of governors last March. The RPRC, the oldest public relations association in the United States, promotes high standards for religious communications and public relations.

Bhakti Marg Swami

Bhakti Marg Swami

Canadian-born Bhakti Marg Swami set out in April to walk 5,270 miles (8,500 km) across Canada to promote the Srila Prabhupada Centennial. As he travels, he will tell how Krsna consciousness offers spiritual solutions to material problems. He will also place copies of Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is in libraries in all ten Canadian provinces.

Fifteen Indian newspapers across the USA and Canada are printing monthly full- and half-page ads glorifying Srila Prabhupada for spreading India's spiritual culture around the world. The ad campaign began last December and will run throughout the Centennial year.

The Houston Hare Krsna temple opened a new community hall in May. Opening the 12,000-square-foot hall begins the renovation of the four-acre temple site, known as Hare Krishna Dhama.

India

The Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust convened a historic reunion of the Sarasvata family the disciplic followers of Srila Prabhupada's spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. The reunion took place in Sridham Mayapur in February, occasioned by the Srila Prabhupada Centennial. Srila Prabhupada had directed that the Charity Trust promote unity and cooperation within the Sarasvata family, and the reunion took place in pursuance of that end. Direct disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura attended the reunion, and so also did representatives of almost all the institutions headed by his followers. The convenor of the meeting was ISKCON leader Jayapataka Swami, the chairman of the Charity Trust. Those in attendance decided to form a permanent body, called the Sarasvata Gaudiya Association. The association will meet annually in Sridham Mayapur.

A Muslim scholar from the Islamic Academy in Bombay visited ISKCON's center in Mayapur, West Bengal, earlier this year. During his tour of the project, the scholar, Mr. Shabbir Totanavalla, met with several Hare Krsna devotees of Arabic Muslim background.

ISKCON Calcutta will hold its annual Rathayatra festival on July 17. After a week-long festival, a "return yatra" will be held.

Europe

Thirty men beat up an international group of Hare Krsna devotees chanting last April in the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Three devotees were hospitalized for stab wounds and one for head injuries suffered during the twenty-minute attack.

"The clash had been unexpected," reported the Reuters news agency. "The Hare Krishna movement had been very active in Sarajevo throughout the war, performing their dance and songs in the city streets even during the worst of the shelling and winning sympathy for their courage from the besieged residents."

A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior promised the police would do its best to catch the perpetrators. So far, four suspects have been arrested.

Devotees in Belarus have finished the first stage in developing 340 acres of land they received from the government three years ago. They have built a three-story residence, a greenhouse, a shed for twenty cows, and workshops for brickmaking and wood and metal work.

Devotees Chant in Dublin

Devotees Chant in Dublin

The St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin included sixty devotees and their festival cart. Some 350,000 spectators along the route looked on as officials announced over loudspeakers, "This is a very special year for the Hare Krsna devotees, as it is the centennial year of their spiritual leader, Srila Prabhupada."

The Hare Krsna movement in Croatia has created a homepage on the World Wide Web. The location is http://public.srce.hr/~hmarjan/. So far, it's all in Croatian.

Australasia

Devotees in Christchurch, New Zealand, in January celebrated the tenth year since the installation of their Deities, Sri Sri Nitai-Gauracandra (Nityananda and Caitanya). The celebrants installed a brass cakra (the disc of Lord Visnu) on the temple roof and held a parade on the city's main street.

Soon after, one hundred devotees took Hare Krsna festivals to the ten major cities of the North Island. The festivals drew crowds of 150 to 500 people. The tour ended in Auckland, where 5,000 people attended a festival.

Japan

The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust displayed Srila Prabhupada's books at the Tokyo International Book Fair.

The Caribbean

Dignitaries in Trinidad praised ISKCON during a festival for Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The ministers of health and social development and the local mayor spoke at ISKCON's Logdenville temple.