Jayadvaita Swami Book Wins Benjamin Franklin Award
Vanity Karma, a new book by ISKCON guru Jayadvaita Swami
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Vanity Karma, a new book by ISKCON guru Jayadvaita Swami, has been presented with the 2016 Benjamin Franklin gold award by the Independent Book Publishers Association. Published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, it won best book of the year in the category of “religion.” The award was presented on April 8, at the 28th Annual IBPA Publishing University here.
The book, subtitled “Ecclesiastes, the Bhagavadgita, and the Search for the Meaning of Life,” explores two profound wisdom texts – one a book from the Old Testament of the Bible, the other Lord Krishna’s words to Arjuna.
New TOVP Phone App Goes Live
With the aim of keeping devotees informed about the progress of the TOVP literally right at their fingertips, the new free TOVP App gives everyone access to features such as news updates, links to the website, photos, YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, TOVP social wall, and even a donation link. Future links will include the up-and-coming TOVP online store.
To download the App to Android phone go to the Google Play store and search TOVP or use the following link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.app.app7a7b2fa8a6c2 To download the App to iPhone go to the Apple store on and search TOVP or use the following link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tovp/ id1092838473?ls=1&mt=8
ISKCON Stockholm Campaigns to Save Center
ISKCON Stockholm
Campaigns to Save Center
Stockholm, Sweden: ISKCON devotees here are campaigning to save their Hare Krishna Center, which has served the public for 34 years and is the oldest Hindu temple in the city.
Every three years so far, the Center has renewed its lease with its landlord, Familjebostader (Family Residences), a property company that is owned by the Municipality of Stockholm and builds properties for public benefit. But in December 2014, the company cancelled ISKCON’s rental contract, effective September 2015, with plans to use the building for another purpose.
Academic Conferences on ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary
Academic Conferences on ISKCON’s 50th Anniversary
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA: Between April 22 and 24, more than thirty scholars met at Harvard University’s Center for the Study of World Religions to talk about the growth, impact, and challenges of ISKCON since its inception in July 1966. The three-day event was entitled “The Worldwide Krishna Movement: Half a Century of Growth, Impact, and Challenge,” and commemorated ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. It began with a Friday evening welcome at Harvard Divinity School’s Sperry Room, where ISKCON founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada himself spoke back in 1968.
Bath Spa University, UK: Devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor, academics from around the country and students from Bath Spa University gathered at the picturesque and quaint university on Saturday 23rd April to talk about their shared interest in the Hare Krishna movement. The day was organized in collaboration with Religions, Philosophies and Ethics at the University.
Two Devotee Women Co-author Popular Yoga Book
Two Devotee Women Co-author Popular Yoga Book Two women initiated into the Brahma- Madhva- Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya have published a popular book that emphasizes the bhakti tenets in two of the world’s most revered yoga texts: the Bhagavad-gita and Yogasutras.
Last month, Braja Sevaki Devi Dasi (Braja Sorensen) and Krishna Kanta Devi Dasi (Catherine Ghosh) released Yoga in the Gita: Krishna and Patanjali – The Bhakti Dimension, with Golden Dragonfly Press. The book illuminates parallels between these two texts in a practical, philosophically rich and entertaining manner, while adhering to the interpretations given to the original Sanskrit texts by ancient yoga tradition itself.