Hare Krishna Festival Dedicated to Nelson Mandela Draws Thousands
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly know as the Hare Krishna movement today hosted a magnificent festival for thousands just South of Johannesburg, South Africa in celebration of the life and legacy of South Africas most famous son, Nelson Mandela. Condolences, prayer and celebration in tribute to Nelson Mandela were the themes echoed throughout the daylong event.
“Pioneers of Krishna Bhakti” Featured at American Academy of Religion Convention
The American Academy of Religions (AAR) Annual Meeting is the worlds largest gathering of religion scholars. This years conference held two separate panels focusing on the contributions of modern Vaishnava scholars and saints. The first such session was featured on Saturday morning at the Dharma Academy of North Americas (DHANAM) 11th Annual Conference, a corollary, yet highly regarded sub-group of the AAR. The Saturday morning panel was entitled, “Modern Pioneers of the Globalization of Krishna Bhakti: Prominent Teachers of the Caitanya School.” The panel of five scholars featured three papers about the contributions of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, one paper on the contributions of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, and one paper on the work of Tamal Krishna Goswami and his recently published book about the teachings of ISKCONs Founder-acarya, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
ISKCON Central New Jersey To Turn Church Into Temple
ISKCON devotees in Central New Jersey are in the process of purchasing a beautiful Methodist Baptist Church and turning it into a Krishna temple. The new 18,000 square foot property will help accommodate the growing ISKCON Central New Jersey (ICNJ) congregation.
ISKCON to Participate in Interfaith Battle of the Bands
ISKCON devotees participated in an Interfaith Battle of the Bands that was held at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Wednesday, November 20. The event was held at Flavet Field, a large outdoor venue, from 6 to 8 pm. Nine different acts, from various different Christian and Jewish faiths as well as the Vaishnava faith, performed onstage.
Hare Krishnas return to Cambridge University, UK
After many years, the Hare Krishna Festival team returned to the historic city of Cambridge, UK, to host a festival at Cambridge University, in the West Road Concert Hall.
The hall was very grand, with state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment, and a very large stage, which would play a role in prominently displaying the devotees. A couple hundreds of guests turned up, most of them were English, but there were many other nationalities such as Japanese, American, Italian represented. There were lots of students, but many other people such as lecturers, businessmen and retired people as well.
Town Hall in Tenerife Grants Land for ISKCON Temple
The local government in Adeje, a tourist town located in southwestern Tenerife, has granted ISKCON an 8,000 square meter plot of land on which to build an Indian style mandir and temple complex. Its an exciting development for ISKCON, which has had devotees visiting Tenerife — the largest and most populous of the seven Canary islands off the coast of Spain — since the 1970s.
A New Short Film on the “Journey with the Bhagavad-gita”
Visakha Dasi has just released a new short video A Bumpy Journey Toward Harmony with the Bhagavadgita. It is a 24-minute DVD with music, sound effects, provocative wisdom and over 250 stunning photographs. The video is based on Visakhas book Bhagavad-gita: A Photographic Essay, which won the Independent Publisher Book Award in 2011 in the USA.