ToVP Construction in Full Swing
Mayapur, WB: Devotees from all over the world who attended the Gaura-pürnima festival this year could see the incredible construction progress of the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur. According to chairman Ambarisa Dasa and Managing Director Saòbhuja Dasa, due to an absence of the usual flooding in Mayapur this year, construction is currently ahead of schedule. It is also coming in under budget and continuing to progress at a very rapid pace.
This temple will include a planetarium within which Srila Prabhupada wanted to construct “a huge, detailed model of the universe as described in the text of the fifth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.”
Biggest Holi in the Western World
Spanish Fork, Utah, USA: Over 40,000 people attended on the first day alone March 27 of the two-day Holi festival celebrated at the ISKCON temple here. Organizers carefully rationed their stash of approximately 120,000 bags of colored powder. Rock ’n roll, R&B, and other modern interpretation of the Hare Krsna mantra were played by musicians throughout the day and chanted in a call-and-response game between performers and attendees. The main event of each festival was the coordinated throwing of colored powder, when the sky above the crowd is filled with rainbow puffs of dye.
The event was covered by many American national and local media.
Boat Festival in Vrndavana
Vrndavana, UP: On March 28, ISKCON Vrndavana celebrated the boat festival by filling the inner courtyard of the temple with water and thus creating a water pool, which was covered with variety of flowers artfully decorated. Their Lordships Radha-Syamasundara were placed on a beautiful boat shaped like a decorated swan and were taken on a ride.
Gurgaon, Haryana: An MoU has been signed between the Directorate of Elementary Education and ISKCON to provide meals to more than 90,000 students of primary government schools all over Gurgaon. A semi-automated kitchen will be set up to ensure that the food is cooked in a hygienic way.
Contributed by Madhava Smullen, Bhawna Gandhi and Laksmana Dasa