ISKCON India Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Prabhupada’s Leaving for U.S.
ISKCON is getting ready for its mega 50th anniversary celebrations, with events to be held all over the world throughout the year 2016. These will commemorate the day founder-acarya Srila Prabhupada officially registered the society in New York on July 11, 1966.
ISKCON India’s eastern temples have banded together with chairman Sankarñaëa Nitai Dasa to organize events centered around the first part of his journey.
Devotees highlighted in major tourism award win
Queensland, Canada: More than 100,000 people lined the streets to witness the 2014 Carnival of Flowers Parade and there, right in the middle of it, was Lord Jagganatha, Baladeva and Subhadra riding the iconic ratha cart covered in flowers pulled by the devotees.
The Deities and the dancing, chanting devotees were welcomed by the cheers and waves of people lining the streets to celebrate the culture and history of Toowoomba all listening to the sound of the holy names.
Later that day the Ratha-yatra cart was awarded second prize in the cultural division of the parade.
Anonymous Donor Pledges $1,000,000 for the TOVP Project
Mayapur, WB: An initiated devotee of ISKCON, who wishes to remain anonymous, approached his spiritual master Devamrita Swami that he wished to donate 1 million dollars to some project in ISKCON. Devamrita Swami immediately motivated his disciple to donate this money to the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) project in Mayapur, India, which is at the present the most important project of ISKCON, building the headquarters that Srila Prabhupada had been wanting for so long.
ISKCON Prison Ministry Turns Lives Around
Alachua, Florida, USA: Since re-launching in 2009 under director and full-time volunteer Bhakti-lata Dasi, the U.S. branch of ISKCON Prison Ministry has been reaching more and more of this audience throughout the country’s correctional system. And with another year reaching its end, the results are purely inspirational. With December still to go, Bhakti-lata’s office in Alachua, Florida alone has sent out 3,020 pieces of devotional literature to inmates, consisting mostly of Srila Prabhupada’s books as well as Back to Godhead magazines and books by other devotee authors.
Crowdfunding for ISKCON Finland
Helsinki, Finland: After a two-year struggle following the end of their rent contract at their temple of the past twenty years, Finnish devotees have secured a new temple for rent, a traditional Finnish log Manor in the Malmi district of Helsinki. Now they’re attempting to use crowd-funding to purchase the Manor and make it the first temple ISKCON Finland has ever owned outright.
BRC Acquires Manuscripts from Advaita acarya’s Line
Kolkata, WB: The Bhaktivedanta Research Centre in Kolkata has added some new treasures to its vast library of over 16,000 works that includes all the major Puraëas and Vedas and many important and rare works by Vaisnava acaryas.
Amongst the recent acquisitions are seven handwritten manuscripts donated by Sri Sanjay Goswami of Vrindavan, a 14th generation descendent from Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s intimate associate Sri Advaita acarya. They include copies of Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, Raghunath Dasa Gosvami’s Mukta Carita, and Gopala Guru's Bhajana Paddhati, and a complete copy of Caitanya-caritamåta from 1760.