Author Archives: Madhava Smullen

A brand new single-volume biography of ISKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada, created to be marketed and accessible to the general public, was launched in New York City on May 19th. The book, “Swami in a Strange Land: How Krishna Came to the …

Professor Ravi M. Gupta (Radhika Ramana Das) is the newly appointed Charles Redd Chair of Religious Studies, and Director of the Religious Studies Program at Utah State University. It’s a prestigious position that brings to mind a gruff…

For thirty years, a very special Lord Nrsimhadeva Deity has protected the devotees of New Vrindaban and all of North America, and received their love and service. Now, residents of the West Virginia village want to invite people from all over…

Devotees are set to open their first ever temple in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, this July as an offering to Srila Prabhupada for the 50th anniversary of his ISKCON. The temple, located in an extremely sought-after area, will recei…

“Although the Bhakti movement has spread far and wide, not many people know its founder Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – even in India,” says ISKCON’s communications director in North India, Yudhistira Govinda Das. With the …

Since 1995, Manorama Das and his wife Jaya Sri Radhe Dasi of ISKCON Youth Ministry have taken youth on a Krishna conscious festival tour of North America. But this year, they’re changing things up a bit with an innovative new adventure….

Alachua, Florida is already home to the largest group of ISKCON members in North America, with some 500 congregational families. Now devotees are planning an intentional devotional community there for couples or singles aged 55 and over. Prab…

Devotees in Stockholm, Sweden, 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 landlor…

Over the weekend of April 22nd to 24th, 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. Participa…

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…

Over 2,000 people from the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe are expected to attend the 17th annual 24-Hour Kirtan in Birmingham, England from Saturday April 30th to Sunday May 1st. Today,  it’s a huge bank holiday weekend …

A new office for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium – ISKCON’s upcoming flagship center in Mayapur — has opened in Alachua, Florida, USA. The office will locally process North American donations, maintain good relationships with…

The 2nd Annual Vaishnava Film Festival, held from March 18th to 20th in Mayapur, West Bengal, premiered new productions, awarded upcoming and veteran filmmakers, and showed how ISKCON is truly beginning to embrace the most popu…

Nestled in the beautiful hill country of Bulgarian resort village Emona, and overlooking the Black Sea and Irakli beach, is Vita Rama Health Center. Every summer, the Mediterranean-style building becomes home to around 500 people, as they soa…

As its name suggests, the festival, held in celebration of ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, will be to express gratitude for Srila Prabhupada and all ISKCON devotees. It will also aim to educate youth about Srila Prabhupada’s contr…

The new ‘Hare Krishna Training Centre’ in Nairobi, Kenya, has become a popular accommodation destination for local students, who are chanting, studying Srila Prabhupada’s books, and following the four regulative principles o…

On Friday March 18th, GBC and ISKCON New Delhi leader Gopal Krishna Goswami had the opportunity to meet with Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at his residence in the capital city, to discuss ISKCON’s work. Mr. Modi is known for …

Imagine if you could fight as the great warrior Arjuna, launching an attack with your Gandiva bow? And imagine if your friend, taking on the role of Karna, could counter-attack with his own bow, Vijay? Now you both can. It all came about when…

At Vanipedia.org, the dynamic online encyclopedia of Srila Prabhupada’s words (vani), manager Visnu Murti Das and his Radhadesh, Belgium-based team are constantly adding new features during ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year. The…

With his first novel, “The Yoga Zapper,” ISKCON devotee Hari Mohan Das (Mohan Ashtakala) has blended exciting fantasy storytelling with themes from the Srimad-Bhagavatam, including the prophesied appearance of Kalki Avatar at the …

Devotees from ISKCON’s headquarters in Mayapur, West Bengal are expected to feed hot sanctified vegetarian meals to around 50,000 villagers in the nearby town of Shantipur on March 20th.

The words “Kuli Mela” literally mean “celebrate community!” in Sanskrit. And the tenth anniversary of the very first Kuli Mela – coming back to New Vrindaban from June 15th to 19th –will do exactly tha…

“In this program, our aim is to distribute 5,000 copies of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita As It Is, and to have recipients take an oath during a fire ceremony to read at least one page daily,” says organizer Vikrama Govind…

Milan Parmar, a member of ISKCON youth group Pandava Sena in the UK, has released an introspective hip-hop album that tracks the soul’s spiritual journey throughout one lifetime in the material world. Out on January 29th on Pa…

Around 300 youth aged 15 to 35 from all over Europe are expected to attend Youth Mela in Leicester, UK from September 1st to 4th this year. The convention, organized by the Pandava Sena and ISKCON Europe Youth Ministry, aims to empo…

The innovative sankirtan outreach project Fortunate People is inviting devotees to post videos of themselves and newcomers chanting the Hare Krishna mantra to its website fortunate-people.com, with an aim to gather 50,000 chants for ISKCON&rs…

Around fifteen ISKCON devotees brought the sound of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and the taste of sanctified vegetarian food to a huge anti-nuclear march in London on February 27th. Thousands of campaigners gathered from all over the wor…

Russian devotees began their 2016 with the second annual “Our Prabhupada” festival. The first, in December 2014, saw Suresvara Das speaking about Srila Prabhupada as ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya. At this year’s festival fr…

It was July 1972. For one of the first events in his Hare Krishna Festivals UK program, organizer Tribhuvanath Das – then in his early twenties – had Srila Prabhupada himself as the VIP guest. Speaking to 500 people packed into Gl…

The ambitious project will include a 800-capacity temple hall for Radha-Golokananda, a guest house and accommodation for devotees, a prasadam hall, a conference hall, exhibition areas, an auditorium and a five-star restaurant. It will blend t…

With ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year now here, ISKCON devotees all over the world are getting inspired to bring their communities together and celebrate in creative ways. At the temple in Potomac, a suburb of Washington D.C., for ex…

A new documentary short, “Hare Krishna: 50 Years of Service and Joy,” is now available for screening at ISKCON temples and institutions everywhere. Released for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, it showcases the society’…

On the land, which they have offered to Srila Prabhupada for ISKCON’s 50th anniversary, devotees plan to develop a Krishna conscious community that offers the best of both urban and rural worlds. Located in a fast-developing suburb…

An app for Android smartphones, entitled “Krsna – The Sweet Lord,” is now available on the Google Play Store for free and promises to place the best of what ISKCON has to offer in the palm of your hand. The app, developed by…

Devotees, congregation, wellwishers, and the general public filled Mumbai’s Jamnabai Narsee Ground to its 4,000-person capacity for a colorful glorification of Srila Prabhupada’s historic achievements this February 5th to 7th…

The Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) in Radhadesh, Belgium, has just published two lusciously illustrated books for devotees to feast their eyes on: “Illuminations from the Bhagavad-gita” and “Prabhupada Meditations.” …

Four people are set to represent Bhakti Without Borders, only the third kirtan album ever to be nominated for a Grammy, at the 58th annual Grammy Awards on February 15th. Main artist Madi Das – who duets on the album with eleven Va…

Italy’s ISKCON 50th anniversary celebrations commenced on November 25th, 2015 with the planting of a sacred Banyan tree in the historical garden of Piazza Vittorio in Rome. The Bhaktivedanta Cultural and Educational Library donated the …

Can you imagine one city holding 500 Harinamas or distributing 500,000 of Srila Prabhupada’s books in one year? That’s exactly what ISKCON of Pune in Maharashtra, India is doing as they ambitiously set out to 50th-ize the year 201…