Author Archives: Madhava Smullen

Fifteen teenaged youth, aged 13 to 18 and hailing from Australia, New Zealand and Bali, were inspired in Krishna consciousness as they traveled across Australia during their summer holidays this January. But they also deeply moved and inspire…

Between March 2014 and the end of 2016 – ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year – the Padayatra Worldwide Ministry is aiming to hold 50 padayatras, a kind of journey on foot accompanied by kirtan. The first one in 2016 was a fi…

The superstructures of all three domes of ISKCON’s upcoming flagship temple – the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium in Mayapur, West Bengal – have been completed, and finishing work is now underway. At its highest point, the t…

Many of the more than sixty temple presidents and GBCs attending this year’s ISKCON North American Leaders Meetings called the event “the best ever.” This was largely owing to the upbeat mood brought about by ISKCON’s …

In his upcoming new book “Our Family Business: The Great Art of Distributing Srila Prabhupada’s Books” – out February 24th — veteran distributor Vaisesika Das shares the history, key principles and techniques of …

 “We have this focus on changing the externals, or trying to change things from the outside in, when actually what’s required is a change from within, a change from the invisible world, the eternal.” Ghanashyam Priya&rs…

Since 1995, devotee youth headed by ISKCON Youth Ministry’s Manorama Das and his wife Jaya Sri Radhe Dasi have traveled all over the US and Canada every summer – and Mexico every winter. On each trip, they spread Krishna conscious…

Four kirtan albums by ISKCON chanters, most of them second-generation devotees, made the Top 20 Conscious Music Albums of 2015 list on Australia’s Soul Traveller Radio this January. The list, voted for by listeners worldwide, included n…

ISKCONoutreach.com, a new website that aggregates articles, toolkits and videos related to ISKCON’s outreach efforts in one place, launched on December 29th, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s Disappearance Day. An initiative of th…

There’s no doubt that protecting cows was very close to Srila Prabhupada’s heart. In a series of Back to Godhead magazine articles in the mid 1950s, he was already envisioning a community where residents lived a simple life and pr…

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii – the first Hindu congresswoman in America – has requested Marcia Bernicat, the U.S. Ambassador in Bangladesh, to visit an ISKCON temple there that recently withstood a terrorist attack. She a…

A world-class show celebrating ISKCON’s 50th anniversary entitled “Transcendental Journey: Krishna 50 Years On” is set to play at the iconic Sydney Opera House in Australia on Saturday August 20th, 2016. Transcendental …

As an offering to Srila Prabhupada during ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is set to publish some of his books in two languages – Catalan and Quechua – for the first time ever. Catalan is spo…

Asia’s largest museum, the China Art Museum in Shanghai, has dedicated its entire tenth floor to Forms of Devotion, a collection of sacred art from Belgium’s Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA). The exhibit, which opened on November 6th&n…

Fortunate People, an organization that keeps in touch with those who receive Srila Prabhupada’s books on the street, has added an inspirational new feature to its Facebook page: videos of first timers chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. F…

On December 12th world leaders and representatives of 195 countries agreed to to work together to limit average global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial temperatures. According to CNN, “Failure to set a …

Bhakti Without Borders, a charity kirtan album featuring mostly second generation ISKCON singers, has been nominated for a Grammy – the biggest music recognition award in the United States. The album has been nominated in the Best New A…

Fifty padayatras – traditionally a journey on foot accompanied by kirtan and spiritual book distribution – are being offered by the Padayatra Worldwide Ministry to Srila Prabhupada in celebration of ISKCON’s 50th annive…

The attractive 64-page publication, packed with beautiful full-color photos, will be printed on quality matt paper with a firm cover. It is aimed at everyday men and women from all walks of life – academics, students, next-door neighbor…

While there is already an exhaustive biography of Prabhupada in the form of Satsvarupa Das Goswami’s multi-volume Srila Prabhupada Lilamrita, as well as many individual memoirs, author Yogesvara Das (Joshua M. Greene) felt the need for …

After receiving both triple bypass heart surgery and hip surgery, his Holiness Mukunda Goswami has returned safely home to ISKCON’s New Govardhana farm in New South Wales, Australia. His occupational therapists expect him to be “b…

ISKCON has signed the Hindu Declaration on Climate Change issued on November 23rd, showing its support along with 60 other Hindu leaders and organizations. The Declaration was put together by the Bhumi Project at the Oxford Centre for Hindu S…

It’s coming very soon. And ISKCON devotees in 75 countries across six continents are determined to make their guru and Founder-Acharya Srila Prabhupada proud. In the UK, an avalanche of major, inspirational events for ISKCON’s 50t…

Forget to Remember, the new transformational short film from young Russian director Shaktyavesha Avatar Das, is now available online with English subtitles. The 36-minute Russian language short won second place at the viewer-voted Moscow film…

Joy of Devotion, a new documentary currently in production and set to be released in 2016 — ISKCON’s 50th anniversary year – will show what the seeds Srila Prabhupada planted 50 years ago thriving around the world. &nbs…

ISKCON devotees in the United Kingdom recently got the chance to meet with both British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On November 10th, for the third year in a row, Bhaktivedanta Manor temple president…

No ISKCON devotees or congregation members were hurt during the terrorist attacks on Paris on Friday November 13th, in which 129 people were killed at six locations throughout the French capital. Yet some congregation members living close to …

For the past seven years, Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji Mandir in Dallas has rung in the new year with an epic multi-hour community kirtan organized by second-generation devotees. This New Year’s Eve, the community is organizing a fifty hou…

With his new book “Chasing Rhinos with the Swami, legendary ISKCON pioneer Shyamasundara Das stopped by to talk to ISKCON News. At 73, he still has his thick shock of wild hair, and the wide grin, easy sense of humor and friendly nature…

Around 200 ISKCON devotees from all over the United States’ East Coast celebrated the 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in Butler, Pennsylvania on October 24th, along with yoga practioners and locals who had spot…

Despite its 50-million-strong population and renowned tiger economy – it’s the fifth leading exporter in the world – South Korea has been largely overlooked by ISKCON so far, with just two small preaching centers, and only o…

The festival, which ran from October 9th to 13th at Delhi’s NDMC Convention Centre, is ranked in the top two environmental film festivals in the world. It deals with a vast range of issues including climate change, natural her…

Several ISKCON devotees contributed to the Parliament of the World’s Religions – the largest interfaith gathering in the world – this year, with kirtan, japa, and an introduction to the Bhakti philosophy. The first Parliamen…

His Holiness Mukunda Goswami, an ISKCON pioneer, guru, and one of Srila Prabhupada’s very first disciples, has undergone a successful triple-bypass surgery after suffering a heart-attack. However devotees worldwide are still praying int…

Although the words “second generation” often refer to those born into the Hare Krishna Movement, the new initiative aims to help all 25 to 45-year-olds  who attend Alachua’s New Raman Reti temple, regardless of how they…

The Indian Ambassador to Italy, as well as the mayor of local municipality San Casciano,  both praised the new Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) at Italy’s Villa Vrindavana during its opening late last month. The museum – MOSA&rsqu…

New Vrindaban’s autumn 24-Hour Kirtan – to be held from October 31st to November 1st this year during the sacred month of Kartik — is rapidly catching up to its summer cousin in popularity.

This year’s Save the Cow Kirtan Mela at ISKCON’s New Talavana farm in Mississippi drew around one thousand locals and devotees for a family-oriented festival centered around cow care.

Members of the ISKCON devotee-run charity Food For All UK partnered with local devotees in Paris and Brussels to feed sanctified vegetarian meals to Syrian refugees, parliament members, and thousands of young people across three events in lat…

Bhaktimarga Swami has become famous as “The Walking Monk” from his treks on foot four times across his native Canada, as well as across Ireland, Israel, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana and Trinidad. The Swami’s current walk, ho…