Most Read Stories
By Janet I. Tu for The Seattle Times (USA) on 23 Aug 2008
The giant pink wedding cake of a building stands in bold contrast to nearby houses painted polite Northwest shades of beige and taupe.
Naresh Bhatt beams as he gives a tour of this new temple in Sammamish. He chose the colors. Happy, blissful colors, he says.
Inside, as the service begins, Bhatt joins his wife, two daughters and many others — most of Indian descent — who chant exuberantly: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare."
By Madhava Smullen on 21 Jun 2008
From sitting on his dad’s lap as he sang devotional songs, to studying harmonium and singing in ISKCON’s gurukula schools, kirtan was the only music Gaura Vani Dasa knew as a child.
Even later, when he educated himself in modern pop and rock music, paintakingly picking his way through the decades, kirtan remained his one true love.
By Tanya Datta for BBC News on 23 Jan 2008
Basava Premanand has been burgled… again. It is the third time in just one month. But he is in no doubt of the thieves’ motives. He suspects they were looking for evidence that he has collected for over 30 years against India’s leading spiritual guru, Sri Satya Sai Baba. Mr Premanand believes this evidence proves the self-proclaimed “God-man”, Sai Baba, is not just a fraud, but a dangerous sexual abuser.
By Nicholas D. Kristof for The New York Times on 2 Aug 2008
In a world in which animal rights are gaining ground, barbecue season should make me feel guilty. My hunch is that in a century or two, our descendants will look back on our factory farms with uncomprehending revulsion. But in the meantime, I love a good burger.
By Madhava Smullen on 23 Aug 2008
Devotees visiting the New Raman Reti community in Alachua, Florida this Janmastami are in for a special treat.
First introduced in 2007, the Village of Vrindavana is a miniature version of the real Indian holy place. It was created by second generation devotee Raghunatha Zaldivar and his friends, who set to work when they found themselves still buzzing with creative energy after last year’s youth festival, Alachua Kuli Mela.
By Gaurav Laghate for Doordarshan News on 26 Jul 2008
MUMBAI, INDIA (IT) — Colors to advertise new TV channel and "mythological" Jai Sri Krishna in both McDonalds and ISKCON temples.
Colors, the new entrant in the Hindi general entertainment GEC) space, has a launch marketing and promotion budget of Rs 350-450 million, sources in the industry say. The plan includes a high profile coverage in top 90 cities and towns, spread across the Hindi speaking markets.
By Vyenkata Bhatta Dasa on 4 Dec 2007
New York City – New York Ratha Yatra, a popular Hare Krishna festival held along Manhattan’s posh Fifth Avenue, is among fifteen “traditional annual Fifth Avenue parades” that will be allowed to continue despite new measures to limit processions down the street, according to Virginia Waters, senior counsel in the city’s law division.
BBC World News (UK) on 16 Aug 2008
Once again the Hindu festival of Rathayatra was celebrated in style by Leicester revelers, but with more chariots than before. Listen to find out what the festival is all about...
The annual Ratha Yatra chariot festival was bigger and better than in previous years with three sumptuously decorated chariots being wheeled from Leicester's Clocktower to Cossington Park in Belgrave.
By Vyenkata Bhatta Dasa on 16 Aug 2008
Detroit, Michigan (USA) - ISKCON devotee Saraswati Richardson will be one of three women featured on "The Secret Lives of Women," a reality television show on the Women's Entertainment cable network. The episode with Saraswati, entitled "Extreme Beliefs," will air on On August 19, 2008 at 10pm EST.
Bhaktivedanta Manor Newsletter on 8 Aug 2008
UK charity ‘Food For All’ was presented with the first prize trophy at this year’s Novelis Community Recycling Project awards. The ceremony took place in central London and was attended by groups from all over the country who are pro-active in recycling.
Novelis, the largest recycler of aluminium drink cans in Europe, praised the charity's collection and distribution of fresh food from supermarkets which would otherwise be thrown away.
By Vyenkata Bhatta Dasa (Vineet Chander) for beliefnet.com on 23 Jun 2008
As anyone who has ever told a "How many _____ does it take to change a light bulb?" joke knows, humor can be tricky. Attempting religious humor can be downright dangerous. On the one hand, we fear offending people's cherished beliefs; on the other, spiritual growth seems to necessitate that--from time to time, we all learn to not take ourselves quite so seriously.
By Chris Fici on 16 Aug 2008
A new tradition has been born from the desert floor like a phoenix, and the fire of devotion continues to burn as Krishna Camp once again descends on Burning Man 2008, the annual festival of all things alternative, creative, and progressive, which ensues this year, as always, from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
By Madhava Smullen on 12 Jul 2008
On June 20th 2008 Gokulananda, a second generation ISKCON member—or gurukuli—died by suicide in Marina Del Rey, California. His death was reported to his family and Gurukuli peers by his girlfriend of five years, Michelle Lemay.
On June 29th, about ten of Gokulananda’s gurukuli peers gathered with other friends to honor his bright spirit and to pray for peace and happiness on his journey.
By Jens Dana for Deseret News (Utah, USA) on 26 Jul 2008
SPANISH FORK — Llamas are native to lands far from where Hinduism originated, but in these docile creatures, Charu Das sees an exemplary adherence to one of the main tenants of his faith: tolerance.
"There's only so much you can do about your environment," said Das, 61, who manages the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. "We can't make it dark at noon, we can't make it light at midnight. ... Our response should not always be to control nature. It's better to learn to tolerate, just like animals."
BBC on 23 Dec 2007
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, dismissed the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men yesterday as nothing but “legend.”
There was scant evidence for the Magi, and none at all that there were three of them, or that they were kings, he said. All the evidence that existed was in Matthew’s Gospel.
By Antony Brennan on 17 May 2008
"Krishna has saved me" said Avadhuta-priya devi dasi, a devotee of Lord Krishna, referring to her incredible escape from a series of terrorist bomb blasts that tore through crowded shopping areas of Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan in India's north.
By Kurma Dasa on 20 Sep 2007
Srimati Radharani is the mother of the universe. The spiritual mother of all souls. And the concept of mother is the most sacred symbol - that of purity, selflessness, caring, sharing, nurturing, and love.
By ISKCON News Staff on 8 May 2008
The European division of ISKCON Communications met this April at ISKCON’s picturesque chateau in Radhadesh, Belgium, with over thirty attendees from countries as diverse as Ireland, Latvia, Sweden and Italy. As outlined by Shaunaka Rishi Dasa at the meeting’s outset, much of the Communications team’s work since 1982 has been focused on dealing with challenges to ISKCON's authenticity – and sometimes even its right to exist.
By Madhava Smullen on 16 Aug 2008
When it comes to education, ISKCON has learned a lot.
In the sixties and seventies, when our society was but a tottering toddler itself, we had young children with an undeniable need: to be educated. Not even considering outside schools as an option, we began to teach them ourselves without first educating teachers.
By Madhava Smullen on 9 Aug 2008
Tattoos have been inked permanently into modern culture. Walk down any busy city street and you'll spot a vast number of tattooees, ranging all the way from the young female professional with a butterfly on her shoulder blade to the wild punk rocker with hardly any space left for his white skin to shine. For some reason, having an unremovable image of a two-headed dragon eating its own face sprawled across their chest until their dying breath is an idea that appeals to a lot of people. National Geographic News reported in April 2000 that fifteen per cent of Americans were tattooed. That's around forty million people.
Now, surely a Hare Krsna devotee would be the last person you'd expect to see among those forty million, right?
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