While ISKCON’s culture and spiritual traditions hail from ancient India, many of our members live in Christian countries, come from Christian backgrounds, and send their children to Christian schools.
Associates of the ISKCON devotee-run North American Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies (NIOS) toured South America from September to November this year, presenting educational and cultural programs in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
On Saturday December 12, nine ISKCON devotees were arrested while chanting Hare Krishna outside the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. 80,000 people from around the world had taken to the streets at 3pm on Saturday afternoon in a mostly peaceful rally demanding the gathered political leaders to take stronger action against climate change.
On December 4th, Spanish inmates and guards at Ceuta Prison were the first in the country’s history to eat a full traditional prasadam meal. Ceuta, a city bordering Morocco, is separated from mainland Spain by Gibraltar. Its prison has 350 inmates and more than 100 guards.
ISKCON held its 14th annual Ratha-Yatra festival in Ludhiana, Punjab this December 19th.
Thousands of devotees from India and around the world attended the chanting parade, which covered five kilometers and was welcomed by people from many cross-sections of society.
By Vineet Chander for Om Sweet Om on 2009-12-23T00:00:00
England's Prince William spent a cold winter's night on the streets of central London last week. Along with others from the homelessness charity Centrepoint, the dashing young heir-to-the-throne slept in an old sleeping bag laid out on the city street.
By Kripamoya Dasa for Vaishnava Voice on 2009-12-17T00:00:00
Regular readers will know that, in addition to worshipping God through recitation of His holy names, devotees also worship the form of the Lord manifested in elements such as metal, wood, stone, fire, or a painted image.
This traditional fruitcake is ideal for weddings, birthdays, or any special occasion requiring a luscious, rich cake. It can be kept for several weeks after baking.
By JEREMY RIFKIN for Viva Guides on 2009-12-23T00:00:00
Hundreds of millions of people are going hungry every day all over the world because much of the arable land now is being used to grow feed grain for animals rather than food grain for people.
By Sunil Kataria for News.Com.Au on 2009-12-21T00:00:00
RAJU the bear will never have to smoke cigarettes or dance on his hind legs under the hot sun again thanks to a multinational project to save an endangered species and end a cruel centuries-old tradition in India.
On November 15th, 2009, the streets of Hyderabad were painted with saffron color when thousands of devotees of Mother Cow took to the streets demanding a total ban on cow slaughter and a declaration that the cow be named as India’s national animal. The massive Vehicle Rally was headed by Bhakti Raghava Swami, who was recently appointed the Minister for ISKCON’s Varnashrama-based Rural Development Ministry in India.
From January 27th through February 14th 2010, a special program of pilgrimage walks to the holy places of Vraja Dhama, India, will be held to commemorate the seven-year anniversary of ISKCON’s Vrinda Kunda temple.
By Varsana Dasi and Ananda Caitanya on 19 Dec 2009
Friends and colleagues joined ISKCON devotees to inaugurate a memorial bench in honor of Tamal Krishna Goswami, on the grounds of Cambridge University’s Clare Hall this November 25th.
New Delhi ISKCON devotees kicked off a program at Tihar Jail on December 2nd with a one-hour kirtan chant, raising inmates to their feet to dance and sing along.
