ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

While I am caressing her trunk, Laksmipriya makes soft growling sounds. She makes me reflect back to the time which made me want to care for elephants the way they deserve to be treated.

April 1st, 2006 was a day when I promised myself I wanted to make a difference in the life of an elephant. It was the day when our temple elephant Gulab Kali died and a day I'll never forget.

In 2008, a new Vaisnava training initiative was launched in the city of Sotchi on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Unlike many previous versions of bhakti-sastri curriculum (in depth classes on Gaudiya literature), the present course is based on interactivity and emphasizes practical application of knowledge as its main component.

What the punctuation in the title indicates:

Quotation marks: Draping the word God in quotation marks indicates that we are first concerned with the signifier, not the signified. (Compare these two sentences: I am interested in God. I am interested in “God.”)

Question mark: The mark of interrogation backstopping “God” points us next to questions concerning the concept or idea of God. What does it mean? Aren’t there many different meanings? Isn’t the meaning often vague or ambiguous?

Human rights defenders and religious communities remain highly concerned that the Constitutional Council will approve and President Nursultan Nazarbaev will sign a controversial Law restricting religious freedom. Many provisions of the Law have been seriously criticised in a Legal Opinion from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

What is the relevance of the charming, dark-skinned, flute-playing god, Krishna today - outside the temple altar? Why would any one care to browse through miniature paintings of a cowherd, frolicking amidst bovines and beauties? Or driving a chariot in a mystical battle? Because Krishna gives us ethics (in the Bhagavad Gita), sweetness and unconditional love (Bhagavat Purana).