ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The Washington D.C. based Institute on Religion and Public Policy – one of the world’s best respected advocates for freedom of religion and belief – has condemned the Kazakhstan government’s January 27 deportation of ISKCON leader Bhakti Bringha Govinda Swami.

The ISKCON-produced Le Carnaval Spirituel is now in the second year of its Australian tour. Many devotees spend months in advance advertising in regional newspapers, television and radio for the upcoming shows. A group of twenty-six devotee artists from around the world come together to deliver a performance that is a thrill for the mind, senses and soul.

His Holiness Bhakti Bhringa Govinda Swami and a three piece devotional band toured in the northern and central part of Taiwan for a week last December.

ISKCON Taiwan's Bhakti-yoga Cultural Center organized the tour entitled "The Magic of Sound" to promote kirtan yoga in Taiwan. The band successfully performed seven times in various venues and in front different types of audiences.

Eighteen-year-old Giacomo Soresi glanced surreptitiously over at the girl he’d sat next to in class for the past five years, his heart beating fast. Once he had been a little boy, flipping through the mysterious book full of strange script and beautiful pictures his father’s colleague had given him – a book called Bhagavad-Gita As It Is. And at exactly the same time, young Laura Pipitone had been singing her heart out to an LP her big brother bought from a Hare Krishna devotee on the street. But back then, Giacomo didn’t know about that “coincidence,” or the many others to come that meant his destiny was inextricably entwined with hers.

What do yoga, spiritual music, and Hare Krishna have to do with Barack Obama? At first blush, not a whole lot. Sure, Obama carried around a Hanuman trinket for some time, as indicated by Time Magazine. But there's no direct evidence -- as far as we know -- that our new president has a penchant for boogying down with eastern rhythms.

Pune, India this year. With over 5,000 devotees attending from India and abroad, festivities stretching over four days, and a host of special guests including Radhanatha Swami, Chandramauli Swami, Bhakti Visrambha Madhava Swami and Bhakti Charu Swami, it was a big festival for the city.

But most exciting for many devotees was the rumored fifth special guest – Jayapataka Swami.

The Rotary Club of Mumbai Cuffe Parade played the role of a catalyst by connecting GATI, a large Indian transportation and logistics company, with the Mid Day Meal project of Mumbai's ISKCON Food Relief Foundation (IFRF).

On Friday the 23rd January Shri Devendra Agarwal, head of GATI, handed over the keys of one large truck to IFRF's director Dr. Radha Krishna Dasa.

Towards the end of 1997, Ananta Rupa Dasa, president of the ISKCON Boise, Idaho, USA center, came up with an idea to inspire members of his community to chant Krishna's names. Instead of staying up until midnight ushering in the New Year, he held the first Japathon on January 1st, 1998.

Cells are the fundamental units of living organisms. Those that function similarly make up the tissue, and a collection of tissues working together forms an organ. A collection of organs makes up the organism. The codes or instructions as to how each cell should function is contained in the nucleus of the cells, as DNA. Units of DNA form genes and the collection of all genes is called the genome.

Thousands of years ago, a sage named Narada pointed out three things that are pleasing to God (in a discussion with a group known as the Prachetas, as recounted in India's Bhagavata Purana).

The qualities Narada recommended are worthwhile for anyone, but especially would be valuable for a leader to emulate.

News reaches the world that the troubled inhabitants of Lokastan have begun to perish in steadily increasing numbers from a contagion. The disease organism is reportedly so virulent that all exposed fall ill and nearly all the ill die.

Most people, if they bother to think about it at all, probably view the internet as an agent of profound change. In the 15 years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the world wide web, the life of almost everyone in the industrialised world has been touched by it. But just as many of us are coming to grips with its second stage, the mobile internet, very few are prepared - perhaps even aware - of the third and most revolutionary phase: the internet of things.

Happy cows produce more milk, according to researchers at Newcastle University.

Cattle that are named and treated with a "more personal touch" can increase milk yields by up to 500 pints a year.

The study, by the university's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, involved 516 farmers across the UK.

A few months after Lloyd reported on the Swiss government's conclusion that plants have rights the Ecuadorian population went one step further and voted to change their constitution to proclaim that nature has “the right to the maintenance and regeneration of its vital cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes.”

Pope Benedict XVI's launch of a Vatican channel on global video-sharing website YouTube fell on slightly deaf ears Friday, according to early viewing figures.

By 1630 GMT, http://it.youtube.com/vatican had drawn a total of 14,606 views and signed up just 528 subscribers to what the Holy See describes as "the Catholic Church's position regarding the principal issues of the world today."