ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

GBC member and ISKCON guru Bhakti Charu Swami suffered a mild heart attack recently, but is now in a stable condition at Apollo Hospital in Indore, India. Dr. Sujata Bhargav, who cared for him at the hospital, allowed devotees to visit his room when appropriate. Despite his condition, the Swami spoke to various disciples and students, saying that he was “tired of taking rest,” and that talking to devotees enlivened him.

Krishna Dasa, an ISKCON youth from Moscow, died on March 20, in Mayapur, India. He was twenty years old. The day before the Gaura Purnima festival, Krishna Dasa and his friends had taken a boat out into the Ganga, and were playing, swimming and diving from it. Krishna Dasa is reported to have been dragged under by the current, although details are sketchy at present.

Ravi Gupta [Radhika Raman Dasa] thought someone was playing a joke on him when the Centre College religion professor received a phone call inviting him to greet Pope Benedict XVI next month during the pontiff's visit to the United States. More than 200 interfaith leaders will meet with Benedict on April 17 in Washington, but Gupta is one of a handful to have an official ceremonial role.

On March 25, 2008 the directors of the Krishna Society were summoned to a meeting organized by the Hakim of Almaty Province. The subject of the meeting was the imminent eviction of the Religious Organization Society for Krishna Consciousness from their property in Karasai District.

The BBT will be holding their second annual art seminar in Vrindavana, India, from October 7 – 28, 2008. At last year's seminar, taught by veteran ISKCON artists Dhriti Dasi and Ram Dasa Abhirama Dasa, eighteen international students learned practical techniques as well as the mood essential in producing devotional art.

First-time, non-HareKrishna attendees at this year's spectacular Festival of the Chariots would have been amazed to find that they could join a queue and receive a generous portion of savoury breyani, tinged with the unique flavour of woodsmoke, completely free.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's new Varnashrama community appears to be going against the global trend of rapidly increasing food prices. As a UN aid official recently commented to global news agency AFP, "The Philippines may end up having to feed people to save them going hungry as the market price of rice soars out of reach of ordinary households."

Tens of thousands of Hare Krishna movement devotees across the country celebrated the festival of chariots today. The festival started in India and dates back thousands of years.

The main event was held in Durban today, and was hosted by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Bhubaneswar, March 22: An International Society for Krishna Consciousness devotee was caught by priests of Jagannath temple at Puri on Saturday for selling booklets of Srila Prabhupada, the founder of Iskcon, inside the temple premises.

Staff at Srimad-Bhagavat Vidyapitham, the BBT's Sanskrit school in Govardhana, India, are requesting the help of ISKCON leaders to recruit students for their next school year beginning in April 2008.

"Every year our three-year Bhāgavata Śāstrī course begins afresh," says headmaster Gopiparanadhana Dasa. "We already have some students registered, and want to admit another eight to ten by October."

Festival of the Eyes 2008 is a collaborative presentation featuring images of Gaura-Nitai deities worshiped in the homes of ISKCON members around the world. The accompanying musical arrangements are by Agnideva Dasa and Madhuha Dasa respectively.

This is the story of how the first deity forms of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda came to be.

In the 15th century, by the solar calendar, a great devotee of Lord Nityananda named Gauridasa Pandit lived in a town on the banks of the Ganges river known as Ambika-Kalna.

On March 1st, the seventh day of the meetings, the morning presentations focused on the Youth Fund and Mayapur Temple of Vedic Planetarium, while the afternoon session consisted of a presentation by Bhaktivedanta Institute (Kolkata) and straw voting on proposals.

Dallas ISKCON devotees have christened their new festival tour of popular parades the "Transcendental Hootenanny." Originating in 2007 as a simple float for their chanting party to ride on in the local St. Patrick's Day parade, the idea soon evolved into a major event that will hit ten parades annually in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

As many of our readers are aware, every weekday free food is being served during lunch time on our campus. It rivals our much beloved Brunch Bowl, not just in terms of value for money, but also on taste. Not only is it a free meal, it's also very nutritious. The people responsible are the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which runs two closely related programs, called Food for Life, and Food for All.

Would you like to participate in creating a beautiful experience for ISKCON News readers? This Gaura Purnima we're having a 'Festival for the Eyes' that you're invited to help us put together.

On Gaura Purnima Day we're going to unveil a multimedia presentation featuring Gaura-Nitai deities worshiped in devotees' homes around the world.

A keen environmentalist, novelist, web designer, and member of Hindu temple Bhaktivedanta Manor, has been selected as the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Hertsmere.

Arjuna Krishna-Das, an active member of the Green Party since the early 1980s, is now set to represent the party in the region at the next General Election.

Whatever made the Hare Krishna movement build a Hindu temple in the midst of Mormon dominated Utah?

“The Lord built a temple here just to show He could do it. Caru Dasa, the president of the temple, has often said, “He did it as a prank.”

After the visual tour-de-force of deity meditation that was Darsana, it made sense to the Mediterranean BBT that their next book should be about the person who gave us darsana: Srila Prabhupada. When the BBT trustees responded, “Why do we need another book of Prabhupada pictures?” photographer Nitya-tripta Dasi set out to show them by searching through every photo of Prabhupada available.

Devotees at New Talavana, ISKCON’s 1300 acre farm in Mississippi, mourned the loss of their veteran bull Bala late last year. But the evening of February 17, 2008 was a joyous one, as they welcomed a new life to replace him. Little Shivani was born to the milk cow Chandravali, with a unique complication that only occurs in 5 per cent of all births: she emerged backwards.