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.

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."

When Ananta-Rupa Dasa and Arudha Dasi enrolled their five-year-old son Radhika Ramana in a private school, they expected impressive results. But sitting in on his math class, Arudha noticed that although he had finished his work, his teacher was too busy with her other students to challenge him further, and he was bored with nothing to do. Most schools, Arudha realized, cater to the needs of average students – above average children were bored, and below average children were frustrated.

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?

This year’s European Kuli Mela in Radhadesh, Belgium, was another storming success for the infectiously spreading ISKCON youth initiative.

With 400 gurukulis (youth and adults grown up in ISKCON) attending from over twenty countries including Russia, India, America, and most of the European nations, the event was nothing short of a global phenomenon.

Those of you (like myself) of "Anglo-Saxon" background, will perhaps be familiar with the cruel, non-vegetarian origins of this dish. It contains the cooked minced flesh of slaughtered baby sheep {called 'lamb', by the way} which is smothered in mashed potatoes and baked in the oven. Here's my tender-hearted version.

PURI: Chief priest Sri Jagannath Temple Laxmi Narayan Patjoshi Mohapatra died of cardiac arrest here today triggering uncertainty over his successor as his son is a minor to be anointed to the hereditary post. Mohapatra, who was only 32, was ill for some time. He is survived by wife, daughter and son.

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.

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.

Religious movements are historical, sociological, philosophical, and hopefully, divine phenomenon. They are also the sum total of the contributions, influence and sacrifices of many men and women, both big and small.

In the history yet to be written of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, (ISKCON) many persons will be noted for their contributions, both positive and negative, to this great social enterprise.

Here are three different recipes for eggless mayonnaise, lifted from my first cookbook 'Great Vegetarian Dishes'.

The first recipe uses condensed milk as the base and is a sweet mayonnaise. The second recipe calls for evaporated milk, and the third is a dairy-free variety featuring pureed tofu.

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.

Next year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On The Origin Of Species. The momentous occasion will be celebrated with new books, articles, documentaries and editorials. One commentator has called for a public holiday in Britain to honour Darwin - the "humble Shrewsbury family man who changed the world forever".

After a two-year hiatus, the Cleveland Nama Hatta Program, a multi-cultural group of “Hare Krsnas” and their well-wishers in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area, again hosted the Lord Have Mercy Festival. Servants of God from a variety of religious traditions were invited to sing, dance, recite poetry, enact dramas and more, to thank God for His mercy and act in a spirit of unity and harmony.

A new book entitled 'No Time to Slumber for the Hindu Tiger' by Mr Frank Ward, will be launched and blessed on Sunday 24th August during Bhaktivedanta Manor's famous Janmastami festival, in Aldenham near Watford, Herts.
The book is a personal and vivid account of the epic pioneering struggle against the persecution and intimidation of Bhaktivedanta Manor by its local Council, with support by the central government of the day.

There comes a time in every writer's life for an office cleanup. A couple of weeks ago I took the plunge. Hoping to discover a few long-forgotten bits and pieces in the process, I sorted through twenty-six years of accumulated paperwork and files. I wasn't disappointed.

I knew I had many vegetarian recipes stored away, but the final count of over 3000 was indeed a pleasant surprise. Inside one dusty box, I found a collection of very old recipes that I had kept aside, perhaps for some future cookbook. I dug up a recipe for a hundred-year-old apple pie (actually the recipe was a hundred years old, not the pie), and a medieval Swedish cream fudge.

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.

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.

As Mumbai celebrates Gokulashtami and human pyramids form and fall in the heart of Mumbai, the breathtaking acrobatics are beamed live across the nation from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.