ISKCON guru and leader Sivarama Swami received the Gold Cross of the Hungarian Republic, the second highest award in the state, during a Diwali celebration this October 20th.

Ekta Choudary—Miss India 2009, and the Indian finalist in this year’s Miss Universe beauty competition—turned up at ISKCON New Delhi’s Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Mandir for a visit on November 3rd.

ISKCON’s 8th ELM (European Leaders Meetings), held from October 2 – 3 in Villa Vrindavana, Italy this year, yielded inspiring news on the year's accomplishments, as well as some exciting new plans.

We’re extending our gratitude to Ekendra Dasa, the managing editor whose two and a half years of dedicated service brought the site to where it is today—and welcoming a new face.

Martin O’Malley, Governor of the US State of Maryland, observed Divali at a special reception for local dignitaries in the Governor’s Mansion on October 28. The event commemorated the Hindu New Year, and was the first official Divali celebration in Maryland’s history.

Each year on the weekend before Halloween, about 100,000 people attend the Halloween Block Party in Oak Lawn, the gay and lesbian district of Dallas, Texas—which just happens to be the number two gay capital of the US, after San Francisco.

Dr. Harvey Cox, a renowned scholar and an avid supporter of ISKCON, retired from his post as Harvard Divinity School’s Hollis Professor of Divinity this past June

ISKCON guru and leader Bhaktimarga Swami recounts his adventures as he and other devotees spread Krishna consciousness to the coldest, most remote parts of Canada.

For ISKCON devotees around the world this October 22nd, the 32nd Disappearance Day of their founder Srila Prabhupada was a celebratory occasion.

On October 28, New Vrindaban Community in West Viriginia, USA, hosted the world’s most famous bush doctor. Dr. Landveld manufactures natural medicines from plants, roots, tree barks, carrots, fruit and lianas from the Amazonian rainforest of Suriname.

Vrindavana, India - On October 17, five representatives of Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founder-acarya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, forming an official delegation, met with Srila B.V. Narayana Maharaja, founder-acarya of the BHAKTI Trust Mission, near the pilgrimage site of Govardhana Hill, just a few miles from Vrindavana, India. The meeting, which had been planned for several months, was held at Narayana Maharaja's Sri Sri Gauranga Radha Giridhari temple at Giridhari Gaudiya Math.

With the kind of dazzling spectacle that ISKCON Mayapur has become famous for, this Diwali saw the entire campus illuminated by thousands of oil lamps.

Diwali, a cross-cultural festival that is celebrated in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, commemorates the return of Lord Rama to the city of Ayodhya after rescuing his wife Sita Devi from the demon Ravana.

This December, while most of us are nursing cups of hot tea and trying to keep warm, a group of intrepid ISKCON youth adventurers will be hitting sunny beaches and exotic locales across Mexico.

But theirs is not just any holiday—it’s the fifth annual Kirtan Yoga Festival Tour. Starting life as a Krishna conscious way for youth to get together in between ISKCON Youth Ministry’s longer summer festival tours, this winter excursion has grown into a powerful outreach tool of its own.

A troupe of second generation ISKCON artists performed for Kartik Vandanam 2, the second in a series of annual classical music and dance evenings, this October 17th in Vrindavana, India.

Held in honor of Kartik, the most auspicious month of the Vaishnava year, the devotional “garland of prayer” was performed under the stars in ISKCON Vrindavana’s Bhaktivedanta School Gardens, which were lit with hundreds of lamps.

After what was a spectacular Diwali firework display on Sunday 18th October at Bhaktivedanta Manor near London, numerous community leaders and festival revelers released 1000 lanterns into the sky in a bid for world peace.

On the Sunday, 15,000 people attended the Diwali celebrations at the Temple. Other highlights of the festival included colourful dances, plays and free vegetarian meals for everyone.

On a clifftop above the sea, on the Mediterranean island of Crete, a young man meditating at sunset heard a voice inside say “Go to India.” He climbed down to his cave and there met his childhood friend and fellow traveller, who had been meditating on the seashore. This other young man had heard, at the same time, a voice telling him to “Go to Israel.”

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Kharghar visited Taloja prisoners and explained the science of Krishna consciousness recently.

The programme was organized to offer relief to all the inmates of the Taloja prison in the form of spiritual knowledge.

On Friday, October 9th, 2009, the students, teachers and parents of the Bhaktivedanta Swami Mission School celebrated Govardhan Puja with great aplomb and splendor. It was the last day of school before breaking for the Diwali vacations.

The school management divided the teachers into three teams to systematically celebrate the pastime of Lord Krishna lifting Govardhana Hill.

ISKCON’s Food For Life program in the Philippines is assisting with relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, which has left more than 300 people dead and nearly 400,000 affected.

The tropical storm, which hit the Northern Luzon region of the Philippines on Saturday September 26, caused some of the worst floods the country has ever seen.

After what is promised to be a spectacular Diwali firework display on Sunday 18th October at Bhaktivedanta Manor near London, numerous community leaders will be releasing 1000 lanterns into the sky in a bid for world peace.

On the Sunday, 15,000 people are expected to attend the Diwali celebrations at the Temple. Other highlights of the festival include colourful dances, plays and free vegetarian meals for everyone. The day will culminate at 7.15pm, in one of the most spectacular Diwali firework displays in the Greater London area. Everyone is welcome.