On Sunday 28th June London’s Ratha-yatra returned to the streets of the British capital. London was illuminated by the wonderful colours and sounds of the festival, a vibrant celebration of Vaishnava culture and spirituality in the city.

Today’s world isn’t just hectic and stressful for adults. Youth must juggle school or college, home studying, exams, and part-time jobs while holding on to some semblance of a social life. No surprise that every so often, it’s time for a much needed break. But while some choose drinking, partying and dogged pursuit of casual sex, ISKCON’s Pandava Sena youth group are looking for a true break away from it all this summer: a sample of the simple life.

For decades now ISKCON devotees have also been part of the Glastonbury experience. Despite the fact that the festival coincided with London Rathayatra this year, a dedicated team of 20 devotees went down to make a spiritual contribution to the event. “For years the organizers have given us free tickets and a good spot for putting up our tent,” explains team leader Giridhari Dasa, “So we reciprocate by giving people a helping hand and genuine festive experience.”

A new biography of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, a highly influential teacher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the guru of ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada, has been completed this June.

Prabhupada disciple Bhakti Vikasa Swami spent over twenty years researching the book, titled Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava, and at three volumes and 1,500 pages, it’s clear his efforts have paid off.

Twenty-one students successfully completed another academic year at Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, Belgium, and a graduation ceremony took place on June sixteenth. The room was crowded when the tired but satisfied undergraduates and staff were joined by cheering temple devotees, friends, supporting members, and a few proud parents.

ISKCON devotees in Jalandhar, Punjab made the news on Sunday June 28 when they announced plans to hold a 12-hour chanting marathon in hopes that Lord Krishna would be pleased and send rain.

India is currently dealing with a rain deficit 85 per cent below normal, with monsoons being delayed as much as one month. This means no livelihood for the roughly 600 million Indians supporting themselves off of the land, especially since irrigation is a luxury for most farmers.

Summer grilling season is in full swing - but while many are flipping burgers and steaks, one local community is firm in its dedication to keep mankind's bovine companions from harm.

The New Vrindaban community of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishnas, near Moundsville has operated a cow sanctuary since the community's inception in 1968 - the first of its kind in the United States.

Despite proposed changes and fees, London’s 41st Ratha Yatra (Chariot Festival) will be held this June 28 on the streets of the British capital without any modifications from previous years, after extensive negotiations with government and police.

Police have offered their traffic management and security services free to the parade for the past forty years.

On June 17, ISKCON Youth Ministry’s fourteenth annual Krishna Culture Festival Tour set off on a 16,000 mile epic journey, during which it will visit almost every state and province in North America.

Thirty-three excited youth were on board, down from last year’s fifty-five due to the damaged economy. But on the positive side, regular “bus tourians” have bowed out this year to make way for new faces from countries as diverse as Italy, Bolivia, Canada, Ireland, and even Taiwan.

NEW VRINDABAN, West Virginia, USA -- Saving cows, the Hare Krishnas in this village have learned, is a lot easier in India.

Created four decades ago, New Vrindaban was the first cattle sanctuary in the U.S. At its peak, it had 434 bovine refugees. Today, the cattle population is down to 80 because there's not enough money to support more. So the Hare Krishna community is borrowing a tactic more commonly used by charities that try to save people.

Govinda-Prema Dasa, an ISKCON devotee from Nairobi, gifted Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga with a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad-gita this May.

The opportunity arose when devotees attended the same Sikh community college opening that the Prime Minister had been invited to speak at. After Odinga’s speech promoting higher education as the way to a peaceful and happy country, Govinda-Prema approached him.

On Wednesday, June 24, 2009, ISKCON Baroda's 28th annual Jagannath
Rathayatra Mahotsav, aka “Festival of the Chariots”, was observed in the
usual grand manner.

Baroda Mayor and recently elected Member of Parliament, Sri Balkrishna
Shukla, inaugurated the procession by sweeping the road in front of the
Lord's Rath (Chariot) with a golden handled broom, following the age old
tradition of the Maharajah of Puri, at the Baroda Railway Station at 2:30
PM, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, which corresponds to the auspicious day of
“Aashadh shukla dvitiyaa” (the second day of the fortnight of the waxing
moon in the month of “Aashadh” on the Hindu calendar).

On May 22 this year, devotees in the West African city of Lome, Togo, inaugurated their new vegetarian restaurant with a celebration and feast.

The restaurant’s origins go back five years ago when devotees, encouraged by their late guru Bhakti-Tirtha Swami’s directions on simple living and high thinking, established an active Food For Life program in Lome and surrounding areas.

VADODARA: When annual rath yatra of Lord Jagannath passes through the by-lanes of the city on Wednesday, devotees will witness a couple from US joining them with chants of Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, like many other foreign disciples of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) movement over the years.

Vadodara (Baroda), India: Police heaved a sigh of relief after the Jagannath rath yatra concluded peacefully on Wednesday night at the ISKCON Temple. Having received intelligence input about a possible terror attack during the yatra, city police were on tenterhooks and had made stringent security measures on the entire route.

June 20, New Vrindaban, West Virginia – This weekend sees devotees and guests from all over North America and the world pour into ISKCON’s New Vrindaban community for the third annual 24 Hour Kirtan Festival, a celebration of India’s ancient practice of call and response chanting.

The event is modeled after the original 24 Hour Kirtan in Vrindaban, India. First launched in 1975, the program faded away three years later, but was revived in 1986 by Srila Prabhupada disciple Aindra Dasa. Since then, devotees at ISKCON’s Krishna Balaram Mandir have chanted God’s names non-stop—24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Inspired by the legendary “chipped rice festival” described in Caitanya-Caritamrita, ISKCON’s International School in Mayapur, India transformed into the ancient village of Panihati this June 6.

The original festival was held 500 years ago during the time of Gaudiya Vaishnavism founder Sri Chaitanya, when Chaitanya’s close associate Nityananda Prabhu directed his follower Raghunatha Dasa Goswami to organize a festival and feed all the devotees with yogurt and chipped rice.

Devotees who have served in ISKCON for at least five years will now be entitled to fifteen days of free accommodation and food per year at Sridham Mayapur, ISKCON’s headquarters in India.

“The offer is a gesture of appreciation for devotees’ dedication to Srila Prabhupada’s movement,” says Padmanayana Dasa, Head of International Devotee and Guest Care. “We want all ISKCON devotees to think of Mayapur as their home.”

Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu, the free e-magazine from ISKCON’s Gopaljiu Publications in Bubhaneshwar, India, has just entered its ninth year of circulation and sent its 200th issue to an ever-growing list of subscribers.

A search for the magazine’s origins take us back to 1977. When ISKCON founder Srila Prabhupada visited Bhubaneshwar for the last time, he instructed its spiritual leader, Gour Govinda Swami, to not only reach out to outsiders, but also to inspire and teach those who were already devotees.

ISKCON devotees in India are continuing to help clean and restore the adjacent sacred lakes Radha-Kunda and Shyama Kunda, assisting a project that began in early May.

The project is part of an ongoing effort by locals and the Indian Government to maintain Braja, the holy land in India where Lord Krishna was born, and is the first time Radha and Shyama Kundas have been cleaned since 1987.