ISKCON-Bangalore

SC restrains ISKCON-Mumbai

The Honourable Supreme Court has restrained ISKCON Mumbai society from interfering with the day to day management of the ISKCON-Bangalore. It also instructed both the parties to maintain status quo. The court further said that the ISKCON-Bangalore society office bearers should continue with the day to day affairs and the supervisory committee of ISKCON Mumbai has been restrained from interfering in any way or barging in. The court also ordered that the plaintiff society (ISKCON-Bangalore) will manage the day to day affairs and that ISKCON Mumbai should not interfere. The divisional bench of Honorable Justice Sri B.S.Chauhan and Justice Sri Swatantra Kumar were giving an order on the special leave petition filed by the ISKCON-Bangalore Society. The divisional bench heard arguments presented by Sri U. Lalith, the senior counsel for ISKCON-Bangalore. The apex court however did not stay the High court order.

The counsel for ISKCON-Bangalore explained that the difference between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON-Bangalore pertains to the issue of spiritual succession of the Acharya post the physical departure of its founder Srila Prabhupada.

The honorable judges asked for the registration copies of both the societies and listed the matter for further hearing after the vacation.

Temple History

In September 1987, ISKCON Bangalore was operating from a rented house in the city with a handful of devotees. Under the leadership of the Temple President, Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa, ISKCON Bangalore applied for a 7-acre hillock from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). The BDA had described it as “karaab land” (waste land) as it was a huge piece of monolithic rock and could not be converted into sites. The BDA sanctioned the land at a cost of Rs. 11 lakhs to be paid in 90 days. With practically no resources in hand, the team of devotees managed to collect the sum partly with the help of some donors and partly through loan.

The whole construction was carried out by the ISKCON Construction Department. Between 1990 and 1997 a total of 10 million man-hours were put by 600 skilled craftsmen, 32,000 cubic meters of stone, 131,250 tons of cement and 1,900 tons of steel were used.

My Duty as Krishna Devotee

Krishna reveals the secret of becoming closer to Him, in the Bhagavad-Gita (18.69-70). He says

ya idam paramam guhyam mad-bhaktesv abhidhasyati

bhaktim mayi param krtva mam evaisyaty asamsayam

For one who explains this supreme secret (of Bhagavad-Gita) to the devotees, pure devotional service is guaranteed, and at the end he will come back to Me.

na ca tasman manusyeshu kascin me priya-krttamah

bhavita na ca me tasmad anyah priyataro bhuvi

There is no servant in this world more dear to Me than he, nor will there ever be one more dear.

The secret of becoming dear to Krishna is to spread the message of Bhagavad-Gita in which Lord implores us to think of Him, worship Him and surrender to Him. The temples of Radha Krishna established by and on the order of Srila Prabhupada are like the oasis in the desert which gives all of us the opportunity to practice the principles of Bhagavad-Gita. If one brings others closer to Krishna temples of ISKCON one will help in bringing conditioned souls nearer to Krishna. Thus any such endeavor will make one very dear to Krishna.

ISKCON Bangalore’s Radha Krishna temple on Hare Krishna Hill, since its inception in 1997 has been attracting thousands of devotees and has been inspiring them to become devotees of Krishna. It has indeed become the oasis that Srila Prabhupada referred to. Many devotees have found transcendental peace on having darshana of the deities of Sri Radha Krishna Chandra, Sri Krishna Balarama, Sri Nitai Gauranga, Sri Srinivasa Govinda and Sri Prahlada Narasimha.

The modern scientific age thro’ internet has shrunk the whole world into one Global Village, or shall we say it has made the whole world available to us on our desktop. Internet has made the world smaller and virtually without boundaries. Over 1971 million people are using the internet, which accounts for about 28% (statistics as on Sept 2010) of the total world population. So it is imperative that this wonderful innovation be put to right use by using it to bring people closer to Krishna.

Wishing to use this opportunity ISKCON Bangalore has been striving to make its online presence as enlivening as the offline presence. We have tried to use the latest technology to bring their Lordships Sri Radha Krishna to the desktops of as many users of internet as possible. In this effort you all can render valuable service by bringing your friends on the net in touch with Them, and become dearer to Krishna. By taking Lordships Sri Radha Krishna to the desktops of others you will open the doors of liberation for you and your friends. All that you have to do is to use the social media tools like face book, twitter, orkut etc to spread the various elements of online presence of ISKCON Bangalore.