Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances. All glories to Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga.
The year 2026 is a great festival for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas. It’s the sixtieth anniversary of Your Divine Grace establishing the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Over these last sixty years, a great flood of devotion to Kṛṣṇa has inundated the entire world. Every small corner of the planet has been affected. A testimony to this fact is the endeavors of the servants of your servants in Norway. Although the country of Norway did not receive the fortune of your physical presence, your devoted followers traveled here in the seventies to spread the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. According to all accounts, they were very successful, and the seed of bhakti was planted in the heart of the nation. Then, in the early eighties, a devotee couple turned their home into a temple and thereby started the first center for Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Bergen, a city on the weather-torn west coast. After some years, a flourishing community of devotees moved their efforts to the capital, Oslo, and through the years Oslo has been the heartbeat of ISKCON Norway.
Today, a new generation of devotees still sustain themselves on this great heritage. For the twentieth year in a row, we will be celebrating the Ratha-yātrā chariot festival. Furthermore, the vibration of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa continue to linger in the air after the local devotees celebrated their annual festival, Scandinama, where they take the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa into the streets of the capital during the national celebration of the constitution.
A team of inspired householders, together with a growing congregation, maintain a small center in Oslo, where Śrī Śrī Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā reside, and here your Sunday love feast programs, together with Saturday night kirtans and morning readings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, are attended weekly by a happy crowd of locals. More recently, in the 2020s, a handful of brahmacārīs returned to Bergen to reclaim the west coast in your honor, and they have now opened a beautiful temple in a scenic part of that city, where curious Bergensians and aspiring devotees now regularly visit to receive the mercy of Śrī Śrī Nitāi-Gauracandra.
Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is our hope that you will somehow be pleased with our efforts here in Norway. Your books are being distributed, and we know that this particular service is very dear to you. Following your order, the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā is now translated into Norwegian, and the reigning monarch, King Harald, has even received a copy with appreciation.
Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, we beg you to please bless our tiny endeavors so that we might be made able to continue spreading the saṅkīrtana movement of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu here in Norway. You have so kindly given us this ISKCON society, and this small branch in this faraway Arctic Circle land is flourishing by your grace. Our only desire is to make your books and teachings more and more appealing to the local Norwegians. Please be kind and grace us with your mercy to continue this great task.
The servants of your servants at the Norwegian yātrās, offering obeisances at your lotus feet
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept my humble obeisances.
This year in France we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the installation of your dearest Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Deities at New Māyāpura Dhāma. May they grant us spiritual strength so that we can overcome our anarthas, be fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and cooperatively serve your mission in France.
By casting your merciful glance on France, you offered us both the gradual and the fast track processes for purification: “One can gradually become purified by seeing, touching, and worshiping temple Deities, places of pilgrimage, and holy rivers. But one can attain the same result immediately simply by receiving the glance of exalted sages.” (Bhāgavatam 10.86.52)
We may not have received your physical glance in this life, still, we can experience your divine presence in your books, recorded lectures, conversations, letters, and in your mūrti form. We can feel how deep is your compassion by hearing your pastimes from the lips of your sincere disciples and followers.
As far as we in Paris are concerned, the government is increasingly embracing the Indian culture. Last month, a new Indian cultural center opened in the heart of Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower. We were invited for the inauguration, and devotee artists from Belgium are now having an exhibition there for a few months. In the Paris region, a big temple from the Swami Narayan community is about to open at the end of 2026. We are also connected with them and hope to hold kirtans and classes there.
Meanwhile, your beloved Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Parisīśvara are kindly tolerating our lack of experience and maturity. You wrote, “I am also glad to hear that in your temple no one misses mangala arati and that everyone is becoming steady and peaceful in their service. It sounds as if you are taking care of your men very nicely. This is first class management. Please continue in this kind of management.” (Letter to Kurusrestha, Bombay, 28 December 1974)
Sorry for not being up to this level yet. Also, I feel deeply ashamed to see such a poor facility for both the Deities and the devotees. Still, Rādhārāṇī’s lotus hand is delicately pouring mercy upon us all to push on the mission, and attracting more and more souls to take shelter in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Even if we struggle to reach the standard They deserve, our attempt to follow your instructions is improving the situation day after day. We are still a small team of ten to twenty devotees living in the temple or close by. Our congregation is growing in number and maturity, but unfortunately, we must admit that we hardly attract locals to the temple. We try our best to reach out with harināma, book distribution, programs at the temple, home programs, kirtan events, and online programs … only by your mercy will these attempts bring a change in people’s lives.
My dear Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, I see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence [mauna-vrata]. They are not interested in delivering others. As for me, however, I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, without taking shelter of Your lotus feet, one cannot be happy. Therefore I wish to bring them back to shelter at Your lotus feet. (Bhāgavatam 7.9.44)
After regularly touring in Paris for few months, our saṅkīrtana party unfortunately has stopped these past months. We are sorry for that. You wrote, “To manage a sankirtana party nicely is more precious than all other activities. That is the verdict of Bhagavad-gita and the mission of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” (Letter to Tamala Krishna, Bombay, 13 November 1975)
Book publication is finding a second breath also, with dedicated devotees patiently investing their time and energy in BBT-related services. New titles are about to come, including a reprint of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. You wrote, “Our first important business is to hold Sankirtana as many times as possible. The next important business is publication work.” (Letter to Krishna Dasa, Los Angeles, 28 July 1969)
Book distribution is still going on, but less intensely compared to past years in terms of scores, but more and more devotees are entering the dance on a regular basis. Having said that, while finding ever fresh happiness in the preaching field, it is heartbreaking to see practicing devotees leaving your divine ISKCON boat in the hope of finding greener grass … in vain. Please kindly forgive our shortcomings and enlighten us not to commit the same mistakes.
One of your faithful disciples recently told me that we need more than better facilities for the Deities; our first priority should be to take care of the devotees. Indeed, how long can we continue preaching to newcomers without caring for the practicing devotees? How long can we distribute books without developing relationships with the people? How long can we neglect the needs of senior devotees, who dedicated their life and soul to your mission?
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, if you feel I can be of any help in this regard, please engage me. With the blessings of my spiritual master, our GBC leaders, some senior devotees, and my wife, I decided to step aside from work – at least temporarily – to step back into deepening relationships, explore new areas of preaching, and dedicate more time to your mission. My only hope in this attempt is to please you and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Parisīśvara.
Please kindly guide us, and please kindly keep us on the bona fide path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
An unqualified servant of your servant,
Jīva Praṇa Dāsa
On behalf of the management team of Rādhā-Parisīśvara Mandir
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda!
Please accept our obeisances in the dust of your lotus feet! Thank you for your compassion toward the citizens of Russia and the Soviet Union. Despite difficulties, you came to Moscow fifty-five years ago and carefully planted the seed of devotion in the hearts of the Russians.
Your mission continues to develop in the Russian territory. We have had the honor to develop your mission in Perm and the Perm region. Please accept our yearly report on our activities as an offering to you!
By your grace, we have the opportunity to serve our Deities: Śrī-Śrī Jagannātha-Baladeva-Subhadrā-Sudarśana-cakra, Śrī-Śrī Nitāi-Gauracandra, and Śrī-Śrī Prahlāda Nṛsiṁhadeva.
We conduct training courses on Vaiṣṇava philosophy, courses on receiving the praṇāma-mantra, receiving initiation, and bhakti-śāstra for devotees, as well as courses for studying the Bhagavad-gītā for new people.
Ten training courses on the philosophy and practice of Vaiṣṇavism, ninety-eight students who regularly attend classes, seven teachers, and qualified mentors.
For your satisfaction we distribute books. We hold monthly saṅkīrtana festivals. We organize harināmas – one harināma per week. Devotees pay great attention to building relationships and cooperation with government officials, thanks to which we are allowed to hold harināmas on the streets of the city. We distribute prasādam through our Food of Life program and also run a Gauranga confectionery.
We organize trips for devotees and residents of the Perm region to holy places: Vrindavan, Mayapur, Jagannath Puri, and Kurukshetra.
We organize traditional Vaiṣṇava festivals and the chanting of the holy names on a regular basis. We hold Ratha-yātrā each year. We organize round tables as a way to communicate with the representatives of authorities and other faiths in order to build trust and cooperation: the round table cycle “Spiritual Heritage of Russia: 17 facets” within the framework of Presidential Decree No. 809. In 2025, two events were held, in 2026, five are planned. Interreligious dialogue: visiting the Perm synagogue at the international conference in the framework of the interfaith round table.
In the council at the yātrā, we develop friendly relationships, team spirit, and cooperation. We meditate on expressing your will in managing our yātrā.
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, thank you for filling our lives with a higher purpose! Bless us to continue developing your mission.
Your servants at ISKCON Perm
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dearest Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
This year, as we look at the global landscape of your ISKCON, we are deeply moved by how your movement connects different corners of the earth into one grand spiritual family. In Poland, we often feel like a unique section of a much larger, magnificent orchestra that you have put together. You are the supreme conductor, and the movement you started is nothing less than a divine symphony of saṅkīrtana.
Every devotee in our yātrā brings their own unique tone, their own realizations, and their own service. Yet without your expert guidance, our individual sounds would simply be noise. You showed us how to tune our hearts to the desire of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You taught us that true harmony is found only when everyone plays together for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord.
We are reminded of the beautiful words from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.14.24): “A devotee whose voice is choked with ecstasy, whose heart melts, who cries untiringly and sometimes laughs, who loudly chants without shame and dances – such a person purifies the entire universe.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you created a sanctuary in Poland where this verse comes alive. Whether it is through the thundering mṛdaṅgas at our summer Festival of India tour, the quiet dedication of book distribution on rainy winter streets, or the sweet, steady congregational chanting in our temples – the music of your mercy is constantly playing in our lives.
Sometimes, as a yātrā, we face moments of dissonance or difficulty. In those moments, we look to your books and your instructions to find our rhythm again. We find strength in the eternal truth stated in Bhagavad-gītā 18.78: “Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.”
You are our Arjuna, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Your words are the absolute standard that keeps our orchestra united and focused. Following in your footsteps, the Polish yātrā wants to remain a faithful, dependable instrument in your hands. We want to play our part in this global symphony with purity, enthusiasm, and dedication, ensuring that no note is missed and that your glorification reaches every town and village in our country.
On this auspicious day of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we beg for your continued mercy. Please keep us united, please keep us fixed in your service, and please allow us to remain forever grateful to be a part of your divine arrangement.
Your humble servants in the saṅkīrtana orchestra,
The devotees of the Polish yātrā
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble and respectful obeisances in the dust of your divine lotus feet.
On this glorious and auspicious day of your appearance, we would like to offer you a report on the Radhadesh community in Belgium. For the past forty-six years, this community has been trying to serve you and your mission. Radhadesh strives to be a spiritual and devotional embassy – offering shelter and solace to residents and visitors alike and providing an alternative to all-exposing materialistic society, strongly influenced by the forces of Kali.
It is through your divine inspiration and personal example that we can make even small contributions to your mission. When things are difficult, we remember how you also struggled in your efforts to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout the world. When things go smoothly, we attribute that success to your mercy, and we pray that you will continue to bless us with the ability to move forward in this mission in a way that is aligned with your vision and mood.
Although it is already challenging to keep the community running smoothly day by day – ensuring that the hundreds of weekly services are covered, and that Their presiding Lordships, the community members, the guests, and the properties are all cared for – we also see it as our duty to actively work on the mission and vision of Radhadesh.
Fortunately, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have already given us a clear mission and vision. We simply need to apply it locally.
To ensure that we continue walking on the right path, as an important spiritual embassy in Europe, we are increasing our focus on the seven purposes of ISKCON that you clearly established in New York in 1966. By regularly reflecting and meditating on these seven purposes, we feel your presence strongly, and the roadmap for our service becomes clear.
Today we would like to share a brief report on how Radhadesh tries to get and remain connected to each of these seven purposes.
- To spread spiritual knowledge and educate society in techniques that help people achieve a deeper understanding of their true spiritual nature: Every year, Radhadesh welcomes thousands of guests – mainly tourists – who take part in guided tours. During these visits, they hear basic philosophy, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, receive darshan of Their Lordships, taste prasādam, and have the opportunity to associate with a devotee. This remains one of the unique strengths of our community.
- To promote consciousness of Kṛṣṇa as revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: In addition to our well-known tour programs, we facilitate weekly Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam classes and monthly Bhagavad-gītā sessions online. A stable group of devotees takes turns covering one chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam each week. This program has been ongoing for many years and is currently focused on the Tenth Canto, after having already completed the first nine Cantos. The monthly Bhagavad-gītā sessions also continue with a dedicated group of participants.
- To bring devotees together for the purpose of uplifting one another in a spiritual lifestyle based on Kṛṣṇa consciousness: We are grateful to report that Radhadesh maintains a steady morning and evening program. Although participation is sometimes modest, the programs continue daily without interruption. Occasionally there may be no one attending Gaura-ārati, yet the rest of the daily schedule continues, including evening Kṛṣṇa book readings and bhajanas during the final darshan.
We know how pleased you are when devotees come together to hear and chant about Kṛṣṇa’s glories before the Deities. In addition, Bhakti Śāstrī, Bhakti Vaibhava, śloka classes, and youth courses are regularly held, allowing dedicated devotees to deepen their understanding of the path of bhakti together.
- To teach and encourage saṅkīrtana – the congregational chanting of the holy names of God – as the primary means of spiritual realization: Radhadesh is internationally known for the Radhadesh Mellows, during which approximately 1,200 devotees and guests come together for four full days to chant continuously for twelve hours a day. Not only do the participants benefit directly, but recordings of these kirtans are streamed millions of times each year across the world, inspiring countless listeners.
In addition, Radhadesh, in cooperation with other preaching centers and nāma-haṭṭas in the Benelux region, regularly organizes harināmas and mahā-harināmas, both in the vicinity of Radhadesh and in more distant towns and cities.
- To establish holy places dedicated to Kṛṣṇa where devotees can engage in spiritual life together: Radhadesh offers visitors the opportunity to experience life in a holy place, with Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gopīnātha at the center of the community. Throughout the castle, there are many paintings – what you once described as “windows to the spiritual world.”
At present, we are working to establish a complete parikramā path around the entire estate, as a holy dhāma is not complete without parikramā. Visitors can walk through the surrounding forest while learning key teachings from the Bhagavad-gītā and afterward visit the Govinda restaurant to honor prasādam. In this way, Radhadesh functions as a true tīrtha – a bridge between the material and spiritual worlds.
- To support simpler, more natural ways of living, aligned with spiritual values and beneficial for personal wellbeing and harmony with nature: In recent years, awareness within the Radhadesh community of the importance of simpler and more natural living has grown steadily. We are making efforts to become less dependent on external systems for water, energy, and food. Radhadesh has installed many solar panels and is currently adding batteries to better store and use solar energy across the property.
We have our own water supply through an underground river, and we use wood from our forest for heating. The Premaculture project continues to expand, aiming to apply holistic and sustainable agricultural principles. Recently, an educational yurt was built to facilitate the community members and guests in these principles.
Our cow protection program is also developing steadily. Most of the milk used for the Deities is our own ahimsa milk. We now have two bull calves in training, with the hope that they will eventually contribute through bull work at Radhadesh.
- To publish and distribute spiritual literature, helping ensure that transcendental wisdom is accessible to everyone: Some dedicated devotees at Radhadesh are focused on the mission of book distribution and book publication. In the past years, we reprinted your Bhagavad-gītā in Dutch twice, for a total of 25,000 copies. The Nectar of Instruction, your transcendental biography, and the life and precepts of Lord Caitanya were translated into Dutch, and 10,000 copies of each title were printed. Currently, the devotees are translating Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Śrī Īśopaniṣad, and Easy Journey to Other Planets. Devotees are selling your books in different languages, both to the Radhadesh visitors and outside Radhadesh as well. We know how dear book production and distribution are to your heart.
We also know from historical records that you would always listen attentively to the reports on different yātrās from around the world, so we thought this offering would be pleasing to you.
We beg for your continuous inspiration so that this wonderful community can continue to inspire all those who live here and those who visit us.
Your aspiring servants from the Radhadesh community
Europe & Russia, Homages ISKCON Centers, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāminn iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet on this holy day, the anniversary of your appearance. On this day, which is the most important day for us, we gather as a community united by your mercy to offer you our hearts filled with gratitude.
Looking at our lives, we are overcome by a profound and stirring realization: had we not had the opportunity to encounter this unique spiritual movement initiated by your unconditional grace, we would still be lost today in the utter darkness of ignorance. Without your divine intervention, we would have remained prisoners in the pursuit of fleeting pleasures, strangers to the concept of true spiritual happiness, and without any real chance of liberation from the merciless clutches of Māyā.
It was Your Divine Grace who shattered the walls of illusion in which we lived. Through your example you gave us the vision necessary to understand that we are eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa, transforming a purposeless existence into a life dedicated to the Absolute. Through your kindness, that which was once completely unknown to us – love of God – has now become the ideal of each of us, an ideal we strive to place at the center of our community’s life.
Thank you for not leaving us prey to the despair of this Kali-yuga. Every moment we gather for harināma, every page we read from your books, and every portion of prasādam shared within our community is a testament to your victory over the ignorance that once held us captive.
We desperately beg for your mercy and blessing that we may be able to fulfill your desire to cooperate and succeed in the only mission for which it is worth living and dying in this world: the spreading of the chanting of the holy name to every village and city. We ask for your blessings to remain forever in the shelter of your lotus feet, the only place where Māyā cannot touch us.
Your servants,
The devotees of ISKCON Timişoara
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