Homages ISKCON Centers, Oceania, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your lotus feet. All glories to Your Divine Grace.
By your causeless mercy, ISKCON Adelaide continues to grow. This Vyāsa-pūjā offering is a humble report of the various services, preaching initiatives, and developments carried out at ISKCON Adelaide over the past year for your pleasure by the devotees striving to serve under your shelter and instructions.
This past year has been marked by consolidation, strengthening standards, expanding preaching efforts, rejuvenating temple infrastructure, and laying stronger foundations for the future growth of your mission in Adelaide.
Nontraditional preaching to local communities has also expanded through “Beyond Borders” outreach for war-affected communities, particularly members of the Muslim community, along with Women’s Experiences in Spirituality programs, yoga-studio outreach, Adelaide Fringe initiatives, monthly Full Moon Kirtans at the Beach, Kirtan Under the Stars at Flaxley, Harmony Day exhibitions, and other grassroots outreach events.
Book distribution increased by approximately 82 percent compared to the previous year, reflecting a growing commitment among devotees to distribute your transcendental literature. Here are our 2025 marathon results:
15 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets
2 Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta sets
1 Caitanya-caritāmṛta set
1,000 Bhagavad-gītās
210 Kṛṣṇa books
473 other books
Total books distributed: 1,630
Total devotees participating: 34
The temple bookshop is now open seven days a week. We pray to continue increasing distribution of your transcendental literature throughout South Australia and beyond.
Youth preaching expanded considerably this year. Two new youth groups have been formed at the temple. Likewise, the children’s engagement also increased by unifying the children’s education system. We now have just under 100 children registered. We pray to create a stronger spiritual foundation for the next generation of devotees in Adelaide.
Harināma-saṅkīrtana was revived within the city, with plans for expansion into additional locations across Adelaide.
This year marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the purchase of the beautiful Bhakti Vedanta Ashram property in Adelaide. As part of honoring and preserving this property for future generations, extensive infrastructure work has been undertaken, including:
- Complete interior repainting of the temple
- Extensive repairs and maintenance of roofing, gutters, and downpipes at both 23 and 25 Le Hunte Street
- Complete asbestos removal from the temple property
- Removal of over twenty-five years of accumulated rubbish from sheds and storage areas
- Construction of a purpose-built book-storage shed
- Conversion of the old temple room into a preaching and multipurpose hall
- Renovation and improvement work throughout the property
These efforts have helped prepare the temple for future preaching expansion and safer long-term use. The temple is also currently in the process of installing approximately 150 kilowatts of battery storage infrastructure to improve sustainability and reduce operational costs.
By your mercy, in 2025 ISKCON Adelaide experienced its biggest Janmāṣṭamī festival ever, with more than six thousand visitors attending the celebrations.
Devotee engagement and preaching initiatives also expanded significantly through programs such as Śrīla Prabhupāda Abhishek by congregation members, Christmas and New Year Kirtan Melās, Kids’ Kirtan Melā, a weekly Vaiṣṇavī Saṅga, and Wednesday Bhagavad-gītā classes.
The congregation increasingly embraced preaching as an essential part of devotional life and responsibility. This year, significant emphasis was placed on training devotees and building long-term foundations for the future of your mission in Adelaide. Throughout the year, ISKCON Adelaide was deeply blessed by the association and guidance of fifteen sannyāsīs and senior Vaiṣṇavas.
More than forty devotees enrolled in a three-day online children’s teachers training course to help strengthen Kṛṣṇa conscious education for the next generation.
More than thirty devotees registered for a four-week bhakti-vṛkṣa leadership training program to develop preaching skills, devotee care, facilitation, and leadership capacity within the congregation.
A two-day, twenty-hour Devotee Care seminar was also conducted, and more than 35 devotees participated, helping us establish a stronger culture of devotee support, empathy, and pastoral care within the community.
Understanding that Deity worship is the heart of temple life, we focused significantly on improving worship standards and expanding opportunities for devotees to serve.
Over the year:
- Night dressing of the Deities was introduced
- Evening bhoga offerings were commenced
- Increased flower budgets and decorations were arranged for Their Lordships
- Theme-based decorations on the altar were developed
- Adhivāsa ceremonies were introduced for festivals
- Auditing and inventory systems for the Deity department were initiated
- More devotees were encouraged to participate in Deity service
By your mercy, Govinda’s Restaurant also received a 5-star food safety rating. Govinda’s Vegetarian Delights was launched and now operates on major festival days. We also aspire to continue expanding Food for Life initiatives in the future.
Most importantly, we pray to develop a stronger mood of cooperation, humility, service, and dependence on your instructions. Please bless ISKCON Adelaide so that this community may become an instrument for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout South Australia and beyond. We beg forgiveness for all shortcomings, mistakes, and offenses committed, knowingly or unknowingly, in the course of service.
Your servants at ISKCON Adelaide
Homages ISKCON Centers, Oceania, VP2026
Our dearest 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
Though there is no way that we can fully express our gratitude to you because it is so enormous that we cannot even see the amount of it ourselves, we, your disciples and granddisciples at ISKCON Auckland, bow down at your lotus feet to offer you our most humble obeisances! Kindly bless us as we attempt to glorify you to the best of our ability!
A very happy 130th appearance day, dear Śrīla Prabhupāda. 130 years ago, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave a very valuable gift to humanity – you, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you have changed the landscape of this material world by your wonderful preaching activities. You extended the mercy of Lord Caitanya all over the world. What you achieved in a few short years of your mission to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness around the world cannot be imagined. You gave us eternal life, community, family, real knowledge, shelter, culture, a true sense of belonging, leadership, integrity, plus your secret weapon to get all of us hooked, the world’s best cuisine, prasādam!
This movement has given immense happiness and bliss. It has given a genuine purpose to our lives. The knowledge we gained from you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, is pure and meaningful. We at ISKCON Auckland are truly indebted for that.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, only because of your mercy and blessings, we got our Lord Jagannātha’s Exhibition, which consists of the backdrop, wheel, and column directly from Lord Jagannātha’s ratha in Jagannath Puri Dhāma.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, our Rupanuga Institute of Spiritual Education (RISE) continues to be a thriving hub for spiritual learning, serving over six hundred devotees and guests. The Institute has conducted four batches of the Bhakti Śāstrī course, which has seen thirty-seven graduates so far, over a hundred attendees, and the certification of eleven teachers through the Mayapur Institute. The Bhakti Vaibhava course currently has sixteen students. RISE has also facilitated six batches of the ISKCON Disciple Course, with more than eighty devotees attending, conducted specialized chanting workshops, hosted three major outreach seminars that engaged over four hundred people, and offered Career Dharma coaching to fifteen devotees. Beyond these core programs, RISE serves as a vital support system for four local bhakti-vṛkṣa groups, assisting prospective teachers and bhakti-vṛkṣa leaders. Last year, the RISE facilitator was appointed by the ISKCON Ministry of Education to serve as the Regional Coordinator for reporting educational activities in New Zealand. This whole progress is only possible by your mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, distributing your books at ISKCON Auckland is a deeply enlivening service, and we have experienced many inspiring moments over the past year. Our book table provides a valuable opportunity to develop relationships with those visiting the temple, particularly during the Sunday Feast program. Many guests have deeply moving experiences during the ārati, class, and kirtan – sometimes even to the point of these programs evoking tears. Afterward, they often approach the book table to share their experiences and seek guidance on the next steps in their spiritual journey.
We are also fortunate to work alongside the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, participating in the distribution of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sets during Bhadra Pūrṇimā and Bhagavad-gītā As It Is during the Live to Give campaign. We humbly pray for your empowerment in carrying forward this important mission.
In addition to steady book distribution within the temple, through our śāstra-dhana and Motel Gita initiatives, we are striving to distribute your books to every town and village throughout New Zealand. This is an inspiring and dynamic service, and we can only imagine how far your words may travel through these transcendental literatures.
We are grateful for the opportunity to serve you in this way and are pleased to report that, by your mercy, during the past year we distributed:
- 48 full sets of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta
- 1,565 copies of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is
- 1,669 other titles
This amounts to over 4,000 individual books distributed.
We humbly pray to continue serving in this mission and assisting in the distribution of your transcendental books for the benefit of all.
The Hare Krishna School presently has 206 students enrolled across years 1 through 12, with continued steady growth in our roll. We are grateful to be serving the community of Vaiṣṇava families, faithful Hindu households, and others who are developing an appreciation for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By your mercy, the school is now officially recognized and funded by the Ministry of Education as a full Years 1–13 school. This is a significant milestone, as it enables our students to complete their entire schooling journey, including their secondary qualifications, within a Kṛṣṇa conscious environment. We now have subject specialist teachers across years 7–12, strengthening the quality of teaching and learning in each area. We are the only school in New Zealand offering Kṛṣṇa consciousness as a dedicated Religious Studies subject at the high school level.
Our śāstra curriculum continues to develop steadily, supporting students’ understanding of kṛṣṇa-bhakti knowledge and practices. The daily program includes kirtan, ārati, japa, śloka recitation, and regular study of your books. In addition, our year 7–10 students study śāstra as a dedicated subject, with four classes each week on their formal timetable. Through this, we are endeavoring to systematically nurture Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the hearts of our students. Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for engaging us in nurturing young hearts to a spiritual awakening.
We are pleased to announce the inauguration of a new center in South Auckland named the Vedic Education and Cultural Center. This center has been established with the sole purpose of sharing spiritual knowledge and uplifting the community.
Every Sunday evening, we host a Sunday Feast program to support the spiritual needs of people in that region. Alongside this, we run engaging children’s programs concurrently, creating a welcoming space for families. The response has been very encouraging, and we attribute this success to your blessings and continued mercy, Śrīla Prabhupāda. We humbly seek your guidance in sustaining and growing this spiritual endeavor. Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
We continue to conduct our weekly and fortnightly harināma programs. Every Friday evening, we gather in central Auckland, and every fortnight, we extend these gatherings to West and South Auckland, sharing the mercy of Lord Caitanya through devotional chanting.
In addition, prasādam distribution takes place fortnightly in both Auckland City and South Auckland. This initiative has become increasingly popular among locals and serves as a meaningful way to connect with the wider community.
We also remain committed to organizing our annual Ratha-yātrā festivals, hosting more than ten events during the festival season, including participation in Christmas parades. These occasions are always met with great enthusiasm, as audiences eagerly look forward to our vibrant chanting and dancing, while also inquisitively embracing the opportunity to take darshan of Lord Jagannātha, Baladeva, and Subhadrā.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we at ISKCON Auckland are unable to fully express our gratitude for all that you have given and done for us – it is truly impossible to repay you. Therefore we remain forever indebted and deeply grateful for your unfathomable compassion and mercy. The only way we can hope to please you is by embracing and continuing your mission as the very heart and soul of our lives. Kindly bless us with the strength and sincerity to become worthy instruments in spreading the glories of your divine mission.
Begging to always remain at the shelter of your lotus feet – our savior,
Your servants at ISKCON Auckland
Homages ISKCON Centers, Oceania, VP2026
Our dear Śrīla Prabhupāda,
Please accept our humble obeisances at your divine lotus feet. All glories to you, our savior from the repeated cycle of birth and death.
On this most auspicious occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā, we, the residents of Krishna Valley, in Bambra, Australia, offer our heartfelt gratitude for your boundless mercy and compassion. By your divine vision and tireless efforts, you have given the world the greatest treasure – the chanting of the holy names of the Lord – and a practical way of life centered on devotion, simplicity, and service.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, Krishna Valley exists only because of your desire to establish farm communities, where people can live in harmony with nature, protect cows, grow their own food, and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness in a natural and joyful way. Every tree, every garden bed, every kirtan, and every guest who walks through our gates is a reflection of your mercy.
We especially pray for your blessings as we strive to expand our outreach by welcoming more visitors and tourists to Krishna Valley. We see this not as a material endeavor, but as an opportunity to serve your mission and to give people a glimpse of a spiritually vibrant lifestyle. When guests come here, take prasādam, walk through the gardens, meet the cows, and hear the holy name, their hearts are touched in ways that words alone cannot achieve.
Please empower us to develop this place in such a way that it becomes a beacon of spiritual hospitality, where people from all walks of life feel nourished, uplifted, and inspired to inquire about higher truths. Let our efforts to increase tourism be guided by sincerity, purity, and a genuine desire to serve, not by profit or prestige.
Kindly help us to work cooperatively, selflessly, and enthusiastically, so that Krishna Valley may flourish as a living example of your teachings. May every visitor leave with the seed of bhakti planted in their heart, and may we always remember that we are simply instruments in your divine plan.
We are eternally indebted to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, for giving us this path, this community, and this opportunity to serve.
Your servants,
The residents of Krishna Valley
Homages ISKCON Centers, Oceania, VP2026
To our beloved founder-ācārya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
Please accept our most humble obeisances. All glories to you on this most auspicious occasion of your Vyāsa-pūjā, in what has been, for us, a very special year.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, on one of your six visits to Australia, devotees were overjoyed to show you their newest preaching acquisition: a double-decker bus outlandishly painted bright orange with the hare krishna movement – the positive alternative emblazoned on its side. You were delighted and, upon inspecting its interior, remarked “I could live in this.” (The Great Transcendental Adventure, Kūrma Dāsa p. 105).
That same year – 1972 – this bus would bring a crew of ISKCON devotees, with an abundance of your books, to Brisbane for the first time. On that occasion, they stayed only two days, but Brisbane had its first taste of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Later that year, our first temple was opened on your behalf by your dear servants Upendra Dāsa and Citralekhā Devī Dāsī, followed by Cāru Dāsa and his wife Vaibhavī Devī Dāsī.
After this followed fifty-four years consisting of a total of nine location moves, literally hundreds of devotees made, and thousands more people whose lives have been touched by your books, prasādam, and/or the holy names, sung in the streets today as they were on that first 1972 visit.
However, this year something monumental occurred. After fifty-four years of being moved – sometimes willingly, sometimes unwillingly – from one location to another, we finally purchased a permanent home for our wonderful Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitāi and Your Divine Grace. In what can only be described as a miracle, after a seemingly endless citywide search for a suitable location, a church came up for sale a mere short walk from our then residence. Astonishingly, we then beat out other buyers to acquire, for your ISKCON, this heritage-listed property, built a hundred years earlier by the Methodist Church, at 8 Lee Road, Darra, Brisbane, Australia.
The building was old and in need of repair, but what rose up is an utterly charming, unique, character-filled, fully restored, beautiful temple. It also features delightful gardens, an expansive lawn, a huge permanent marquee to cater for large festival crowds, and the former hall was expertly converted into a massive, fully equipped commercial kitchen.
This work was the effort of your ISKCON Brisbane community, not only as it is now but of all those who came before us. It was completed by a small team who worked tirelessly around the clock to offer this to you.
Due to the proximity to our former premises, it was decided to take the Deities and yourself to your new residence via a Ratha-yātrā procession. An auspicious date was chosen for the move – 28 February 2026 – and a five-day festival was planned, culminating in Gaura-Pūrṇimā.
So many wonderful occurrences happened during this time: from roads being cleansed by steady rain the entire day before the parade to brilliant blue skies and sunshine on the day we moved, to local dignitaries crying with joy during speeches (one of them dressed for the occasion in a sari) and to wonderful gifts and blessings kindly sent to us by our first devotees.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you wrote to your disciples in a letter dated 13 December 1972 that you were very happy to know an ISKCON temple had been established in Brisbane, Australia, and that you would like to come here. Upon completion of the new temple project, we felt so happy to welcome you to your new home here.
Our temple is continuing to flourish in a number of ways, such as increased harināma-saṅkīrtana and book distribution efforts, bhakti-vṛkṣa programs, educational courses like Bhakti-śāstrī, prasādam distribution, Western outreach initiatives, bigger festivals, and more visits from senior devotees, including our GBC.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, we love you with all our hearts. We know that strictly following your instructions will lead us to the perfection of our lives. Please forgive us for our shortcomings and bless us so that we can serve you in a way that always pleases Your Divine Grace.
With eternal gratitude,
Your insignificant servants at ISKCON Brisbane
Homages ISKCON Centers, Oceania, VP2026
Dear Śrīla Prabhupāda, bestower of jeweled knowledge and causeless mercy,
Today, on this day, the most auspicious day, we reflect on why this is, indeed, the most wondrous day. And we begin the impossible task of trying to explain “auspiciousness,” to try to encapsulate what your presence has meant to all of those mercifully brought into your orbit and influence. A wonder is that, although you are jagat-guru and the three worlds are ringing with your praises, you traveled, at an advanced age and great personal inconvenience, to the most extreme places to save us with the science of devotional service. Us! The wonder and power of true causeless mercy, indeed. And then, wonder of wonders, you, became our stern and loving benefactor, who offers a personal connection to us all.
We each have our own wonders to speak of: your influence and magnanimity ranges from the global to communities to the personal. The miracle for many older followers was that you descended into the desert of our ignorant, dull, suburban lives, humbly opening your arms, speaking of the science of knowing a loving and beautiful God, and then tirelessly committing it all to print for daily reference and posterity. You dispelled our stumbling confusion and softened us with a beautiful mantra that can dance daily on our tongues and cleanse our hearts. You removed the cataracts of materialism from our eyes so we could daily greet the beautiful Deities, both on the altar and in our minds and hearts. We were the recipients of mercy we could not even have envisaged.
And the enduring wonder today is, in all our preaching activities, and indeed in our daily exchanges, we can look to others in every town and village who are distraught and blind, and even to those who are as yet unborn, and open to them all the windows you gave us. And we, who knew the emptiness of a world not yet touched by Your Divine Grace, can follow your example and embrace them and say, “Do not despair! We are blessed by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda with this mahā-mantra balm to revive you.”
We can go out and find them and draw them into the safe spaces of devotion that we are building. Śrīla Prabhupāda, your devotees worked tirelessly over the decades to fulfill your mission, distributing the light of your books in challenging circumstances and emergencies; they continue to do so in book distribution, glorious Deity care, prasādam distribution, farming and cow protection, and by developing preaching facilities – temples and farms, restaurants and rural and city preaching pods.
And a present wonder, growing from your loving example, we are maturing! We are better leaders and community members now; less in the passion required in those urgent times, we are now interacting with greater care. We are working hard to build strong communities in the places we gather to worship; we are endeavoring to develop the Vaiṣṇava qualities, as enunciated in The Nectar of Instruction and exemplified in you, that contribute to deep, appreciative connection. You gave us a perfect behavioral guide of high expectation, compassion, causeless love, and forgiveness. Your devotees are meeting each other with increased compassion and openness, while building and honoring the trust between one another that makes this possible. There is growing respect, cooperation, and reciprocity between areas of service, spiritual guides, ashrams, genders, and ages. And this is further strengthening the foundations you gave us and encouraging the preaching opportunities you wanted for us. Daily appreciation is fueled by exquisite, careful Deity worship and ecstatic kirtan, which is often driven by the enthusiasm of our wonderful youth. Indeed, the wonder is the meticulous attention to their service offered by all your devotees, touched by your example and your grace.
Of course, anything offered springs from our heartfelt gratitude to you and a deep commitment to continue your wonderful mission. That your causeless, loving mercy was bestowed on us is what makes this the most wondrous day. Please bless us to hold on tightly to your gifts and your example.
All glories to you, our wondrous ever well-wishing ISKCON founder-ācārya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
Your servants at New Gokula Farm community
Homages ISKCON Centers, Oceania, 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
Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! All glories to Guru and Gaurāṅga.
Śrīla Prabhupāda, you are widely recognized for the monumental efforts you made to introduce the wisdom of the Gauḍīya paramparā from India to the global stage. In just over a decade, you transformed a small following of hippies in New York City into a worldwide spiritual movement – from hippies to happies.
Here is a summary of the significant religious and cultural work you accomplished.
You translated and commentated Vedic literature: Śrīla Prabhupāda, your most enduring legacy is your literary contribution. You translated and provided extensive Bhaktivedanta purports (commentaries) for several foundational texts of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition. Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is one of the most widely read and distributed versions of the Gītā in the world and has been translated into seventy languages. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, currently printed in eighteen volumes, is an encyclopedia of spiritual knowledge. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta is a multivolume biography and philosophical study of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s life and teachings.
You established ISKCON: In 1966, at the age of 70, you founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). It began in a storefront on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and grew into a global network that today includes over 600 temples and cultural centers, dozens of ecovillages and farm communities, and educational institutions for adults and schools for children.
You developed the Food for Life program: You emphasized that no one within a ten-mile radius of a temple should go hungry. This philosophy led to the creation of Food for Life, which has become the world’s largest vegetarian food relief program, serving millions of free sanctified meals (prasādam) to people regardless of their background.
You inaugurated cultural exchanges and global festivals: You are credited with bringing the Ratha-yātrā (Chariot festival) out of India and into the streets of major Western cities such as London, San Francisco, and New York. This allowed millions of people to experience Vedic culture and music (kirtan) firsthand.
You established the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT): To ensure the continued distribution of spiritual knowledge, you established the BBT in 1972. It is currently the world’s largest publisher of books concerning Indian religion and philosophy.
Summary of your impact: Śrīla Prabhupāda, your work is often praised for its “uncompromising” presentation of our tradition. You did not dilute the teachings to fit Western trends; instead, you invited the world to adapt to the principles of bhakti (devotion), focusing on character, vegetarianism, and the chanting of the mahā-mantra.
I was very fortunate that I had your association sometimes in 1976 in Vrindavan while Tamal Krishna Mahārāja was your personal secretary. I came to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda, with an invitation from Vāsudeva Prabhu to make a beautiful special residence for you in Lautoka, Fiji. We wanted to invite you to stay and complete your Bhāgavatam writing in a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere. I still remember that you sent your blessings to us through Tamal Krishna Mahārāja.
By your blessings, Śrīla Prabhupāda, our Kṛṣṇa-Kāliya temple in Lautoka and all other Fijian temples are expanding. By your blessings, we in Fiji are still continuing our services to you and Kṛṣṇa-Kāliya. Please bless the whole world so that everyone can taste Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this lifetime.
With lots of love to you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Your humble servants,
Vāmanadeva Dāsa, Gāndharvikā Devī Dāsī, and the devotees in Lautoka
