December 2011 ISKCON-London Community Newsletter

News from ISKCON-London’s Radha Krishna Temple The December Edition 2011

December Highlights • Srila Prabhupada Marathon • Sankirtan Festival • New Years Eve • Refurbishments during 2011 • Tribhuvannatha Prabhu - A Friend to All • Damodara - Festival of Lights • Youth Preaching Report • Book Distribution • Govinda’s Restaurant • Radha’s Boutique • Food for Life • Outreach • Parking Chnages in Westminster

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Rama Hare Rama Krishna Krishna Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Hare

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Srila Prabhupada Marathon

Sankirtan Festival To celebrate and appreciate the success and efforts of everyone during the book distribution marathon ISKCON London held a sankirtan festival on the morning of December the 27th.

December is a special month especially for the devotees. It is the month of Srila Prabhupada book distribution marathon.

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We were joined by Visramba dasa for the event.

Devotees were glorified and were offered gifts for all of their hard work and enthusiasm.

The top spots from ISKCON London were taken

by Bhakta Alexey, Sundar Nitai dasa and Bhakta Laurie.

During this month devotees enthusicatically take to the streets to give the gift of Krishna by distribution of Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental literature. Putting aside their own comfort devotees stand out in the cold all day.

This year as well as street distribution, ISKCON London introduced new ways of spreading Krishna consciousness.

This year saw the introduction of smart boxes in shops and businesses all over London as well an effort to place Bhagavad Gita’s in hotel rooms across the capital.

A big thank you to all the devotees who put in so much effort in making this year’s marathon such a huge success.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

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New Years Eve ISKCON London celebrate the dawn of the 2012 with great enthusiasm by spreading the holy name.

Central London is quite a sight on new year’s eve. People gather in their thousands and the streets are packed with anticipation.

Devotees took to the streets to give people a real reason to celebrate. A large harinama party

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started out from the temple as crowds in the streets grew thicker. Making their way to the Thames for midnight, many people joined in with the singing and dancing.

The harinama continued all night and early into the morning returning to the temple at 4.30am for mangala arati.

The holy name also resounded within the temple with a twelve hour kirtan starting in the evening and going on throughout the night.

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

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Refurbishments during 2011 During this year the temple continued with its ongoing refurbishments.

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A new green house was constructed for Tulasi devi.

This year also saw Krishna community shop closed for a new look.

The previous green house that was many years old is now replaced with a purpose built double glazed green house providing a wonderful atmosphere for Tulasi devi to live comfortably.

The shop was redesigned and refitted with beautiful modern decor. The shop renamed as Radha’s Boutique reopened on Rath Yatra day.

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Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

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Next on the agenda is a new look for Govinda’s in the beginning on 2012.

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Tribhuvannatha Prabhu

Mayapur Madhava, Birmingham Tribhuvannatha prabhu was one of a kind. I remember being 11 years old and every time we would see Tribhuvannatha prabhu we would offer obeisances, in return he would always offer us obeisance’s back. His humility really did stick with me. Because of him I am still practicing KC.

A Friend to All 2011 marked the 10th anniversary of the departure of Tribhuvannatha dasa.

Parasurama, London His determination inspires me a lot, the challenges I face from people are not as bad as he had to go through but he never gave up easily.

Tribhuvannatha dasa joined ISKCON in late 1969 in London and naturally took to a leadership role early on, looking after the running of the Bury Place Temple when the senior devotees left for India in the early 70’s.

Tarakanatha, Swansea Because of his pioneering preaching spirit of taking his festivals all over the UK, the Welsh Yatra was formed. We in Wales owe him a great deal of gratitude.

He was the first temple president and gave the first class at Bhaktivedanta Manor. He collected money to help build the Vrindavan Temple.

He had the Bhagavad Gita translated into Arabic and distributed it in the Middle Eastern countries. He organised Hare Krishna festivals for the public all over the the UK, Ireland and East Africa.

Kulashekara, London Many devotees are enamoured by Tribhuvannatha prabhu’s external qualities which he dovetailed in devotional service, like his energy, enthusiasm, charisma and spirit of adventure.

But for me his internal mood is what is important; his love for the Supreme, manifested through his love for his spiritual master. That is the transcendental quality through which he affected the lives of so many.

Yet he was a simple person, whatever he did was out of deep love for his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, and a fearless spirit to serve him.

Gauri, London Ingenuous and Ingenious. Without honours and titles, Tribhuvanath Prabhu was probably the most endearing and influential devotee in the UK.

If you met Tribhuvannatha, whoever you were regardless of stature or background, he would disarm you with his huge smile and warm heart and attract you towards Krishna.

As Lord Siva is worship by both the aristocratic and the derelict, we all gathered around Tribhuvanath, competing for a little of his company. He saw us without discrimination, and busied us in Krishna consciousness. He had a hard life himself, so there was no question of facade.

On this the 10th year of his passing away, we wanted to remember him by hearing from a wide range of devotees and friends about the qualities he had that inspire them in Krishna Consciousness.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

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Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Prabhupada Prana, Scotland His kirtans were always so full of enthusiasm from the very start. He did not require a warm up as he was constantly fired up. The only disappointing thing was when the kirtan stopped. His classes were always very encouraging, and even though he may not have been materially well educated his realisations, enthusiasm and compassion far transcended so called scholarly qualities. In my experience he is enthusiasm personified.

Srutidharma, London Tribhuvannatha prabhus motto was our lives are meant for serving others and he certainly did till his last breath. For me he was a Vaikuntha man always thinking how to encourage others to take to spiritual life.

Mohan Luthra, London When I first met Tribhuvantha prabhu someone said to me ‘if you want to go to war there is no better person to have by your side than Tribhuvanatha.

That for me summed him up. He was a devotee who was always declaring war on maya, a person you wanted to be around because you knew you would be protected and it would be always be an adventure.

Tribhangananda, Manchester An overflowing mine of blissful enthusiasm & dedication to lovingly serving Srila Prabhupada and his mission. Just by seeing him or hearing his words, or remembering his friendship & qualities its hard not to be infected with Krishna Consciousness.

Manu Davis, Ireland His appreciation, whenever I would do anything to help preach, he would make you feel like a million dollars.

He was very grateful and he would give his most valuable asset. His time.

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Jyestha, London His deep love for Srila Prabhupada, ecstatic kirtans and preaching worldwide. A lover of the devotees and a friend to all, with that brilliant smile, he is irreplaceable. I miss him so much!

Bhuta Bhavana, London He had amazing spiritual insight into all of life’s situations. When I hear from his classes, I feel flooded with firm desire to progress strongly in spiritual life.

He was real, accessible, approachable, and full of raw spiritual energy and enthusiasm. I also recall some of the most blissful days of my life were in his ecstatic energetic Saturday night harinamas.

Glen Hansard, Ireland Tribhuvannatha embodied the very core of spiritual attraction, the nectar of learning, never pious or distant, he stayed on the bottom rung even though he was on the top..He stayed there to help us who needed the extra guidance...The ascended hobo master...a man for all ages... I miss him every day and I aspire to live what I learned in our short friendship...His energy continues every day...

Jai Nitai, London To this day he has made an impression in my heart and mind that inspires and propels me forward in my spiritual life.

Relentless, selfless, unflinching, fully enthusiastic, sincere and dedicated endeavour in everything he did. Specifically one Harinam he was leading and I was carrying the speaker on my back when I saw he was chanting at the top of his lungs, perspiration pouring from his face, beating the mrdanga while blood was pouring from his hands and he was not in this world.

He was surrounded by devotees with tears in their eyes and

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Krishna awakening in their hearts through his pure chanting of the holy name.

Nitai Charan, Birmingham I came to the Manor car park at midnight and saw Tribhuvannath prabhu alone unloading one van and loading into another. I asked him what were you doing so late at night and he told me that he would go north for a festival early in the morning so he needed the van. I asked him if i could help him and he said no, so I learned from him how we should work hard to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s mission.

Ratnavali, London What inspired me the most was seeing how much Love was emanating from him and how he was expert in relating to all variety of people in different levels Adi Guru, London The Krsna conciousness movement is not easy to understand but the longer time seems to pass from Tribhuvanath’s presence the easier it is to appreciate what an extraordinary person he was.

Not only was he one of the most likeable and approachable person you could ever meet but his classes on Bhagavata philosophy and his delivery of the message of Godhead were extraordinary and brilliantly philosophical and inspirational.

Isani Davis, Ireland What was so special about Tribuvanatha prabhu was his callous disregard for bodily and home comforts, favouring and relishing instead the austerities required to continually travel, preach and perform festivals far and wide.

He had a burning desire to please Srila Prabhupada and genuine compassion for people. His austerities never caused him to be judgmental or proud, and he was so loved because he had the rare ability to immediately connect with whoever he met and make that person feel special.

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Ranga devi, London One thing that struck me about Tribhuvannath Prabhu was his generosity of heart. No task was ever too great or too small for him, he did the needful, always serving and putting others before himself.

It didn’t matter whether you were a well known devotee/ practitioner of Krishna consciousness or knew nothing at all about spiritual life, whether you were in the eyes of society “great” or “small”, accomplished or not, he had an amazing way of sprinkling Krishna magic and enthusiasm in to your life.

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engage people of varied casts & creeds to practice Krishna Consciousness as equals. And above all his total conviction & faith in Srila Prabhupada and the love he shared with his fellow Vaisnavas.

Lloyd Chambers, Ireland Of all the people I’ve ever met, he embodied rebirth more than any other, that unquenchable spirit and resilience and a life well spent in the service of others and Krsna. May God bless his soul.

Nilamani, London He really understood the ironies and tricks of life. He reflected this in his lectures which were philosophically astute, humorous and easy to relate to.

When I once asked him how he could sacrifice so much he simply spoke of Srila Prabhupada and said, “ The debt is deep”. I understood that it was this relationship that he was made of. His love for his Gurumaharaja, Srila Prabhupada.

Giridhari, London Tribhuvannatha prabhu was in my humble estimation a Mahatma, he inspires me by his broad mind & broad heart.

He was strict and orthodox yet so nonjudgemental and liberal when required. He realistically encourage someone from the weakest most challenging point of hopeless despair to get on their feet with a sober new vision. He new how bad things could get & how to pull through.

Bhakti Rasa Dhuness I remember Tribhuvannatha prabhu’s genuine warmth and magnetic charm, and his effortless ability to inspire, encourage &

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Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

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Damodara Festival of Lights Kartik Month Mercy Shower in UK Reported by Bhaktin Suhasini This year during the month of Kartik we conducted various programs in UK to spread the mercy of Lord Damodara.

We conducted simple 45 minute Damodara house programs. Devotees would visit the host’s home, explain about the Damodara month, chant the Maha mantra and sing Damodarastakam whilst inviting all interested guests to offer a lamp to Lord Damodara.

Finally, we would present Srila Prabhupada’s books for distribution & invite them to our local sanga gatherings.

We had a shorter version of the Damodara Program called – “Walk in Programs.” For just 15 minutes devotees would sing Damodarastakam andinvite people to offer a candle.

This simple power packed Damodar program is devised for everyone to take part and invite their family and friends.

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***************************************************** UK Damodar Program 2011 Scores Damodar Programs

[534 / Target: 508]

Books Distributed

[806 / Target :1008]

Souls showed arati

[7514 / Target: 7500]

Number of Souls chanted Hare Krishna - 1 japa round [7000] Number of New Programs Proposed [9 / Target 10 Houses] ***************************************************** Like this, the mercy of Lord Damodara was shared with many souls.

As a result of this outreach program, many new people came in contact with Krishna Consciousness and have started to attend their local temples and sanga groups.

Devotees who volunteered to spread the mercy of Lord Damodara had a blissful experience by sharing the mercy and became more enthusiastic and fixed in Krishna consciousness.

This years Damodara program was very well received by the public and we are looking forward to more participation in 2012.

Damodara booths were installed in ISKCON London, Bhaktivedanta Manor and other temples and also in high street shops to invite the public to offer lamps. In all avenues, Srila Prabhupada’s books were distributed.

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As Satya-yuga is the best of yugas, as the Vedas are the best of scriptures, as Ganga is the best of rivers, so Karttika is the best of months, the most dear to Lord Krsna (Skanda Purana)

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Youth Preaching Report December was a dynamic and varied month for the youth preaching activities of ISKCON London. The main highlights are outlined below.

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This was a particularly successful session as many of the group were able to relate his journey to their own lives, and everyone felt a much greater appreciation of the person and his involvement with ISKCON. By popular demand, another session was devoted this month to group Q&A, to allow attendees to openly and honestly voice their difficulties with spiritual life and to address some of their queries directly in a supportive and open-minded environment.

Finally, the month ended with a session dedicated to new-year resolutions as a means to encourage attendees to make a deeper and more serious exploration of Krishna Consciousness in the new year.

University Preaching The weekly Friday programme enjoyed a wide range of sessions during December. With the arrival of the Christmas season, the group explored the development and destination of a consumer society, contrasting it with the benefits and objectives of a spiritually oriented society as proposed in Srila Prabhupada’s books.

The group also immersed themselves in the spiritual journey of George Harrison to mark the 10th anniversary of his passing away through the recently released documentary ‘Living in the Material World’.

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December was a lively and exciting month for university preaching. The Gita Sutras and Cooking Workshop sessions were maintained for the remainder of the academic term at SOAS, with some additional features.

The highlight of the Gita Sutras classes was a two-part session on spirituality seen through the ever popular Hollywood blockbuster film The Matrix. This attracted the attention on several new attendees to the programme.

The group found this event particularly stimulating, and they were particularly impressed with the eco-friendly measures implemented at the Manor and the culture of cow protection.

Attendees were able to experience milking cows, and were taken on a tour of the grounds.

They visited Srila Prabhupada’s rooms and enjoyed philosophical discourses, mantra meditation through the Hare Krishna mantra, and a sumptuous vegetarian feast.

As a means of introducing a spiritual touch to the cooking workshop sessions, a special session was held entitled ‘The Yoga of Food’.

Attendees were thereby exposed to the benefits of vegetarianism individually, socially and environmentally along with some spiritual concepts such as food in the modes of nature.

Additional This month we also attended an inter-faith event at the Emirates Stadium of the hugely popular Arsenal football team in the UK.

Attendees of the programmes were invited to the Radha Krishna Temple in Soho to experience the excitement of kirtan during a live recording at the temple this month of several well known and expert kirtaneers.

However, the main highlight of the month was a one-day retreat to Bhaktivedanta Manor.

This event was attended by several faith schools, targeted for students of around 11 years of age.

Students were able to attain a greater appreciation of the Vedic tradition and how it compares to and even matches the goal of other world faiths.

The aim of the event was to build a foundation in the society’s youth to promote a culture of unity in diversity.

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Book Distribution During the auspicious month of December we collected £59,054 distributed 19,443 books for a total of 31,849.05 book points.

The scores are as follows:

Name

Days Lakshmi

Book Points

Maha Nrsimha Dasa Bhakta Andrew Bhaktin Subhadra Premarnava dasa Bhaktin Lalita Maidenhead Nama Hatta Bhakta Marut Romain Sachinandan Karuna das Bhaktin Dipti Bhaktin Rekha Bhakta Krishen Kanadia Adi Priya & Lalita Bhakta Nayan Gauracandra Gopinath das Bhakta Mango Mahah das Bhakta Peter Hittesh & Jyotsna Bhakta Shyam Prasad Pitambhar Govinda das Tulsiseva Family

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1

10.00 1.00 3.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 1.00 5.00 13.00 10.00 20.00 16.00 26.00

0.50 0.50 1.25 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.50 5.75 6.00 6.25 8.00 8.50

1

20.00

9.50

4

1 4 3 1 1 1 1

18.00 14.00 43.00 30.00 51.00 31.00 40.00

10.00 10.00 11.75 12.00 15.50 16.00 22.00

5 5 4 1 5 8 11

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Big

Maha Big Medium Medium Set Hard Hard

Small

1 1 1

2 1

1 1 1 1 2 3 1 4

1

2 7

5

7

7

20 6

4 10 7

1

7 20 2

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Name

Days Lakshmi

Book Points

Sambanath & Satya Bhakta Siddarth Murli Manohara dasa Akarsini Radhika dd Bhakta Vince Gaura Kishore Dasa Bhakta Praveen Bhakta Elin Gaura Kishora Counselle Group R and J Bhakta Karlis Bhakta Nikita Anonymous Bhaktin Irene Mortimer Abramson Bhakta Aryan Bhaktin Julia Burroughs Sarasvati devi dasi Bhakta Kestutis Bhakta Ajay Radha Londonisvara dasa

1 1 6 3 2 2 2 1

40.00 64.00 65.00 53.00 115.00 55.00 123.00 90.00

22.00 22.25 22.75 26.50 27.50 28.00 29.35 30.20

5

195.00

32.50

2 1 4 2 3 1 6 1 1 5 6 8

67.00 40.00 74.00 67.00 136.00 108.00 164.00 108.00 108.00 148.00 154.00 156.00

37.25 40.00 42.25 42.50 48.25 54.00 56.50 58.00 62.00 72.75 79.25 81.00

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Big

Maha Big Medium Medium Set Hard Hard 11 8 11 12

1 1

2 4 1

2 2

8

10

10

11

18 20 21 20 15 27 26 29 31 18 37 38

9 3 6 110

2

14 3 7

Small

3 1

15 24 5

16

1 2 25

1

12

30 3 6

79 7 8

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

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Name Weekend Warriors West (Ealing) Bhakta Noy Bhakta Ben Aditi DD Crawley Yatra Sachi Kumar Nimai das Kashinath dasa Krsna Avanti School Children Mr Agarwal Russian Bhakti Vriksha Weekend Warriors South Virabhadra dasa Gandaki dasa Jai Nitai das & Bhava Bhakti dd

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Days Lakshmi

Book Points

1

294.00

4 8 4 1 11 10

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Maha Big Medium Medium Set Hard Hard

Small

93.25

29

121

178.00 276.00 254.00 240.00 421.00 526.00

94.00 135.25 140.00 151.00 160.75 170.00

1 5

47 66 69 55

3 2 30

3

59

83

3

451.00

189.00

10

50

7

1 4 4 21 11

400.00 420.00 615.00 701.00 814.00

214.00 226.00 289.25 346.00 456.25

3

1,004.00

522.00

Big

5 1

107 98 125 164 227

10

35 19 1

7 70 643 22

7

7

1

2

14 50 97 66 9

261

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Name

Days Lakshmi

Book Points

Bhakta Shiv Bhakta Bas GR-Vrndavan das Bhakta Pasha Uddhava Damodara Dasa Bhava Bhakti Counsellee Group Sachikishor das Weekend Warriors HDG AC Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada Sharada dd Sastra-dhan Sponsorship Jai Nitai Dasa Bhakta Laurie Sundara Nitai das Bhakta Alexey

12 19 14 24 22

1,420.00 1,138.00 712.00 1,383.00 1,365.00

577.75 584.25 662.00 666.00 812.00

20

2,205.00

1,163.00

9 3

2,419.00 2,984.00

9 9 20 17 23 24 24

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Big

Maha Big Medium Medium Set Hard Hard

Small

277 258 242 316 354

10 355 56 135

2

554

50

2

108

1,390.00 1,469.25

81

695 658

35

1

217

4,280.00

2,056.75

82

952

78

3,244.00 3,969.00 5,503.00 5,336.00 6,943.00 7,062.00

2,058.75 2,143.50 2,869.75 3,095.00 3,961.00 4,084.50

31 17 3 1 3 5

922 1043 1415 1547 1979 2001

64 48 43

6

4

95 253 1

146

127 1

4

123 66 59

2

28

1

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Govinda’s

Outreach

Govinda’s Restaurant collected £54,169.08 for December - of this amount: Catering £ 512.41 and Books £872.56.

During the month of December Jai Nitai dasa carried out the following programs: 9th - Gave a talk and the Wimbledon sanga with 15 devotees in attendence.

*************************************************** Total for Govinda’s restaurant:

10th - Gave a Gita Jayanti talk in Crawley with 25 devotees in attendence.

£52,784.11 *************************************************** • • • • •

23rd - Attended Food For Life sanga with 10 devotees.

30 working days. (Closed Christmas Day) Average per day for restaurant: £1,805.64 Govinda’s restaurant made £14,289.43 more compared to December 2010.

We made £85,808.14 more than 2008 which was our largest revenue year.

In 2011 Govinda’s made a total of £625,450.19

Parking Changes in Westminster

Radha’s Boutique

From January 2012 Westminster City Council will implement controversial new parking charges in the area surrounding the temple.

Radha’s Boutique collected £8,770.87 for December.

Westminster is planning to introduce charges of up to £4.40 an hour from 6.30pm to midnight Monday to Saturday and 1pm to 6pm on Sundays.

Food for life

If you are driving to the temple please be aware of the newly enforced charges. For more information please contact Bhava Bhakti devi dasi on bhava.bhakti@gmail.com.

This month we distributed approximately 1,320 prasadam plates in Lincolns Inn Field.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Rama Hare Rama Krishna Krishna Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Hare

Radha-Krishna Temple 10 Soho Street London W1D 3DL

T: 020 7437 3662 E: london@pamho.net W: www.iskcon-london.org

International Society for Krishna Conciousness Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada