Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat motivates Youth
On 14 December 2010, famous author Chetan Bhagat spoke at an AIDS Awareness event organized by the Bhaktivedanta Hospital Youth Foundation in Mumbai. Hundreds of college students listened as Bhagat, whom Time Magazine considers one of the “World’s 100 Most Influential People,” described how important it is to cultivate spirituality in youth. “We need good academics, great career and a good partner, but we also need good values,” said Chetan.
Chetan described his fondness for Krishna and said that all the male leads in his novels are named after him: “It’s my way of spreading the word.” Each of his four books has sold over a million copies and two were made into movies. Chetan regularly visits Krishna temples in Mumbai and Australia and often uploads pictures of the Deities to his Twitter feed which counts over two hundred thousand followers.
ISKCON Member Appointed as OXFORD university Chaplain
ISKCON devotee Saunaka Rishi Dasa has recently been appointed Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University, the first to take on such a role in the history of the famous 900-year-old school. “There are no official Hindu Chaplains for the University, yet there are thirty-six college chaplains, attached to Oxford’s thirty-eight colleges,” he explains. “I was asked by the Hindu Students’ Society of Oxford University to become their chaplain. This request was then recognized by the Student Ministry Forum, a group comprising of all the different College chaplains, who asked me to join them and gave me the title, ‘Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University.’”
ISKCON Representatives Attend Mexico Climate Summit
Secretary Gytrgy Kirs alongwith strategy director Vadim Sviridovich from ISKCON Hungary’s Eco-Valley Foundation (EVF) attended the COP16 Climate Summit in Cancun, Mexico from 29 November to 10 December 2010.
The United Nations invited EVF which helps people to start and maintain sustainable communities similar to ISKCON Hungary’s highly successful Krishna Valley to attend as an observer organization.
“We met representatives of TERI, (The Energy and Resources Institute), a scientific institute based in Delhi, India, whom we have developed a partnership with,” Gytrgy says. “We also met some representatives of Yale University in the U.S., who were interested in our efforts to propagate sustainable living.
Worldwide Ratha-yatra Celebrations
Ludhiana, Punjab: ISKCON Ludhiana had its 15th annual Ratha-yatra on 19 December , 2010. Five hundred locals and members of the ISKCON Youth Forum (IYF) had held a huge “Scooter Rally” on the streets of Ludhiana to promote the festival.
Chandigarh, Punjab: On 27 November 2010, ISKCON Chandigarh celebrated Ratha-yatra.
Contributed by Bhakta Kalpish, Krpamoya Dasa and Madhava Smullen