DELHITES LOVE LORD RAMA
7" April 2006: The divine appearance of Lord Sri Rama and the eighth anniversary of Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Temple and the Glory of the India Vedic Expo were celebrated with great pomp and gaiety in New Delhi. Brilliant lightings, beautiful flower decoration, and melodious harinam kirtana completely captivated the hearts of the large number of visiting devotees. The festival started on 30 March with Sri Rama katha by Vrajendra Nandan Dasa. The katha was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister of Uttaranchal State, Shri T.P.S. Ravat.
On 7'" April, mahaabhiseka ceremony was performed by His Holiness Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja. Smt. Ambika Soni, the Hon'ble Minister for Tourism and Cultural Affairs, was one of the many distinguished guests present for the occasion. After the ceremony, she received the blessings of His Holiness Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja and then enjoyed honoring the lunch prasad at Govinda's restaurant, which she highly appreciated. In the evening, a dance drama entitled 'Sri Rama lila' was performed in the huge panda I at the open space behind the temple. The guest of honor, His Excellency Shri B.L. Joshi, the Lt. Governer of Delhi, had a nice darsana of the Deities and performed arati and did kalash abhiseka. Smt. Krsna Tirath, Member of Parliament, and Shri Ujjwal Raman Singh, the Hon'ble Minister of Environment, Uttar Pradesh Government, were also present. Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaja, addressing the huge audience said, "If you people want Rama rajya, you will have to follow the principles of Lord SrI Rama and imbibe them in your day to day life. In order to remain attached to such principles, you should chant Hare Krsna mahamantra and do klrtan." Shri Joshi in his short speech praised ISKCON, "I am coming to ISKCON for the fi rst time. I not only feel everything so nice here, but also experience great pleasure to see the enthusiasm of large number of devotees gathered here. Great preaching is being done by ISKCON through the distribution of Srlmad Bhagavad-glta and all the glories for this are attributed to Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON and the unstinted efforts of the present devotees of Lord Krsna." Other distinguished guests also expressed their highly appreciative views.
HUNGARIAN HARE KRSNA DEVOTEES FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN KAZAKHSTAN
In April, after a court ruled that the land belonging to the Hare Krsna commune be confiscated and returned to the Kazakhstan Government, police attempted to demolish devotees' cottages located in the commune. On hearing the news, two hundred Hungarian devotees demonstrated in front of the Budapest Embassy of Kazakhstan. They accentuated the ir presence by placing a real bulldozer in front of the embassy and carrying placards with the inscriptions: "WHERE IS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?" "BULLDOZERS AGAINST THE RELIGIOUS?" "RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN KAZAKHSTAN!"
The demonstration in Hungary is a part of an international wave of protest aimed at putting pressure on the Kazakhstan government to honor the principles of freedom of religion it professes to practice. The coming days will see similar actions in several European countries, United States, and India