Krishna Society's Projects in India
This article, "Krishna Society's Projects in India," was published in The Hindu, January 2, 1976, in Chennai, India.
A team of sanyasis and brahmacharis of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness camping at Srirangam at the residence of Sri Rangaraja Bhattar of Sri Ranganathaswamy temple for four days from December 23, attracted a number of youth by their inspiring bhajans.
A member of the team, Achyutananda Swami, an American by birth, who was initiated by Srila Prabhupada, founder of the society, explained the work of the society and said the hippie cult and frustration among youth were due to lack of religious teachers to mould the youth on the right lines. "Frustration is everywhere in the world and India is not an exception," he said.
Two specially notable centres run by the society in India are the International Vedic University at Mayapur, 90 miles north of Calcutta, and Brindavan. Mayapur is the birthplace of Chaitanya. Another of Srila Prabhupada's project is New Vrindavana, a 1,000 acre Krishna Conscious Farm Community in West Virginia.
Prabhupada has started a Gurukul in Dallas, Texas, for 200 boys and girls between the ages of five and 15. They are taught Sanskrit besides subjects like arithmetic and geography.
A notable project of the society in India is the International Sanskrit University at Kurukshetra near Delhi. One of Prabhupada's disciples, Alfred Ford, now Ambarisa Das, a nephew of Henry Ford has undertaken to construct it at a cost of $20 millions.
Sri Achyutananda said ISKCON was developing community farm projects all over India and two farms, one at Mayapur and another near Hyderabad, have already started functioning.
At Mayapur there is a gurukul, where children in the age group 5 to 15 are given training in Sanskrit and the sastras.
The members of the team said that during Christmas Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita released by the society were sold to the value of over Rs. one crore in the United States alone. - From Our Tiruchi Correspondent.