News Around the World

ISKCON Croatia is rebuilding congregational participation and extending public outreach during the movement’s 60th-anniversary year. Communications representatives Govindānanda Dāsa and Īśvara Purī Dāsa described how recent in-person programs in Zagreb reflect a wider effort to connect decades of book distribution with sustained community involvement.

From September 17–23, 2026, the devotees of ISKCON Çré Çré Rädhä Mädhava Mandir, Taguig, joyfully participated in the World Holy Name Festival, taking the chanting of the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra beyond the temple walls and into Manila’s heart.

For seven wonderful days, devotees came together in the spirit of Harinäma Saìkértana, Food for Life, book distribution, and loving service, sharing the mercy of the Holy Name with people from all walks of life

Devotees at hundreds of ISKCON centers worldwide gathered on September 4, 2026, to celebrate Çré Kåñëa Janmäñöamé, filling temple halls with the rhythms of mådaìga and harmonium as hundreds of thousands joined continuous kirtans and midnight abhiñekaceremonies. This year’s observance stood out not only for its scale but for the depth of secular appreciation it drew, the record crowds it brought to individual temples, and the reach it achieved through livestreaming technology.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his greetings for the occasion in a series of posts, describing Kåñëa’s teachings as a continuing source of "profound inspiration for selfless action" and expressing hope that the festival would bring "positive energy and strength into everyone’s life." He accompanied his message with a Sanskrit verse honoring Kåñëa as "the spiritual master of the universe," underscoring the festival’s resonance well beyond ISKCON’s own congregations.

At ISKCON’s global headquarters in Sridham Mayapur, West Bengal, the community transformed its campus into a recreation of Nanda-gram, Kåñëa’s childhood village. Among the most moving moments was the samskara performed for the deity of baby Kåñëa, in which a local devotee family took on the roles of Nanda Maharaja and Mother Yashoda, surrounded by children dressed as cowherd boys and gopis.

In Vrindavan, the Kåñëa-Balaram Mandir was adorned with elaborate floral decorations for the grand Maha Abhishekam of Sri Sri Kåñëa-Balaräma, Çré Çré Rädhä-Çyämasundara, and Çré Çré Gaura-Nitäi. Through the temple’s Janmashtami Kalash Seva program, devotees worldwide sponsored the water, milk, honey, and ghee used in the bathing rituals, giving distant devotees a personal role in ceremonies held at Kåñëa’s own birthplace.