Andhra Pradesh - Tirupati   

Need to revive village culture stressed

Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar

Focus on development: Delegates from across the world at the three-day ISKCON ‘Sadhu Sammelan' that began at the Lotus Temple in Tirupati on Tuesday. —

TIRUPATI: The ‘Sadhu Sammelan' of International Society for Krsna Consciousness (ISKCON) began at the sprawling Lotus Temple here on Tuesday.

After paying tributes to the founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, Tridandi Gopalakrishna Swami of ISKON inaugurated the session, which discussed the progress of activities like old-age homes, ‘Gurukula' schools, orphanages, cow protection centres, poor-feeding (Annadanam) and general support to the farming community, especially in Andhra Pradesh.

Executive member of the ISKCON order, Jayapataka Swami stressed the need for rejuvenating the village culture and said the above steps would help achieve the concept of ‘spiritual villages'.

He referred to the concept of ‘Upadesika' whereby ‘Hari Nama Sankirtan' (chanting of the holy names) would be promoted to transform every household into a temple. He also expressed concern over the fall in interest on ‘padayatra', which was an intrinsic part of the ‘Bhakti' movement . ISKCON Tirupati unit president Revati Raman Das said that the movement was flourishing with Tirupati as the nerve-centre and temples constructed in Rajahmundry, Anantapur, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. Tridandi Jayapataka Swami and Bhakti Purushothama Swami (both from Bengal), Tridandi Lokanatha Swami (Maharashtra), Bhakta Rupa Swami and Bhakti Raghava Swami (both from the USA) and Bhakti Brajanandana Swami (Malaysia), besides seers of the ISKCON school of thought from Nepal, Russia and Singapore are taking part in the three-day meet.

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