TOVP Campaign Making Wonderful Progress

Results are coming in from the TOVP tour that carried His Grace Jananivas Prabhu & Lord Nityananda’s holy paduka all over North America for four months earlier this year. In His manifest presence, Lord Nityananda walked over the Indian subcontinent, spreading the glories of Lord Caitanya, so in the form of His shoes. Thus he has continued His ‘walk’ to many cities and towns of the Western world, furthering the stated prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu that ‘My name will be sung in every town and village.’

Devotees and well-wishers were enlivened to hear of the rising of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium on the Ganges plain. Everyone could feel that this project is destined to attract the people of the world to Sridham Mayapur and the teachings of Lord Caitanya. Hundreds of devotees from dozens of centers in the US and Canada came forward to greet the travelling party. They opened their homes and hearts to our illustrious guests.

They also opened their pockets in order to get in ‘on the ground floor’ of the magnificent temple. Devotees sponsored golden bricks engraved with their names, or names of their family members, reserving a place under our Lordships’ altars. Many sponsored Gratitude Coins to express their thanks to Srila Prabhupada, this has given a real boost to the construction effort. Thanks go to all who have pledged, and those who have begun to fulfill their pledges. We would also like to extend a special thanks to those who have already completed their pledged donation.

To date, nearly 2,000 donors have pledged to give (over seven years’ time) $16 million, of which $1 million has been realized thus far. The TOVP staff would like to heartily thank, on behalf of the disciplic succession, all those who have come forward. Nearly 500 of the donors have pledged to give $11,000 or more, and of those roughly one-quarter have begun to make their contributions. With a monthly construction budget of $500,000, we are not shy in requesting every devotee and follower of Srila Prabhupada to come forward and contribute to this great cause.

Last month, we even received a generous donation from New Zealand to the amount of $250,000 for TOVP construction. The donor till date has remained anonymous, even though we have tried our level best to find out. The donation was anonymously transferred to the TOVP account in Mayapur from New Zealand. We take this opportunity to thank this anonymous devotee. If the devotee could discretely reveal himself to us, we would be very grateful, so that we can appropriately reciprocate and express our gratitude.

We are very inspired to see how devotees around the world are the backbone of the construction of this most ambitious project of Srila Prabhupada. They are constantly giving support to the ongoing progress of the TOVP temple.