TOVP Chairman’s Quarterly Report – September 2016

Dear Devotees, Donors, and Well-wishers,

Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

I want to share with you the latest news from the TOVP project in Sridham Mayapur.

Construction continues to move forward with emphasis on the completion of the kalash and finishing work on the domes by the end of the year. The design and execution continue to be refined, and pink sandstone and sky blue tiles enhance their beauty as work progresses daily. Once finished and the domes are capped we will begin the interior finishing work .

Fundraising continues unabated worldwide and the new office in the United States is now fully operational and meeting with enthusiastic response. Our second tour in South Africa is scheduled for September with Lord Nityananda Prabhu’s divine lotus shoes and Lord Nrsimhadeva’s sitari (helmet) from the Mayapur Chandodaya Mandir, accompanied by His Grace Jananivas prabhu. Braja Vilas prabhu and Ambarisa prabhu with Svaha devi dasi will also join in the campaign. We are also planning several tours in India in the remaining months of this year and into 2017 which include Gujarat and South India. Our presence at His Holiness Gopal Krishna Maharaja’s recent Vyasa Puja celebration met with enthusiastic support and we raised over $350,000. Many of these devotees have already donated to the TOVP but were inspired to give again. Many thanks to them and to all our worldwide donors.

This temple continues to amaze visitors and will be a watershed event in the history of the Krishna consciousness movement. As His Grace Ravindra Svarupa prabhu writes in his brilliant treatise Revealing the Heart of ISKCON,

“When, by our cooperative efforts worldwide, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium is completed at the heart of ISKCON, all of its associated centers everywhere will become more fully manifest as entranceways to the spiritual world. This will be a major achievement—a crowning achievement—of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s project, following Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, of “the respiritualization of the entire human society,” empowering the whole world to “convert the illusory consciousness into Brahman.”

Let us all push forward together to assist in manifesting this most divine accomplishment in the service of Guru and Gauranga. Thank you all for being a part of this glorious endeavor. We will continue to bring you exciting updates throughout the years ahead.

Your humble servant,
Ambarisa das