WELCOME  ISKCON’s Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) in Mayapur, West Bengal, will begin its months-long Grand Opening ceremonies at the end of 2024. Later this year, ahead of the Grand Opening, the TOVP’s East Wing will open. It will become the home of ISKCON Mayapur’s Prahlada-Nrisimhadeva deities during the Grand Opening. In this issue, Sunanda Dasa, director of fundraising and fundraising for the project, tells us about the history of Lord Nrisimhadeva’s coming to be worshiped at ISKCON Mayapur and describes some of the features of the Lord’s new temple.

Ramanatha-sukha Dasa introduces us to Gopishwara Mahadeva, an ancient deity of Lord Shiva in shiva-linga form worshiped in Vrindavan. Lord Shiva became Gopishwara by being blessed with the extremely rare privilege of taking part in Lord Krishna’s famous rasa dance. Since then he has served as one of the chief protectors of Vrindavan, Lord Krishna’s sacred abode on earth.

Another sacred site for devotees of Lord Krishna and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a village, now in Bangladesh, known as Kheturi. Satyaraja Dasa tells of the spiritual significance of this place, where the great devotee Narottama Dasa Thakura appeared in this world and where he and his associates organized a great festival that helped ensure the unity, stability, and eventual worldwide spread of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtana movement.

Hare Krishna. – Nagaraja Dasa, Editor

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