A Vedic Temple in
the Heart of Moscow

From Yasomatinandana das

Posted July 8, 2005

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

Please let us take few minutes of your time and introduce you to the new Moscow Temple Project.

Srila Prabhupada came to Moscow in 1971, taking all kinds of risks, in order to establish Krishna consciousness in this very important part of the world. Srila Prabhupada left only one disciple here, but by his spiritual power Krishna consciousness gradually started spreading in the USSR.

In the 1980s Krishna consciousness went underground, and devotees were being persecuted. Some of them even left their lives in prisons. In 1988 when under the pressure of the international campaign ISKCON in Russia was legalized, Srila Prabhupada's movement started spreading like wildfire. Millions of books were distributed. Russians started joining by the thousands.

As a result of four years of 24-hours of broadcasting (1994-1998) by the Krishnaloka radio station, there are over 100,000 people favorable to Krishna consciousness in Moscow alone. In Russia there are Krishna consciousness centers in practically every major city (over 100 total).

For ten years the Moscow temple was located in an old, rented, two-story building near the center of the city. In 2003 the Moscow government started putting pressure on ISCON to vacate the building in order to build some elite skyscrapers there. After a great struggle, the devotees managed to get two acres of land in a prestigious location for the construction of a new temple. It was a great victory.

In June 2004 the temple had to relocate to the temporary buildings on the new site, and the old temple was torn down. Ironically, after demolishing the old building the construction company managed only to dig the foundation. Then it got into financial difficulties, and the construction is still frozen.

But the victory proved to become only the continuation of a big battle. Because of pressure from different religious and secular circles, for one year the devotees could not get approval for the new temple design, and there were even attempts by the government to take the land back.

Recently, on June 21, there was a second major breakthrough on this important front. The Moscow Architectural committee and Moscow Religious committee have given their approval of the temple project. There will be a Vedic Temple in the heart of Moscow, one of the major cities of the world.

Now we have the green light to start working on the details of the design and technical documentation. It is going to be a beautiful four-story structure, modern on the outside with rich Vedic interiors, housing a temple room for 1,000 people with Sri Sri Radha-Madhava, Jagannath-Baladev-Subhadra, and Gaura-Nitai. There will be an auditorium, a museum, a restaurant, a Vaishnava Academy, and even a winter garden. Astrological calculations show that the spiritual power of the temple is going to change the spiritual climate not only in Russia but also far beyond

We are inviting you to give your spiritual, emotional, and financial support to the project. We are planning to send regular short reports on the development of the Moscow project by e-mail. If you want to receive this newsletter, then simply send an e-mail to the address below.

We need your help. We are depending on you. Please join us in this miraculous project and receive the unlimited blessings of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava and Srila Prabhupada.

On behalf of the Moscow Project team,

Your insignificant servant,
Yasomatinandana das,
Development Director, ISKCON Moscow

Email: donate@list.ru

Websites:
http://www.veda.ru/?eng 
http://www/moscowtemple.org
Donate by PayPal:
http://www.moscowtemple.org/
donate.html

© dipika.org July 8, 2005