New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

For the first time in 37 years, New Vrindaban is the featured article on the front cover of the Jan/Feb 2018 issue of Back To Godhead magazine. Perfect timing, as the village residents and well-wishers begin their 50th anniversary celebrations!

Where is your hometown?  Syama Kunda was raised in Cambridge, Maryland. When & where did you get married?  While living in Maryland in 1969, Syama Kunda met his wife Girindra Mohini, the youngest girl of 10 siblings. When he was 16 and she was only 15, they were married by her minister father. When did […]

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications Kelly Carter, a science and social studies teacher at a middle school in Moundsville, never “joined” ISKCON. But she’s been a part of New Vrindaban longer than many devotees. Set to be honored at this spring’s Service Appreciation Ceremony, she has both love and a unique objectivity […]

By Madhava Smullen for ISKCON New Vrindaban Communications New Vrindaban’s fifth Service Appreciation Ceremony, held on Sunday November 13th, began with some impressive statistics. The semi-annual ceremony, launched in November 2014, has so far honored 22 individuals for their unique contributions to the development of New Vrindaban. And it has recognized over 700 years of […]

Excerpted from an article written by Cintamani Dasi and previously published in the Brijabasi Spirit, October 1985. It was May 9th, 1969. Before coming to New Vrindaban, Srila Prabhupada visited the Columbus, Ohio center. By some inconceivable good fortune I met him and was initiated. After breaking open the storehouse of love of God in […]

By Madhava Smullen Few prasadam stories from New Vrindaban’s history are as legendary as those of the late Amburish Dasa’s sweet rice and Pitambar Dasi’s ice cream. Straight from the cow barn and prepared by the cowherd couple with deep love and devotion, they were much-craved treats in the austere lives of New Vrindaban’s early […]

By Madhava Smullen “It was devastating,” says Advaitacarya Das, bowing his head. Srila Prabhupada’s Disappearance Day is coming up on November 15th in New Vrindaban. And Advaita, who has been a resident since the early 1970s, is recalling the day in 1977 when he and the other devotees at Prabhupada’s first farm community heard the […]

By: Madhava Smullen Over the years, New Vrindaban has been famous for a long list of mouthwatering prasadam dishes – Hladini’s cinnamon rolls; Radhanath Swami’s sandesh; Madri, Dharmakala and Kutila’s cheesecake; Dharmakala’s baked goods and milk sweets; Taru and Amburish’s sweet rice; Vani’s dokla and idli, and many more. But first, no story about New […]

Written by Madhava Smullen. Archival Research by Chaitanya Mangala. June 21st, 1976 was a normal day at the Pittsburgh International airport until a group of Krishna devotees from New Vrindaban, dressed in an odd combination of dhotis or saris with large rubber farm boots, appeared. Commuters stared open-mouthed as the fifty-strong crew exploded into a […]

By Madhava Smullen  March 15th saw the second installment of a new tradition for New Vrindaban – holding “service appreciation ceremonies” in honor of devotees who have contributed their valuable time and effort in the development of the community. During the first, at the ISKCON New Vrindaban and Eco-Vrindaban Board Meetings in November last year, […]