News & Events

Published: Dec 29, 2021
Updated: Dec 29, 2021

ISKCON bags IGBC ‘Green Champion Award 2020’

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was unanimously chosen as winner of the 7th IGBC Green Champion Awards under the category ‘Pioneering Institution in Sensitising the Masses by Going Green’ during the 18th edition of the ‘Green Building Congress’ organised recently. Gauranga Das, Director-ISKCON Govardhan Ecovillage and ISKCON Global Duty Officer, who received the award on behalf of ISKCON, said, “ISKCON also plans to design, construct, operate and certify their upcoming University of Bhaktivedanta Research Centre as a green campus. The international green committee of ISKCON is closely working with IGBC to develop a framework for ISKCON temples across the world to be developed as Green Places of Worship.” ISKCON’s projects, i.e., Govardhan Ecovillage and ISKCON RadhaGopinath Chowpatty Temple in Mumbai, had achieved the platinum level IGBC green certification in the past.

NATURE’S HARMONY

Radhanath Swami, ISKCON spiritual guru and founder, Govardhan Ecovillage, said, “The Bhagavad Gita teaches that yoga is the art of living in harmony with the body, the mind, the soul, all living beings, God and nature. All of nature is God’s gift and to see the presence of God’s grace in nature is an inherent teaching of the Bhagavad Gita, and it is very much foundational to the principles of ISKCON. We are hoping and praying that more and more people across the globe will understand the need for this truth to be practised while we promote this principle of sustainability for all our 700 ISKCON temples across the globe.” M r. Alfred Ford, Trustee, Ford Motors and Chairman, Temple of Vedic Planetarium, said, “We are very much in sync with the green agenda and we hope that there will be more success along this line. We are coming up with the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) in Mayapur near Kolkata . The temple is larger than the Taj Mahal and is going to have one of the largest domes in Asia — 350 feet high. The kirtan hall will hold 10,000 devotees at a time all chanting.”