ISKCON temple consecration in Hubli on February 12

ISKCON temple consecration in Hubli on February 12
newindpress.com

Thursday February 9 2006

HUBLI: A part of the newly constructed ISKCON temple at Rayapur will be open to devotees from February 12. It will take another five years for the temple built by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at a cost of Rs 26.5 crore to be ready.

Rajiv Lochan Dasa, ISKCON branch head, Hubli-Dharwad told reporters here on Wednesday that the temple coming up in 8.5 acres over the Rayapur hillock would be a landmark in North Karnataka. The idol of Lord Krishna will be shifted to the new temple from the present premises in Lingaraj Nagar on February 12.

The consecration ceremony will begin at 9:30 am with a grand abhishekha.

Former deputy chief minister M P Prakash, chairman of Akshaya Patra and President ISKCON, Bangalore Madu Pandit Dasa will be present at the inauguration.

The new temple at Rayapur will house an ultra-modern ‘Akshaya Patra’, kitchen with cooking facility for 2 lakh people at a time. Besides a meditation hall, a cascade and fountain will be added attractions.

At present, ISKCON is feeding 80,000 underprivileged children in government schools under the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal scheme in Hubli and Dharwad.

The scheme would support bright young children from poor backgrounds by providing scholarships, improving infrastructure in schools and imparting training to government school teachers to come up to the standards maintained by private school teachers from the next academic year.

Suvindhyendra Thirtha Sripadangalu of Mantralayam will participate in the ISKCON’s fourth Ratha Yatra in Hubli on February 11.

The same Yatra will be taken out in Dharwad on February 18.

The Ratha Yatra’ of various attractive spiritual floats, singers, musicians, dancers and school children in costumes depicting characters and themes from the Vedas and Puranas will pass through all important roads of the twin cities, he added.