Srila Prabhupada established over 108 ISKCON centers in 10 years, the world over.
'Interview with Project Director, Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa'

Q1: What was the motivation and inspiration for conceiving and executing a project of this proportion?

The Krishna consciousness movement has wonderful things to offer to everyone. Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya, has taught us Lord Krishna's instructions in such a clear way that they can be applied to any life situation to bring the best within oneself to achieve happiness. There is unlimited facility in today's world to promote knowledge in various fields, in order to equip the society with the tools required to achieve happiness. But all

'Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa -President & Project Director, ISKCON, Bangalore'
these pertain to the temporary material sphere only. They cannot provide the real and eternal quality of happiness that we, the souls, are actually looking for. Any amount of material progress will not provide this. Thus although we have a very materially advanced world, we still have an unhappy, dissatisfied and disturbed humanity. Man is primarily spiritual and his real happiness lies at the soul level. He has to pay attention to develop his spiritual identity and serve his real needs along with his material pursuits. Specific attention has to be paid to develop the spiritual aspect of the society if real happiness and harmony have to be experienced. This is the service the Krishna Consciousness movement is doing for the world. This project provides a facility to disseminate Vedic knowledge in a practical and rational way for the benefit of as many people as possible.

Q 2: What makes this temple different from other temples?
The Vedanta sutra states, ahato brahma jijnasa. This means that the most important activity for a soul, in the human form, is to enquire about spiritual life, brahma jijnasa. Every civilized society must provide for this to take place. In the advanced Vedic society, ample attention was given to cater to the spiritual aspects of life. With time, society has become practically ignorant of this need. And spirituality has come to the level of just blind rituals and sentiments. The ISKCON temple provides much more for the soul than those rituals. ISKCON temples are centers of spiritual learning through Godly association, centers where a visitor is inspired to learn about spiritual life. One can receive practical guidance in his spiritual life from those who are already on the path of spiritual advancement. Although the senses of the visitors may be bogged down by absorption in material endeavor, they can be purified and enlivened by coming in touch with the Supreme Lord in various ways and experience happiness. This temple provides such transcendental experiences as seeing the beautiful form of the Lord, participation in hearing and singing His qualities and pastimes, tasting nectarean prasadam and engaging in serving the Lord in various ways. Thus, step-by-step, they will realize the reality of their own spiritual identity and learn to cater to its needs.

Q3: How will the people of this country, a majority of who are struggling with the basic necessities, benefit from this complex?
Whether materially rich or poor, man is essentially spiritual. Wealth or poverty, good or bad, these experiences are bestowed upon us according to our past activities. Every action we perform in this world binds us by its reaction. From good actions we derive good results and by bad actions we derive bad results. Thus everyone is bound by the laws of karma. There is no guarantee that a man who is very rich today will be born rich in his next birth or even become a pauper in this life itself. The laws of material nature are very stringent. The overall poverty or wealth of a society is just the sum total of the karma of the individuals. As long as we remain ignorant of the purpose of human life and only serve this body. We will continue to remain bound by the laws of karma, which toss us from one experience to another, like the waves of the ocean. The soul needs to be equipped with practical knowledge to deal with the inevitables of one's life, as well as knowledge to prevent such bondage in future. Rich or poor, every soul needs spiritual care and attention. Spiritual life is meant for everyone. Whatever we want to offer in this place is open to everyone, irrespective of social class, caste, gender, nationality or even religion. Edifices like this are needed to keep the balance between the material and spiritual needs of man. Today there is a great need for spiritual understanding, even deeper than sectarian religion. Krishna consciousness provides such an understanding. By the influence of God consciousness, we can alleviate suffering by treating the cause and the symptom, instead of treating the symptom alone. India's real asset is spiritual knowledge. Today many Indians themselves do not realize its practical value. What remains of Vedic knowledge in the society at large is just some cultural backlash. Many do not know the progressive values of human life, which are the basis of Vedic culture. This is because they have not been presented with Vedic knowledge in a rational way. Srila Prabhupada did this through his extensive writing, which can easily be understood by everyone. How can we be complacent and not strive to appraise everyone the importance of our spiritual heritage, the neglect of which is driving society to chaos and confusion? Socially, the poverty of one section of society is caused by the extensive greed of another section. Due to the spirit of exploitation, men have forgotten each other's spiritual equality before God. Though spiritual knowledge we can identify our common Father, the Supreme Lord, and thus realize our brotherhood. Only in this way can there be social equality, peace and harmony in our nation and between all nations of this world. No other quick fixes will work. So our task is spiritual education, and this project is an important instrument in fulfilling this.