History of ISKCON Mysuru
It was the year 1992, the construction of building a grandeur temple for Lord Krishna at Hare Krishna Hill, Bangalore had already started and the devotees were fully focusing on conducting outreach programs along with mobilizing funds for completing this magnificent temple. It was during then, His Grace Jai Chaitanya Prabhu look a leading step and independently organised a massive Ratha Yatra in Mysuru which made way for planting the seed of Krishna consciousness among the thousands of devotees who enthusiastically participated in the festival.
Later, on completion of this sprawling temple at Hare Krishna Hill, Bangalore in the year 1997, the devotees wishing to spread the movement further, took lead steps in conducting many more preaching programs in various cities of Karnataka. Thus, His Grace Jai Chaitanya Prabhu and His Grace Stoka Krishna Prabhu started visiting Mysuru frequently for conducting various outreach programs. Further, His Grace Stoka Krishna Prabhu, who was entrusted with the service of translating Srimad Bhagavatam and Chaitanya Charitamrita into Kannada, made a gateway for making trips to Mysuru regularly which also helped in reaching to many more devotees in the city.
Seeing the overwhelming response from the people of Mysuru, there felt a need of starting a preaching centre here and thus in the year 1999, His Grace Stoka Krishna Prabhu along with few other devotees rented a house in Gokulam to house the deities of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, which began the journey of ISKCON, Mysuru. Further, as the congregation grew in numbers, the necessity of a larger place to conduct the preaching activities was felt. During then, after extensive searching, a 44–acre kharab land in the Malalavadi grama was identified in the Jayanagar part of Mysuru. ISKCON Mysuru, during the year 2002, approached the Government of Karnataka to allot 9 acres of this land for the purpose of building a religious and cultural centre for which the sanction was received in the year 2003.
Soon after the allotment of the 9-acre land in Jayanagar, a temporary structure was built in the year 2004 and the Utsava Deities of Sri Sri Krishna Balarama were brought to their new place along with the starting of Akshaya Patra kitchen feeding 2000 school children every day.
The plan for the construction of new cultural centre named “NAVA BRINDAVAN DHAM” was conceived by His Grace Jai Chaitanya Prabhu and Her Grace Bhaktilatha Devi Mataji in the year 2008. A new Akshaya Patra kitchen was inaugurated in June, 2009 by then Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa which scaled up the feeding capacity to 25,000 children covering nearly 190 schools across Mysuru.
In year 2012, beautiful marble Deities of Sri Sri KRISHNA BALARAMA arrived from Bellary much to pleasure of Mysuru devotees. This was followed by the installation of Utsava Deities of Sri Sri Lakshmi Narasimha on 3rd May 2015.
In the year 2016, the plan for the Nava Brindavan Dham Cultural Centre was cleared from various departments of the government. On the auspicious occasion of Vijaya Dashami 11th October 2016, the Bhumi Puja for the Nava Brindavan Dham project was conducted. This was followed by the ‘SHILANYAS’ on 2nd April, 2017 performed by His Excellency Vajubhai Rudhabhai Vala, Honorable Governor of Karnataka. The devotees of ISKCON Mysuru are eager to execute the construction of this much awaited cultural centre and dedicate to their beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada.