Kuala Lumpur : In view of the upcoming Deepavali Festival of Lights, the International Society for Krsna Consciousness, Malaysia, hosted a virtual Deepavali gathering on Sunday, November 1 2020.
The event, which was attended by 6,538 participants from many locations including Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, UK, USA, Russia, and South America, exceeded the previous record of 1,360 participants in the category of largest participation in a Virtual Deepavali event in the Malaysian Book of Records.
The guest of honor was His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, who attended the virtual meeting from the society’s International Headquarters in Mayapur, West Bengal, India. Jayapataka Swami, who is a senior member of the Governing Body commission of ISKCON is a direct disciple of His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who founded the International Society for Krsna Consciousness in 1965 in New York, USA.
The purpose of this event was to facilitate a forum where the world could come together to pray for world peace, love and quick recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. All participants offered lamps to Lord Krsna.
The event also marked the start of the Vedic Karthik or Damodara festival, a month-long celebration of the pastimes of Lord Krishna; especially that of him being bound by his mother’s pure love – as revealed in the Vedic scriptures.
Every year during this month, ISKCON Malaysia facilitates large programs in schools and other institutions where free books, meals and other gifts are distributed for the spiritual, emotional, and physical wellbeing of the society at large. In 2019, the society distributed a total of 87,488 free meals and 10,303 books; in addition, 228,770 lamps were offered to Lord Krsna in programs that were conducted in schools nation-wide.
