Hailing from a small village called Aravade in Maharashtra; ISKCONs spiritual master Lokanath Maharaj has touched the

hearts of thousands of devotees with his devotional kirtans and various temple projects. His holiness has served ISKCON as a bonafide guru incessantly and has acted as the creator of various ISKCON temples all over the world. How could a man of such magical touch and a heart so divine, not bestow his blessings on his own village-Aravade. In the golden year 2009, the tireless efforts of Lokanath Maharaj and his disciples bore fruits and the Radha Gopal temple of Aravade was inaugurated. The event was attended by thousands of devotees from across India. The temple is a jewel in the lap of nature with its picturesque gardens and serene environment. The beautiful and attractive deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopal uplifts one spiritually to a higher platform. The grand temple hall is decorated with pastimes of Lord Krishna. It boasts a combination of modern and ancient architecture and Vastusastra. The sprawling Vrindavan Garden enhances the beauty of the temple premises. The Krishna Tattva Darshan is set to enliven all visitors who are generally spell bound by the effervescent beauty of the deities, Sri Sri Radha Gopal. To add to this, there are other enchanting features of the temple. They are diorama exhibition, Hare Krishna Gram, Giriraj Goverdhan, Goshala, etc. The breathtaking diorama exhibition is situated next to the deities. The paintings and life size sculptures, though inanimate, depict incidents better than words. There are 10 sections in this exhibition. Devotees are struck by the beautiful form of Lord Jaggannath, Baldev and Subhadra. A beautifully depicted biography of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is one of the main attractions of this diorama. A major attraction of ISKCON Aravade is the Hare Krishna Gram Project. It has been developed on the basic principle of spiritual life, simple living and high thinking and thus protects the villagers from degeneration. This is vital for the younger generation who has forgetten their Vedic culture. This is a unique project through which people from 100 villages, students from more than 350 schools and colleges as well as residents of Sangli city will highly benefit. The beautiful model of Giriraj Goverdhan has fulfilled the wishes of many devotees who cannot go to Vrindavan. They can take the divine darshan of Giriraj Goverdhan here and also circumambulate it. This was possible only due to foresightedness of our spiritual master H. H. Lokanath Swami Maharaj and thus the glories and blessings of Goverdhan emanating from Vrindavan has spread unto Aravade. To top it all ISKCON Aravade also has a Goshala. The goshala presently has 17 cows, calves and bulls. The temple grows the fodder for the cows on their own farms. The plan of the temple administration is to enforce the concept of self sufficiency at Sri Sri Radha Gopal temple. The temple envisages constructing a big gobar gas plant through which the entire temple will get its electricity supply. The temple is also engaged in making cow

products from cow dung, cow urine etc. for example, tooth powder, soap, medicines, and also some milk products. The temple administration has further plans to enhance their premises and attain their mission of self sufficiency. They are spreading the divine nectar of our bonafide guru in their vicinity so that more and more people can attain the spiritual knowledge of the scriptures. With such wonderful objectives, ISKCON Aravade is definitely playing a major role in spreading our Vedic culture to one and all.