Hare Krishna festival in Borehamwood, UK.
Hundreds are expected to attend the upcoming Hare Krishna festival next Friday.
Next week the Hare Krishna festival will be held at the Fairway Hall, in Brook Close, Borehamwood at 7pm with live music, dance and vegetarian food and is open to the public.
ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) and local members of the Hare Krishna movement have teamed up to invite the public to the festivities.
Giridhari Das, a Hare Krishna monk who heads the UK festival team, said: “Probably best known from the Glastonbury Music Festival or for singing in the streets of central London, as the Hare Krishna Festival team we tend to appear all over the place. Whether local carnivals, theatres or town halls we like to be with the people.”
The Hare Krishna Movement follows ancient teachings of devotional yoga with roots in the Vedic culture of India, dating back more than 5,000 years.
It became popular in the 1960’s when its message was brought to western countries by A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada – an Indian guru, aged 70, who left Vrindavan, India, and set sail for the United States in 1965 with just a few dollars in his pocket.
Within a year of his arrival he set up ISKCON, and today the movement has more than 700 temples and centres worldwide, including 60 farm communities, 50 schools and 90 restaurants.
The Borehamwood festival, and other festivals across the UK this year, is part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Hare Krishna movement.
Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Aldenham, has been a spiritual retreat for thousands ever since it opened in 1973.
Nathan Hartley, who looks after PR & Communications at ISKCON Festivals, said: “Our philosophy is very rich and attractive to many people. In a world that’s becoming increasingly competitive, and has people believing they will only be happy through material gain, we are showing a deeply positive alternative.
"The Krishna Consciousness message is for everyone. A universal, non-sectarian message of love, simple living, service and above all – connecting the self with the original spiritual source, Krishna.”