LUNCH WITH BOOKS: How the Hare Krishna Movement Came to West Virginia

August 14, 2018
12:00pm - 12:00pm

This PowerPoint presentation of over 100 visuals offers an overarching view of the Movement’s origins in India to New Vrindaban today. It delves into Swami Prabhupada’s improbable journey to America in 1965 at age 70, and the socio-political climate of the 1960s in which the Movement flourished and quickly spread all over the world. Swami Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in order to share the Vedic wisdom of love of God. One of his cherished goals was to create a New Vrindaban in America. Vrindaban is the land of Krishna’s birth and a prominent pilgrimage destination for Hindus in India. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of New Vrindaban this month, Andy shares why two early Hare Krishna devotees choose to move to West Virginia in 1968, Prabhupada’s vision for New Vrindaban, and an update on the community today.

Andy is a recipient of 2005 WV Artist Fellowship Award,  an Indie Book Award,  a Storytelling World Resource Award and an Ohio River Border Initiative Grant. He is on the Artist Roster of WV Division of Culture & History and is a member of  the WV Storytelling Guild.  He is a longtime resident of the community. His book, Mahabharata: The Eternal Quest, is a rendition of India’s ancient epic.  It is praised by scholars and is available at the library.