Govardhan Annakshetra

Once in 1974, the founder Acharya of ISKCON his divine grace, Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad was in Mayapur. It was the day of Govardhan Puja festival and there was a big feast. People took prasad in their leaf plates and threw it on backside of a building.
After some time, Srila Prabhupad heard noise of some dogs barking and some children shouting. He went to the window and saw small children who were very poor with sticks in their hands were shouting at dogs over the leftover scraps of food in the leaf plates. Seeing this tears swelled from his eyes he said, “We have to see that nobody goes hungry within a ten-mile radius. The temple is the house of God. God is everyone’s father, Krishna is everyone’s father. So, in the presence of the father, the son doesn’t go hungry. So, we have to make an arrangement that people get fed.”

Again, in one his letters to all the Presidents of Iskcon in 1977, he wrote that in all our temples, prasadam distribution should be arranged. Whoever comes to temple should be fed prasad.

With this inspiration and under the guidance and blessings of HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj, we have started our humble attempt in the form of Govardhan Annakshetra at Govardhan Ecovillage (Wada). It is an initiative where we serve free full meal lunch prasadam to whoever comes at Govardhan Ecovillage and also in the villages of Palghar without any discrimination. We are witnessing the massive impact that this project has created in the lives of people.