We are pleased to present the 23 February 2025 GBC Annual General Meeting (AGM) Highlights Report. This report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the GBC AGM held in Sridham Mayapur highlighting the key topics discussed.

The sixth and final day of the GBC AGM began with Srila Prabhupada Guru Puja prayers, followed by reading from Srimad Bhagavatam, 9.9.3-5, by Bhakti Caitanya Swami.

The following key topics were discussed:

1. Global Property Oversight Office

The GBC discussed the functioning of the Global Property Oversight Office (GPOC). After deliberation, the GBC approved the following amendment to the Schedule of Authority regarding the sale, purchase, or mortgage of ISKCON properties outside India:

The ISKCON Global Property Office (IGPO), which reports directly to the Global Executors Property Oversight Committee (GEPOC), shall present any proposed sale or mortgage of properties outside India to the GEPOC for review. The GEPOC will then evaluate the IGPO’s report on the proposal and submit its recommendations to the GBC for approval or disapproval.

2. Proposals

Members in attendance engaged in detailed discussion for each of the following proposals and cast their straw votes. The proposals will be amended based on the inputs of GBC members and presented for final vote.

a. Encouraging the Establishment and Maintenance of ISKCON Temple Ashrams

b. Acceptance of the Guru Services Policy Manual

c. Sannyasa Assessment and Approval Amendments

After detailed discussion, members in attendance cast their final votes on

the following proposals, which were subsequently approved:

a. Observing Festivals on the Dates they Occur

b. Moving Large Deities

c. Establishment the Office of the GBC Parliamentarian

d. Defining Guru Responsibilities

e. Strengthening the Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust

f. Honoring the Sacred Birthplace of Bhaktivinoda Thakur

g. Teaching deity worship in ISKCON

h. Memorial walls for departed Srila Prabhupada disciples in Mayapur and Vrindavan

i. Memorial walls for departed Vaishnavas in ISKCON centers around the world

3. 2025 Zonal Assignments and Appointments

The GBC EC reviewed the zonal assignments of GBC members and subsequently approved the zonal assignments and annual appointments for 2025-2026.

4. Sannyasa Candidates

Prahladananda Swami presented the list of sannyasa candidates, with Madana Mohana Dasa approved as the sannyasa candidate. Other candidates on the sannyasa waiting list are Padmanayan Dasa (India) and Charu Candra Dasa (Bangladesh). Madana Mohan Dasa took his vow of guruship in the presence of GBC members.

5. Vote of Thanks and Appreciation

GBC members expressed their sincere gratitude to Dina Sharana Devi for her decades of dedicated service as a GBC member and her invaluable contributions as both a leader and member of the GBC. The GBC body conferred the GBC Emeritus status on Dina Sharana Devi.

On behalf of the GBC, Guru Prasad Swami presented the ‘Certificate of Gratitude’ to Laxmi Narayan Das and conveyed his heartfelt gratitude for his generous donation, inspired by Bhakti Caru Swami, towards the establishment of a corpus fund of Rs 2.5 crores for the creation of annual educational scholarships and excellence awards in perpetuity. The funds will be kept as a corpus in fixed deposits and the annual distribution of the award and scholarship shall be from the interest accrued from such deposits.

Guru Prasad Swami, on behalf of the GBC, offered gratitude to Braja Vilas Dasa and the TOVP engineering team for construction work at GBC office, all volunteers who contributed various services at the GBC Office throughout the meetings, and the GBC Secretariat for their services throughout the year.

GBC members expressed their gratitude and appreciation to Guru Prasad Swami for his inspired service as Chair for the year 2024-25. In addition to managing numerous GBC-related responsibilities, he also took on themcrucial task of overseeing Gopal Krishna Goswami’s zones in India, alongside his own.