On November 16th, the Govinda Restaurant of Goranga Yoga of Istanbul had the opportunity to serve prasadam to legendary Canadian rock star Bryan Adams and his concert crew.
Interest in Bhakti-Yoga is rising in Turkey, an Islamic country with few devotees and no official ISKCON presence. With the increasing popularity of yoga in general in Istanbul, and yoga studios popping up everywhere, Nrismha Krishna Das and his wife Krishna-Mala Dasi established their own studio, Gouranga Yoga, in the capital city in 2013.
His head bowed, Pope Francis stood Saturday for two minutes of silent prayer facing east inside one of Istanbul's most important mosques.
Turkish devotees gathered on one of the beautiful Princes’ Islands off the coast of Istanbul for Bhakti Fest, from September 12th to 15th. 27 devotees stayed for the full duration of the event, while daily guests brought attendance to 45 by Sunday. Although that may have been a small group for many ISKCON communities, it was a crowd for Turkey, an Islamic country with very few devotees and no official ISKCON presence.