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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£105.0K
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Spending
£112.8K
Public benefits
Purpose (a) - Propagation to society at large a consciousness of Krishna (Sanskrit for God) as revealed in the Vedic literature, primarily the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam as inculcated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The direct benefits flowing from this purpose include: (1) Knowledge of the long-term nature or purpose of each person, which
is the development of pure love (called Bhakti in Sanskrit). (2) Philosophical wisdom about the nature of love and overcoming the challenges to love e.g. greed, illusion, apathy, envy, uncontrolled anger, and so on. These benefits can be demonstrated by citizens in Northern Ireland developing extra tolerance, friendliness, kindness, respect for others – which all have a positive effect on the Peace Process. Purpose (b) - Propagation of the techniques of spiritual life as described in the above-mentioned literature. The direct benefits flowing from this purpose include assistance towards the fine-tuning of the intelligence and good habits, and the development of the people within the catchment area of Northern Ireland These benefits can be demonstrated by people becoming happier, more satisfied and longer-lived. The effects of anxiety, stress and depression become less. Suicide, unwanted teenage pregnancy, bullying, crime and intolerance towards others become less and can descend toward zero for people who follow a healthy “Mode of Goodness” lifestyle, as recommended by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Purpose (c) - The advancement of education, the relief of poverty and the preservation of good health in Northern Ireland (the "area of benefit") and in particular: (i) to feed the homeless and malnourished in the area of benefit by providing nutritious and well balanced vegetarian meals; (ii) to advance public education about vegetarianism." The direct benefits flowing from this purpose include the education of the general public in techniques of Ayurveda and Vedic health sciences; understanding one’s body and use of herbs and spices for optimum benefit. Also related to education is training in simple living / high thinking and transforming consciousness so that a person does not require so many “material things”. Bhagavad Gita studies and addresses greed. These benefits can be demonstrated by having a consciousness of satisfaction among people in NI, and having more resources in the catchment area available and equally shared due to their being less hoarding of these resources. By refining consciousness and training people in the Mode of Goodness then lethargy and anger are addressed. People learn to be satisfied with what they have, so the people who do have less (by their karma) are not wasting time by being unreasonably disgruntled. Some of these qualities may seem nebulous, but actually the causes of wars and tension among people are primarily due to greed, anger, hate, etc, and secondarily due to this-or-that political reason. ISKCON NI distributes free healthy meals at various functions in Northern Ireland. Vegetarianism has been demonstrated to benefit the public by helping the planet. This article in The Guardian explains how: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/18/vegetarianism-save-planet-environment The purposes of our charity will not lead to any harm. The charity’s beneficiaries are all the people and the natural environment of Northern Ireland. The only private benefit flowing from the purpose is that 10 members get to live together in a monastic setting and grow food and eat together. This is incidental and necessary because these residents do full time voluntary service for the temple, and otherwise ISKCON NI would not have full-time volunteers. However no member receives any salary for their voluntary work. Living in an ashram is conducive to a monastic lifestyle where each member arises before 4.00am each day for meditative practises. This programme has been going on daily since July 1986.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
(1) Maintenance of a Temple on Inis Rath Island. This Temple has been open daily since July 20th 1986: 365 days a year. The Temple is open to anyone who wants to join the Community and live a monastic lifestyle for any amount of time they choose. Monks arise daily by or before 4.00am for sacred chant music, japa meditation, contemplation, and a
philosophy lecture. (2) There is a Sunday Feast programme every Sunday. The ferry leaves at 12.00 noon and 12.20pm. There is sacred chant music from 12.30pm to 1.00pm and then a lecture on the ancient wisdom reading from Sanskrit yoga texts. At 2.00pm there is the Sunday Feast: a communal meal cooked in the temple using food grown on the island. There is time to see the gardens and cows, before returning on the ferry to the mainland. This Sunday Feast event is provided for the general public completely free of any charge. (3) Promotes environmental protection and conservation through education and acting as an example of a sustainable community. Monks (A) grow vegetables (17 types), fruit (6 types) and grains (oats and barley) and have a young expanding herd of three cows and one ox. The cows provide 15L of milk per day. The ox is age 6 months. He’s been trained to pull a plough from 2 months old. He’ll be ready to work from 2 years. He will do the work of a tractor. (B) The temple is heated using sustainably sourced local wood. On the adjoining mainland 10,000 trees where grown to provide heating fuel. (4) Monks periodically travel around Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland distributing spiritual literature. For example, in December 2014 4500 books were distributed. These books are translations of the text Bhagavad Gita, or commentaries on this text. (5) 10 to 15 times annually monks share kirtan (sacred chant music) in a public setting away from the island.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The prevention or relief of poverty
- The advancement of education
- The advancement of religion
- The advancement of health or the saving of lives
Who the charity helps
- General public
- Men
- Women
How the charity works
- Education/training
- Religious activities
- Rural development
