Boise Hare Krishna Temple

The Hare Krishna Temple has a weekly service on Sundays at 11am. Services begin with chanting, followed by a lesson or reading from the Bhagavad Gita, mantra meditation, musical chanting, and then announcements. Following the service is a community lunch, where traditional vegetarian Indian food is served. The temple also has daily services starting with Mangal Artik at 5:30am; The second service, Shringar Artik, is at 7:15am; Then, at 7:30am, Guru Puja. Every evening at 6:30pm there is another small program of worship. Bhagavad Gita classes take place every Friday evening at 7:00pm and are followed by dinner.

In addition to the daily and weekly services and meditations, members of the temple visit nearby prisons monthly to do ministry work and correspond with inmates from prisons around the country via mail. Furthermore, members of the temple distribute free food as part of ISKCON’s worldwide “Food for Life” program.

There are eight major holidays celebrated at the Hare Krishna Temple. They are: the birthday of Chaitanya, commemorating the inauguration of the Hare Krishna Movement; Rathayatra, a parade celebrating Krishna (usually in conjunction with the Boise 4th of July Parade); Janmastami, celebrating Krishna’s birthday; Govardhan Puja, celebrating Krishna’s protection of his devotees; Rama Navami, celebrating Rama’s birth; Diwali, celebrating Rama’s return to his capital city; Nrsimha Chaturdasi, the appearance day of Krishna in his incarnation of Nrsimhadeva; and Vyasa Puja, the birthday of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder and spiritual teacher of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the Hare Krishna Movement. The Boise Hare Krishna Temple is one of over four hundred ISKCON centers around the world.

The community participates in all interfaith events in Boise and representatives from the temple give lectures about Hinduism to classes at local schools and universities. Professors from various departments also bring their classes to the temple for the Sunday service. The temple is open for tours for students interested in studying religion.