It all started with a post on the Thaindian forums here from Mr. Souvik Datta who mentioned that the ISKCON temple in Bangkok is actually not a part of ISKCON as we know it and the president of the temple falsely claims it to be an ISKCON temple. He also showed a letter from Governing Body Council member of ISKCON, His grace Kabichandra Maharaj which can be accessed here .

This was echoed by several others forumists and it seems that there is something wrong in the entire scheme of things. Thaindian did some research and found something worth sharing:

 

There are actually two ISCKON temples existing in Bangkok. The one being referred to above is situated at 154/4, 5 Soi Putho Osoth,New Road, Surawongse, Bankgok. The temple president is Mr. Damodar Dasa. He seems to be in touch with serveral well known members of the thai-indian community in Bangkok and has reportedly received generous donations from many of them for the religious work. Recently, Mr. Damodar Dasa has sent a letter to all the devotees. This letter can be read here .  

The temple has a website http://iskconbangkok.tripod.com . Mr. Damodar Dasa can be contacted at 02-235-7132-3 or e-mail ID This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Now check the site http://www.iskcon.com/worldwide/centres/asia.html and you won't find the address of this temple. In fact, it is not easy to dig out the address of any other ISKCON temple in Bangkok. However, several searches later, we came across this website http://www.iskconbangkok.com which is mentioned in a website here which is apparently the official website of ISKCON.

This temple is located at 2nd Floor, Above the corner shop, Soi 3, Tanon Itsaraphap, Si Yeek Baan Keek,Toonburi, Bangkok. Thaindian tried to contact them. One of the numbers given on the website was picked up and the person on the other side responded that they don't have any temple in Surawongse.  It also turns out that this place also is not a temple but a sort of study center. He had nothing more to say.

 

Thaindian has now written to ISKCON communications, USA and their reply is still awaited. It is a question which has made us perplexed. We are religious all right but we deserve the answers to these questions.

Kindly add your views / opinions here.

Next: Inheritance presents the legacy of Rabindranth Tagore to Indians in Bangkok.