City’s first Krishna temple opens in Weston

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This article was published 06/07/2025 (424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Greg Crowe, the opening of Winnipeg’s first temple for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness is like a homecoming.

Raised in the Salvation Army, Crowe was christened at that denomination’s Weston Community Church — now the new home for ISKCON in Winnipeg.

“It’s like a coincidence, but I believe Krishna talks to me through coincidences,” said Crowe, a local high school band teacher who has been part of ISKCON, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, for about 20 years.

The new temple, called Shri Hari Vaikuntha Dham, is “like a dream come true” for him and the larger ISKCON community. “I’m ecstatic about it,” he said. “It will be so great to be all together in our own dedicated space.”

Daniel Clark feels the same way. The local bookkeeper, who is a musician at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Winnipeg, has been attending ISKCON gatherings in local homes since 2009.

“There is a sense of energy in the community about the new temple,” said Clark, a musician who plays at the Unitarian church and who will also play at temple services. “The idea brings out the best of emotions in me.”

Crowe and Clark shared their thoughts about the new temple at the July 5 Ratha Yatra, or chariot festival, at the Maples Community Centre.

The annual festival found about 1,000 devotees pulling a large chariot bearing local priests and images of the deities Jagannath (Lord of the Universe), Balabhadra and Subhadra through the neighbourhood. The procession was led by dancers, drummers and singers who chanted “Hare Krishna” and the names of the deities.

The festival, which also featured cultural displays, dance and food, was part of the launch of the new temple, which is located at 1390 Roy Ave. in the Weston neighbourhood.

“This is a historic moment for Manitoba,” said temple president Vishwambhara Kripa Das, noting that devotees in the city have dreamt for years of establishing a permanent spiritual centre in Winnipeg.

The former Salvation Army church became available when it merged with the Weetamah Corps on Logan Ave. ISKCON’s Winnipeg chapter bought the building for $850,000 in February.

The new temple, which will be officially opened on August 16, will be a spiritual and cultural hub for the community, offering daily worship, youth education, food distribution, interfaith dialogue and wellness programs for all ages, Kripa Das said.

It will also be a place to promote service to the community, he said, noting that Krishna consciousness is about more than chanting the name of deities.

“It’s about living a life of purpose, service, kindness and compassion,” he said. “We serve Krishna by serving others, and serving all of creation, every living thing.”

That will include renovating the kitchen so it can be available to serve meals to the wider community, including during emergencies like the recent wildfire evacuations.

For Jaya Kaushik, who came to Canada in 2019 as an international student, having their own temple means no longer needing to rent space for darshan — spending time in the presence of a deity to seek its blessing.

Now Kaushik and others can worship whenever they want at the temple, where a priest is present every day.

Vrinda Devi Dasi is ISKCON’s supervisor for Canada. She is happy to see Winnipeg finally get its own temple.

“It’s good to finally have that home,” she said.

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