I visited New Goloka for the first time on a Sunday afternoon in spring.  The temple is located on a farm on a country road outside of Hillsborough, North Carolina.  When I opened the door of my car, I could hear the clanging cymbals and devotional chanting of the Sunday afternoon kirtan.  After removing my shoes and entering the temple (which comprises the top level of the geodesic dome visible in the photograph), I saw the sanctum, with clothed images of Radha and Krishna being served by a devotee.  Among the chanting and dancing devotees were people of Indian heritage as well as European-Americans, children, young and middle-aged adults.  Some wore Western clothes while others wore dhotis and saris (traditional South Asian dress).  To my right was a life-size sculpture of Swami Prabhupada, the founding guru of the Krishna Consciousness Movement.  Many of the devotees prostrated themselves before the image of Prabhupada and the images of Radha-Krishna whenever they entered or exited the temple.  After a lesson about several verses in the Bhagavad Gita and Prabhupada’s commentary on them, the devotees served a meal under an outdoor pavilion adjacent to the temple.

 Though the community is not large, with approximately 65 people attending on the Sundays that I was present, it is active.  Some devotees live on the farm surrounding the temple, serving the images in it, operating a gift shop (which sells items over the internet), and chanting in public places around the area.  I have observed devotees on the campus of the University of North Carolina regularly, chanting and serving a free weekly meal.  They also chant in downtown Chapel Hill, across from the university campus, on Saturday evenings.
 

New Goloka's website:  www.supersoul.com/newgoloka/
 

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     Last updated by Steven Ramey
     14 January 1999