ABOUT
ISKCON
– THE HARE KRISHNA MOVEMENT
A short summary
A WORLDWIDE MOVEMENT SINCE 1966
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, also popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement, is a spiritual society founded by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in July, 1966 in New York. ISKCON belongs to the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya, a monotheistic tradition within Vedic culture. Today ISKCON comprises of more than 800 temples, 60 rural communities and over 100 vegetarian restaurants. It also conducts special projects throughout the world, such as “Food for Life”, the only free vegetarian relief program in the world.
Helping humans reconnect
The aim of ISKCON is to acquaint all people of world with universal principles of self-realization and God consciousness so that they may derive the highest benefit of spiritual understanding, unity and peace. The Vedic literature recommend that in the present age of Kali-yuga the most effective means of achieving self-realization is always hear about, glorify, and remember the all-attractive Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Therefore, it recommends the chanting of the Holy Names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. This sublime chanting puts the chanter directly in touch with the Supreme Lord through the sound vibration of His Holy Name.
SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
ISKCON follows the teachings of the Vedas and Vedic scriptures, including the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam which teach Vaishnavism or devotion to God (Krishna) in His Supreme Personal aspect of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.
A Chain of teachers and students
These teachings are received through the preceptorial line known as the Brahma-Madhav-Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya. ISKCON is part of the disciplic succession which started with Lord Krishna Himself and continued with Srila Vyasadeva, Srila Madhavacharya, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and in the present day His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his followers.
THE YOGA OF LOVE
ISKCON’s teachings are non-sectarian, following the principle of sanatan-dharma or eternal religion, which denotes the eternal activity of all living beings – loving devotional service (bhakti-yoga) to Supreme Personality of Godhead.
ISKCON!
LOrd CAITANYA
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a hidden incarnation of Lord Krishna, appeared in Mayapur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the evening of the 23rd Phalguna 1407 Sakabda, answering to the 18th of February, 1486, of the Christian era.
Nimai Pandita was naturally a soft-hearted person, though strong in his principles. He then resolved to be a citizen of the world by cutting his connection with his particular family, caste and creed, and with this resolution he embraced the position of a sannyasi at Katwa, under the guidance of Kesava Bharati of that town, when he was 24th years of his age.
It was at the age of 14 or 15 that Mahaprabhu was married to Laksmidevi, the daughter of Vallabhacarya, also of Nadia. He was at this age considered one of the best scholars of Nadia, the renowned seat of nyaya philosophy and Sanskrit learning. It was at this time that he preached Vaisnavism at intervals.
Caitanya visited numerous places in Southern India as far as Cape Comorin and returned to Puri in two years. From his 31st year, Mahaprabhu continually lived in Puri in the house of Kasi Misra until his disappearance in his forty-eighth year at the time of sankirtana in the temple of Tota-gopinatha. During these 18 years, his life was one of settled love and piety.
The SEVEN PURPOSES OF ISKCON
When Prabhupada began the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (in New York City in 1966), he formulated a clear mission statement. Thus the 7 Purposes of ISKCON are as follows:
To propagate spiritual knowledge
1
To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
To propagate Krishna consciousness
2
To propagate a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is revealed in the great scriptures of India, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
To create a family around Krishna
3
To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna).
To teach congregational chanting
4
To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
To erect Krishna embassies
5
To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
To create communities
6
To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, natural way of life.
To publish spiritual readings
7
To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, natural way of life.
SRILA PRABHUPADA
In 1965, at the age of 69, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada boarded the steamship ‘Jaladuta’ from Mumbai on his way to United States. At an age when most people think of retiring, Srila Prabhupada undertook this arduous journey to fulfill the mission of Lord Caitanya and follow the instruction of his spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, to carry the message of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam to Western world.
In July of 1966, while still working from an obscure storefront on New York City’s Lower East Side, Srila Prabhupada nonetheless founded a spiritual society intended for worldwide participation. He called it International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON for short and thus began the Hare Krishna movement in America.
After arriving in New York City in September 1965, Srila Prabhupada struggled alone for the first year to establish his Krishna conscious movement. He lived simply, lectured whenever and wherever he got the opportunity and gradually began to attract some small interest in his teaching.
At the time of incorporation, Srila Prabhupada had not attracted even one committed follower. Undeterred, he enlisted volunteers from among the small group of regular attendees at his evening lectures to act as ISKCON’s first trustees. Now, ISKCON recently celebrated it’s 50th Anniversary having over 600 temples, and “Hare Krishna” is known the world over.