ABOUT ISKCON
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was established in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Srila Prabhupada). ISKCON has since developed into a worldwide confederation of 10,000 temple devotees and 250,000 congregational devotees. Better known as the Hare Krishna movement, ISKCON is comprised of more than 350 centres, 60 rural communities, 50 schools and 60 restaurants worldwide. The mission of this nonsectarian, monotheistic movement is to promote the well being of society by teaching the science of Krishna consciousness according to Bhagavad-gita and other ancient scriptures.
Srila Prabhupada gave ISKCON a clear purpose, explained in these seven points:
- 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 a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is revealed in the great scriptures of India, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
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 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 for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life.
With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.
SRILA PRABHUPADA
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, was born in 1896, in Calcutta, in a Vaisnava family.
His father, Gour Mohan De, named him Abhay Charan. His father’s only wish was that Abhay would become a devotee of Srimati Radharani.
Abhay studied under British colonial rule, finally going to university to read chemistry. At university, he became a supporter of Gandhi’s movement to gain independence for India. As a measure of this support, he would only dress in white handloom cloth, woven in India and furthermore, he declined to accept his degree from the university.
Abhay married and went into business as a small pharmaceutical firm to support his wife and family. He met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, for the first time in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, took a liking to Abhay and told him to devote his life to teaching Vedic Knowledge; more specifically to preach Lord Caitanya’s message to the English speaking world. Although, Abhay accepted, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta within his heart as his spiritual master, it was not until 1932 that he became initiated. He then received both harinama and mantra diksa at his initiation.
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In 1936 Srila Prabhupada wrote his spiritual master requesting if there was any particular service that he could render. Srila Prabhupada received a reply to that letter containing the same instruction the he had received in 1922: ‘Preach Krishna consciousness to the English speaking world’. His spiritual master passed away from this world two weeks later; thus leaving these final instructions engraved on Srila Prabhupada’s heart. These instructions were to form the focus of Srila Prabhupada’s life.
Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita and assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work. In 1944, during the Second World War, when paper was scarce and people had little money to spend, Srila Prabhupada began a magazine called Back to Godhead. Single-handedly, he would write, edit, oversee the layout, proofread and sell the copies himself. This magazine is still being published today.
In 1950 Srila Prabhupada adopted the vanaprastha (retired) life; thus retiring from home and family life, in order to devote more time to his studies. In 1953 he received the title Bhaktivedanta from his Godbrothers. He travelled to Vrindavana, where he lived very humbly at the Radha-Damodara temple. He spent several years there studying the scriptures and writing.
In 1959 he took sannyasa, the renounced order of life. It was then, while staying at Radha-Damodara temple that he started on his masterpiece: translation and commentary of the Srimad-Bhagavatam in English. He also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets. Within a few years, he had written three volumes of English translation and commentary for the first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Once again, single handedly, he bought the paper and gathered funds, to print the books. He sold the books himself and through agents in the larger Indian cities.
He now felt ready to carry out his spiritual master’s orders and decided to start by taking the message of Krishna consciousness to America, convinced that other countries would follow suit. Obtaining free passage on a freight ship, called the Jaladuta he finally arrived in New York in 1965. He was 69 and practically penniless. All he possessed was a few copies of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and a few hundred rupees.
He had had a very difficult crossing, suffering two heart attacks and once arrived in New York he didn’t know which way to turn. After a difficult six months, preaching here and there, his few followers rented a storefront and apartment in Manhattan. Here, he would regularly give lectures, kirtana and distribute prasadam. People from all walks of life, including hippies, were drawn here; in search of that missing element from their lives and many became part of ‘Swamiji’s’ following.
As people became more serious, Srila Prabhupada’s followers used to hold regular kirtanas in the parks. The lectures and Sunday feast days became renowned. His young followers eventually took initiation from Srila Prabhupada, promising to follow the regulative principles and chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna mantra daily. He also reinstated the Back to Godhead magazine.
In July 1966, Srila Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness — ISKCON. His aim was to use the society to promote Krishna Consciousness throughout the world. In 1967, he visited San Francisco and started an ISKCON society there. He then sent his disciples all over the world to spread Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message and open new centres in Montreal, Boston, London, Berlin, and other cities in North America, India, and Europe. In India, three magnificent temples were initially planned: Vrindavana, the Krishna Balaram temple with all its ancillary facilities; Bombay, a temple with an educational and cultural centre; and in Mayapur, a huge temple with a Vedic planetarium.
Srila Prabhupada produced all of his books bar the three written in India within the next eleven years. Srila Prabhupada slept little and would spend the early morning hours writing. He would write almost daily between 1:30 and 4:30 a.m. He dictated his text, which his disciples then typed and edited. Srila Prabhupada would translate the original texts from Sanskrit or Bengali, word by word, and gave a complete commentary.
His works include Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the multi-volume Srimad-Bhagavatam, the multivolume Caitanya-caritamrta, The Nectar of Devotion, Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Teachings of Lord Kapila, Teachings of Queen Kunti, Sri Isopanisad, The Nectar of Instruction, and dozens of small books.
His writings have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.
Despite his heavy literary schedule, Srila Prabhupada did not let his writing stand in the way of his preaching. In just twelve years, despite his advanced age, he circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents.
His days were filled with writing, teaching his followers and the public, and with guiding his growing society, until the day he departed from this world. Before departing from this world Srila Prabhupada gave many instructions to his disciples to follow in his footsteps and to continue the preaching and spreading of Krishna Consciousness all over the world.
He departed this world on November 14 1977.
In the short time he spent in the west, he preached continuously, established 108 temples, wrote more than sixty volumes of transcendental literature, initiated five thousand disciples, founded the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, began a scientific academy (the Bhaktivedanta Institute) and other trusts related to ISKCON.
Srila Prabhupada was an extraordinary author, teacher, and saint. He managed to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world, through his writing and preaching. His writings comprise of many volumes and are the basis of Krishna consciousness not only for his disciples but for his grand-disciples, affiliated members of the disciplic succession, and for the public at large.
His life history from his earliest days to his passing away in 1977 is vividly described in his authorised biography, the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta by Satsvarupa Goswami.
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OUR PHILOSOPHY
For any reasonable discussion to take place, those involved must agree on certain things that cannot be proven. Both science and religion rest on unproven assumptions, some agreeable to both, some not. Premise 1 is generally accepted by both. It states, to put it simply, that reality is what it is. Reality is an objective fact, independent of our subjective beliefs. The statement “Everyone has their own reality” is incorrect. There is one reality, and the scientific method is just one way of trying to comprehend that reality.
Because we are part of an objective reality that encompasses everything, for us to wonder where we fit in is natural. Our human nature drives us to pursue happiness and success, but how can we achieve these things without understanding reality? Not seeing the whole picture, we may be inviting harm to ourselves and others. The mere fact that happiness seems so elusive inspires mankind’s perennial search for the meaning of life.
Generally speaking, the scientific quest as we know it today seeks to explain all of reality in terms of fundamental elements and forces and the laws that govern them. According to science, reality is simply matter and energy. Despite this belief, however, scientists have yet to explain convincingly the most important part of reality: consciousness, or the subjective experience of conscious awareness.
Science hypothesizes that the brain generates consciousness, but the brain is simply a complex machine, executing huge numbers of operations at every moment. Even if a computer could be programmed to mimic human behavior, there is no reason to believe that it will ever be conscious.
Besides consciousness, another aspect of reality that seems to elude scientific investigation and explanation is the realm of the paranormal. Credible experiments by scientists at places like Princeton University have shown that people can do things with their minds that contradict the laws of physics. (For example, with their thoughts, test subjects have been able to influence the output of a computer that generates random numbers.) And many people claim to have had out-of-body experiences, witnessed apparitions, accurately foretold the future, and experienced a number of other things that science can’t explain—and therefore refuses to accept.
The world seems to consist of more than the pushes and pulls of subatomic particles. To fill in the picture, we need to go to another source.
We can’t expect our scientific instruments to detect things beyond matter. We need knowledge that comes from the other side. Billions of people accept revealed scripture as that kind of knowledge. God, who is “on the other side,” tells us who we are, why we’re here, what this world is, how to live here, how to relate to Him, and so on.
Our own efforts can take us only so far in understanding reality. Beyond the scientific method, we can pursue an internal mystical search through yoga and meditation, and that will get us closer to the truth. But even that endeavor has its limits. Because the Truth is infinitely greater than we are, we can know Him and all that He has created only when He reveals that knowledge to us.
Some people contend that God is so great that He’s unknowable. But here’s another way of looking at it: Because God is great, He can find ways to make Himself known to us. We’ll never know Him in full, of course, but He has revealed an immense amount of information about Himself. All we have to do is take advantage of it.
The Vedas are books of wisdom that have guided Indian civilization for millennia. While they deal with practically every field of knowledge, the theological and philosophical portions of the Vedas are extremely deep and comprehensive.
Read more about the Vedas.
A survey of the vast Vedic scriptures can be quite daunting. These books are meant to guide human civilization and therefore deal with numerous fields of knowledge. While much of the information may be irrelevant today (such as the intricate rituals of various sacrifices), the theological parts of the Vedas are as important as ever.
The Bhagavad-gita is the most concise compendium of Vedic philosophy. Most important, it not only establishes that God is a transcendental person; it reveals His identity. In our quest for knowledge of things beyond matter, we will find no better starting place than the Bhagavad-gita.
Where the Bhagavad-gita leaves off, the Srimad-Bhagavatam (or Bhagavata Purana) begins. Early in the book, the author, who edited and organized the Vedic library, is enjoined by his spiritual master to focus this book on the science of God. His masterful presentation is said to have been written when he reached spiritual maturity.
The Srimad-Bhagavatam rejects the temporary goals promoted in other Vedic books. It emphatically delivers the message that the perfection of life rests in constant union with God through acts of love and devotion.
While reality is one, so also, rightly understood, is religion. Religion is not what we believe to be true. It is our actual relationship with God. Human life should be used to uncover that religion, which is everyone’s natural heritage.
The spiritual realm is not simply theoretical. The Vedas prescribe various processes by which one can get in touch with some aspect of the spiritual nature. The highest aspect of spirit is the personal form of God, an objective reality that one can directly perceive, provided one carefully follows the procedure for getting the result.
That procedure is the practice of Bhakti yoga, which must be conducted under the careful guidance of a master of the science of Bhakti. A sincere student receives the blessings of the teacher (guru), and of God Himself, and thereby progresses through higher and higher levels of perception. Attaining ever deeper states of love, the student finally attains pure love for God, which awards one His direct audience.
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