About
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) 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 400 temples, 40 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.
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 hearing about, glorifying, and remembering 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.
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.
These teachings are received through the parampara or from a bona fide Guru to the disciple through an unbroken chain 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.
ISKCON’s teachings are non-sectarian, following the principle of sanatana dharma or eternal religion, which denotes the eternal activity of all living beings – loving devotional service (bhakti-yoga) to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
History of Hare Krishna Movement
In 1965, at the age of 69, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada boarded the steamship ‘Jaladuta’ from Mumbai on his way to the 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 the Western world.
After arriving in New York City in September 1965, Srila Prabhupada struggled alone for the first year to establish his Krishna consciousness movement. He lived simply, lectured whenever and wherever he got an opportunity and gradually began to attract some interest in his teachings. In July of 1966, while still working from an obscure storefront on New York City’s Lower East Side, Srila Prabhupada founded a spiritual society that would spread all over the world. He called it International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and thus began the Hare Krishna movement in America.
At the time of incorporation, Srila Prabhupada had not attracted even one committed follower. Undeterred, he enlisted volunteers from amongst the small group of regular attendees at his evening lectures to act as ISKCON’s first trustees. That was then. Today, ISKCON has a presence in every continent and its followers are present in every country of the world.
Of the many exalted places spread all over the holy land of Vraja, why did Srila Ragunatha Dasa Goswami choose to reside near Govardhan?
Srila Ragunatha Dasa Goswami, offers his deepest personal prayers to Giriraj Govardhana through his timeless composition, Govardhana Vasa Prarthana Dasakam. He prays to Giri Govardhan, why would I stay in any other place? Please grant me residence near you – nija nikata nivasa dehi govardhana tvam – because you are the tilaka of Vraja. The land of Vraja is considered the body of Lord Krishna and Giri Govardhan, the tilaka on His forehead.
Vrajavasis call Giri Govardhan, Giriraj Baba, the most benevolent fatherly shelter. All Vrajavasis, even Lord Krishna and Shrimati Radharani come to visit Giriraj. Giriraj is Krishna himself but also the supreme servant most dear to Krishna. He has assumed this magnificent form where Radha and Krishna can perform and relish their various loving pastimes. Giri Govardhan expands himself to serve Radha and Krishna, their cows, calves, cowherd boys, gopis, by providing roots, fruits, fresh water, caves and everything required for Their pleasure pastimes. This is no ordinary hill but an extraordinary servant of the Supreme Lord.
Giri Govardhan can fulfill everyone’s desires, be it material or spiritual. Srila Ragunatha Dasa Goswami´s lifelong desire manifests as an outpouring of his heart in the form of his prayer, nija nikata nivasa dehi govardhana tvam begging for residence in Govardhan so that one day he may eventually have darshan of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna during one of Their many visits here. Anyone who resides in Govardhan following in the footsteps of Srila Ragunatha Dasa Goswami and subservient to his devotional mood can have darshan of the divine couple even today by the mercy of Giri Govardhan who is Hari Dasa Varya – Lord Hari’s best servant.
ISKCON Govardhan Bhaktivedanta Ashram also known as Srila Prabhupada’s Palace is a wonderful facility at the service of the countless devotees who come to Giri Govardhan throughout the year from all over the world for darshan, worship, parikrama, or simply deep contemplation and sadhana – all to seek but a drop of His boundless mercy.
ISKCON Govardhan (Bhaktivedanta Ashram)
Srila Prabhupada during his last days in our midst expressed his strong desire to perform Govardhan parikrama. He was so determined that he was willing to perform Govardhan parikrama on a bullock cart as he was not able to walk. Greatly worried about his fragile health, Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja, Giriraj Maharaja and others with tears in their eyes begged Srila Prabhupada to postpone the trip to Govardhan till his health recovers. Seeing the love of his disciples, Srila Prabhupda relented. However, within a few days of this incident, Srila Prabhupada left this material world.
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and Giriraj Maharaja were distraught at not being able to fulfill their Guru Maharaj´s desire to visit Govardhan one last time.
While Srila Prabhupada undoubtedly went back to Goloka Vrindavan, his eternal home, Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and Giriraj Maharaja wanted a suitable place in Govardhan where Srila Prabhupada could reside eternally and perform his bhajan. A 200-year-old abandoned palace built in strict conformance with Vastu Shastra situated in the foothills of Giri Govardhan right at the beginning of the Parikrama Marg seemed the ideal offering to Srila Prabhupada.
The palace belonged to Maharaja Bhawani Singh, the King of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh. Deeply impressed by the guru nishtha of Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and Giriraj Maharaja and convinced of the higher spiritual purpose his property would serve, the devotee king handed over the palace to ISKCON on the day of Varaha Dwadasi, 1994, for a token consideration significantly lower than the prevailing market price that several others were offering. Ever since, the property came to be known as Srila Prabhupada’s Palace amongst local Vrajabasis and ISKCON devotees alike.
Today, the former royal assembly hall of the King, is the venerable sitting place of the real kings of Vraja: Sri Sri Krishna Balarama, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada.
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and Giriraj Maharaja’s vision for ISKCON Govardhan
ISKCON Govardhan will remain forever indebted to Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and Giriraj Maharaja for this offering of great spiritual significance to Srila Prabhupada.
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja who at the time was working on his PhD at Cambridge University, wanted to bring accomplished academicians from all over the world to Govardhan. He was keen to showcase Srila Prabhupada’s teachings in this unique environment and demonstrate their relevance to human society. He also wanted to present an opportunity to ISKCON devotees, particularly sanyasis and brahmacharis for deep study of sastra in a spiritually charged peaceful environment conducive for strict sadhana and association with advanced devotees, to rejuvenate their spiritual strength and then go about their preaching mission. Now ISKCON Govardhan Bhaktivedanta Asharam is rendering that service.
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja entrusted Kesava Bharati Dasa Goswami Maharaja and his team with the task to renovate the palace and repurpose it for ISKCON’s use. Of this original team, only Asit Krishna Swami Maharaja has continued to stay on and currently serves as the temple president.
Although the palace was acquired in 1994, it took close to 5 years to obtain all necessary clearances to commence work. The renovation work started in 1999 and was completed in 2002. In line with Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja’s instructions, the same raw materials and building techniques were used as the original structure constructed 200 years ago. This was done to preserve both the aesthetics of the structure as also the fast-fading traditional building protocols prevalent in Vraja. Kesava Bharati Dasa Goswami Maharaja and his team braved sweltering summers and freezing winters under extremely austere conditions in a snake infested land to give direction to the renovation process.
Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja gave very detailed instructions on how to keep the ashram pure both physically and spiritually. He remarked that since the palace is located directly at the lotus feet of Sri Giriraj, Radha and Krishna themselves visit the palace. He insisted on maintaining the sanctity of the place so that whoever visits Srila Prabhupada’s Palace would get immersed in the mood of the residents of Govardhan that would immediately uplift their consciousness.
Our Mission
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 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, natural way of life.
With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books, and other writings.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was born Abhay Charan De, on the 1st of September 1896, in Kolkata. In 1922 he met his spiritual master His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakur, Founder of Gaudiya Math, who requested Abhay to broadcast Vedic knowledge in the English language. In 1933, at Allahabad, Abhay was formally initiated and made it his life ambition to expound the Vedic conclusion that real freedom means liberation from the miseries of material life: birth, death, old age and disease, a state that can be permanently attained by awakening one’s pure love for God, Krishna-prema.
In the ensuing years Abhay Charanaravinda (his initiated name), wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. In 1944 he started the Back to Godhead magazine, which to this day is being continued by his disciples.
In recognition of his philosophical knowledge and devotion the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society honored him with the title Bhaktivedanta in 1947. Following his retirement from married life, he traveled to Vrindavan and took residence in the humble surroundings of the Radha Damodar temple. In 1959 he took the sannyasa order of life and, as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, started his work on the multi-volume translation and commentary of the 18,000 verse Srimad Bhagavatam. In 1965, at the age of 69, when ordinary persons were thinking of retirement, he went to the United States to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master and founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
Srila Prabhupada (as he was affectionately called by his followers), brought to the West the divine teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu who taught the public chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. Srila Prabhupada taught that every living being is an eternal servant of Lord Krishna with a dormant natural propensity to experience the eternal bliss of pure love of God.