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The Canon · No. 111

ISKCON

Hare Krishna; International Society for Krishna Consciousness

1966 CE – present · Dharmic / Indian · Living · US, UK, India, Russia, Eastern Europe, worldwide

VIII. POSTWAR & CONTEMPORARY — 1945 – PRESENT

How many

Roughly 500,000–1 million formally connected; several million more attend temples and festivals, especially in India.

Who began it

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977), who arrived in New York in 1965 at the age of 69, with a trunk of books and about seven dollars, and founded ISKCON in a Lower East Side storefront the following year.

What it is for

To transmit Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the devotional tradition of Chaitanya (entry 055), outside India — which his teacher had instructed him to do.

What it worships

Krishna as the supreme personality of Godhead, not as an avatar of Vishnu but as the source of whom Vishnu is an expansion. Radha as his eternal consort and the personification of devotion. Chaitanya is regarded as Krishna appearing in the mood of a devotee.

What it holds

The soul (atma) is eternal, individual and distinct from God, and its natural condition is loving service. Bhakti is the only effective path in the present degraded age. Achintya bheda abheda — inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference between soul and God, Chaitanya's philosophical position, distinguishing it sharply from Advaita. The material world is a place of repeated suffering that the soul entered by wanting to enjoy independently of God.

What it does

Chanting the maha-mantra — Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare — sixteen rounds daily on beads (1,728 repetitions) for initiates. Four regulative principles: no meat, fish or eggs; no intoxicants including caffeine; no gambling; no illicit sex. Rising before 4am for temple worship. Kirtan, public chanting, and sankirtan, street distribution of books. Prasadam — food offered to Krishna and then distributed; the Food for Life programme serves millions of free meals annually and is one of the largest vegetarian food relief operations in the world. Deity worship with elaborate daily dressing and offering.

After death

Reincarnation through 8,400,000 species according to consciousness and desire. Karma binds; devotion releases. The goal is not merging into an impersonal absolute, which Gaudiya theology regards as a lesser and even an unfortunate outcome, but eternal individual loving relationship with Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan, his personal abode. The soul retains its identity and its relationship forever. Hellish planets exist and are temporary. The moment of death and the consciousness held at it are considered decisive, which is why chanting at death matters so much.

Its texts

Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Prabhupada's translation and commentary, distributed in enormous quantity. Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), his multi-volume translation. Chaitanya Charitamrita. The Nectar of Devotion.

Its branches

ISKCON under its Governing Body Commission; the Gaudiya Math and other Chaitanya-tradition bodies in India, which predate and are independent of it; various splinter groups over the guru question.

Of note

ISKCON is the only Hindu movement to establish itself as a visible mass-culture presence in the West, and it did so from an authentically traditional Bengali lineage rather than a Westernised adaptation — which is why Indian Vaishnavas largely accept it as legitimate.

Its timeline

  1. 1922, 1933 CE Prabhupada meets and is initiated by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who instructs him to preach in English.
  2. 1965 CE He arrives in Boston by cargo ship, having suffered two heart attacks on the voyage.
  3. 1966 CE ISKCON incorporated in New York. Allen Ginsberg attends the Tompkins Square Park kirtan.
  4. 1969 CE George Harrison produces the Hare Krishna Mantra single with devotees; it reaches the UK top twenty. He later funds Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire.
  5. 1970s CE Rapid expansion; temples worldwide; airport book distribution becomes the movement's public face and its greatest public relations problem.
  6. 1977 CE Prabhupada dies, leaving eleven initiating gurus; the succession arrangement fails badly.
  7. 1980s CE Several of the eleven fall in scandals involving abuse of authority, drugs and, in the New Vrindaban case in West Virginia, criminal conviction for racketeering and conspiracy involving two murders. The community is expelled from ISKCON in 1987.
  8. <strong>1998–2008 CE</strong> The gurukula abuse reckoning. ISKCON's own investigation, and a class action by former students of its boarding schools, document widespread physical and sexual abuse in the 1970s and 80s. The society issued a formal apology, established a child protection office, and settled for around $9.5 million.
  9. 1990s–present Substantial growth in Russia and Eastern Europe after 1991; large Indian membership; Bhaktivedanta Manor and the Delhi and Bangalore temples become major centres.

Sources

Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.

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