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* Intro - What is ISKCON
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), otherwise
known as the Hare Krishna movement, includes five hundred major centers,
temples and rural communities, nearly one hundred affiliated vegetarian
restaurants, thousands of namahattas or local meeting groups, a wide
variety of community projects, and millions of congregational members
worldwide. Although less than fifty years on the global stage, ISKCON has
expanded widely since its founding by His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in New York City in 1966.
ISKCON belongs to the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya, a monotheistic
tradition within the Vedic or Hindu culture. Philosophically it is based on the
Sanskrit texts Bhagavad-Gita and the Bhagavat Purana, or Srimad
Bhagavatam. These are the historic texts of the devotional bhakti yoga
tradition, which teaches that the ultimate goal for all living beings is to
reawaken their love for God, or Lord Krishna, the “all-attractive one”.
#ISKCONinAction
God is known across the world by many names including Allah, Jehovah,
Yahweh, Rama, etc. ISKCON devotees chant God’s names in the form of
the maha-mantra, or the great prayer for deliverance: Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama,
Hare Hare.
Members of ISKCON practice bhakti-yoga in their homes and in temples.
They also promote Krishna Consciousness, through festivals, the performing
arts, yoga seminars, public chanting, and the distribution of the society’s
literatures. ISKCON members have also opened hospitals, schools, colleges,
eco-villages, free food distribution projects, and other institutions as a
practical application of the path of devotional yoga.