ISKCON - International Society for Krishna Consciousness

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava religious organization.It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.Its core beliefs are based on traditional Hindu scriptures such as the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā,both of which, according to the traditional Hindu view, date back more than 5,000 years. The distinctive appearance of the movement and its culture come from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the late 1400s and Western converts since the early 1930s

Non-sectarian in its ideals,ISKCON was formed to spread the practice of bhakti yoga (devotion to God), in which aspirant devotees (bhaktas) dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing the Supreme Lord, Krishna (God).ISKCON today is a worldwide confederation of more than 400 centres, including 60 farm communities, some aiming for self-sufficiency, 50 schools and 90 restaurants. In recent decades the movement's most rapid expansions in terms of numbers of membership have been within Eastern Europe (especially since the collapse of the USSR) and India

ISKCON devotees follow a disciplic line of Gaudiya Bhagavata Vaishnavas and are the largest branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.[10] Vaishnavism means 'worship of Vishnu', and Gauḍa refers to the area where this particular branch of Vaishnavism is widely practiced, including Rajastan and Vrindavana. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a following in India, especially West Bengal and Orissa, for the past five hundred years. Prabhupada disseminated Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology in the Western world through extensive writings and translations,[11] including the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), Chaitanya Charitamrita and other scriptures. These works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as the canon of ISKCON. Many are available online from a number of websites.[12][13]

Early western conversions to monotheistic Krishna Vaisnavism or the Bhagavata Vaishnava line which forms the basis of the ISKCON philosophy were recorded by the Greeks and are reflected in the archaeological record.

Krishna is described as the source of all the avatars.Thus ISKCON devotees worship Krishna as the highest form of God, svayam bhagavan, and often refer to him as "the Supreme Personality of Godhead" in writing, which was a phrase coined by Prabhupada in his books on the subject. To devotees, Radha represents Krishna's divine female counterpart, the original spiritual potency, and the embodiment of divine love. The individual soul is an eternal personal identity which does not ultimately merge into any formless light or void as suggested by the monistic (Advaita) schools of Hinduism; Prabhupada never declared ISKCON to be a Hindu organisation, because he considered it to be a 'material designation', not an appropriate name. Prabhupada most frequently offers Sanatana-dharma and Varnashrama dharma as more accurate names for the religious system which accepts Vedic authority.It is a monotheistic tradition which has its roots in the theistic Vedanta traditions.