Hare Krishna Movement: ISKCON

• 09 Sep 2021

Why in News

Recently, the Prime Minister has released a special commemorative coin of Rs 125 to mark the 125^th birth anniversary of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) founder Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • The ISKCON, founded in 1966, is commonly known as the “Hare Krishna movement”.
  • ISKCON has translated the Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta and other Vedic literature in 89 languages, playing a stellar role in the dissemination of Vedic literature across the world.
  • Members of the ISKCON movement view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a representative and messenger of Krishna Chaitanya.
• Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:
  
  • Born Abhay Charan De (1^st September 1896 in Calcutta), was an Indian spiritual teacher and the founder of the ISKCON.
  • He is especially respected as the world’s most prominent contemporary authority on bhakti-yoga, devotional service to the Supreme Person, Krishna, as taught by the ancient Vedic writings of India.
  • Swami ji also established over a hundred temples and wrote several books, teaching the path of Bhakti Yoga to the world.
  • In his later years, as a travelling Vaishnava monk, he became an influential communicator of Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya’s theology to India and specifically to the West through his leadership of ISKCON.
• Gaudiya Vaishnavism:
  
  • It is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
    
    • Here, “Gaudiya” refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal with Vaishnavism meaning “the worship of Vishnu”.
  • The focus of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the devotional worship (known as bhakti-yoga) of Radha and Krishna, and their many divine incarnations as the supreme forms of God, Svayam Bhagavan.
  • Most popularly, this worship takes the form of singing Radha and Krishna’s holy names, such as “Hare”, “Krishna” and “Rama”, most commonly in the form of the Hare Krishna (mantra) also known as kirtan and dancing along with it.

Source: IE