History of the Hare Krishna Movement

Introduction

One of the most prominent and spiritual movements has been that of the Hare Krishna Movement initiated and propagated by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness). The spiritual movement was promoted thus in the western world and spread across India.

 ISKCON is based on the spiritual awakening and consciousness of Sri Krishna, one of the primary Gods in Hinduism and an avatar of the Supreme Protector, Vishnu.  The Hare Krishna Movement is a part of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition going back to Sri Krishna himself, who, over five thousand years ago, gave the advice in the form of the Bhagavad Gita.

ISKCON is involved in following the teachings of Sri Krishna, from the ancient and sacred Vedas to the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam (Purana). Chanting of God’s holy names is part of the spiritual process to spread knowledge, joy, and happiness while connecting with the divine.

 

What is the Hare Krishna Movement?

It is believed that Sri Krishna incarnated in the form of his own devotee as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu around 525 years ago. He initiated the congregational chanting of the holy names of God, the Sankeertanam, as perhaps the easiest and most consummate spiritual practice. He made popular the chanting of the Maha Mantra - the Hare Krishna Mantra.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught by example that it is possible to live the essence of the Bhagavad Gita by chanting the holy names of Sri Krishna. He taught Bhakti Yoga, the spiritual practice of connecting to God through devotional service to him. In the mid- 1960s, Swami Srila Prabhupada took the Krishna Consciousness Movement to the west and established ISKCON. He and his disciples popularized the chant of the Maha Mantra – the Hare Krishna Mantra, across the 1960s and 1970s, which spread across the world.

 

History of ISKCON

By 1965, the emissary of this movement, his Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada took Sri Chaitanya’s spiritual movement to the west and established the iconic ISKCON in New York in 1966.  The 69-year-old spiritual Guru took a ship to Boston with a trunkload of books on Sri Krishna and a meager amount in his pocket. He initially underwent a lot of struggle and held his speeches in yoga studios, YMCAs, and in artistes’ places. It was a new spiritual cause, and while some people were curious, others were supportive of the spiritual cause. Still, some others had serious misgivings and concerns about the authenticity of such a cause.  The spiritual Guru found temporary shelter in homes of people who empathized with his cause. He would sit in public parks and chant the name of Sri Krishna. Some curious onlookers joined in the chanting, and soon more people started taking an interest in the cause.

In 1966, Swami Srila Prabhupada started living in the impoverished Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. He began giving weekly lectures on the Bhagavad Gita and undertook public chanting sessions in Tompkins Square Park. The same year he established ISKCON in New York City with the vision of establishing similar centers around the world. Between 1966 and 1968, more people became interested in Krishna Consciousness, and Swami Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON temples in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Santa Fe, Montreal, and New Mexico.

In 1967, the famed Ratha Yatra Festival was held outside India for the first time in San Francisco. The Ratha Yatra Festival is one of the oldest and the largest religious annual festivals held in the holy coastal city of Puri, on the east coast of India. The festival is now celebrated by ISKCON members in cities around the world.

 

Growth of the Krishna Consciousness Movement

ISKCON started growing massively, and from 1970 to 1977, holy pilgrimage sites were established by the organization in Vrindavan and Mayapur. A large temple was built in Mumbai. Later the founder -emissary Swami Srila Prabhupada founded the publishing house -Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in 1972, which went to become the world’s foremost publisher of books on Krishna consciousness or the bhakti-yoga.

From 1966 to 1977, the spiritual leader translated over 40 volumes of the classics of Krishna consciousness literature from Sanskrit into English. Some of the books include The Bhagavad Gita- As It Is, the Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, among others. These books were published in over 50 languages and sold millions of copies as well as distributed around the world.

 In 1973, ISKCON established the Bhaktivedanta Institute to teach the ancient Vedas in scientific form.  From 1974, ISKCON started running free vegetarian food relief programs in disaster areas around the world. Swami Srila Prabhupada left the world in November 1977. By then, ISKCON had established over 108 Sri Krishna temples, centers, schools, farming communities, with more than 10,000 members. In 1989, ISKCON came out as a prominent movement in the then Soviet Union after glasnost.

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