ISKCON JODHPUR Sri Ram Raksha Strotam Hg Amarendra Prabhuji #shorts #ISKON_JODHPUR #रामरक्षा_स्तोत्र
Channel: wellwisher 1111
Date: 18/07/2021

International Society for Krishna Consciousness
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The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organisation.[1] ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.[2] Its core beliefs are based on Hindu scriptures, particularly the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the late 15th century and American and European devotees since the early 1900s. 
  Abbreviation
ISKCON
Formation
13 July 1966 (55 years ago) New York City, U.S.
Founder
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Type
Religious organisation
Legal status
Foundation
Headquarters
Sri Sri Radha Madhava Temple (ISKCON Mayapur),Sridham near Mayapur, West Bengal, India
Location
850 temples, ecovillages and centres
Coordinates
23.424784°N 88.388867°E
Area served
Worldwide
Main organ
Governing Body Commission
Affiliations
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Website
iskcon.org
ISKCON devotees follow a disciplic line of Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya and are the largest branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.[4] Vaishnavism means 'worship of Vishnu', and Gauḍa refers to the area where this particular branch of Vaishnavism originated, in the Gauda region of West Bengal.

The organization was formed to spread the practice of Bhakti yoga, the practice of love of God in which those involved (bhaktas) dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing Krishna, whom they consider the Supreme Lord.[5] Its most rapid expansions in membership as of 2007[needs update] have been within India and especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in Russia and the rest of the formerly Soviet-aligned states of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.[6]

Today, it has around a million congregational members worldwide,[7] and despite its relatively small number of followers in the West, it has been described[by whom?] as influential.[8]
 ISKCON devotees follow a disciplic line of Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Bhagavata Vaishnavas and are the largest branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.[9] Vaishnavism means 'worship of Vishnu', and Gauḍa refers to the area where this particular branch of Vaishnavism originated, in the Gauda region of West Bengal. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a following in India, especially West Bengal and Odisha, for the past five hundred years. Gaudiya Vaishnavism was founded by the saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who rapidly spread his form of ecstatic bhakti (devotion) throughout Bengal. He established Sankirtan, the practice of publicly expressing devotion to Lord Krishna, the Supreme God, through dance and song. This form of communal worship responded to rigid caste structures by engaging all people in worship regardless of caste and creed. Chaitanya emphasized chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra (the 'great mantra'). He is considered by Gaudiya Vaishnavas to be an incarnation of Krishna himself.[10][11]

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada brought Chaitanya's Gaudiya Vaishnavism to the West in 1965. At 70 years old, he landed in New York without any money (4 rupees of indian currency). Instead of preaching to New York's elite, he tapped into the 1960s countercultural spirit by preaching and chanting in public parks and attracting hippies and the youth. His movement, then known as the "Hare Krishna Movement", grew even larger when he relocated to San Francisco a year later.[11] When it spread to England, it gained publicity and financial backing from the Beatles' George Harrison. He recorded several tracks with the Hare Krishnas and included the Mahamantra in his hit track "My Sweet Lord".[12] The first Hare Krishna commune, New Vrindavan (West Virginia), was established by Prabhupada in 1968.[10] Since then, ISKCON has established more than 800 centers all over the world and has millions of followers.[12]

Key to the spread of Gaudiya Vaishnava theology in the Western world were Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's extensive writings and translations,[13] including the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana), Chaitanya Charitamrita, and other scriptures. These works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as the scriptures of ISKCON.[14]

ISKCON describes Krishna as the source of all the avatars of God.[15] 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 a non-dual consciousness (Brahman) as believed by the monistic (Advaita) schools of Hinduism.