The International Society for Krishna Consciousness: beliefs, history and sources

History & overview

Chant the names, and Krishna is present in the sound.

The Hare Krishna movement, incorporated in New York on 13 July 1966 by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, then aged seventy: Gaudiya Vaishnavism carried into English, with Krishna as the supreme person rather than one deity among many, the maha-mantra told on beads sixteen rounds a day, and a discipline of vegetarian food offered before it is eaten. Governed since 1970 by a Governing Body Commission rather than by a single successor, which is itself the movement's longest-running argument.

On the record

The society's residential gurukula boarding schools in the United States and India were the subject of a suit filed in Texas in 2000 on behalf of more than ninety former students, alleging physical and sexual abuse through the 1970s and 1980s. Twelve ISKCON entities filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2002 and the claims were settled in 2005 for about 9.5 million dollars. ISKCON established its own Child Protection Office in 1998 and has published findings against its own members since. Separately, Kirtanananda Swami, who led the New Vrindaban community in West Virginia, pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1996 — the counts included conspiracy in two killings — and was sentenced to twenty years, reduced to twelve in 1997; New Vrindaban had been expelled from ISKCON in 1987.

Why it is filed this way

ISKCON is a twentieth-century institution teaching a sixteenth-century theology. It places itself in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya descending from Chaitanya, and Vaishnavas in India generally accept the claim. It is carried here as a movement because the society itself dates from 1966, not because the lineage is doubted.

DeitiesKrishna is God himself, not an avatar of Vishnu — the reverse of the usual ordering, and the position that defines the Gaudiya line. Radha is worshipped with him. Other deities are real and subordinate, which is stated plainly and is why some Hindus find the movement narrow.

Founded1966 CE · New York City

FounderA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

AfterlifeRebirth driven by karma until devotion ends it, then Krishna's own abode

TextsBhagavad-gita As It Is · Srimad-Bhagavatam · Chaitanya Charitamrita

The map

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness’s corner of it — solid lines are descent; dotted lines are resemblance only, ideas held in common across unrelated faiths. Click a node to recenter; ✕ returns here. All 171 faiths →

c. 1500 BCE Vedic Religion 1966 CE The International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Core Tenets

2 — a sample of the center, never the sum Enter →

Krishna is not an avatar. He is the source. Gaudiya theology reverses the usual order: Vishnu is Krishna's expansion rather than the other way round. It is the doctrinal signature of the line and it is stated on page one. Go deeper — context →

The name is not a label for God. It is God. The maha-mantra is held to be Krishna present as sound, which is why chanting is a form of contact and not a form of reminding. Go deeper — context & 1 source →

Figures

who it looks to — gods, spirits, ancestors; some rooms are empty on principle Enter →

R Radha-Krishna, fed before anyone else eats. The temple deities are washed, dressed, offered food and put to bed on a fixed daily schedule. Devotees describe this as service to a person present, not as symbolism. Domain Everything — in this theology Krishna is the source and Vishnu the expansionStanding God himself, worshipped daily in the temple form and fed before anyone eats Meet them — context →

Rites & Ritual

what its people do — and when Enter →

Sixteen rounds, every day. 1,728 repetitions on 108 beads, usually finished before breakfast. It is the one commitment an initiate cannot quietly drop, and devotees count it in years. When Daily, sixteen roundsWho Every initiated devotee, alone, usually before breakfast Go deeper — context →

Where next

the museum exit — every door leads deeper in

Hinduism — 8 shared ideas, a different faith Judaism — 7 shared ideas, a different faith Christianity — 7 shared ideas, a different faith Islam — 7 shared ideas, a different faith Branch The International Society for Krishna Consciousness — inherit everything, change what you must The library of ideas — what The International Society for Krishna Consciousness shares with every other faith A faith at random — somewhere you have never been

Sources

1 cited texts

The maha-mantra, from the Kali-santarana Upanishad where it is cited →

These citations identify texts used in the linked passages. Follow each passage to read its quotation and context. A tradition’s own texts explain its teachings; historical claims may also require independent scholarship. Translations marked (rendered) are our own plain-English wording, not a standard edition; where a passage matters, read it in a full translation.