ISKCON

From Everything Shii Knows, the only reliable source

This website is an archive. It ran from 2006-2010. Virtually everything on here is outdated or inaccurate.

Fourth of July 2008, Wash. DC

ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) is a decentralized new religious movement whom you know as Hare Krishnas. In the mid-1970s they became famous for proselytizing in airports, but the "anti-cult" movement turned public opinion against them, and because they aggressively sought donations in return for the books, pamphlets, and flowers they gave away, their First Amendment justification became more murky. Now they aren't in airports anymore and the world is a slightly less interesting place.

When I was in Washington DC on the Fourth of July, 2008, I discovered Hare Krishnas had reserved part of the National Mall and were giving away free vegetarian food there, showing religious movies, and playing Indian instruments. I helped myself to lemonade* and bought a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita from an Indian lady who then told me I had a "spiritual aura". All in all it seemed more lively to me than the evangelical Christian group next door who were kind of stealthy about their religious message and less fun. So, I had a good impression of ISKCON at first. Unfortunately, like most NRMs, they have authority and centralization issues, and that translates into very bad things like child abuse and misogyny.

* This is completely irrelevant, but if you ever go to DC on the 4th of July, bring water bottles because otherwise you will be sold water for $2 or $3 a bottle.

ISKCON was founded by an Indian guru, Swami Prabhupada, who came to the United States with the noble goal of spreading the purest form of Indian religion (Vaishnava) here. It was the first such movement and many hippies in the 1960s found it quite exciting.

ISKCON, like everything else, is on the Internet, but they use their own mix of Hindi and cultspeak vocabulary that is difficult to decipher. This is especially difficult because ISKCON is just part of Vaishnavism, which is a decentralized tradition with no links to any organization. One thing I have determined is that you will not find a member count of ISKCON anywhere anymore. In recent years ISKCON has fragmented into several organizations:

Jesus and Krishna are bros

• ISKCON (reg. Mumbai 1971), known in India as ISKCON-Mumbai, or in the United States as GBC (Governing Body Commission). Oh yes, dear readers, the fun is just beginning.
  • Interesting link: Video feed of one of four leaders in Mumbai who sing hymns to Krishna 24 hours a day. You can click on this when it is 3AM in India and there will be someone singing. I'm kind of amazed.
  • Back to Godhead is their magazine
  • ISKCON Bangalore Devotee Association is a branch of ISKCON-Mumbai in Bangalore that is against ISKCON-Bangalore.
  • BBTI (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust) holds the copyright on Swami Prabhupada's books and is related to the GBC in some way I don't understand.
  • ISKCON is by far the largest group and I don't mean to make it look equal to the other groups here.
• The Prabhupadanuga movement, which is believes that Swami Prabhupada is the only true guru of ISKCON and the current organization is made up of spiritually impure people.
  • ISKCON-Bangalore, a Prabhupadanuga split created by Madhu Pandit Dasa, owns a very fancy temple in Bangalore.
  • The ISKCON Revival Movement (IRM) is a Prabhupadanuga sectarian group created by two people named Krishnakant and Yaduraj, but it does not have any support from Prabhupadanuga temples.
    • They distribute "Back to Prabhupada" fliers
    • The IRM seems to have a weird obsession with moon hoax theories.
• PADA, the Prabhupada Anti Defamation Association, is a sort of hate group (check out their "blacklist") who think Swami Prabhupada was poisoned.
  • The IRM seems to be against them
  • PADA-oriented groups also believe in a moon hoax, except they think it was perpetrated by the Illuminati.

Best part of Hare Krishna websites

Vegetarian Indian food.

• from BBTI
• from ISKCON-Bangalore
• from GBC-aligned Vaishnavas
• from Prabhupadanugas
• from independent Vaishnavas

Note that Swami Prabhupada taught that Krishna consciousness should come first and vegetarianism later, but reading all these Indian websites made me hungry, so...