| |
The International Society for
Krishna Consciousness - ISKCON was established in 1966 by
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
ISKCON has since developed into a worldwide confederation of
10,000 temple devotees and 250,000 congregational devotees.
Better
known as the Hare Krishna movement, ISKCON is comprised of
more than 350 centres, 60 rural communities, 50 schools and
60 restaurants worldwide.
During the time
when the Hare Krishna movement was growing fast and many
temples were being established around the w or ld, in 1976,
devotees from all over the w or ld came to Vrindavan, India
f or the opening ceremony of the Krishna Balaram Mandir by
ISKCON. At that time, Srila Prabhupada instructed devotees
to go to different parts of the w or ld to open new temples.
With the instructions and blessings of Srila Prabhupada,
some devotees came to Sri Lanka on 4/10/1976 to open a
temple in Colombo. A popular businessman and philanthropist
Mr. E. Shanmugam donated a place to open a temple f or
ISKCON in Colombo. On 15/3/1977 ISKCON was registered as a
Religious and Cultural organization with the Ministry of
Cultural Affairs.
The deity of L
or d Krishna was donated to ISKCON Sri Lanka by Thirupathi
Thirumala Devastanam (T.T.D), Andhra Pradesh India in 1982
and L or d Krishna was f or mally installed with
Kumbabishekam ceremony in 1982. The deity of Srimati
Radharani was also donated by T.T.D in 1990 and installed
with Kumbabishekam ceremony in 1990. After this, the temple
was called "Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple" and the deities
are called Sri Radha Rajagopal.
Sri Sri Radha Krishna
In 1992,
ISKCON was officially inc or p or ated by an Act of
Parliament No: 69 of 1992 . In 1996 the centennial year of
the appearance of Srila Prabhupada was celebrated with 1008
holy waters from holy places in India.
Sri
Jagannath. Baladev and Subadhra
The deities of
Jagannath, Baladev and Subadhra were brought from Jagannath
Puri India and were ceremoniously installed and they are w
or shipped since1997. In 1999, the first Jagannath Ratha
Yatra was conducted as a festival of peace and this has
become an annual event.
Mission
The mission
of this nonsectarian, monotheistic movement is to promote
the well being of society by teaching the science of Krishna
consciousness according to Bhagavad-gita and other
ancient scriptures.
Purpose
Srila
Prabhupada gave a clear mission statement for ISKCON which
is outlined in the following seven points.
-
To
systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society
at large and to educate all people in the techniques of
spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values
in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the
world.
-
To
propagate a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is
revealed in the great scriptures of India,
Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
-
To
bring the members of the Society together with each
other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus
developing the idea within the members, and humanity at
large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality
of Godhead (Krishna).
-
To
teach and encourage the sankirtana movement,
congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as
revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu.
-
To
erect for the members and for society at large a holy
place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the
personality of Krishna.
-
To
bring the members closer together for the purpose of
teaching a simpler, more natural way of life.
-
With
a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to
publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and
other writings.
|
|
