How iSKCON is serving humanity
There are countless religions in this world which have the main goal of spreading peace, harmony, and, of course, the message of God to their followers. We’ve also heard about the various religious organizations like “ISKCON”, “Sri Sathya Sai Center”, “Om Shanti” etc; which conduct their religious functions and procedures for the welfare of their members and all the people who are involved in these organizations. Besides the fact that all of these religious organizations conduct many programs including Bhajans, chanting God's name and so many other rituals related to that particular religion, the motive behind any kind of such religious act is to increase the awareness and overall comfort of humans in living their day-to-day lives.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Sanatan religious organization. ISKCON was founded on 13 July 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Its main headquarters is located in West Bengal (Mayapur) India. ISKCON’s unique form of monotheistic core beliefs is based on ancient scriptures, particularly Prabhupada’s commentaries and translations of the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana. It is also “the largest and arguably, most important branch of Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the early 16th century and its American and European devotees since the early 1900s. ISKCON has around 10 million devotees worldwide. The devotees of ISKCON practice vegetarianism and was initially formed to spread the practice of Bhakti Yoga. ISKCON’S Devotees are called Bhaktas, and they dedicate both their thoughts and actions towards pleasing Lord Krishna, who is the supreme Lord Godhead. The seven purposes of ISKCON temple are as follows:
To systematically represent spiritual knowledge to society at a large level and to educate people on ways of spiritual life to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve eternal unity and peace in the world.
To spread Krishna Consciousness as it is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. To bring the people of the society together with each other and closer to Krishna, the prime entity, and thus to develop the idea within the members and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of Lord Krishna. To educate and encourage the Harinaam Sankirtan movement of congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord as mentioned in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. To erect, for the members and society at large, a sacred place of divine pastimes, dedicated to the personality of Krishna. To bring the members closer together to teach a simpler and more natural way of life.
To achieve the aforementioned purposes, publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books, and other writings.
The contribution of ISKCON temple to serving society and humanity as a whole is mentioned below: ISKCON’s food for life: Srila Prabhupada had this vision that no one in a 10-mile radius of our temple should go hungry; ISKCON Temple all over the world has distributed 550 crore plates of Prasadam meals to date. ISKCON Youth Forum/ ISKCON Girls Forum: As education differentiates spirituality from fanatic religion, ISKCON temple provides education to different divisions of society.
Cow Protection:
ISKCON runs more than 100 farms and goshalas around the globe, with innumerable affiliate projects. For instance, in Nepal; in Butwal’s Tilotama, there’s a cow farm run by ISKCON’s devotees.
Sastra Distribution: ISKCON has distributed lakhs and crores of sastras like the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagwatam, thus providing this great knowledge to the modern world.
The preachings of the Sanatana Dharma: ISKCON has taught the essence of Sanatana Dharma to all the sects of society, beyond any religion. It has preached and proclaimed the message of the Vedas in the modern world to the modern youth of our society (in various schools/jails/ rehabilitation centers, etc).