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Question and Answer
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Home > Questions and Answers
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1.What
is the Hare Krishna Movement? |
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The Hare Krishna
movement is the popular name for the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Founded in 1966 by His Divine
Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ISKCON carries on
in the modern world a great ancient tradition rooted in the
Bhagavad-Gita , the teachings Lord Krishna spoke five thousand
years ago. The Gita and the other Vedic scriptures declare
Krishna to be the original person, God Himself, who appears
periodically in this world to liberate all living
beings.
Only five hundred years ago, Krishna descended
as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to teach the most sublime and
effective means of meditation for the present day: the
chanting of the names of God, especially as found in the Hare
Krishna mantra.
Today, members of ISKCON continue Lord
Caitanya's movement by distributing the teachings of Lord
Krishna and the Hare Krishna mantra all over the
world. |
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2.What
is the purpose of ISKCON? |
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When Srila Prabhupada
began ISKCON, he defined seven purposes:
- To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to
society at large and to educate all peoples 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, as it is
revealed in 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 names of God, as
revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya 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 toward achieving the aforementioned
purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, books and
other writings.
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3.What
is reincarnation? |
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| The Bhagavad-Gita
states that life does not begin at birth nor end with death.
It is eternal. The soul is constantly transmigrating from one
body to another according to its desires and quality of
activities (karma). The Vedas further explain that the soul in
the material world moves through a cycle of 8,400,000 forms of
life. The human form, however, is the only birth which affords
one the chance for self-realisation. Lower-than-human species
are not endowed with sufficient intelligence to understand the
self as different from the body. |
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