ISKCON Karimnagar

"Vrindavan consciousness is having the spirit of loving service to Krsna wherever we are"

With the divine motto of spreading Vrindavan consciousness by introducing Krsna into your lives, which you will carry wherever you go.

Away from the bustling streets of Karimnagar, on the banks of river Godavari, on Vemulawada bypass, Ujjwala park road, opp Police training centre, extending over a 3 acre panoramic area, standing tall in its freshness & openness, the picturesque Abode of Sri Sri Radha Govinda, welcomes you to savour your soul, enjoy its serenity and improve the quality of your Life.

"The History"

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was founded in New York City in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who went to the western world with the mission of spreading the transcendental message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appearing as a devotee in this age of Kali. Being a part of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya, one of the four vaishnava sampradayas, ISKCON comes in an authorized disciplic succession of great spiritual preceptors who have taught the science of self realization based on the teachings of the Bhagawat Gita and Srimad Bhagwatam.

The precepts and practices of ISKCON were taught and codified by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1532) along with His brother Nityananda Prabhu and six of His principle associates, the Goswamis of Vrindavana (Sanatana, Rupa, Jiva, Gopal Bhatta, Raghunatha Dasa and Raghunatha Bhatta).

The Bhagavad-gita, the principal scripture of The Hare Krishna Movement, is an eternal teaching, having Its’ written origins more than 5000-years ago, and before that time it was an oral tradition handed down from teacher to student from time immemorial.

Sri Chaitanya gave a powerful impetus for a massive bhakti (devotional) movement throughout India. Under His direction hundreds of volumes on the philosophy of Krishna consciousness were compiled. Many devotees followed in the preceptorial line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu including in the 19th century an outstanding Vaishnava theologian, Bhaktivinoda Thakura (1838-1914) who brought Krishna consciousness to a modern audience by first sending a book on the Teachings of Lord Caitanya to McGill University in Canada in 1896. Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s son, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami (1874- 1937), became the guru of Srila Prabhupada (1896-1977) and instructed him to spread Krishna consciousness to the English speaking people of the West. On this order, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada took a perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to USA in 1965, and consequently started the most auspicious spiritual movement, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, for the fulfillment of his guru’s desire. ISKCON quickly spread to the major cities of the whole world in a mere 11 years.

"Philosophy"

Probably you have already seen members of the Hare Krsna movement singing and dancing in the streets or you have been asked for donation for a book or a magazine. You could also see us in TV or read about us in newspapers. How many times have you asked yourselves: Who are they? Why do they dress in this way? What do they believe in? Why do they always sing? Who is Krsna?

To enable you to better understand us, we want to show you the Hare Krsna movement in detail and tell you who we are. You will be probably surprised by learning that to become a part of the Hare Krsna movement one does not need to wear traditional dress or change ones hairstyle or religion. You will discover that Krsna consciousness is much more than religion. It is a spiritual, universal, time-proven process enabling to achieve inner happiness, satisfaction and higher consciousness.

Hare Krsna movement makes spiritual reality and culture derived from it known to the widest public. This makes it unique. When you speak with a devotee from the Hare Krsna movement, eat spiritual food served in our restaurants, take part in the Sunday festival in a temple, read any of our books or chant Hare Krsna at least once, your consciousness will change. And this spiritual change of consciousness is the key to improvement of the quality of life on this planet.

Why this Krishna Conscious Movement?

"The search for happiness"

Everyone is looking for happiness but it elusively slips away from everyone. What is the reason that despite our numerous attempts we never feel completely satisfied and when we do feel happy, the bliss is short lived and once again we are plunged into the ocean of miseries. We suffer, even though we don’t want to suffer, we experience loss, heartaches, depression and all such undesirable feelings even though we never want to. What then forces us to go through such emotions and keeps us away from the happiness and peace that all of us are hankering after? The Krishna consciousness movement gives answers to all such questions and gives the perfect path leading to uninterrupted eternal happiness, untinged by any misery, which is to be experienced in the company of the blissful Lord Sri Krishna. The true nature of a living entity is to be eternal, full of knowledge and bliss, but this material creation which is running under the influence of time has a beginning and an end, unlike our actual eternal existence, and is a place of utter misery, unlike our inherent nature to be blissful. We can therefore conclude that we actually do not belong here and are meant to experience something much more sublime. However, we ourselves are responsible for being in this situation, as we made the wrong decision of trying to become that Master and Lord whereas we are by nature meant to be the servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Seeing his subordinate souls straying away from their true nature, the Lord arranged for this material world where the living entity can attempt to enjoy independently, but due to being repeatedly unsuccessful, the person is sure to turn back to him and when that happens, the Lord mercifully calls him back to the spiritual realm where there is no birth, death, old age and disease, where there is no misery but true bliss and where the soul experiences ultimate pleasure, being situated in its true nature of loving and associating with Sri Krishna. This is the ultimate destination where true happiness can be realized.

"The process"

The path and the destination in the Krishna consciousness movement are one and the same with the only difference being in the quality of the experience in the stages of practice and perfection. The process therefore is most perfect for it strives to bring about the true nature of the soul from the very beginning of the process. The living entities who take up this Krishna consciousness are taught to love and serve Sri Krishna, the exact activity that will be performed in the perfected stage in the spiritual world. In the present situation, this includes chanting the names of the Lord, singing songs in his glorification, dancing for his pleasure, honoring his Mahaprasad, visiting the places where he performed his pastimes and so on. When performed with great faith and enthusiasm, the process itself gives rise to great pleasure, a bliss that cannot be experienced in anything material. The very first side effect of this glorious process is the removal of all miseries, which is what all of us are looking for. And that is just a side effect, the main result being unlimited bliss. Millions have joined this movement and are practicing regularly, experiencing a bliss which is making them desirous of tasting it even further.

"The Goal"

The goal is to be transported to the transcendental realm of Sri Krishna, the abode made up of pure eternal bliss and knowledge, where misery, old age, disease and death are non existent. The only experience there will be that of unalloyed love and devotion shared between the Supreme being Sri Krishna and the individual souls.

That blissful abode is beyond material imagination, and the love experienced there is the zenith of all happiness. Sri Vrindavan dham, the abode where the flowering groves are full of fragrant flowers, the river banks studded with jewels, lotuses swaying on the cooling waters of the Yamuna river and birds and beez making sweet sounds, is the place where Sri Krishna enjoys various loving pastimes with his numerous associates such as his friends, parents, servants and beloved Gopis. It is this Vrindavan, the place of the most wonderous pastimes of Sri Krishna, that is the Goal of all the Gaudiya Vaishnavas.