History of Hare Krishna Movement
In 1965, at the age of 69, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
boarded the steamship ‘Jaladuta’ from Mumbai on his way to United
States. At an age when most people think of retiring Srila Prabhupada
undertook this arduous journey to fulfill the mission of Lord Caitanya
and follow the instruction of his spiritual master Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Thakur to carry the message of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad
Bhagavatam to Western world.
After arriving in New York City in September 1965, Srila Prabhupada
struggled alone for the first year to establish his Krishna conscious
movement. He lived simply, lectured whenever and wherever he got the
opportunity and gradually began to attract some small interest in his
teaching. In July of 1966, while still working from an obscure
storefront on New York City’s Lower East Side, Srila Prabhupada
nonetheless founded a spiritual society intended for worldwide
participation. He called it International Society for Krishna
Consciousness or ISKCON for short and thus began the Hare Krishna
movement in America.
At the time of incorporation, Srila Prabhupada had not attracted even
one committed follower. Undeterred, he enlisted volunteers from among
the small group of regular attendees at his evening lectures to act as
ISKCON’s first trustees. That was then. Today, ISKCON comprises of more
than 400 temples worldwide, 40 rural communities and over 100 vegetarian
restaurants. It also conducts special projects throughout the world,
such as “Food for Life”, the only free vegetarian relief program in the
world.