The GBC is organised largely through a "zonal" system, with regional representatives attending to local matters, and the entire GBC ruling on issues that affect ISKCON as a whole.[1] At the GBC's first annual meeting in Mayapur, Prabhupada guided the proceedings, "showing how the GBC should strictly follow parliamentary procedure". Zones of the world are assigned one or more secretaries regardless of whether there is an ISKCON community currently in the zone.[1][2]
The GBC is entrusted with both spiritual and secular leadership of the ISKCON communities, as well as the power to appoint new gurus. According to a GBC confidence survey, "those holding critical views of the GBC were far less committed to ISKCON."[3] In February 2009, Romapada Swami was elected GBC Chairman, succeeding Ramai Swami.[4][5]
Original members
According to the letter of 28 July 1970 A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appointed the following members to the Governing Body Commission.
Shortly after establishing the GBC, Prabhupada asked his newly appointed leaders to renounce the everyday world and become sannyasis (renunciate monks), indicating that those who set policy would not be involved with financial dealings. However, after Prabhupada's death some GBC members adopted lavish lifestyles. A number of schisms tested the notion of the supreme authority of the GBC. Some of these scandals involved GBC members Hans Kary (Hansadutta) and James Immel (Jayatirtha), as well as one of the leaders of the New Vrindaban community, Keith Ham (Kirtanananda), who surrounded himself with opulence and declared himself the only true successor to Prabhupada.[8]
In 1982 the GBC began the slow process of adding new gurus to the original eleven. In 1983 the GBC was announced to be the highest ecclesiastical authority of ISKCON.[9] In 1985 the decision was made to lower the standard of living for ISKCON leadership. After much heated discussion, the GBC decided to "relieve" a number of leaders and new leaders were selected. The young leaders of the GBC sought the advice of one of Prabhupada's Gaudiya Math godbrothers, and endeavored to become more integrated in the broader Hindu community.[9]
After years of discussion and reforms, a general consensus emerged to accept women as leaders and initiators in ISKCON, overriding the former GBC supposition that "unprotected, 'women leaders become subject to various forms of mistreatment and abuse'". In 1998 Malati Devi Dasi became the first woman appointed to the GBC.[10] The second woman leader, Dina Sharana, was selected in 2009. However, a similar proposal had been discussed years previously.[11]
Was born Philip Burbank[16] in 1949, in Buffalo, New York.[17] In January 1969, while studying at the University at Buffalo, he joined ISKCON and the same year was initiated by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, receiving the name Prahladananda Dasa.[17] In 1975 he joined the Radha-Damodara preaching bus tour, organised by Tamala Krishna Goswami and Vishnujana Swami.[17] In 1982 he took sannyasa and in 1986 he became one of the initiating gurus in ISKCON.[17] In 1989 he became a member the Vaisnava Institute for Higher Education, in Vrndavana.[17] In 1990 he was appointed to head the Governing Body Commission's committee of Health and Welfare.[17] In 1991, the GBC also made him the head of sannyasa ministry.[17]
Ramai Swami
Was chairman of the Governing Body Commission in 2008. Ramai Swami started the first Hare Krishna Food for Life program, at the ISKCON temple in Sydney, Australia.[18] It was called ISKCON Food Relief and was operated through the back entrance of the Sydney Hare Krishna temple.[18]
↑ Das Goswami, S. (1982). "Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta". 4 In Every Town and Village, Around the World, 1968–71. Los Angeles: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
↑ A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Letter of 28 July 1970. "As we have increased our volume of activities, now I think a Governing Body Commission (hereinafter referred to as the G.BC.) should be established. I am getting old, 75 years old, therefore at any time I may be out of the scene, therefore I think it is necessary to give instruction to my disciples how they shall manage the whole institution. They are already managing individual centers represented by one president, one secretary and one treasurer, and in my opinion they are doing nice. But we want still more improvement in the standard of Temple management, propaganda for Krishna consciousness, distribution of books and literatures, opening of new centers and educating devotees to the right standard."Archived 6 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Streissguth, Thomas (1995) Charismatic cult leaders pp 128-132 ISBN1-881508-18-8
1 2 Bromley, David G. & Phillip E. Hammond (1987) The Future of new religious movements, New Ecumenical Research Association, Mercer University Press, pp. 126-129, ISBN0-86554-238-4
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami or Srila Prabhupada, born Abhay Charan De, was an Indian spiritual teacher and the founder-acharya (preceptor) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of the ISKCON movement view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a representative and messenger of Krishna Chaitanya.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organisation. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Its core beliefs are based on Hindu scriptures, particularly the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana, and the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the late 15th century and American and European devotees since the early 1900s.
Satsvarupa das Goswami is a senior disciple of Bhaktivedanta Swami, who founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), better known in the West as the Hare Krishna movement. Serving as a writer, poet, and artist, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami is the author of Bhaktivedanta Swami's authorized biography, Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta. After His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's death, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was one of the eleven disciples selected to initiate future disciples on His Divine Grace's behalf. Satsvarupa dasa Goswami,, is one of the first few Westerners ordained by Bhaktivedanta Swami in September 1966. He has been since established as a prolific Vaishnava writer and poet. While traveling, lecturing on Krishna consciousness, and instructing disciples worldwide, he published over hundred books including poems, memoirs, essays, novels, and studies based on the Vaishnava scriptures. In his later years he created hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sculptures that attempt to capture and express his perspective on the culture of Krishna consciousness.
Gopal Krishna Goswami is a religious leader within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He was the first Indian disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to be initiated after the establishment of ISKCON. Gopal Krishna Goswami is currently a member of the Governing Body Commission and an initiating guru within the movement.
Bhakti Chaitanya Swami is a Gaudiya Vaishnava swami and a religious leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He is a member of its Governing Body Commission and is the leader of ISKCON in South Africa, the Baltic states and Russia.
Kirtanananda Swami, also known as Bhaktipada, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava guru and the co-founder of New Vrindaban, a Hare Krishna community in Marshall County, West Virginia, where he served as spiritual leader from 1968 until 1994.
New Vrindaban is an unincorporated area and an ISKCON intentional community located in Marshall County, West Virginia, United States, near Moundsville. The town consists of 1,204 acres (4.87 km2), and several building complexes, homes, apartment buildings, and businesses including the Sri Sri Radha Vrindaban Chandra Temple and Prabhupada's Palace of Gold. New Vrindaban was founded in 1968 under the direct guidance of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of ISKCON, by his disciple Kirtanananda Swami. It is named for the Indian city of Vrindavan.
Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami, also known as Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh and by the honorific Sripada, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader, scientist, writer and poet. In 1971 he received spiritual initiation from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A few years later he became one of the religious leaders of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Vishnujana Swami, born Mark Stephen D'Atillo, was a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and a sannyasi within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Despite his mysterious disappearance in 1976, he continues to be regarded as a saintly figure within ISKCON. His legend lives on through recordings of his celebrated singing of the Hare Krishna mantra and through his unmatched success as a preacher in the early days of the movement.
Hansadutta Das, formerly Hansadutta Swami, born 27 May 1941 in Braunschweig, Germany, died 25 April 2020 in California, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader. An early member of, and later guru in, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), he was one of the senior disciples of ISKCON founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Jayatirtha Das, formerly Jayatirtha Swami was one of the leading disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and a guru within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Born James Edward Immel and also known as Vijaya Acharya and Tirthapada, Jayatirtha was appointed a life trustee of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust by his guru, Prabhupada, who also placed him in the managerial post of the fledgling Spiritual Sky company. Under Jayatirtha's able management the company became a multimillion-dollar concern and the Wall Street Journal covered the company's success with a front-page article.
Suhotra Dasa or Suhotra Swami was a Hindu Vaishnava author, philosopher and a leading guru in the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He was ISKCON's Governing Body Commissioner (GBC), an initiating spiritual master and a sannyasi in ISKCON. He also served as a chairman of the GBC. Since joining ISKCON Suhotra Dasa has spent much of his time lecturing and teaching in Europe, especially in Germany and Eastern European countries. Suhotra Dasa authored several books on Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy and Vedanta. In his latter years he was twice suspended from the position of guru. He also lost his sannyasi title.
Hare Krishna views of homosexuality, and especially the view of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) towards LGBT issues, are similar to their views of heterosexual relationships, i.e. because the living entity is identifying with the body, any attraction based on the desire to gratify the body and its senses is symptomatic of illusion and can be purified by progressively elevating the consciousness. Put simply, both hetero- and homosexual attraction is due to an illusory attachment to the temporary body. Same-sex relations and gender variance have been represented within Hinduism from Vedic times through to the present day, in rituals, law books, mythical narratives, commentaries, paintings, and sculpture. The extent to which these representations embrace or reject homosexuality has been disputed within the religion as well as outside of it.
An ISKCON guru is a person who is permitted to initiate disciples into the International Society for Krishna Consciousness system. The guru system has undergone several changes and reform since its beginnings in the 1960s. Upanayana as a traditional "sacred thread ceremony" of the Gayatri Mantra, commonly known Hindu Samskara, is complemented by Pancaratric mantras of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya and follows the principal initial nama initiation ceremony, referred to respectively as brahmana diksa and Hari nama diksa.
The Mantra-Rock Dance was a counterculture music event held on January 29, 1967, at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. It was organized by followers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) as an opportunity for its founder, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, to address a wider public. It was also a promotional and fundraising effort for their first center on the West Coast of the United States.
Malati Dasi is a senior spiritual leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Born in Vallejo, California, she was part of the hippie movement before becoming an initiated disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1967. In the same year, she and her husband, Shyamasundar Das, helped Mukunda Das organize the Mantra-Rock Dance, a countercultural musical event held at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco; the dance was a fundraiser for ISKCON's first center on the west coast of the US.
Tamal Krishna Goswami, born Thomas G. Herzig in New York City, New York, United States, served on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness's Governing Body Commission since its inception in 1970. He completed a bachelor's degree in religious studies at Southern Methodist University.
ISKCON schools are primary and secondary schools run by, or otherwise affiliated with, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as the Hare Krishna movement. ISKCON schools have been established all over the world. ISKCON schools are generally run independently, although the ISKCON Ministry of Educational Development (MED) may provide support and guidance in the establishment and running of these schools.
Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar was an Indian guru, writer, sannyasi and spiritual leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
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