Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is widely revered among Hindu divinities. Krishna's birthday is celebrated every year by Hindus on Krishna Janmashtami according to the lunisolar Hindu calendar, which falls in late August or early September of the Gregorian calendar.
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977) was the twentieth-century spiritual, philosophical, and religious teacher from India who spread the Hare Krishna mantra and the teachings of “Krishna consciousness” to the world. Born as Abhay Charan De and later legally named Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami, he is often referred to as “Bhaktivedanta Swami”, "Srila Prabhupada", or simply “Prabhupada”.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. It was founded on 13 July 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Its main headquarters is located today in West Bengal, India.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, born Vishvambhar Mishra, was a 15th-century Indian Hindu saint from Bengal who was the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which considers him to be an incarnation of Krishna.
Bhakti yoga, also called Bhakti marga, is a spiritual path or spiritual practice within Hinduism focused on loving devotion towards any personal deity. It is one of the three classical paths in Hinduism which lead to moksha, the other paths being jnana yoga and karma yoga.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, born Bimala Prasad Datt, was an Indian Gaudīya Vaisnava Hindu guru, ācārya, and revivalist in early twentieth-century India. To his followers, he was known as Srila Prabhupāda.
Hinduism has been spread in Russia primarily due to the work of scholars from the religious organization International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and by itinerant Swamis from India and small communities of Indian immigrants. While ISKCON appear to have a relatively strong following in Russia, the other organizations in the list have a marginal presence in this country. There is an active Tantra Sangha operating in Russia. According to the 2012 official census, there are 140,010 Hindus in Russia, which accounts for 0.1% population of Russia.
The Bhagavata Purana, also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana or simply Bhagavata (Bhāgavata), is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (Mahapuranas). Composed in Sanskrit and traditionally attributed to Veda Vyasa, it promotes bhakti (devotion) towards Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu, integrating themes from the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Adi Shankara, the Vishishtadvaita of Ramanujacharya and the Dvaita (dualism) of Madhvacharya. It is widely available in almost all Indian languages.
Gaudiya Vaishnavism, also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu". Specifically, it is part of Krishnaism—Krishna-centric Vaishnavite traditions.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur, born Kedarnath Datta, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and spiritual reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism who effected its resurgence in India in late 19th and early 20th century and was called by contemporary scholars as a Gaudiya Vaishnava leader of his time. He is also known along with his son Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, with initiating the propagation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the West and its global spread.
Bhakti Tirtha Swami, previously called John Favors and Toshombe Abdul and also known by the honorific Krishnapada, was a guru and governing body commissioner of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He was the highest-ranking African American in ISKCON.
The Chaitanya Charitamrita, composed by Krishnadasa Kaviraja in c. 1557, is written in Bengali with a great number of Sanskrit verses in its devotional, poetic construction, including Shikshashtakam. It is one of the primary biographies detailing the life and teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The stories of Chaitanya's life are mixed with philosophical conversations detailing the process of Bhakti yoga, with special attention given to congregational chanting of the names of Krishna.
The Kali-Santarana Upanishad, also called Kalisantaraṇopaniṣad, is a Sanskrit text. It is a minor Upanishad of Hinduism.
Vaishnavism is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, that is, Mahavishnu. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or Vaishnavas, and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus.
Krishnaism is a term used in scholarly circles to describe large group of independent Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan, Ishvara, Para Brahman, who is the source of all reality, not an avatar of Vishnu. This is its difference from such Vaishnavite groupings as Sri Vaishnavism, Sadh Vaishnavism, Ramaism, Radhaism, Sitaism etc. There is also a personal Krishnaism, that is devotion to Krishna outside of any tradition and community, as in the case of the saint-poet Meera Bai. Leading scholars do not define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism, considering it at least a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.
Svayam Bhagavan is a Sanskrit concept in Hinduism, referring to the absolute representation of Bhagavan as a singular deity in a monotheistic framework. The concept is most commonly associated with a male deity, for instance in Hindu sub-movements like Krishnaism and Gaudiya Vaishnavism, in which Krishna is regarded as Svayam Bhagavan.
Haridasa Thakur was a Vaishnava saint known for playing a part in the initial propagation of the Hare Krishna movement. He is considered to be a known convert of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, apart from Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. His story of integrity and faith in the face of adversity is told in Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya lila. It is believed that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself designated Haridasa as nāmācarya, meaning the 'teacher of the Name'. Haridasa Thakura was a devotee of the deity Krishna, and is regarded to have practised the chant of his veneration, Hare Krishna, 300,000 times daily.
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.
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 from its inception in 1970. He completed a bachelor's degree in religious studies at Southern Methodist University.
Kailasa Candra Dasa, also known as J. K. Goodwin, is an American Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher, sidereal astrologer and author with a small number of students. In 1972, he joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Madison, Wisconsin. After the passing of ISKCON founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he opposed ISKCON's "zonal acharyas", beginning in 1978 and 1979. He is co-founder of the Vaishnava Foundation, a nonprofit organization incorporated under the name Metamorphosis League for Monastic Studies. He works out of the United States. He continues to oppose what he sees as the deviations that emerged within ISKCON after the demise of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
