Hare Krishna Competitors

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), otherwise known as the Hare Krishna movement, includes five hundred major centers, temples and rural communities, nearly one hundred affilated vegetarian restaurants, thousands of namahattas or local meeting groups, a wide variety of community projects, and millions of congregational members worldwide. Although less than fifty years on the global stage, ISKCON has expanded widely since its founding by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda in New York City in 1966. ISKCON belongs to the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradāya, a monotheistic tradition within the Vedic or Hindu culture. Philosophically it is based on the Sanskrit texts Bhagavad-gītā and the Bhagavat Purana, or Srimad Bhagavatam. These are the historic texts of the devotional bhakti yoga tradition, which teaches that the ultimate goal for all living beings is to reawaken their love for God, or Lord Krishna, the “all-attractive one”. God is known across the world by many names including Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh, Rama, etc. ISKCON devotees chant God’s names in the form of the maha-mantra, or the great prayer for deliverance: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Many leading academics have highlighted ISKCON’s authenticity. Diana Eck, Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, describes the movement as “a tradition that commands a respected place in the religious life of humankind.” In the 1980s Dr. A. L. Basham, one of the world’s authorities on Indian history and culture, wrote of ISKCON that, “It arose out of next to nothing in less than twenty years and has become known all over the West. This, I feel, is a sign of the times and an important fact in the history of the Western world.”

Brahma Kumaris is an international non-governmental organization known for its spiritual teaching of Rajyoga Meditation having its HQ in Mount Abu, India The Brahma Kumaris became affiliated as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) to the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI) in 1980 and has had Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1983 and with UNICEF since 1988. In July 1998, ECOSOC, on the recommendation of its Committee on NGOs, approved an upgrade in our status from ‘NGO on the Roster’ to ‘general consultative status’. The upgrade recognises the broad range of issues we have contributed to in relation to the work of ECOSOC. We have sent sizeable delegations to most major UN Conferences over the decades, including Nairobi, Rio, Beijing, Copenhagen, and Istanbul. In pursuing the goal of upholding the human rights of all people we work with UNICEF and UNESCO at UN headquarters and within national committees & commissions, promoting value-based programmes and initiatives through our local and national centres. These often include activities specifically designed for women, youth and children. During 1986, the UN’s International Year of Peace, the Institution launched The Million Minutes of Peace Appeal, which reached 88 counties, involved millions of people and won the support of hundreds of companies and organisations. Emphasising that peace begins within each individual, the project collected contributions of over one billion minutes of peace in the form of prayer, meditation and positive thoughts.

Krishna Gallery is an arts and crafts company based out of Al 85 Grund Floor Main Road, New Delhi, Delhi, India.