International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Swami Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta was founded, who went to the Western world on a mission to spread the transcendental message of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this age, Kali appeared as a devotee. A part of the Brahma Madhava Gaudiya Vaishnava sect, one of the four Vaishnava sects, ISKCON inherits an authorized discipleship of great spiritual masters who taught the science of self-realization based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. By Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1532), the principles and practices of ISKCON were taught and codified by his brother Nityananda Prabhu and his six principle associates, the Goswamis of Vrindavan. The Bhagavad Gita, the primary scripture of the Hare Krishna movement, is an eternal teaching whose written origins date back more than 5000 years. Before that time, it was an oral tradition handed down from teacher to student. Sri Chaitanya gave a powerful impetus to a huge bhakti (devotional) movement throughout India. Hundreds of volumes on Krishna’s Consciousness philosophy were compiled under his guidance. Many devotees followed the lead of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, including Bhaktivinoda Tagore (1838–1914), an outstanding 19th-century Vaishnava theologian who first brought Krishna consciousness to a modern audience by sending a book on Lord Caitanya’s teachings to McGill University 1896 in Canada. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami (1874–1937), son of Bhaktivinoda Tagore, became the Guru of Srila Prabhupada (1896–1977) and instructed him to spread Krishna consciousness to the English-speaking people of the West. In this order, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada made a perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States in 1965 and consequently started a most auspicious spiritual movement, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, to fulfill his Guru’s wishes. In just 11 years, ISKCON quickly spread to major cities worldwide.
