Hare Krishna community celebrates 50 years as religious movement
As part of celebrating its 50th anniversary as a religious movement, the Hare Krishna community in Guyana will soon be commissioning its fifth landmark centre located at the Railway Embankment and University of Guyana Road.
Following is a statement issued by the organisation earlier today:
From Wednesday 13th through Sunday 17 July, ISKCON of Guyana, The Hare Krishna Study Centre on First Street Cummings Lodge and University of Guyana Road, will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of ISKCON’s incorporation.
ISKCON was registered in Guyana in October, 1976, as a religious, charitable, non-profit Society and its members come from all strata of Guyanese society, regardless of colour, creed or ethnicity.
Fifty years ago, a 70-year-old monk travelled from India to the United States in the hope of starting a spiritual revolution. His name is Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. On July 13, 1966 in New York, he incorporated the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), formalising what is widely known as the Hare Krishna Movement.
ISKCON today runs 602 temples, 54 schools and 65 farming communities across the globe, and belongs to the Vedic or Hindu culture with its philosophies based on the Sanskrit texts; the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. The members practice bhakti yoga and worship Lord Krishna.
Coincidentally, our country, Guyana, is also celebrating its 50 anniversary this year. One of ISKCON’s seven purposes is to systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
ISKCON is driven towards fostering and advancing this and other realistic goals, and endeavour to promote healthy spiritual values and lifestyles, as well as core principles of mutual respect and unity in diversity.
To commemorate the event, ISKCON of Guyana is inaugurating its fifth landmark centre located at the Railway Embankment and University of Guyana Road in Georgetown.
