Krishna Consciousness

8 Pages 1923 Words

usually composed of individuals highly advanced in spirituality, even though they remain a minority and are rarely even heard of. Hence, the spiritual practice discussed in this project only has approximately one million followers worldwide and is considered by some to be the oldest faith from the subcontinent of India.
Krishna Consciousness or the Hare Krishna movement didn’t begin to spread until 1965, when Srila Prabhupada came to America and formed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON). However, this prehistoric faith has its roots in the traditions of ancient Vedic literature dating back some five thousand years. According to the Vedas, ancient Indian literature that reveals historical and spiritual truths, the spiritual practices used by devotees of Krishna were once spread throughout the world. Hence, you have a variety of Vedic interpretations, which produced a variety of Indian sects, the most popular being Hinduism. However, the revitalization of a fundamental teaching of the Vedas came over five hundred years ago with the prophetic birth of Sri Krishna Caitanya or Lord Chaitanya, who is regarded as the reincarnation of Krishna in the form of His own devotee. Since Krishna is considered to be the principle deity, the Supreme God himself, Lord Chaitanya is believed to be able to accurately interpret the Vedic literature without any personal bias or motivation. Thus, it is from the practices and teachings of Lord Chaitanya where the modern form of the Hare Krishna movement gets its origins.
In order to gain an understanding of Krishna Consciousness and/or ancient India, an examination of Vedic literature is essential. This multi-volume body of work, which literally means revelati...