ISKCON and The Vaishnava Paradox

The Hindus who visit our Krishna temples perceive ISKCON as an
orthodox movement, appreciating the traditional temple service and

how beautifully the altars are maintained. Many of our western friends
might appreciate the Krishna movement differently: as a modern and
relevant movement which advocates vegetarianism, honors the Earth,
and offers meditation through joyous singing and dancing.
One might say Vaisnavism is the most stable and orthodox of all the
Vedic traditions. Everyone knows how at the dawn of creation, a lotus
flower grew from Lord Vishnu’s navel, and upon opening gave birth to
the four-headed Lord Brahma, Brahma was the first Jiva and the
empowered creator of our universe. From his mouths emanated the
Vedas, the ancient teachings. This spiritual linage came to be known as
the Brahma Madhva Vaisnava Sampradaya.
Vaisnavism means to worship the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna (Vishnu)

exclusively, and not just worship Him as another deity in the pantheon
of Vedic demigods, the controllers of universal affairs. In the Bhagavad
Gita, 4th Chapter, Sri Krishna explains how time and again He appears in
different ages to reestablish the understanding of the atma (the soul)
and the paramatma (the Lord Within the Heart), along with the abiding
principles of Dharma.
This tradition was continued throughout the three ages: the Satya, Treta
and Dvapara Yugas. But in this present age, the Kali-yuga, the Vaisnava
teachers, gradually revealed a more intimate mood of devotion to God.
In the Kali-yuga the Vaisnava tradition becomes more accessible than at
anytime in the other yugas, even more than the time Lord Krishna
Himself appeared on the planet to speak the Bhagavad Gita over 5000
years ago, at the end of the Dvapara-yuga. Then, Krishna again, as
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, appeared 500 years ago to radicalize the
Vaisnava Movement by presenting sankirtana, the chanting of the Holy
Names in the mood of bhakti (devotion to the Lord). This is process of
liberation, the Yuga Dharma, in this age of Kali. Thus, the conditioned
souls break the cycle of birth and death, and enter into the divine
mellows of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna in His eternal abode.
Caitanya is a transcendental revolutionary Who has no interest in
limiting the process of liberation simply to an exclusive few. In this age
of Kali everything is contaminated: the water we drink, the air we
breathe, as well as our minds and thinking process. No one is qualified
to enter the spiritual mellows. But Krsnadas Kaviraja in his history on
the life of Caitanya (Caitanya Caritamrita Adi 7:23) declares:
“In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahā prabhu and His

associates did not consider who was a fit candidate and who was `not,
nor where such distribution should or should not take place. They made
no conditions. Wherever they got the opportunity, the members of the
Pañ ca-tattva distributed love of Godhead.” The author continues in Adi
7:25, “The flood of love of Godhead swelled in all directions, and thus
young men, old men, women and children were all immersed in that
inundation.”
At the time, Caitanya’s Movement was dismissed as heretical. He

brought people from different castes and different traditions together to
chant the Holy Names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare
Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. The caste
brahmanas were furious and complained to the local Muslim magistrate.
Caitanya, they explained, was making the sacred names of God available
to the unqualified masses and that He was simply a madman usurping a
sacred tradition for His own ends.
After He began His Sankirtana Movement, Caitanya contradicted His

own God-center philosophy. Interestingly enough, He accepted
initiation into the Sankaracarya sannyasa order, the main linage of the
impersonalists and mayavadis (begun circa 9th century). Caitanya’s
reasoning for this act was to gain the respect of this popular linage, as
well as of the public in general.
Caitanya also introduced the philosophy of acintya bheda bheda tattva –

that we are all inconceivably one with God and at the same time unique
individuals meant to develop a loving relationship (bhakti yoga) with
the Lord. He linked together the philosophies of the Vaisnavas and that
of the impersonalists. He also proclaimed the Muslim-born Haridas
Thakor as the Nama Acarya, the Master of the Holy Name. While these
were actually in harmony with the Vaisnava teachings, these inclusions
of Caitanya were at the same time a seemingly radical departure from
the over-all Vedic tradition. And also, Caitanya predicted that the
chanting of Hare Krishna would eventually spread all over the world, to
every town and village.
Now, this linage expanded into the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaisnava
Sampradaya. Gaudiya meaning Caitanya and the Bengali Vaisnavas He
inspired. And even more, Lord Caitanya affirmed the Brahma Gaudiya
connection when He discovered the surviving fifth chapter of the
Brahma Samhita in an ancient temple in South Indian.
Over 150 years later, amid challenges against the Gaudiya Vaisnava sect,
Baladeva Vidyabhushana represented the Gaudiya Vaisnavas at a
conference in Jaipur to establish that theirs was indeed a bona fide
movement. But by the mid 19th century however, this outsider
movement of Gaudiya Vaisnavas had practically fallen into obscurity.
The British colonialists in India were busy undermining the Vedic
tradition. The Bhagavat Purana, one of the most important Sanskrit
literatures of the Vaisnavas, was denigrated by the British as childish
mythology and fables.
But Bhaktivinode Thakur, a British educated Indian and a court

magistrate of their government, rose up to defend Vaisnavism by
writing numerous books, poems and songs to reestablish and advance
the path of bhakti. In the early 20th century, his son Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati spoke out against the perverted Hindu caste system, and this
act warranted a threat on his life. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati was
probably the first holy man to ride in a car, and at times was also seen
wearing a British overcoat gifted to him. These were certainly radical
enough that other saintly persons wouldn’t even think of such things;
and especially at that time when Gandhi urged his own followers to
burn their British made clothing. Indeed, Caitanya’s Vaisnava Movement
was quite un-orthodox.
Bhakisiddhanta Saraswati asked one of his disciples to bring Caitanya’s

movement to the West, and present the message of Bhagavad Gita and
the Vaisnava teachings in the English speaking world. That person was
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Swami Prabhupada arrived in
American in 1965 in his seventieth year, practically penniless, having
begged a ride on a freighter. He founded ISKCON on a shoestring. He
also did something no one else did before him; even though his students
were born outside of India in the countries of meat eaters, and outside
the Hindu system, still, he initiated them as brahmanas; and not only
the men, but women as well. Some Hindus were outraged, and yet many
were amazed and delighted with what Swami Prabhupada had
accomplished.
In 1973 Prabhupada defiantly addressed his critics in one passage in his

books:
“Sometimes jealous persons criticize the Krsna Consciousness movement

because it engages equally both boys and girls in distributing love of
Godhead. Not knowing that boys and girls in countries like Europe and
America mix very freely, these fools and rascals criticize the boys and girls
in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness for intermingling. . . . . . . However, since both the
boys and the girls are being trained to become preachers, those girls are not
ordinary girls but are as good as their brothers who are preaching Kṛṣṇa
Consciousness. Therefore, to engage both boys and girls in fully
transcendental activities is a policy intended to spread the Kṛṣṇa
consciousness movement. . . . . . . . Therefore, what we are doing is perfect
by the grace of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for it is He who proposed to
invent a way to capture those who strayed from Kṛṣṇa consciousness.”
Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi 7 - 31 & 32, Purport
Today, his disciples and grand-disciples are active in Prabhupada’s

mission and distribute the many books he translated and published.
Prabhupada’s story is a rags to riches success story that we so much
love in America. But Prabhupada’s success was not for himself, but was
his humble offering to his guru and to the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.
Prabhupada spent the last ten years traveling around the world
fourteen times, fulfilling the 500 year old prophecy of Caitanya
Mahaprabhu.
Today, Hindus worship regularly at the ISKCON temples, and interested

westerners visit and engage in the movement as well. The Vaisnava
tradition, it seems, can be a contradiction in terms: an orthodox
movement, or a movement with modern-day sensibilities? Or, could it
be both?

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The Hindus who visit our Krishna temples perceive ISKCON as an

orthodox movement, appreciating the traditional temple service and

Vaisnavism means to worship the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna (Vishnu)

“In distributing love of Godhead, Caitanya Mahā prabhu and His

At the time, Caitanya’s Movement was dismissed as heretical. He

After He began His Sankirtana Movement, Caitanya contradicted His

Caitanya also introduced the philosophy of acintya bheda bheda tattva –

But Bhaktivinode Thakur, a British educated Indian and a court

Bhakisiddhanta Saraswati asked one of his disciples to bring Caitanya’s

In 1973 Prabhupada defiantly addressed his critics in one passage in his

“Sometimes jealous persons criticize the Krsna Consciousness movement

Today, his disciples and grand-disciples are active in Prabhupada’s

Today, Hindus worship regularly at the ISKCON temples, and interested

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