The ISKCON

Temple,
Bangalore
ISKCON – A Beautiful Beginning
 SriChaitanya, whom devotees revere as a direct incarnation of Lord Krishna, gave a powerful
impetus for a massive bhakti (devotional) movement of Krishna followers throughout India.
 The movement diminished somewhat until the 19th century, when a outstanding Vaishnava
theologian, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, again revived Krishna consciousness.
 His son, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami, became the guru of Srila Prabhupada and
instructed him to make the spreading of Krishna consciousness in the West the mission of
his life.
 After arriving at New York City in September 1965, Srila Prabhupada struggled alone for the
first year to establish his God conscious movement. He lived simply, lectured whenever and
wherever he got opportunity, and gradually began to attract some small interest in his
teachings.
 In July of 1966, while still working alone from an obscure storefront in New York City's Lower
East Side, Srila Prabhupada nonetheless founded a spiritual society intended for worldwide
participation. He called it the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON for
short.
 Today, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness comprises more than 350
temples, farms, schools, and special projects throughout the world and maintains a
congregation numbering in the millions.
The ISKCON Movement
 The International Society for Krishna
Consciousness is a denomination of the
Gaudiya Vaishnava faith, a devotional
tradition based on the teachings of
Bhagavad-gita and the Bhagavat Purana
(Srimad Bhagavatam).
 The tradition traces its roots back 5,500
years.
 The precepts and practices of the
members of the present day ISKCON
were taught and codified by the 15th
century saint and religious reformer Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his principle
associates, the six Goswamis of
Vrindavana.
ISKCON’s Purpose
 The Vedas recommend that in the present age the
most effective means for achieving self-realization
is to always hear about, glorify, and remember the
all-good Supreme Lord, who is known by many
names.
 One of the names is "Krishna," which means "He,
who is all attractive," another is "Rama"' which
means " He who is reservoir of all pleasure," and
"Hare," indicates the Lord's inconceivable energy.
 Following the Vedic recommendation, the
members of ISKCON are always seen chanting Hare
Krishna Hare Krishna , Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.
 This sublime chanting puts us directly in touch with
the Supreme Lord through the sound vibration of
His holy names and gradually awakens us to our
original relationship with God.
The Seven Purposes of
ISKCON
1) 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.
2) To propagate a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is revealed in the great scriptures of
India, Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
3) To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the
prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each
soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna).
4) To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name
of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
5) To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes
dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
6) To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural
way of life.
7) With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute
periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.
Objective -
To study about the social activity conducted by iskcon-
Akshaya Patra, “A strategic mid-day meal program to
promote literacy among underprivileged children.”
 Daily Schedule
 3:45 am - 4:00 am Jagaran Seva
 4:00 am - Balya bhoga offering
 4:15 am - Mangala arati : first puja & darshan of Lord Sri Radha Krishna-Chandra with arati &
kirtana (in the main temple hall)
 4:45 am - Sri Tulasi puja (with Deities darshan closed)
 5:00 am - Puja for Sri Prahlada Narasimha
 5:15 am - Suprabhata seva of Sri Srinivasa Govinda
 5:20 am to 7:15 am Offering of daily worship of Shodasha nitya puja to the Deities (darshan
closed), Japa Meditation
 7:15 am - Shringara darshan - puja of Lord Sri Radha Krishna-Chandra after shringara, with
arati & kirtana (main temple hall)
 7:30 am - Parikrama of the Deities in procession with kirtana, with the murti of Srila
Prabhupada 7:45 am - Shringara darshan of Sri Prahlada Narasimha
 7:55 am - Shringara darshan of Sri Srinivasa Govinda
 8:00 am - Sri Guru Puja of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
 8:10 am to 8:35 am - Pratara bhoga offering
 8:15 am - Lecture on the Srimad-Bhagavatam 12:00 noon - Raja bhoga offering
 12:30 pm - Raja bhoga arati - puja of the Lord with arati & kirtana
 1:00 pm to 3:45 pm Shayana seva (darshan closed during this time)
 3:45 pm to 4:00 pm Jagaran Seva
 4:00 pm - Vaikalika bhoga offering
 4:15 pm - Dhupa arati (darshan opens)
 5:00 pm - Sandhya bhoga offering
 6:45 pm - Sri Tulasi Puja
 7:00 pm - Sandhya arati - puja of the Lord with arati & kirtana
 8:00 pm - Ratrikalika bhoga offering   Shayana arati
Selection of study area
We selected the study area because:-

To know how ISKCON took a step forward to enhance

literacy rates, to become a developed nation by
Akshaya Patra program.
SECONDARY DATA :-
TIMES OF INDIA
Mid-day Meal Started in N. Karnataka

 “Children are not a burden to society. To encourage them to study, and decrease illiteracy
in the state, particularly in a backward area like Deodurga taluk, we have proposed to
introduce the mid-day meal programme,” Krishna said in his speech.

 Krishna had a special word for the social services of ISKCON and Wipro chief
educationist Azim Premji “the richest Indian in the world”. At present, the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness ISKCON, Bangalore, has taken on the responsibility of
providing mid-day meals to 19,000 people in Bangalore.
DECCAN HERALD
Iskcon chief calls for Child hunger free State
BANGALORE, Nov 10

 The president of Iskcon, Bangalore, Mr Madhu Pandit, has urged Chief

Minister S M Krishna to adopt the mission of making Karnataka a “child-
hunger free”

 The scheme has managed a phenomenal reach of 19,000 children in little

over a year and it is aimed to feed 30,000 children by end of this academic
year, said Mr Madhu Pandit, thanking the donors whose donation of Rs
1,200 each helped feed a child for a whole year.
THE HINDU
‘ISKCON`s Programme has shown results
BANGALORE, NOV. 10.
 Mr. S.M.Krishna, at Raichur on Friday, said a study report of the
Education Department, “ the free mid-day meal had a great impact on
school children, and 99.6 per cent of the beneficiaries felt that they
paid better attention towards their studies.” He added that 93.8 percent
of the teachers felt that there was an overall academic improvement in
the students.
 Sri Madhupandit Dasa said that 91.8 per cent of the teachers felt that
the attendance of the students had improved.
 In the current academic year, 16 Schools had reported a 15 per cent
increase in enrolment. The mid-day meal programme had addressed
two of the most debilitating problems-hunger and education.
THE HINDU
SUNDAY, JUNE 07, 2009

 MYSORE: With the inauguration of a state-of-the-art kitchen on the

ISKCON premises in Jayanagar here on Saturday, the Akshaya Patra
Foundation aims to cover 30,000 schoolchildren in Mysore district in
its mid-day meal programme.
 The foundation started its operation in Mysore in August 2004. It is
serving mid-day meals to nearly 8,700 children in 32 schools in and
around Mysore city.
THE INDIAN EXPRESS
JANUARY 28, 2009
Award for Akshaya Patra

 Akshaya Patra has won accolades their performance for feeding nearly one
million school children every day. 
 Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, received the
award and said, "This award is actually a recognition of thousands of
supporters from the corporate world, professional governance provided by my
co-trustees, board of advisors, support of the state and central government,
thousands of Akshaya Patra staff and dedicated missionary workers, to bring a
smile on the faces of the underprivileged children and to empower them with
education".
 "We have been following the best practices of the corporate world in terms of
transparency and governance which we believe is essential to conduct the
program on such a grand scale. We also thank God for making us instruments
in this great service and pray that we will be able to extend this service to lakhs
of more children to support them with good education".
BANGALORE MIRROR
Friday, December 12, 2008
Obama’s accolade for Akshaya Patra

 The Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme run by ISKCON has drawn praise
from US President elect Barack Obama.

 When Obama was on his campaign trail, he heard about Akshaya Patra mid-
day meal programme of India and took time off to send a congratulatory note.
In the note sent to the head of Akshaya Patra office in Boston, he writes, “Your
use of efficient and innovative business practices to scale up in just a few years
from feeding 1,500 school children daily to almost a million is a powerful
demonstration of what’s possible when people work together.”
 INTERVIEW
 Ques.1 When did akshaya patra started?
Ans. Akshaya patra started its noon meal program with 1500 children in 5 schools of
banglore city in the year 2000.

 Ques.2 What are the rules and regulations to be followed by a devotee in ISKCON?
Ans. There are 4 strict rules to abide by while serving as a devotee in ISKCON, which are
as follows:
•No Gambling →hostility will go
•No intoxication →penance will go
•No elicit sex →cleanliness will go
•No meat eating →mercy will go

 Ques.3. How does a devotee in ISKCON secure a livelihood?

A person who is serving as a devotee in ISKCON is given a house to live, food to eat and
clothing to cover their body. It is the main objective of ISKCON to teach devotees to live
life with simplicity and compassion, and to have a high thinking. People are not given any
kind of salary or wages, they are simply asked to dedicate their lives to serving Lord
Krishna and mankind.
 Ques.4 What are the volunteers asked to do on special occasions in ISKCON?
Ans. Visitors are asked to serve the devotees prashadam and bhog. A new
system was introduced by the ISKCON community along with Narayana
Murthy(Owner Infosys Technologies) called “Paduka Seva” in which volunteers
are asked to wash the feet of disciples and devotees and take care of their
footwear.

 Ques.5 Explain the Akshayapatra Programme.

Ans. The Akshayapatra Programme is a strategic mid-day meal programme to
promote literacy among under-privileged children. Akshayapatra Programme
serves over 1 million under- privelged children in about 5800 schools in 7 states
in India. The vision of Akshayapatra Foundation is no child in India shall be
deprived of education because of hunger.
 Ques.6 Are the devotees allowed to marry?
Ans. The devotees are allowed to marry only within the ISKCON community,
which is with another devotee.

 Ques.7 What is the coverage of Akshayapatra Programme in Karnataka and in

India?
Ans. Akshayapatra is feeding about 5lac children in Karnataka in 5 locations-
Bangalore, Hubli, Bellary, Mysore and Mangalore. Akshayapatra is feeding
about 10lac children in India in 7 states.

 Ques.8 What is the subsidy Akshayapatra gets from the government?

Ans. The subsidy Akshayapatra gets in Karnataka is as follows:-
 Class 1 to 7: Rs. 1.80 per child + 100 gms. Of rice per child per day
 Class 8 to 10: Rs. 2.20 per child + 150 gms. Of rice per child per day
Questionaries:-
 From how many years you have been benifited by
akshaya patra scheme?
a) recently
b) 1 years
c) 2 years
d) 3 years
 Do you ever visited Iskcon temple?
a) Yes
b) No
Do you like the food provided by Akshaya Patra?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Average
Do you know who provides the mid day meal?
a) your school
b) Akshaya patra
c) Government
 Is the food provided is sufficient ?
a) Yes
b) No
Do they miss the meal any day?
a) Yes
b) No
 Is there any special meal on special occation?
a) Yes
b) No
 Do they change the menu ?
a) Weekly
b) Daily
c) Same
d) Occasionally
Do you know which god is worshiped in Iskcon
temple?
a) Yes
b) No
 Would you like to be the part of iskcon temple?
a) Yes
b) No
Observation:-
Akshaya Patra:
To fulfill the malnaurishment of children Akshaya Patra
provide daily food to students.
The supplementary nutrition provided by them is helping
in academic performance.
Food is cooked in automated kitchens and distributes
through vehicles to schools.
The kitchens are equipped with high capacity stainless
steel boilers, chapati making machines, vegetable cutting
machines.
They keep on changing the menu everyday.
To enhance socio-economic status they provide
employment to local women.
Under special observation of devotees the food is
cooked and served.
Iskcon :
People from different races come and join the
organization as “devotee”.
Iskcon is well maintained and properly cleaned.
Many students from different colleges come as a
volunteer.
Most of the staff/devotees in Iskcon are Engineers,
Doctors and graduates- 70% Engineers, 20%
Doctors, 10% Graduates
The staff is not paid anything they have to live a
simple life with high thinking.
THANK YOU…