The Hare Kṛṣṇa Explosion

Seeing the potential for spreading Vedic culture in America, Srila Prabhupada requested his Godbrothers in India to help him. But they were not interested, so Srila Prabhupada founded his own society in July of 1966. He called it the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON. There was some discussion among his first students that "Krishna" was too sectarian a name for the title of the Society-"the International Society for God Consciousness" would be more readily acceptable. But Prabhupada wanted Krsna's name. " 'God' is the position, but God has a name, and His name is Krsna. We know who God is, so we want to call Him by His name," he explained.

After opening the first ISKCON center, in New York, Srila Prabhupada was invited by some students to come to the West Coast. He entrusted the responsibility for publishing Back to Godhead to his disciples, a number of whom he had trained to go preach the teachings of Lord Caitanya themselves and establish centers. These early disciples were not very adept in quoting Sanskrit, nor in the procedures of Deity worship, nor even in following all the practices of devotional life-but they were convinced. They opened several more centers-in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle; then in Montreal and Vancouver; and soon in Buffalo, Washington, D.C., and Boston.

Then Srila Prabhupada sent a group of disciples to London. Whereas the advanced Indian sannyasis sent by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura were unable to accomplish anything in London for years, three American householder couples soon opened a thriving Krsna consciousness center in the heart of downtown London. It has since expanded to include a temple and asrama on a stately seventeen-acre manor just outside the city. With the world-famous musician George Harrison, the English disciples have recorded several records of Hare Krsna that have become hits all over Europe and even in Japan, and that have financed the publication of one of Srila Prabhupada's books. No wonder Srila Prabhupada proudly declared that these householders were far greater than many big sannyasis.

Srila Prabhupada's disciples have now opened almost fifty centers in America, and another fifty in half a dozen European countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Africa and South America. In these centers, Radha-Krsna Deities are very opulently worshiped, and there are feasts and Rathayatra festivals, with as many as 25,000 people attending. There are also classes for the public and all-important book distribution. This has all been accomplished solely by the effort of Srila Prabhupada, who maintains close contact with the administrators of all his temples. He writes up to twenty-five letters daily, both to give spiritual guidance and to see to the Society's management. In 1970 Srila Prabhupada formed amongst his senior disciples a Governing Body Commission (GBC), consisting of twelve zonal secretaries to administer Krsna conscious affairs in twelve different sections of the world and to cooperate in spreading the teachings of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This is exactly how Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who coined the title GBC, wanted his Gaudiya Matha administered after his departure.