Whereas in ISKCON men had generally been taught to see all women other than their wives as mother; Whereas in more recent times a practice has gained momentum that women should not be called "Mataji," but "Prabhu;" Whereas the word "Prabhu" is traditionally used to address men; Whereas one section of ISKCON considers addressing women as "Prabhu" to have no cultural or linguistic backing, or any evidentiary or experiential support from Srila Prabhupada's teachings; Whereas another section o...

“In our temple, strictly Hare Krishna chanting should be given more importance. There is no harm in this mantra you have heard, but it is not very important. There are many such common songs composed by common devotees out of sentiment. But our principle is to stick to the authorities, and always remember that Hare Krishna is the prime authorized mantra.” (Letter to Malati Dasi, 28 January 1969); Note: This is for kirtans, but does not apply to bhajans such as Jaya Radha Madhava, Nrsim...

"So our request is. Everyone who is present here. Today is Radhastami. So pray to Radharani. And She is hare, hara. This hare, this word, is Radharani. Hara, Radharani. Radha or hara the same thing. So Hare Krsna. So we are praying to Radharani, "My Mother, Radharani, and Krsna." Hare Krsna. "O Krsna, O the Lord." Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, the same thing, repetition. "O Radharani, O Krsna." "O Radha-Krsna." "Radhe-Krsna" or "Hare Krsna," the same thing. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare. Again addressing, "O Krsna, O Krsna, O Radharani." Hare Rama. The ...

"Any person who is seriously desirous of achieving real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of a spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and arguments and thus be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken complete shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fi...

While ISKCON, the GBC, and the BBT are independent entities and thus the GBC cannot instruct the BBT trustees, the GBC humbly appeals to the BBT trustees to kindly get involved in pushing this process forward and making sure that the development of these plans actually happens. The Indian BBT and Indian GBCs are exempted from this resolution as they are already doing such powerful book distribution. Of course, they are welcomed and encouraged to present a plan for the coming year if they w...

The subject of Vaisnavis initiating in ISKCON is further tabled until additional discussion at the 2014 GBC Midterm Meeting. In the meantime the GBC Eexecutive Committee will work on the following process: 1. Creating a committee of devotees who have no pre-determined view on this topic who will gather documents from all sources on the subject of female diksa-gurus. 2. The committee will sort, summarize, and categorize all documentation. Categories could include Srila Prabhu...

Dear Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. The entire Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness wishes to extend its heartfelt gratitude to you for your many years of service to the GBC. You have served as a member of the GBC with the highest standard of integrity, loyalty and dedication. This is a great credit to both yourself and our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. For almost three decades,...

It has come to our attention that there is some confusion regarding the purchase of Srila Prabhupada's books for mass distribution. It is the policy of ISKCON, clarified by Srila Prabhupada in the accompanying letter, that all ISKCON temples purchase the books of His Divine Grace from the BBT exclusively.

We regret to inform you that the GBC Executive Committee has received a letter from Mahanidhi Swami, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada since 1975, announcing that he has "decided to resign from the glorious preaching mission of ISKCON". In a prayerful mood, we would like to comment briefly on this situation. As Vaishnavas, we understand that the obstacles of this material world are very difficult to overcome. Srila Prabhupada warned us that many stalwarts may fall from the path of Krishna consciousness if we ...

Whereas harmony between various authorities in ISKCON is required; Whereas while initiating gurus are important spiritual authorities in the lives of devotees, other ISKCON authorities also play an important role; RESOLVED: That the official GBC paper entitled “Harmonizing ISKCON’s Lines of Authority” shall be required reading for all prospective harinama initiates before the initiation. This should be verified both by the ISKCON authority who gives the recommendation for harinama initiation as well as by the...

RESOLVED: (a) that ISKCON Law 7.2.1.1.6 be amended to include the following three questions in the test that all harinama initiation candidates must take before initiation: 14. Have you read the GBC Statement on the Position of Srila Prabhupada? 15. Have you read the paper “Harmonizing ISKCON’s Lines of Authority”? 16. What have you understood as the most important points of the “Harmonizing ISKCON’s Lines of Authority” paper? And (b), that the Guru Services Committee shall update the Initiation Exam accordingly fo...

RESOLVED: A GBC committee consisting of Bir Krishna Das Goswami (convenor), Bhanu Swami, Badrinarayan Das and Praghosa Das shall research and write a paper on the subject of female diksa gurus based on Srila Prabhupada’s teachings, sastra, and historical precedents. The committee may enlist the service of other devotees including current members of the Sastric Advisory Council

RESOLVED: The GBC Body hereby commends the important and time-critical nature of the work of Rasaraja Das and Bhaktivedanta Institute Berkeley/Mumbai. The GBC members offer their heartfelt blessings to them for their continued excellence in devotional service.

RESOLVED: That the Executive Secretariat (ES) receives its mandate from the Governing Body Commission (GBC); the Secretariat reports and is accountable to the GBC. Throughout the year the ES works with the GBC Executive Committee (EC) in its role as representative of the GBC, to ensure and assist the ES to perform as mandated

The ISKCON Governing Body Commission Society hereby agrees that its copyrighted software package “Gaurabda Calendar (GCal)” authored by Gopalapriya Das may be licensed to members of the general public under a suitable open-source licensing agreement. The GBC Vaisnava Calendar Committee, presently constituted with members Bhanu Swami, Gopalapriya Das, Sadasivananda Das, and Bhaktarupa Das, are authorized, in consultation with legal advisors, to finalize the terms of such licensing agreements and devise policies and procedures whereby such agreements may be execu...

In 1998 the GBC Body adopted resolution 305, which accepted in total the recommendations of the Child Protection Task Force “outlining a justice system, central office, and various guidelines for GBC Members, Regional Secretaries and Temple Presidents to assure enforcement and implementation”

Whereas the GBC Zonal Secretaries of many areas of the world together with other leaders of those areas have identified the zones that they wish to formally establish: RESOLVED: That the following zones have been identified. It is to be noted that the full implementation of these zones shall take place gradually, and that this process of identification does not affect or modify existing continental, regional or national bodies