52 Years and Counting!

By Mukunda Goswami

Although 52 years have passed since the founding of ISKCON, the society is still growing.

In 1965 Srila Prabhupada left the city then called Calcutta on a merchant steamer bound for New York. Only his son, Vrindavan Chandra De, was present to see him off. At age 60, Srila Prabhupada was carrying out the order of his guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. The directive was to spread the glories of Lord Krishna to the English-speaking world. Srila Prabhupada had no friends or acquaintances in the US.

Fifty-year celebrations are often referred to as “golden anniversaries”, but withering frames, human and mechanical, reveal the deceptive nature of the ‘g’ word. Glossy terms like “gold” and “golden” are usually nothing more than skilful but empty clichés that mask the ravages of age involving ineluctable decline. “Golden Oldies”, the “Golden Years” and “Good as Gold” are familiar phrases today. However, it has been said that, “All that glitters is not gold”.

Things come into being, become increasingly visible, remain for a time, engender offshoots or inspire similitudes, deteriorate and finally disappear completely.

Fortunately, there are exceptions.

Although eternality is rarely seen on this planet, ISKCON and its Founder-Acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, have become highly visible.

Yet although ISKCON and its founder have trotted the globe, the earth is still largely uncharted. There remain innumerable regions where living beings have yet to hear the holy name of Krishna and experience Vaishnava other-worldliness.

The culture of succession was not lost on ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, who incorporated his fledgling society in New York on 19 July 1966. Srila Prabhupada had a sense that his establishment would withstand the inexorable crush of time. He was aware that despite comings and goings of individuals, institutions would tend to endure.

He incorporated the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in many countries of the world, starting with the US, England and India.