Sastras, Acharyas and Swamis
The main business of the Hare Krishna movement is to bring people to the platform of understanding their original, constitutional position as an eternal servant of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. Therefore the devotees are primarily engaged in educating the public in spiritual values.
ISKCON is an educational institution. As such, we need different types of education at different stages of our lives. We need to educate our children, who are born to practicing members, in Krishnaconsciousness, we need to provide education and training to train future leaders for our movement. We need to train people who are eager to join our movement.
Krsna consciousness is more than another sectarian faith. It is a technical science of spiritual values that is fully described in the Vedic literature of ancient India. The aim of the Krsna consciousness movement is to acquaint all people of the world with these universal principles of God-realization so that they may derive the highest benefits of spiritual understanding, unity, and peace.
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 these names is "Krsna," which means "He who is all-attractive," another is "Rama," which means "He who is the 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 Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, 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.
ISKCON's primary mission is thus to encourage all members of human society to devote at least some portion of their time and energies to this process of hearing and chanting about God. In this way they will gradually come to realize that all living beings are spirit souls, eternally related to the Supreme Lord in service and in love.
