What do the letters ISKCON stand for, and when was the movement founded?

They stand for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which was registered in New York in 1966.

Who was A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada?

He was born Abhay Charan De in Calcutta in 1896, worked in the pharmaceutical business before taking sannyasa, and was charged by his own guru with carrying the teaching of Chaitanya to the English-speaking world; he died in 1977.

Describe how Prabhupada reached the United States.

He sailed from Calcutta in 1965 at the age of sixty-nine on a cargo ship, with a trunk of his own books and almost no money, and suffered heart attacks during the passage before arriving in New York.

Which older Hindu tradition does ISKCON belong to?

It belongs to Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the Bengali devotional tradition descending from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who lived from 1486 to 1534.

What is meant by Krishna consciousness?

It is the condition of holding Krishna in mind at every moment, so that eating, working and speaking all become acts of loving service and the soul recovers its natural relationship with God.

WJEC A-Level Religious Studies 603-0277-X

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Christianity: Key Religious ConceptsChristianity

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Christianity: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesChristianity

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Christianity: Practices and Religious IdentityChristianity

Topic overview Diversity in baptism Diversity in the Eucharist Diversity in Christmas and Easter Evaluating baptism, Eucharist and festivals

Islam: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsIslam

Topic overview Muhammad in Makkah: jahiliyya and the Night of Power The Hijrah and Muhammad's leadership in Madinah The Qur'an as a source of wisdom and authority Evaluating Muhammad's leadership and the authority of the Qur'an

Islam: Key Religious ConceptsIslam

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Islam: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesIslam

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Islam: Practices and Religious IdentityIslam

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Judaism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsJudaism

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Judaism: Key Religious ConceptsJudaism

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Judaism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesJudaism

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Judaism: Practices and Religious IdentityJudaism

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Buddhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsBuddhism

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Buddhism: Key Religious ConceptsBuddhism

Topic overview The three lakshanas: dukkha, anicca and anatta Pratityasamutpada, karma and rebirth Arhat and bodhisattva Debating the marks of existence, rebirth and the goals of the path

Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesBuddhism

Topic overview The Four Noble Truths The Eightfold Path and the Middle Way The dasa sila and the lay and monastic sanghas Debating the truths, the path and the precepts

Buddhism: Practices and Religious IdentityBuddhism

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Hinduism: Key Religious ConceptsHinduism

Topic overview Brahman, atman and the nature of the self The Trimurti, cyclic time and Saguna Brahman Karma, samsara and reincarnation Evaluating Brahman, the Trimurti and karma

Hinduism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesHinduism

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Hinduism: Practices and Religious IdentityHinduism

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Sikhism: Religious Figures and Sacred TextsSikhism

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Sikhism: Key Religious ConceptsSikhism

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Sikhism: Religious Life and Moral PrinciplesSikhism

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Sikhism: Practices and Religious IdentitySikhism

Topic overview The gurdwara and the expression of Sikh identity Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas Vaisakhi and the birth of the Khalsa Debates on the gurdwara and Sikh festivals

Ethical Thought: Divine Command, Virtue and Egoism

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Aquinas and Natural Law

Topic overview The four levels of law and the precepts Virtues, acts and goods in Natural Law Natural Law applied to abortion and voluntary euthanasia Evaluating Aquinas' Natural Law

Fletcher and Situation Ethics

Topic overview Fletcher's rejection of legalism and antinomianism, and the turn to agape The working principles and the fundamental principles Situation Ethics applied to homosexual and polyamorous relationships Evaluating Situation Ethics

Utilitarianism

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Inductive Arguments for the Existence of God

Topic overview The cosmological argument The teleological argument Hume's challenges and scientific alternatives Debating the inductive arguments

Deductive Arguments for the Existence of God

Topic overview Anselm's ontological argument Descartes and Malcolm Gaunilo and Kant's objections Debating the ontological argument

The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Topic overview The types and the logical problem of evil Augustinian type theodicy Irenaean type theodicy Debating the problem of evil

The Nature of Religious Experience

Topic overview Types of religious experience Mystical experience: James and Otto Challenges to religious experience Debating religious experience

Christianity: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The biblical canon and inspiration The early church and the kerygmata in Acts Crossan and Wright on Jesus Evaluating inspiration, the kerygmata and methods of studying Jesus

Christianity: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christianity and secularisation in the UK Christianity and the challenge of science Pluralism, exclusivism and inclusivism Evaluating secularism, science and pluralism

Christianity: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Christian attitudes towards wealth Migration and Christianity in the UK Feminist theology and the roles of men and women Evaluating wealth, migration and equality

Christianity: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Ecumenical Movement and the World Council of Churches The Charismatic Movement and religious experience Liberation theology and responses to poverty Evaluating ecumenism, charismatic experience and liberation theology

Islam: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The sources of shari'a and the law schools Shari'a today, ijtihad and taqlid Greater and lesser jihad Evaluating shari'a, ijtihad and jihad

Islam: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The Islamic state and the Constitution of Madinah Islamic teaching on creation and scientific cosmology Western perceptions of Islam and Islamophobia Evaluating Islam, democracy, science and public perception

Islam: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Islamic attitudes to pluralism and conversion Family life, gender and Muslim feminism Muslims in Britain: migration, segregation and assimilation Evaluating pluralism, equality and life as a British Muslim

Islam: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Shi'a Islam: succession, imamate and distinctive practice Sufi thought and devotional practice Crime and punishment in Islamic ethics Evaluating unity, mysticism and Islamic punishment

Judaism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Talmud: Mishnah, Gemara and the two recensions Midrash, halakhah and aggadah Rashi and Maimonides as interpreters Debates about the Talmud, midrash and the commentators

Judaism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Zionism, nationalism and the challenge of secularisation Judaism and the challenge of science Holocaust theology Debates about Zionism, science and Holocaust theology

Judaism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Reform Judaism, the Pittsburgh Platform and pluralism Family life, gender and Jewish feminism Jewish life as a minority in Britain Debates about pluralism, equality and assimilation

Judaism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview Hasidic Judaism and the Baal Shem Tov Kabbalah, the Zohar and the experience of God Embryo research and Jewish ethics Debates about Hasidism, mysticism and Jewish medical ethics

Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

Topic overview The Pali Canon and the Tipitaka The Heart Sutra and the Parable of the Burning House The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh Debating the Canon, the Mahayana sutras and contemporary teachers

Buddhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren in Japan Buddhism and the challenge of science Secularisation, Stephen Batchelor and David Brazier Debating Japanese Buddhism, science and the secular reading

Buddhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

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Hinduism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

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Hinduism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The growth of ISKCON and the work of Prabhupada Hinduism, secularisation and science The purusharthas, wealth and poverty Evaluating ISKCON, secularisation and Hindu attitudes to wealth

Hinduism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Hindu pluralism, ishtadeva and other faiths Migration, minority status and Hindu identity in Britain Changing roles of men and women in Hinduism Evaluating pluralism, British Hindu identity and gender

Hinduism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

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Sikhism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview The aspiration for Khalistan Equality and the changing roles of men and women Sikh attitudes to other religions and worldviews Debates on persecution, gender and religious diversity

Sikhism: Social Developments in Religious Thought

Topic overview Sikhism, science and secularisation The Sikh community in Britain Miri and piri and life as a minority Debates on science, secularisation and minority life

Sikhism: Movements, Change and Contemporary Issues

Topic overview The Rahit Maryada and the Rahit Namas Naam japo, the shabads and the khands Sikhism, infertility and assisted reproduction Debates on the code of conduct, naam and bioethics

Meta-Ethics

Topic overview Naturalism, F. H. Bradley and the naturalistic fallacy Intuitionism and H. A. Prichard Emotivism and A. J. Ayer Evaluating the meta-ethical theories

Deontological Ethics: Finnis and Proportionalism

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Determinism and Predestination

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Free Will and Libertarianism

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Psychological Challenges and Atheism

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Religious Experience and Miracles

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Religious Language: Cognitive and Analogical

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Religious Language: Symbol, Myth and Language Games

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New Testament: ParablesNew Testament

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New Testament: MiraclesNew Testament

Topic overview Types of miracle and the characteristics of the accounts The purpose of the miracle accounts and how they are interpreted Close study of the centurion's servant, the Gerasene demoniac and the feeding of the five thousand Debates about the miracles and their historical validity

New Testament: The Letters (1 Peter)New Testament

Topic overview Authorship, Silvanus and the readership of 1 Peter The purpose of 1 Peter and its place among the New Testament letters Close study of the set passages of 1 Peter Debates about authorship, submission and suffering in 1 Peter

New Testament: Apocalyptic LiteratureNew Testament

Topic overview Defining apocalyptic literature and its characteristics The purposes of apocalyptic writing and how Revelation is interpreted Close study of Revelation 1, 6 and 21 Debates about Revelation's genre, violence and value

Hinduism: Historical Developments in Religious Thought

The growth of ISKCON and the work of Prabhupada

2 things to know
A2 Unit 3

Overview

How Prabhupada reached the United States, krishna consciousness and sankirtan as ISKCON practises it.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

Describe the daily regime in an ISKCON temple.

Key term

What does ISKCON teach about the status of Krishna?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What do the letters ISKCON stand for, and when was the movement founded?
Model answer
They stand for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which was registered in New York in 1966.
2
Who was A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada?
Model answer
He was born Abhay Charan De in Calcutta in 1896, worked in the pharmaceutical business before taking sannyasa, and was charged by his own guru with carrying the teaching of Chaitanya to the English-speaking world; he died in 1977.
3
Describe how Prabhupada reached the United States.
Model answer
He sailed from Calcutta in 1965 at the age of sixty-nine on a cargo ship, with a trunk of his own books and almost no money, and suffered heart attacks during the passage before arriving in New York.
4
Which older Hindu tradition does ISKCON belong to?
Model answer
It belongs to Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the Bengali devotional tradition descending from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who lived from 1486 to 1534.
5
What does ISKCON teach about the status of Krishna?
Model answer
It teaches that Krishna is not one avatar among others but the supreme personality of Godhead himself, the source from which the other forms of the divine proceed.
6
What is meant by Krishna consciousness?
Model answer
It is the condition of holding Krishna in mind at every moment, so that eating, working and speaking all become acts of loving service and the soul recovers its natural relationship with God.

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