ISKCON Sundarpada, Bhubaneswar
ISKCON Sundarpada, located in the holy capital city of Bhubaneswar (also known as the Temple City), stands in a land sanctified by divine heritage. Bhubaneswar, referred to as Ekamra Dham, is glorified in the Skanda Purana and Padma Purana as one of Lord Shiva’s sacred abodes, where He resides as Sri Lingaraj.
Situated just 60 km from Sri Jagannath Puri Dham, Bhubaneswar is also revered as the gateway to Srikhetra – Jagannath Dham.
Our ISKCON Sundarpada Temple serves as a vibrant centre of spiritual learning and devotion. Its mission is to spread the timeless wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and the Puranas, promote the rich Sanatan culture and divine glories of Odisha, and help nurture a spiritually prosperous and culturally elevated society.
About ISKCON
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna Movement, is a spiritual organization founded in July 1966 in New York by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the great Acharya of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya.
ISKCON belongs to the Gaudiya-Vaishnava tradition, a monotheistic branch of Sanatan Dharma rooted in the ancient Vedic culture. Today, ISKCON has grown into a global movement with over 400 temples, 40 rural communities, 100 vegetarian restaurants, and various humanitarian projects such as Food for Life — the world’s largest free vegetarian food relief program.
The mission of ISKCON is to spread the universal principles of self-realization and God consciousness, as taught in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, to bring about spiritual understanding, unity, and peace in society. The Vedas recommend that in this age of Kali, the most effective means of self-realization is the chanting of the Holy Names:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
ISKCON follows the disciplic succession (parampara) of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, beginning with Lord Krishna and continuing through Srila Vyasadeva, Srila Madhvacharya, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and in the modern era, Srila Prabhupada and his followers.
Its teachings are non-sectarian and uphold the essence of Sanatan Dharma — the eternal occupation of all living beings: loving devotional service (bhakti-yoga) to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Sri Radha Krishna.
History
In 1965, at the age of 69, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada boarded the steamship ‘Jaladuta’ from Mumbai on his way to United States. At an age when most people think of retiring Srila Prabhupada undertook this arduous journey to fulfill the mission of Lord Caitanya and follow the instruction of his spiritual master Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur to carry the message of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam to Western world.
After arriving in New York City in September 1965, Srila Prabhupada struggled alone for the first year to establish his Krishna conscious movement. He lived simply, lectured whenever and wherever he got the opportunity and gradually began to attract some small interest in his teaching. In July of 1966, while still working from an obscure storefront on New York City’s Lower East Side, Srila Prabhupada nonetheless founded a spiritual society intended for worldwide participation. He called it International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON for short and thus began the Hare Krishna movement in America.
At the time of incorporation, Srila Prabhupada had not attracted even one committed follower. Undeterred, he enlisted volunteers from among the small group of regular attendees at his evening lectures to act as ISKCON’s first trustees. That was then. Today, ISKCON comprises of more than 400 temples worldwide, 40 rural communities and over 100 vegetarian restaurants. It also conducts special projects throughout the world, such as “Food for Life”, the only free vegetarian relief program in the world.