Prabhupada BHAKTIVEDANTA, the founder of the
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUS-
NESS (ISKCON). Within ISKCON, one group
of conservative thinkers wanted to venerate all
teachers in the organization as GURUS. A reform
faction led by B. V. Tripurari opposed other ISK-
CON gurus’ accepting veneration in the same
manner as had been shown Prabhupada. Eventu-
ally Tripurari led many of the reform group away
from the original organization and this group
formed the Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society.
Tripurari Swami first met Prabhupada, a saintly
holy man, when he visited the United States in
September 1965. He became a student of the
master and after a short time became a sannyasi,
one who renounces the world to live a holy life.
Amid the turmoil that follow Prabhupada’s death
in 1977, Tripurari remained loyal to his lineage,
pointing reformists to honor Bhakti Rakshak Srid-
hara Maharaj (1895–1988), Prabhupada’s god-
brother (meaning that they had received their
initiations from the same guru).
While Prabhupada had concentrated on the
development of a mission in the United States.
Sridhara Maharaj had developed an international
following related to the work he had started
through the Sri Chaitanya Saraswati Math in West
Bengal, India. As knowledge of his work spread,
he had built up communities abroad that sup-
ported his mission.
Several challenges emerged when the Gaudiya
Vaishnavite Society became active in missionary
efforts. In 1986, the city of San Francisco forbade
society members to pass out their literature on the
streets. The Gaudiya Society took the case to court
and won. In 1988, the organization began to print
its periodical The Clarion Call, similar in design
and perspective to ISKCON’s main magazine, Back
to Godhead. This periodical was able to cross reli-
gious boundaries and reach far beyond the follow-
ers of the society. It especially addressed a variety of
issues important to the New Age community, such
as human and animal rights, reincarnation, holistic
health ideas, vegetarianism, and spirituality.
The Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society remains in
harmony with the religious beliefs and principles
initially articulated by ISKCON. The major issue
originally confronting ISKCON was resolved as its
members spiritually realigned to Sridhara Maharaj
as their leader. There was never any problem with
remaining loyal to the spiritual ideal promoted
by ISKCON. Society members, however, now
trace their lineage from Sridhara Maharaj and not
Prabhupada.
The Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society teaches a form
of BHAKTI (devotional) yoga that encourages mem-
bers to engage in temple worship, in contrast with
other forms of Hinduism that focus on worshipping
at a home altar. Precepts include belief in a theistic
(personal) deity. The society’s views thus differ from
the traditional perspective of ADVAITA (non-dualist)
VEDANTA, which supports a monist perspective in
which the ultimate divine is conceived in imper-
sonal terms. The Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society (and
related groups such as ISKCON) build their rela-
tionship with God through personal devotion. A
major element in that devotional activity concerns
the frequent repetition of the following MANTRA that
calls upon the name of God: Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, / Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, / Hare Rama,
Hare Rama, / Rama, Rama, Hare, Hare.
The mantra is chanted several hours daily by
devotees as a means of elevating their conscious-
ness, quickening enlightenment, and hastening
progress to SAMADHI, an elevated state of con-
sciousness.Further reading: Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva
Goswami, The Golden Volcano of Divine Love (San Jose,
Calif.: Guardian of Devotion Press, 1984); ———, The
Hidden Treasure of the Absolute (West Bengal: Sri Chait-
anya Saraswati Math, 1985); Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur,
Sri Chaitanya Mahapradhu: His Life and Precepts (Brook-
lyn, N.Y.: Gaudiya Press, 1987); Swami B. V. Tripurari,
Ancient Wisdom for Modern Ignorance (Eugene, Ore.:
Clarion Call, 1994); ———, Rasa, Love Relationships
in Transcendence (Eugene, Ore.: Gaudiya Vaishnava
Society, 1993).K 166 Gaudiya Vaishnavite Society