reform ISKCON on the basis of an interpretation
of the directives for succession given by Swami
Prabhupada BHAKTIVEDANTA (1896–1977), the
founder of ISKCON.
According to IRM, the founder revealed, in a
philosophical treatise called “The Final Order”
issued on July 9, 1977, a signed directive appoint-
ing 11 of his senior managers to act as ritviks
(officiating priests) to initiate new recruits into
the ISKCON movement on his behalf. According
to IRM, all future disciples within ISKCON were
supposed to revere Bhaktivedanta Swami as their
GURU, not any successor. However, shortly after
Bhaktivedanta Swami’s demise on November 14,
1977, these ritviks ignored the directive; instead,
they divided the world into 11 zones, each claim-
ing to be the guru or spiritual successor in a dif-
ferent area. By early 1978 the 11 ritviks had begun
to initiate disciples on their own behalf, acting as
gurus for the movement.
Over time, a number of the gurus suffered law-
suits, suicide, and other problems. The movement
was plunged into confusion and acrimony. By
the mid-1980s the Governing Body Commission
(GBC), which managed ISKCON, issued a new
interpretation of Bhaktivedanta Swami’s direc-
tive. What he had really wanted, it said, was for
all disciples to become initiating gurus, not just
the 11 ritviks. Today new gurus are added to the
roster via a majority vote by the GBC at its annual
meetings in Mayapur. Currently ISKCON gurus
number around 80.
IRM contends that both the zonal guru system
and its replacement multiple-guru system are
unauthorized innovations. Citing GBC resolu-
tions and management directives approved by
Bhaktivedanta Swami, the IRM insists that ISK-
CON will continue to flounder as long as it fails
to comply with the orders of Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada.
The IRM has grown quickly in the few years
of its existence, claiming members and temples
on every continent, including the ISKCON temple
in Bangalore, the largest ISKCON temple in the
world. It publishes an international magazine,
Back to Prabhupada, and an electronic newsletter.
They have also met with considerable opposition
from those supporting the current multiple-guru
system in ISKCON.
The IRM’s followers consist of both current
and former ISKCON members, ISKCON Life
Members, and members of the Hindu community
at large. The IRM’s ultimate goal is to rebuild an
ISKCON movement operating just as Bhaktive-
danta Swami intended, with him as the sole guru
and authority.Further reading: Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhu-
pada, Bhagavad-Gita As It Is (New York: Bhaktivedanta
Trust, 1972); Krishnakant Desai, The Final Order (Lon-
don: Printed privately, 1996; Bangalore: International
Society for Krishna Consciousness, 2001).International Society of Divine Love
(est. 1975)
Swami H. D. Prakashanand Saraswati (b. 1929)
was born into a BRAHMIN family in AYODHYA, India.
His early life was fraught with intense religious
feelings, and as a youth he became a reclusive
mystic so that he might find God in the silence.
He took the vows of SANNYAS (renunciation) at
age 20 from his guru, Jagadguru Krupalu Swami
of Pratapgarh. He spent the next 20 years as a
wandering mendicant in the Himalayas and in the
forests of central India, ending in Braj, the reputed
earthly home of Lord KRISHNA. In 1975, emerging
from his solitary life, he established the Interna-
tional Society of Divine Love. Later on he traveled
to America and founded a home for devotees and
disciples. By 1981 Swami Prakashanand, who had
begun to be thought of as a distinguished sage
and a saint, conceived of creating a global mission
movement.
Swami Prakashanand is of the lineage of the
great Vaishnavite sage of West Bengal Sri Krishna
CHAITANYA (1485–1553). Followers of VAISH-
NAVISM, as well as other schools of Hinduism,K 200 International Society of Divine Love