Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī and ISKCON

Abstract

The Hindu and Bengali renaissance of the nineteenth century revolved in many respects around a recovery of early texts of Hinduism such as the Upanishads and a revival of Advaita Vedānta. It also entailed a general rejection of iconic bhakti and the Puranic literature, regarded as expressions of primitive religion. The religious current represented by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī (1874–1936) and the institution that he founded in 1918, which later became known as the Gaudiya Math and Mission, generated a renewed interest for bhakti religiosity and went beyond the mainstream tenets of the renaissance. The chapter provides an overview of the life of Bhaktisiddhānta and a brief history of his movement, which includes one of its most prominent international offshoots—that is, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement.