Ministry Guidelines

As early as 1949, Srila Prabhupada described his mission in a letter to the Hon. Sardar, Dr. Vallavbhaiji Patel, Deputy Prime Minister of India, outlining four movements. The first was the “sankirtan” movement of chanting and philosophical discourse that was to be introduced all over the world. Then came the “temple entry” movement; organizing temples as centers of spiritual culture according to scriptures like Bhagavad-gita. Thirdly, he described the “spiritual initiation” movement, a movement that would be conducted under strict disciplinary methods to enable “mayajanas” to attain the perfection of human life. This would “be organized in such a manner that people all over the world may take interest in it.” Finally, he described the “classless society” movement or the “scientific division of the caste system as envisaged in the Bhagavad-gita”.

We can see that Srila Prabhupada had a clear idea how his preaching movement would be conducted as early as 1949. As the years went by he refined the concepts involved. In 1956 he published his “Essay on Gita Nagari” in Back to Godhead magazine, which reiterated the same “four movements” or divisions. Then again in 1966 Srila Prabhupada registered his International Society for Krishna Consciousness and began to systematically introduce these four divisions earlier identified in his 1949 letter and 1956 essay. As his mission expanded around the world he began to purchase farmland to develop rural communities.