The International Society for Krishna Consciousness - ISKCON was established in 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. ISKCON has since developed into a worldwide confederation of 10,000 temple devotees and 250,000 congregational devotees.

Better known as the Hare Krishna movement, ISKCON is comprised of more than 350 centres, 60 rural communities, 50 schools and 60 restaurants worldwide.

During the time when the Hare Krishna movement was growing fast and many temples were being established around the w or ld, in 1976, devotees from all over the w or ld came to Vrindavan, India f or the opening ceremony of the Krishna Balaram Mandir by ISKCON. At that time, Srila Prabhupada instructed devotees to go to different parts of the w or ld to open new temples.

With the instructions and blessings of Srila Prabhupada, some devotees came to Sri Lanka on 4/10/1976 to open a temple in Colombo. A popular businessman and philanthropist Mr. E. Shanmugam donated a place to open a temple f or ISKCON in Colombo.  On 15/3/1977 ISKCON was registered as a Religious and Cultural organization with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The deity of L or d Krishna was donated to ISKCON Sri Lanka by Thirupathi Thirumala Devastanam (T.T.D), Andhra Pradesh India in 1982 and L or d Krishna was f or mally installed with Kumbabishekam ceremony in 1982. The deity of Srimati Radharani was also donated by T.T.D in 1990 and installed with Kumbabishekam ceremony in 1990. After this, the temple was called "Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple" and the deities are called Sri Radha Rajagopal.

Sri Sri Radha Krishna

 In 1992, ISKCON was officially inc or p or ated by an Act of Parliament No: 69 of 1992 . In 1996 the centennial year of the appearance of Srila Prabhupada was celebrated with 1008 holy waters from holy places in India.

Sri Jagannath. Baladev and Subadhra

The deities of Jagannath, Baladev and Subadhra were brought from  Jagannath Puri India and were ceremoniously installed and they are w or shipped since1997. In 1999, the first Jagannath Ratha Yatra was conducted as a festival of peace and this has become an annual event.

Mission

The mission of this nonsectarian, monotheistic movement is to promote the well being of society by teaching the science of Krishna consciousness according to Bhagavad-gita and other ancient scriptures.

Purpose

Srila Prabhupada gave a clear mission statement for ISKCON which is outlined in the following seven points.

1. To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
2. To propagate a consciousness of Krishna (God), as it is revealed in the great scriptures of India, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
3. To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus developing the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna).
4. To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy name of God, as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
5. To erect for the members and for society at large a holy place of transcendental pastimes dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
6. To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler, more natural way of life.
7. With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.