What's going on today - Options

[cherry]

hi great souls, can i ask a quesiton?
i am just trying to find out all the 'options' that are available today, for the devotees, what different 'paths' there are.
Like, there is ..
1. Iskcon
2. Ritvik
3. IRM (iskcon revival movement)
4. Narayana Maharaja
5. Gaudya Math
what is Mukunda Dasa, is he any of the above, something else altogether?
is there any more?
thank you for your time and patience

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Mukunda dasa is ritvik. He used to be a part of the Prabhupada Sankirtan Society but I believe he has gone off on his own now with his preaching center.

There is also a ritvik group called "Srila Prabhupada's Hare Krishna Society".

Here is a link to their website:

http://www.krishnaconsciousnessmovement.com/index.html

They are very nice and helpful devotees. Check out their festival pics!!

Read Prabhupada's books, follow his instructions and find devotees who are doing this also to associate with.

your servant,
Rukmini-Devi dasi

[cherry]

Hare Krishna,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

Mukunda dasa is ritvik. He used to be a part of the Prabhupada Sankirtan Society but I believe he has gone off on his own now with his preaching center.

There is also a ritvik group called "Srila Prabhupada's Hare Krishna Society".

Here is a link to their website:

http://www.krishnaconsciousnessmovement.com/index.html

They are very nice and helpful devotees. Check out their festival pics!!

Read Prabhupada's books, follow his instructions and find devotees who are doing this also to associate with.

your servant,
Rukmini-Devi dasi

Hare Krsna Rukmini, thanks for your reply
what is Prabhupada Sankirtan Society?
there are different ritvik groups? .. how many do you know?
(which one do you belong to, if i may ask?)
so, the list i gave above, in first post, that is basically all groups then?
sorry, for my ignorance, until fairly recently, even though i knew iskcon had big probs, i considered them the only choice, though i distanced myself from them, with the idea that sometime, hopefully in my lifetime, they would get it together.
now i am not so sure about that, to say the least.
anyway, thanks again, i am pretty confused about things really, at the moment, seeing changes to Prabhupada's books by iskcon has really blown me away. i did not realise how bad these changes were ...

Haribol!

Prabhupada Sankirtan Society was based in New York City but moved a year or so ago. They are setting up a farm community based on Prabhupada's teachings.

The PSS has been around for years - headed by Kapindra Swami - a disciple of Prabhupada. They did a very nice "Food for Life" program in New York City for many years.

Who knows how many groups there are - there are many devotees spread out on this planet and many get together regulary for programs etc.

There is also the Radha Damodara Temple in Canada who follow Srila Prabhupada's ritvik instructions:

Here is their website address:

http://www.freewebs.com/radhadamodara/

and you should visit their forums at this address:

http://s14.invisionfree.com/Radha_Damodara_Forum/index.php

Pedro - the forum admin - is very nice and has set up a nice mellow place where Prabhupadanugas can associate.

I don't belong to any group per se. None of the groups are near where I live. I do my best to follow Prabhupada's teachings and instructions as he very clearly laid out for us and I seek like minded devotees to associate with.

your servant,
Rukmini-Devi dasi

[vespertine212]

I've lived in a city with multiple ritvik centers operating just a few blocks away from eachother. I talked to the individuals involved and realized that even though they basically had the same opinions, the "Prabhupada Sankirtan Society" and "IRM" just couldn't get along. Both of their centers were desperately understaffed, new recruits tended to be kind of crazy, and there was lots of turn around in the membership (which is always a red flag for me). Quite sad.

There are more options for Krishna consciousness than the ones you listed. There are also the babajis of Radha kunda; Ananta das Babaji is becoming quite popular amongst western devotees, and there are also others. There are also a number of Goswamis in Vrndavana - the Radha Raman Goswamis, with whom Prabhupada had very good relations, come to mind. There are many Gaudiya sampradayas in both Vrndavana and Navadwipa, though you should be careful to find pure sanga, which can be very difficult.

If you want to pursue the very high and beautiful spiritual ideals of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, find sanga which exemplifies the spiritual qualities He taught. Pray to Krishna, and He will help you.

Good luck!

The IRM doesn't get along with anyone actually. I found them to be far too political to deal with for more than a few minutes.

the disciples of Ananta das Babaji that I have met are very offensive towards Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada. Please note that I say the disciples I have met are anti-Prabhupada but it is enough that I prefer to distance myself from them for that reason.


I've lived in a city with multiple ritvik centers operating just a few blocks away from eachother. I talked to the individuals involved and realized that even though they basically had the same opinions, the "Prabhupada Sankirtan Society" and "IRM" just couldn't get along. Both of their centers were desperately understaffed, new recruits tended to be kind of crazy, and there was lots of turn around in the membership (which is always a red flag for me). Quite sad.

There are more options for Krishna consciousness than the ones you listed. There are also the babajis of Radha kunda; Ananta das Babaji is becoming quite popular amongst western devotees, and there are also others. There are also a number of Goswamis in Vrndavana - the Radha Raman Goswamis, with whom Prabhupada had very good relations, come to mind. There are many Gaudiya sampradayas in both Vrndavana and Navadwipa, though you should be careful to find pure sanga, which can be very difficult.

If you want to pursue the very high and beautiful spiritual ideals of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, find sanga which exemplifies the spiritual qualities He taught. Pray to Krishna, and He will help you.

Good luck!

[cherry]

Rukmini-Devi dasi, vespertine212, thanks for the info!
well i joined at Radha Damodara forum, it looks cool!
Pedro gave me a welcome, and asked how i found out about the place, etc etc - told him you told me Rukmini and gave him link to this thread.
it looks like a pretty new place huh?

[vijayakrishnan]

Hare Krishna

All glories to Srila Prabhupad

One kind advice to you!
Srila Prabhupad has written lot of books and from that the whole movement is running. You must remember Prabhupad said "Books are tha Basics"

See if you want to see who is who? Then its waste of time.One more thing is that Prabhupad got sanyas from gaudiiya math.that means Did Prabhupad belong to Gaudiya math.no Isnt it? There is no need to Judge Vaishnavas and we cannot do that also. So Please Chant the Holy name of the lord without any deviation and good concentration.beacuse that alone can only help you to get out of this material world and become a eternal servant of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.Even that should be our goal. Don't get into these type of doubts or discussions then it will spoil your Bhakti lata.
Please kindly remember one thing that Srila Prabhupad never said us to do this. He said only CHANT HARE KRISHNA AND BE HAPPY.So let us do that !

If anything would hurt you then please forgive me for my offense

Hare Krishna
Vijayakrishnan