The International Society for Krishna Consciousness, also known as the Hare Krishna movement, is not new to the world. Its roots date back to ancient India the most advanced civilization the world has ever known.

The most important witnesses of this era are the Vedic scriptures written in Sanskrit. The Vedic religion is monotheistic and teaches the worship of one Supreme God (named Krishna in Sanskrit) and it was this God conscious lifestyle that ensured the long lasting prosperity of the Vedic culture. About 5000 years ago Kali-yuga, the iron age of quarrel and hypocrisy began.

The great sages and saints of the Vedic tradition could understand that in Kali-yuga materialism would predominate. Therefore they decided to put all Vedic knowledge, which had been an oral tradition up till then, into writing to save it from the influence of Kali-yuga. Thus the Vedic scriptures came into being 5000 years ago, although their contents, originating from divine revelation, had been existing from time immemorial. Besides the scriptures there were also teachers (gurus) who embodied the Vedic teachings by their own example and in this way passed it on to their disciples, who passed it on their disciples, and so on.

In 1486 Lord Krishna appeared in West Bengal as Sri Chaitanya. His appearance as an incarnation of God (avatar) had already been predicted in the Vedic scriptures. He established the movement for Krishna Consciousness in India and revealed the recommended method of God realization for the present age (yuga-dharma): the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

Lord Chaitanya explained that real God consciousness does not depend on caste or church membership. He spread the chanting of the holy name as the method to enable anyone to become Krishna conscious and predicted that one day the Holy name of Lord Krishna would be heard all over the world. In fulfilling this prophecy of the Lord, His followers saw their life's mission. A major step was taken ten generations after Lord Chaitanya by the great scholar and devotee His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), who gave the name of Lord Krishna and the message of the Vedas to the whole world.