A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in New York City in 1966, introducing the devotional traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to mainstream America. ISKCON invited Americans not merely to study Hindu philosophy but to embrace it through worship, music, community, and monastic life. The movement expanded rapidly across the United States and around the world, establishing hundreds of temples and bringing Sanskrit chants, vegetarianism, and devotional practices into American religious and cultural life.
