Sri Srimad Murali Mohan Maharaj is the founder and acharya of the Sankirtana Corporation since 1990s.
Sankirtana Corporation
History and structure
After Harikesha Swami and Kirtiraj had been forced out from the USSR in 1980, none of the Western ISKCON devotees visited the country until 1989-90. There were practically no Krishna Consciousness books, but thanks to the efforts and activity of Mamu Thakur and members of Sankirtana, people had been joining the movement. None of them saw Prabhupada, but they knew Mamu Thakur and believed these famous words: “In every town and village, Hare Krishna will be chanted.” This is the story of the emergence of Krishna consciousness in the most atheistic and demonic country in the world. In recognition of Mama Thakur’s services to the acharya of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada, he was sent to the Holy Dhama in India in 1992 and to the United States a year after, where his preaching was just as compelling. In 1997, in New York, Mamu Thakur registered the Sankirtana Corporation, a cultural and social organization that took responsibility for spreading Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s SANKIRTANA Mission all over the world. The Russian Sankirtana Association consists of about a hundred students of Mamu Thakur and free members. Those who fail to follow all the principles as initiated disciples make up an army of free members. They work in organizations and serve in corporation offices, or live in temples. His followers live in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Belarus, Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR, as well as in the United States.
goals
OBJECTIVES OF SANKIRTANA Corporation
To constantly disseminate spiritual knowledge, to familiarize people with the philosophy and practice of Krishna consciousness; in the name of restoring the true values in society, to promote the unity of people on a spiritual basis and to achieve peace in the world.
To disseminate the principles of Vedic culture as set forth in the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam.
To strengthen the unity of the members of the Society by directing them to Krishna, the Supreme Personality of God. To preach to people the realization that every soul is an integral part of Krishna.
To further develop and inspire the Sankirtana movement – the joint glorification of the holy names of Lord Krishna, according to the teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
mANIFESTO
Life Dedicated to the Absolute
Thus, in the times preceding the modern age of the Kali Yuga (Satya, Treta, Dvapara), people practiced meditation, made sacrifices and worshiped deities in temples. But in the modern age of enmity and hypocrisy, none of the above methods (meditation, worship in temples) brings desired result. People’s lives are short, and they are so engaged in material activity that they have no time to think about the needs of the eternal soul. They are confused by materialistic concept of life, so even religion, the true purpose of which is to develop a loving relationship with God, they have learned to use solely to satisfy their material needs for food, sleep, sex and defense. Out of great compassion for fallen conditioned souls, the Lord Himself descended into this material world to teach them the principles of bhakti – devotional love ministry. In 1486 Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came – the incarnation of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of God. He began the SANKIRTANA Movement, a joint chalising of the “H a r e K r i sh n a” maha mantra. As stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam (11.5.32.), “in this age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of sankirtana-yajna”:
krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah