PM Modi unveils Rs 125 coin to pay tribute to ISKCON founder on 125th birth anniversary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday marked the 125th birth anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. While honouring the ISKCON founder and his contributions, PM Modi also introduced a distinctive Rs 125 commemorative coin via a video conference. Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy was also present on the occasion.

About the commemorative coin

An Rs. 125 commemorative coin was introduced by PM as a tribute to Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Earlier, the PM Modi-led Centre had introduced a commemorative Rs. 125 coin on the occasion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary. In October 2020, a Rs. 75 coin was introduced to mark the 75th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organisation. 

Contributions of ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada

Abhay Charan De, popularly known as Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was considered as a representative and messenger of Krishna Chaitanya among his followers. ISKCON has translated Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta and other Vedic literature into 89 languages, playing a stellar role in the dissemination of Vedic literature across the world.

ISKCON has over 150 temples, 12 state-recognized educational institutions, 25 affiliated and non-affiliated restaurants, and a number of tourist and pilgrimage hotels in India alone. Asia has over 80 ISKCON centres spread across Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Africa holds 69 centres. Europe is home to 135 ISKCON affiliated temples and cultural centres while Russia has 31 centres. Coming to America, there are 56 ISKCON affiliated centres in North America and South America is home to 60 centres. Canada where a lot of Indians reside has 12 such institutions set up by ISKCON and Mexico is home to 5 officially affiliated centres respectively.

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada also established over a hundred temples and wrote several books, teaching the path of Bhakti Yoga to the world, informed the release. His mission was to propagate throughout the world Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a school of Vaishnavite Hinduism that had been taught to him by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. After his death in 1977, ISKCON, the society he founded based on a form of Hindu Krishnaism using the Bhagavata Purana as a central scripture, continued to grow.

(Image Credits - ANI)