Offical ISKCON seal
Vedic Wisdom

The Vedas are the oldest written texts on our planet. They date back to the beginning of the ancient Vedic civilization of India and are the earliest literary records of the whole Aryan race. They have been passed down through oral tradition for over 100,000 years.

The Bhagavad-gita is universally renowed as the jewel of India's spiritual wisdom.

Spoken by Lord sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to His intimate devotee Arjuna, the Gita's seven hundred concise verses provide a definitive guide to the science of self-realization.

The Gita lucidly explains the nature of consciousness, the self, and the universe. The essence of India’s spiritual wisdom, it answers questions posed by philosophers for centuries.

Bhagavad-gita book

The Vedas came to us in written form between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago. The main purpose of the Vedic literature is to establish knowledge of the Absolute Truth and the process for attaining the highest levels of self-realization. To do that it must, and does, contain the elementary as well as most advanced forms of spiritual knowledge.

Spirit Soul

Consciousness is proof of the presence of the soul, just as sunshine is proof of the presence of the sun. When the soul is present in the body, there is consciousness all over the body, and as soon as the soul has passed from the body, there is no more consciousness.

The Law of Karma

Karma is the cosmic law of action and reaction. Under its control we souls in the material world reap good or bad results according to each act we perform.

Reincarnation

Since every living entity is an individual soul, each is changing his body at every moment, manifesting sometimes as a child, sometimes as a youth, and sometimes as an old man. Yet the same spirit soul is there and does not undergo any change. This individual soul finally leaves the body at death and transmigrates to another body.

The Three Modes of Material Nature

The Vedas describe three forces, or modes, whose influence pervades the universe: goodness, passion, and ignorance. “Mode” is a translation of the Sanskrit word guna, which literally means “rope,” implying that goodness, passion, and ignorance are the ropes that bind us souls to the material world.

The Ultimate Goal of Life

The ultimate goal of human life is to achieve immortality. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to become an old man. Nobody wants to become diseased. This is our natural inclination. Why? Because originally, in our spiritual form, there is no birth, no death, no old age, no disease. Therefore by practice of self-realization, one can achieve the ultimate goal of life, namely, liberation from the material struggle for existence.