The ISKCON Constitution Inaugurated
A Long Journey Comes to Completion
The GBC met in October 2006 in Prabhupadadesh, Italy, in a special meeting to determine key projects to ensure the health and vitality of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in the future, especially considering that the disciples of Srila Prabhupada are gradually leaving this world and that in several decades none will be left on the planet.
Establishing an ISKCON Constitution was among the top priorities the GBC identified.
A constitution would ideally give ISKCON a unified, stable governance framework by clearly defining rights, duties, authority, and principles. It would foster unity, protect integrity, align governance with śāstra and Srila Prabhupada’s intent, fill legal gaps, offer guidance in sensitive issues, and improve clarity, consistency, and legal efficiency across the movement.
In fact, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), had previously expressed a desire to see a Constitution for his Society.
A committee was formed. They started discussing, meeting, producing some drafts, and presenting their work to the GBC.
Over the next 10 years and five drafts their attempt did not reach a final draft that was fully satisfying to the GBC and considered ready for formal adoption.
The initiative was revamped in June 2017 with the addition of new members, who restarted the effort while adopting a different approach in key areas.
That same year the new ISKCON Constitution Project team submitted a first draft at the October GBC midterm meetings in Ujjain, India. At that time, there wasn’t discussion in the plenary sessions, but the draft established and clarified the new direction: a more comprehensive document, including substantial amounts of theological references.
Draft Two and Draft Three followed, each incorporating feedback from GBC members and others (GBC Deputies, SABHA members, and others). The team collected comments by email and survey forms, as well as in person, for instance at the GBC midterm meetings in Kanpur (October 2018), Tirupati (October 2019), and at multiple Mayapur annual meetings.
The pandemic slowed the work somewhat. The team met again in person in Singapore at the beginning of 2023 to produce Draft Four. This draft was submitted to the GBC at the 2023 Annual General Meeting.
That draft was then placed online, in multiple languages (at the site iskconconstitutionproject.org), and all devotees in the world were invited to comment and offer feedback.
The team studied the feedback and then met in person for four days in Washington DC, in May 2024, to revise and refine the document.
We then submitted the document for English editing to Kaisori Devi Dasi (BBT). We studied her valuable input and made the needed changes.
Through this entire time, the team held weekly Zoom meetings.
We submitted Draft Five to the GBC in January 2025.
A couple of months later, during the Mayapur GBC Annual General Meeting, we presented the status of the project – now practically completed – and took a GBC vote on a particular issue that needed resolution.
After that, on the first online GBC meetings after the Mayapur meetings, on 16th April 2025, the Governing Body Commission approved and ratified the text of the ISKCON Constitution, pending an outside legal review (for safety).
It took some time to find a cost-effective and qualified legal firm for the task, and the one we chose did a thorough and encouraging job.
Thorough because they submitted extensive notes and considerations. Encouraging because their analysis confirmed the legal solidity of the text.
We became therefore ready to release the ISKCON Constitution worldwide for the pleasure, orientation, and guidance of all ISKCON devotees and centers. We chose the auspicious day of Vasant Panchami, the beginning of spring in the traditional six-season system, which this year, 2026, was on 23rd January.
Please keep in mind that the Constitution is not just an internal document. It has legal relevance and therefore will be read by courts all over the world—also to settle cases and disputes. It will be studied by the media, by scholars, by interfaith practitioners, and by everyone who seriously wishes to understand Srila Prabhupada’s movement.
More than 50 percent of the Constitution consists of direct quotes from śāstra and from Srila Prabhupada’s words. We wish the devotees can feel pride in the tradition represented and carried forward by ISKCON.
The ISKCON Constitution Drafting Committee