One of the most essential principles in the Vedic scriptures is that every human being must seek out a bona fide guru, serve him, inquire from him submissively and accept initiation from him in order to understand the purpose of the human form of life and achieve the ultimate goal, pure love for Lord Krishna. This is the only means to put an end to our otherwise endless entanglement in the material world of birth and death. A thoughtful person will naturally ask, "How do I know who is a bona fide guru who can guide me? How do I serve him? What is the best way to associate with my guru? How should I relate to disciples of other gurus within ISKCON? Why is it important to understand and promote Srila Prabhupada's unique position as the Founder Acharya and preeminent siksa guru of ISKCON?" The ISKCON Disciples Course teaches these principles and much more. Furthermore, it is required by ISKCON Law that anyone who wishes to be initiated within The International Society for Krishna Consciousness must first successfully complete this course. Upon completion, you will receive an authorized Certificate of Completion. This course will be presented online, as a seven-week course, with the final exam in the eighth week. Although we strongly recommend those who take this course to make every attempt to keep pace with the presentation of course materials, they will be able to arrange their participation with the course around their regular work and family duties. In other words, there is no requirement to be in front of your computer at any specific time of day for live sessions because all information, methods of course assessment will be included within the course itself.

Live and Streamed Sessions

In the past, we have seen that many devotees who have taken this course online have felt a need for the addition of a more face to face and real time relationship with the teacher and the other students. To take a course totally online does require a good sense of self-motivation. Therefore, starting with this presentation of the course, in addition to the online course materials, we will have one live session each week. Those who live nearby can attend the classes onsite. The onsite sessions will be held at


However, for the benefit of everyone else, including local devotees who may not want to attend the classes onsite, we will be live streaming the classes using Zoom. The classes will also be simultaneously live streamed to various social media channels like YouTube and Facebook that we will provide links to. Video Recordings of the live sessions will also be added to the online course materials.

This means that anyone can attend the lectures, ask questions and associate with devotees. We want to make this knowledge available to everyone interested, even if they do not presently want to commit to taking the course, doing homework, and taking tests.

However, to take full advantage of the course, and to get a Certificate of Completion, it will be necessary to register with the school and formally enroll in the class to be able to access and submit homework assignments, take quizzes, access other written materials and the final exam, without which there would be no way to assess the learning of the students.

As your teacher, For those who have registered for the course, I will be checking in daily to comment on your work, answer your online questions and guide you. I trust that you will find this to be a very interesting and enlightening course that will continue to guide you throughout your spiritual lives. Hare Krishna.

your servant,

Dharma dasa

ISKCON Disciples Course Teacher