Associação Internacional para a Consciência de Krishna

description of organisation

The Cultural Centre of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Oporto was established in May 1990 in the very heart of the historical center of the City of Porto. It includes a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, a boutique, a multipurpose hall, and a meditation/yoga hall.

ISKCON is a non-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge and activities connected to the Eastern philosophy and practices contained in the ancient Vedas, from the East.
Since the mid – 90s, ISKCON Porto has been engaged in a wide variety of activities. ISKCON Porto had started with weekly yoga classes and weekly charity lunches. The purpose for this was the necessity, as seen by the founders, to create a place where people could come and experience a healthy lifestyle without having to pay, as well as a place where people could meet eachother and engage in intercultural and inter-religious dialogues. As time proved success with these programs, ISKCON Porto increased the frequence of our yoga classes and charity lunches. Later on, we started expanding our impact and influence, targeting students and mainly. This resulted in having the opportunity to begin yoga classes and workshops within univerisities which saw a large student audience beginning to attend. After that, we started expanding our charity lunches to a more mobile capacity. We started cooking in our kitchens, then distributing our free lunches from our vans that travelled to different location accross the city.

Our impact audience for these activities are: People experiencing economic difficulty, social difficulty, students, and people experiencing health problems.

Besides serving daily vegan/vegetarian meals and being open to the general public, the Porto ISKCON Centre has been engaged since its inception in serving a warm dinner every Wednesday to the Homeless sleeping in the streets of the City, in imparting classes on Vedic philosophy and practices, and in organising festivals and events connected to the main celebrations in the Vedic calendar. In general, the main purpose of ISKCON is to make a positive contribution towards a better society and a better future, based on the timeless spiritual values and practices contained in the Vedas.