ISKCON provides formal education in the highest science, or what Bhagavad-gita
calls the “King of knowledge.” According to Vedic sources, education can only be
valid when there is spiritual knowledge or self-realization, and a man is said to have;
no qualifications if he does not know who he is in terms of self-realization or God
realization. Learning the texts requires living in accordance with the scriptural
injunctions without the slightest deviation. The need for Krsna conscious preachers
is very great, and it is a full-time vocation. The curriculum advances basically from
student to minister; after studying and working in a temple for one year, the student
may be awarded the title of bhakti-sastri, or ordained minister, with further
responsibilities and with advancement of service. He may finally take the renounced
order, called sannyasa, and receive the title svami.

As the philosophy of Krsna consciousness is nonsectarian, any man—Hindu or
Christian—will advance in his faith by chanting the holy name of God and hearing
the Bhagavad-gita. Without knowledge, realization and loving service to the one
Supreme God, there can be no religion. Let the inhabitants of this planet rejoice in
the sankirtana movement and live to see the fulfillment of the chanting of Hare
Krsna carried to every town and village. Only in this way can real peace prevail in
the world and mankind qualify to enter into the kingdom of God.
