The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by "His Divine Grace" Abhay Caranaravinda Bhaktivedanta Svami "Prabhupada". Its core beliefs are based on traditional Hindu scriptures such as the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and the Bhagavad-gītā, both of which, according to the traditional Hindu view, date back more than 5,000 years. The distinctive appearance of the movement and its culture come from the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the late 15th century and Western converts since the early 1930s.

ISKCON was formed to spread the practice of bhakti yoga, in which aspirant devotees (bhaktas) dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing the Supreme Lord, Krishna. ISKCON today is a worldwide confederation of more than 400 centers, including 60 farm communities, some aiming for self-sufficiency, 50 schools and 90 restaurants. In recent decades the movement's most rapid expansions in terms of numbers of membership have been within Eastern Europe (especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union) and India.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (Urdu: ذاکر عبدالکریم نائیک; born 18 October 1965) is an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organisation that owns the Peace TV channel based in Dubai, UAE. He is sometimes referred to as a televangelist. Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a doctor. He has written two booklets on Islam and comparative religion. He is regarded as an exponent of the Salafi ideology; he places a strong emphasis on individual scholarship and the rejection of "blind Taqlid", which has led him to repudiate the relevance of sectarian or Madh'hab designations, all the while reaffirming their importance.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik was born on 18 October 1965 in Mumbai, India. He attended St. Peter's High School in Mumbai. Later he enrolled at Kishinchand Chellaram College, before studying medicine at Topiwala National Medical College and Nair Hospital and later the University of Mumbai, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS). His wife, Farhat Naik, works for the women's section of the IRF.

Radhanath Swami (born December 7, 1950) is a Gaudiya Vaishnava guru and a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He works largely from Mumbai in India and also travels extensively throughout Europe and America. He has been instrumental in the founding of the Mumbai Bhaktivedanta hospital. He is an ISKCON guru and a member of the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON. Steven J. Rosen described Radhanath Swami as a "saintly person respected by the mass of ISKCON devotees today".

Born as Richard Slavin, he studied a number of religious paths such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. At the age of 19 he began traveling through Europe and the Middle-East, eventually settling for over a year in the Himalayas. Much of this time he spent devoted to the tradition of Shaivism and was living as a renunciate Shaivite in India when he first met with Krishna devotees near Delhi. Through contact with the devotees in Vrindavan, and after receiving name Ratim Krishna from Swami Bon Radhanath began to focus exclusively on his spiritual path in Krishna Consciousness. In 1971 Radhanath Swami observed A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada during the ISKCON Cross Maidan festival in Mumbai. After leaving India, Radhanath Swami returned to the United States where he joined the New Vrindaban ISKCON farm community in West Virginia during July 1972. There he accepted initiation from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in February 1973 receiving the name Radhanath Das, later to receive the name Radhanath Swami.

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (born 11 December 1935, Mirati; West Bengal, India) is the current Finance Minister of India and leader of the current 15th Lok Sabha.

Mukherjee is a senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Prices, Security, Unique Identification Authority of India, World Trade Organization, and heads the Group of Ministers Committee on the Dabhol dispute. He is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

His father Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee was a member of AICC, and West Bengal Legislative Council (1952–64), and President, District Congress Committee, Birbhum (WB). He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri (Birbhum), then affiliated with the University of Calcutta.

He holds a Master of Arts degrees in History and Political Science & has a degree in law from the University of Calcutta. He has been an advocate and a college teacher in his long public career.^{[citation needed]} In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by University of Wolverhampton.

Stephen Knapp (born 1947, Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American artist best known for his use of the medium of lightpainting He has gained an international reputation for large-scale works of art held in museums, public, corporate, and private collections, which are executed in media as diverse as light, kiln-formed glass, metal, stone, mosaic, and ceramic.

Knapp has written and lectured on architectural art glass, the collaborative process, and the integration of art and architecture. His work has appeared in many publications including Art and Antiques, Architectural Record, ARTnews, Ceramics Monthly, The Chicago Sun Times, Honoho Geijutsu, Identity, Interior Design, Interiors, The New York Times, Nikkei Architecture, Progressive Architecture, Sculpture (magazine), and 90+10.

Stephen Knapp was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1947, graduated from Worcester Academy in 1965, and received his B.A. from Hamilton College in 1969. For nearly a decade after graduating from college, he worked as a fine art photographer, selling his work to corporate and private collectors in the United States and abroad. During this early stage in his career Knapp worked closely with Polaroid Corporation on their 20x24 camera, creating large scale instant photographs.