His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), appeared on September 1, 1896, in Calcutta, in a Vaishnava family.
In 1922, Srila Prabhupada, then Abhay Charan, met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, for the first time in Calcutta. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati told Abhay to devote his life to teaching Lord Caitanya‘s message to the English-speaking world. Abhay officially accepted Srila Bhaktisiddhanta as his spiritual master in 1933.
In 1936, Srila Prabhupada wrote his spiritual master requesting if there was any particular service that he could render. He received a reply from his spiritual master containing the same instruction he had received in 1922: “Preach Krishna consciousness to the English-speaking world.” His spiritual master passed away from this world two weeks later, thus leaving these final instructions engraved on Srila Prabhupada’s heart. These instructions were to form the focus of Srila Prabhupada’s life.
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Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita and assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work. In 1944, during the Second World War, Srila Prabhupada began a magazine called Back to Godhead. Single-handedly, he would write, edit, oversee the layout, proof-read and sell the copies himself. This magazine is still being published today.
In 1950, Srila Prabhupada adopted the vanaprastha (retired) life, thus retiring from home and family life, in order to devote more time to his studies. In 1953, he received the title Bhaktivedanta from his Godbrothers. He travelled to Vrindavana, where he lived very humbly at the Radha-Damodara temple. He spent several years there studying the scriptures and writing.
In 1959, he took sannyasa, the renounced order of life. It was then, while staying at Radha-Damodara temple, that he started on his masterpiece–translation of and commentary on the Srimad-Bhagavatam in English. He also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets. Within a few years, he had written three volumes of English translation and commentary for the first canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
He now felt ready to carry out his spiritual master’s order and decided to start by taking the message of Krishna consciousness to America. Obtaining free passage on a freight ship called the Jaladuta, he arrived in New York in September of 1965. He was 69 and possessed simply a few copies of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and a few hundred rupees.
He had had a very difficult crossing of the Atlantic, suffering two heart attacks, and once he arrived in New York he didn’t know which way to turn. After a difficult six months, preaching here and there, his few followers rented a storefront and apartment in Manhattan. Here, he would regularly give lectures, do kirtana and distribute prasadam.
In July 1966, Srila Prabhupada established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In 1967, he visited San Francisco and started an ISKCON society there. He then sent his disciples all over the world to spread Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message and open new centers. In India, three magnificent temples were initially planned: (1) Vrindavana, the Krishna Balaram temple with all its ancillary facilities; (2) Bombay, a temple with an educational and cultural center; and (3) Mayapura, a huge temple with a Vedic planetarium.
Srila Prabhupada produced all of his books, bar the three written in India, within the next eleven years. Srila Prabhupada slept little and would spend the early morning hours writing. His works include Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the multi-volume Srimad-Bhagavatam, the multi-volume Caitanya-caritamrta, The Nectar of Devotion, Krsna: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Teachings of Lord Kapila, Teachings of Queen Kunti, Sri Isopanisad, The Nectar of Instruction, and dozens of small books.
His writings have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.
Despite his heavy literary schedule and despite his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times in twelve years on lecture tours that took him to six continents. Before departing from this world on November 14, 1977, in Vrindavana, Srila Prabhupada gave many instructions to his disciples to follow in his footsteps and to continue the preaching and spreading of Krishna Consciousness all over the world.
In the short time he spent in the west, he preached continuously, established 108 temples, wrote more than sixty volumes of transcendental literature, initiated five thousand disciples, founded the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, began a scientific academy (the Bhaktivedanta Institute) and started other trusts related to ISKCON.
Srila Prabhupada’s life history is vividly described in his authorized biography, the Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta.
