A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
– The Swami who started it all!
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ISKCON Founder
About Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada – At various times people have called him a scholar, a philosopher, a cultural ambassador, a prolific author, a religious leader, a spiritual teacher, a social critic, and a holy man. In truth, he was all these things and more.
Over five hundred years ago, Lord Sri Krishna appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Navadvipa, a village in West Bengal. The purpose of His appearance was to inaugurate the Sankirtana Movement, the Yuga Dharma for this age of Kali. He declared that the chanting of His holy names would spread beyond the shores of India to every town and village in the world. He predicted that His commander-in-chief would appear to accomplish this mission.
Yes… Srila Prabhupada appeared to fulfill this prophecy.
On September 01, 1896, the day after Janmashtami (the auspicious appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna) in a small house in the Tollygunge suburb of Calcutta, a male child was born. His father, Gour Mohan De, and his mother Rajani, named him Abhay Charan (one who is fearless – having taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna).
Srila Prabhupada set out to America in 1965 and established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness at the age of sixty-nine. He travelled around the world fourteen times, established 108 temples world wide and initiated more than 10000 disciples into Krishna consciousness.
Srila Prabhupada's 125th Anniversary
The Divine Journey
Srila Prabhupada brought the Hare Krishna Movement to the public eye by:
- Chanting in the parks
- Distributing the Back to Godhead Magazine
- Conducting love feasts
- Delivering lectures from the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam in a rented store-front
Thus, he attracted many youngsters, who gradually became his disciples. Srila Prabhupada trained his disciples in the tradition of Deity Worship, to help them advance spiritually. The Supreme Lord appears in the form of Deities to give us an opportunity to serve Him; and by rendering services to the Deities with utmost care one can advance spiritually. When we are attracted to the beautiful form of the Deities, we will forget our attraction to material things; and by serving the Deities we will develop pure love of God and thus our lives will be successful.
To revive the Krishna conscious tradition, he envisioned God-centered self-sufficient farm communities based on the principles of Simple Living, High Thinking. In 1972, he started a gurukul in Dallas, Texas – an educational institution set up according to the traditional Vedic model. He established more than 108 temples and instructed his disciples that no one should go hungry within a 10 mile radius of an ISKCON temple.
Core Contribution
Srila Prabhupada and His Books
Of all his contributions, Srila Prabhupada considered his books to be of utmost importance. These books present the timeless wisdom of Vedic scriptures in modern English with startling clarity and a convincing, simple eloquence that proves the relevance of the science of self-realization to our modern world and our own lives. These books have changed the lives of millions.
Transcendental knowledge in his books forms the basis of the Hare Krishna Movement. Srila Prabhupada encouraged the devotees to distribute this literature profusely. These books are translated in most of the major languages and are widely distributed across the world.
Teachings of Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada is the spiritual ambassador who visited our planet to give us the message of Godhead and invite us to come back home – back to Godhead. We publish various articles on our blog on different aspects of his teachings. However, we realize our limitation in capturing all the teachings of Srila Prabhupada in a few pages of a website.
According to Srila Prabhupada, Krishna Consciousness is not an arm-chair philosophy or a part-time religion; it is a way of life. He presented the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness very extensively in his books and we request you to make it a habit to read Srila Prabhupada’s books and be benefited by them.
His achievements are innumerable, magnificent and extraordinary. Some of his achievements are listed below:
- He dictated total of 22,000 pages of text.
- He translated and wrote purports to 18,000 verses of Srimad Bhagwatam.
- He translated and wrote purports to 700 verses of Srimad Bhagwat Gita.
- He translated and wrote purports to 12,555 verses of Chaitanya Charitamrit.
- He published 147 books.
- He wrote 7000 letters to his disciples.
- He created Back to Godhead magazine,of which 1 million copies are distributed.
- His Bhagwad Gita lectures are compiled in 7 volumes of books.
- His Srimad Bhagwatam lectures are compiled in 12 volumes of books.
- His conversations with various scientists,professors,editors have been compiled in 42 volumes of books.
- He produced innumerable recordings.
- He changed the life of thousands of people of which 5000 became his initiated devotees.
- And all he did in ONLY 9 years besides establishing 108 temples all over the world!!! In the age between 70-80 !!!
A Lifetime of Devotion
A Historical Timeline of Major Events in the life of Srila Prabhupada
1896: (September 01) Srila Prabhupada was born in Calcutta.
1901: Srila Prabhupada conducted a Ratha Yatra festival in a suburb of Calcutta.
1902: Srila Prabhupada began worshiping Radha-Krishna.
1916: Srila Prabhupada joined as Student of Philosophy at Scottish Churches’ College.
1918: Entered married life (grihastha ashrama)
1921: Appointed as assistant manager of Bose Laboratory. Joined Mahatma Gandhi’s movement.
1922: Met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
1925: Visited Vrindavana for the first time.
1928: Assisted in establishing Allahabad center of Gaudiya Matha.
1932: Initiated by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
1934: Helped establish Gowalia Tank center of Gaudiya Matha.
1935: Instructed by his spiritual master on publishing books and constructing temples.
1936: Final order from his spiritual master to preach in the West.
1939: Honored with the title “Bhaktivedanta” by society of Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
1944: Started the Back to Godhead Magazine.
1953: Started League of Devotees in Jhansi. Initiated his first disciple, Acharya Prabhakar.
1954: Retired from family life, adopting vanaprastha (retired) order of life.
1959: Accepted renounced order of life (sannyasa).
1960: Published first book, Easy Journey to Other Planets.
1962: Published Volume 1 of First Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.
1965: Journeyed to USA in order to fulfill the order of his spiritual master.
1966: Established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
1967: Completed translation and commentary of Bhagavad-gita As It Is.
1968: Bhagavad-gita As It Is published by Macmillan Company.
1972: Established the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT) for publishing his books.
1975: Completed translation of and published Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita in 17 volumes.
1976: Established the Bhaktivedanta Institute for Scientific Preaching.
1977: Disappearance from this mortal world.
Srila Prabhupada Biography
Srila Prabhupada’s attempts to propagate Krishna Consciousness were not received well by the people in India. At the age of 69 (in the year 1965) he went to the United States of America and incorporated the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). In the next 11 years, he circled the globe fourteen times inspiring his followers, delivering lectures, and discussing the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness with all interested persons.
Srila Prabhupada arrived in the US during the decade of discontent; there was widespread dissatisfaction with America’s war with Vietnam. The American youth created their counter-culture popularly known as hippie culture. They were trying to break away from the status quo, searching for an alternative. Srila Prabhupada presented this alternative.