Founder Acharya A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
The prediction of Srila Prabhupada’s Appearance:
His divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) is the Founder Acharya of the fastest-growing spiritual movement named Hare Krishna movement, in the history of the world. His divine grace was an authorized Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual teacher in an unbroken succession that can be traced back to the Supreme God Krishna Himself. Srila Prabhupada’s appearance had been predicted 500 years ago by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is Himself the Supreme God. He prophesied that His commander-in-chief would appear to spread the chanting of His holy names beyond the shores of India to every town and village in the world.
Srila Prabhupada’s Appearance:
On September 01, 1896, the day after Janmashtami, Srila Prabhupada was born to a pious Hindu family residing in Tollygunge, Calcutta. His father, Gour Mohan De, and his mother Rajani, named him Abhay Charan (the one who is fearless – having taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna).
Srila Prabhupada’s Early Life:
Since his childhood, Srila Prabhupada’s was a devout Vaishnav. He used to visit local Sri Radha-Govinda temple, offer prayers before the deities and conduct his Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath. He studied under the British colonial rule in Scottish Church college and participated in India’s freedom struggle. In the year 1918, he married Radharaani Devi while he was still a student. After completing his studies, he became chemist to earn his living.
Srila Prabhupada’s Spiritual Journey:
In 1932, Srila Prabhupada got his formal initiation from his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaj. He met his spiritual master, for the first time in Calcutta in 1922. On the very first day of the meeting, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaj instructed him to devote his life to preaching Lord Chaitanya’s message to the English- speaking world. He reassigned the same service to Srila Prabhupada in 1936 before leaving the planet. In order to fulfill his spiritual master’s mission, Srila Prabhupada accepted vanaprastha (retired life) in 1950. In 1953, he received the title ‘Bhaktivedanta’ from his Godbrothers. In 1959, he took sannyasa, the renounced order of life. He then started his work on the multi volume translation and commentaries of the 18,000 verses of Srimad Bhagwatam.
Srila Prabhupada’s Arrival in the USA:
Srila Prabhupada’s attempts to propagate Krishna consciousness were thwarted due to some or otherreasons. Finally, at the age of 69, he got the free passage and boarded a cargo ship (Jalduta) to New York in 1965. He carried an umbrella, a supply of dry cereal, about seven dollars and several boxes of sacred books. During his 35 days on the ship, Srila Prabhupada survived two heart attacks. After arriving in New York City in September 1965, Srila Prabhupada struggled alone to establish his God consciousness movement. He had no acquaintance, money or followers. But he had a firm faith in his spiritual master and Krishna that his formidable mission of presenting the Vedic knowledge to the western world would be accomplished.
Srila Prabhupada established ISKCON:
Only after almost a year of hardships and struggle in America, did he establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in July 1966. He attracted the youth towards Hare Krishna movement 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. But Srila Prabhupada didn’t have even a single committed follower in the beginning of the movement. Nevertheless, he continued undeterred distributing the message of Lord Chaitanya. In the years to follow, the whole world witnessed the stupendous growth of Srila Prabhupada’s followers and worldwide expansion of ISKCON. Before his departure, Srila Prabhupada initiated around ten thousand disciples in the Gaudiya Vaishnav lineage, opened 108 temples across 6 continents and established several God-centered farm communities. In 1972, he started a gurukul in Dallas, Texas – an educational institution set up according to the traditional Vedic model. He also started food-relief programme whereby no one remains hungry within a 10-mile radius of an ISKCON temple.
Srila Prabhupada’s Literary Contributions:
His divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s most valuable contribution was his books. Besides being a holy saint, Srila Prabhupada was an erudite Sanskrit scholar. He wrote over 70 books on Vedic wisdom and completed over 70 volumes of authoritative translations and commentaries including the Bhagwad Gita, Srimad Bhagwatam, Chaitanya Caritamrita and
several Upanishads. These literary contributions are in modern times highly respected by the academic community and academic scholars for their authoritativeness, depth and clarity. The reason is that Srila Prabhupada conveyed the natural meaning of the scriptures without any distortions. Srila Prabhupada’s works have been translated in all the major languages of the world. In the year 1970, Srila Prabhupada founded The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust to publish his books. Now it has become the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy. Over the last fifty years, millions of people have read at least one of Srila Prabhupada’s books and have genuinely felt their lives enriched.
Srila Prabhupada’s Teachings:
His divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is recognised as one of India’s greatest spiritual ambassadors of the 20th century. His teachings were simple, timeless, authoritative, sublime and very lucid. He explained scientifically who the Supreme Personality of Godhead is, what the relationship we have with God and what the ultimate goal of our life is. By quoting several Vedic scriptures, Srila Prabhupada with profound clarity, enlightened us with the divine knowledge that Krishna is the Supreme God and we are His servants. Our ultimate goal of life is to revive our lost relationship with God by chanting His holy names – Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.The regular chanting of the spiritual sound vibration would take us back to our original home, back to Godhead.
Srila Prabhupada’s disposition:
His divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada completely dedicated his life to serving the Supreme God, Krishna. He always addressed himself as the servant of the servant of the servant of the Supreme God. He was humble, meek, truthful and pure in his character. Despite phenomenal success of his movement, Srila Prabhupada always remained modest and detached from his material possessions and gave credit to his disciples. His unalloyed affection and compassion for his disciples transform their lives.
Srila Prabhupada’s Departure:
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada departed on November 14, 1977, in the holy town of Vrindavan, surrounded by his loving disciples who carry on his mission till date. Though no longer physically present among us, Srila Prabhupada lives forever in his writings and in the hearts of those whose lives he touched.