About His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada appeared in this world in Calcutta, India in 1896. His father was a pure devotee of Lord Krishna and would teach him devotional activities. When Prabhupada was a small boy, his father gave him a small cart to pull the Deity of Lord Jagannatha. Little Abhay (his birth name) would organize a Rathyatra Festival and invite his childhood friends to join and pull the cart, just as they do in the huge festival of Jagannatha Puri. Even from a young age he was a spiritual leader among his friends.
Prabhupada attended Scottish Churches' College in Calcutta. When it was time to get his diploma he refused to accept it, as a protest to the British, who where the administers of the the College. He then became a manager of a chemical company. Thereafter, he married and started his family in 1918.
In Calcutta, 1922, Srila Prabhupada met his Guru (spiritual teacher), Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami. Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja was a perfect bonafide spiritual master, in the pure disciple lineage, called the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya
. Srila Prabhupada's guru Guru asked him to broadcast the pure ancient Vedic wisdom and teachings of Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya in English, to the Western world. Srila Prabhupada took his Spiritual master's words very seriously and began his service by writing a 1100 page commentary on the Bhagavad-gita (Song of God). That rendition of the gita was somehow stolen.
In 1944 he started "Back to Godhead" Magazine in English, which he personally wrote himself and had them printed and he distributed. He had much difficulty to get people in India to buy them. But today you can still purchase "Back To Godhead" magazines almost anywhere in the world, by the continued work of his disciples in the west.
He started a small organization of Krishna conscious devotees in Jhansi, India, in which he called "The League of Devotees". This was the prelude to the "International Society for Krishna Consciousness".
Srila Prabhupada's wife was not interested in his mission and she even sold his Srimad Bhagavatam to buy tea for her habit that she could not quit. Eventually Srila Prabhupada retired from family life in 1950 and took up the order of vanaprastha (retired life). In this way he could be fully absorbed in his writing and studies.
He had a dream of his Spiritual Master, who had already left his body. In the dream his guru told him to take up the order of sannyasa (the renounced order of life). Though he was reluctant, Srila Prabhupada took up the order of sannyasa in 1959, so he could further execute his spiritual master's order by preaching and writing in the English Language. He then went to the holy land of Vrindavan, where he lived at the ancient Radha-Damodara temple. He continued writing the magazine and later from 1959 he began his translation and commentary on the first three cantos of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, (Bhagavata Purana) and wore his book Easy Journey to other Planets.
In August of 1965, he left
for the United states by freighter ship, to fulfill the mission of his Guru. He also cooked Prasad for Janmastami (Lord Krishna's holy Appearance day) and served the entire crew on the ship. He was on the ship for a month and had 2 heart attacks ( 2 on the ship and then later one heart attack in NYC)., and Lord Krishna came to his rescue. Srila Prabhupada arrived in New York City, (The biggest city in the world) with about 40 rupees in his pocket, some cymbals a trunk with many of his books, and the dry grain cereal. He had no idea what he would eat, as he told there would be no vegetarian food in the United States. He was constantly relying on the mercy of his Spiritual master and Lord Krishna at every step.
Prabhupada wrote-"Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life they think themselves very happy and satisfied. Therefore they have no taste for the transcendental message of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able to understand it."
Prabhupada began by sitting in the park and chanting with his cymbols and the people would become so attracted to the chanting, that they would all come around and sing along with him.
In July of 1966, he was able to maintain a store front with an adjoining apartment at 26 Second Avenue, where he established the International society for Krishna Consciousness. There he began holding Bhagavad-gita classes in the mornings and in the evenings he would translate Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Devotees where coming and Srila Prabhupada had become the acharya (one who teaches by example). He would cook nice prasadam (vegetarian food offered to the Lord) for the devotees and teach them all the rules and regulations of Deity worship and everything necessary for devotional service to Lord Krishna. They where mostly hippies who where either addicted to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes or sex, but Srila Prabhupada taught them the four regulative principles of religion IE; No meat eating, no intoxication (including no coffee, tea or cigarettes), no illicit sex and no gambling. They all became transformed due to Srila Prabhupada's mercy and transcendental knowledge. The devotes began living there and doing devotional service. This little store front became the first ISKCON temple. They became known as the Hare Krishna's, and it was not long after that that Hare Krishna name became a common household word in the USA.
Though Srila Prabhupada was elder in age, he was tireless. He slept only two to three hours a night. He traveled the world over 14 times in twelve years. He was constantly engaged in giving lectures, speaking with world leaders and the media, writing transcendental literatures, establishing temples as well as training disciples in Sadhana Bhakti (the divine practice of loving devotional service to Lord Krishna). He opened over 108 ISKCON Temples and centers around the world. This included institutes, schools, and farm communities as well. He also began a world institutional cultural center in the holy land of Mayapur (West Bengal, India). This center is a spiritual city and is expanding every year, by Srila Prabhupada's devotees. He also Inspired a Monumental Krishna Balararam temple in Vrindavan, India. Along with his memorial and a Museum. There is an educational center in Bombay and many centers are continuing to be established in India and around the world, due to his great inspiration. Because of Srila Prabhupada's hard work, dedication to his spiritual master, fearlessness and intense desire to help all of the fallen conditioned souls, there are devotees of Lord Krishna in almost every major city and town all over the entire world. He gave the whole world Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada first, published Bhagavad-gita As It Is, then The Teachings of Lord Caitanya, then Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a summary of the tenth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, then The Nectar of Devotion, which is a summary of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasamrta sindhu. In addition he was constantly working on the Srimad-Bhagavatam cantos. He also translated Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta, a 17 volume work, which is considered, "the post graduate course in Vedic study."
The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust was formed exclusively for publishing Srila Prabhupadas books, which is now the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy. During those days, over ten million books written by Srila Prabhupada were being distributed yearly.
Srila Prabhupada left his body and this world November 14, 1977. But he is always with us, for he left us everything in his transcendental words of his books. Srila Prabahupada is a Saint, a great Spiritual Master of all the masters, one of the greatest transcendental teachers and scholars, a Spiritual Father, and our best friend. He is a universal lover of God and anyone can benefit by reading any of his books, no matter what their religion, race, nationality or cast.
