Founder Acarya of ISKCON
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in July 1966 in New York.
Early childhood – a life centered around Lord Krishna
Born in 1896 in Calcutta, Srila Prabhupada (then known as Abhay Charan De) was brought up in a spiritually surcharged atmosphere. His father encouraged a lifestyle whereby all household activities were centered around Lord Krishna. Food was prepared for and offered with love and devotion to Lord Krishna, before the family partook of same. Eating prasadam (food offered to the Lord) is a fundamental practice of devotional service. The family would daily perform Deity worship and Kirtan (glorification of Lord Krishna by chanting the holy names).
Srila Prabhupada fulfilling the mission of his spiritual master
In 1922 in Calcutta, Srila Prabhupada first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur ( a prominent religious scholar and founder of 64 Gaudiya mathas or Vedic institutes). It was a momentous meeting for Srila Prabhupada because it was in this very meeting that he received his first instruction from his spiritual master. The instruction that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur gave to Srila Prabhupada was to impart Vedic knowledge in English.
Srila Prabhupada took this instruction to heart and in the subsequent years, undertook several initiatives namely writing a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, assisting the Gaudiya Matha in its works and starting the Back to Godhead magazine (an English fortnightly) in 1944.
Stay in Vrindavan
In 1950, Srila Prabhupada retired from married life to devote more time to his studies and writings. He traveled to Vrindavan where he lived in a small room in the premises of the historic Temple of Radha Damodara. Srila Prabhupada would derive his inspiration from the sacredness of this place – his room overlooked the Bhajana-kutira and samadhi of Rupa Goswami (prominent Acarya and follower of Caitanya Mahaprabhu).
During his stay at Radha Damodar Temple, Srila Prabhupada studied the Vedic scriptures deeply and he started his life’s masterpiece – namely translating and commentating on the 18,000 verses of Srimad Bhagavatam into multi-volume sets of books.
In 1959, Srila Prabhupada accepted the renounced order of life (sannyasa). On 13 August 1965 after publishing three volumes of the Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada set off for America traveling in austere conditions in a cargo ship (Jaladuta) carrying some books and with few rupees in his possession.
Arrival in United States
Srila Prabhupada set foot in the United States on 17 September 1965 to accomplish the desire of his spiritual master – namely to spread Krishna consciousness in the Western world. He faced a lot of difficulties – it was almost after a year on 13 July 1966 that he could successfully establish the Hare Krishna movement, which he named as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
Spread of Krishna Consciousness
Thereon, the Hare Krishna movement continued to expand so much so that by the time Srila Prabhupada left this world on 14 November 1977, he had established more than 100 asramas, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities over the world. In just twelve years, Srila Prabhupada despite his advanced age, traveled round the world 14 times to spread Krishna consciousness.
Memoir of Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupāda talked of his childhood at the turn of the century, when street lamps were gas-lit, and carriages and horse-drawn trams were the only vehicles on Calcutta’s dusty streets. Srila Prabhupāda told about his father, Gour Mohan De, a pure Vaiṣṇava. His father had been a cloth merchant, and his family had been intimately related with the aristocratic Mulliks of Calcutta. The Mulliks had a Deity of Kṛṣṇa, and Srila Prabhupāda’s father had given him a Deity to worship as a child. He used to imitate the worship of the Govinda Deity in the Mulliks’ temple. As a boy, Srila Prabhupāda had held his own Ratha-yātrā festivals each year, imitating in miniature the gigantic festival at Jagannātha Purī. Srila Prabhupāda fondly remembered his father, who had never wanted him to be a worldly man, who had given him lessons in mṛdaṅga, and who had prayed to visiting sādhus that one day the boy would grow up to be a devotee of Rādhārāṇī.
