Srila Prabhupada

Abhay Charan Dev also called as “His Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada” appeared in Calcutta in 1896. In 1922, Abhay met his spiritual Guru and founder of 64 Gaudia Vaishna mutts, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarawathi Goswami Maharaja and it proved to be a important milestone. Abhay became his disciple in 1933. In 1936, few days before attaining mukti, Guru of Srila Prabhupada, expressed his wish and ordained that Abhay should preach “Krishna Consciousness” in western world. In 1947, Gaudia Vaishnava mutt recognised the bhakti and spiritual knowledge of Abhay by honouring him with title “Bhakti Vedanta”

In 1965, to fulfill the desire of his spiritual guru, Srila Prabhupada reached New york through a cargo ship with just 7 dollars in hand. He carried only a trunk which contained translations of sacred sanskrit texts i.e., Bhagavatam & Bhagwad Gita. In Jul’ 1966, Srila Prbhupada officially establised  “International society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the state of New York. His spiritual message about absolute truth “Bhagwan Shri Krishna” appealed to many young people many of whom  could see a path to godahead which were unheard of before, came forward voluntarily, and engaged themselves completely and eagerly became students of the Krishna consciousness. Srila Prabhupada emerged as a major figure of the western counter culture, initiating thousands of young americans.

In 11 years that followed, Srila Prabhupada circumbated the earth 14 times on lecture tours, bringing the teachings of Bhagwan Krishna to thousands of people on 06 continents. Srila Prabhupada returned to India several times, where he sparked a revival in the vaishnanva tradition. Srila Prabhupada’s most important work is the various books written by him on the Krishna tradition and was widely accepted by educationists through out the world for its distinct and in depth insight on the Krishna consciousness. Many of his books are used as textbooks in universities through out the world and translated in more than 40 languages. The translation and commentories of the “Bhagwad gita as it is” and “Bhagavatam” is regarded by  many vedic scholars as one of the finest literary works in vaishnavism.

Before his disappearence on 14 Nov’77, Srila Prabhupada guided ISKCON and established hundreds of Asrams, schools, temples, educational institutes and farm communities through out the world mainly in western  countries and firmly rooted this supreme bhakti organisation.

Srila Prabhupada is a genuine guru as he was completely absorbed  in Krishna consciousness and had no interest in bodily concept of life. He was after Krishna and Krishna only and became a self realized soul