A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Abhay Charanarvinda Bhaktivedanta Swami was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnav Acharya who founded Iskcon, commonly known as the “Hare Krishna movement”. Members of Iskcon view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a representative and messenger of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in this world in 1896 in Calcutta india. During His childhood he had inclination towards God and worshiped Sri Jagannath Baladev Subhadra and even organized a small rathayatra festival with His childhood friends in a small cart with the help of his father. He used to visit the temple of krishna with his father Gour Mohan De. His father used to invite sadhus at his place and seeked their blessings for his son Abhay that he become a devotee of Srimati Radharani.

He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami,in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati a prominent religious scholar and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas liked this educated young man and convinced Him to dedicate his life to teachingsVedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada became His student, and eleven years ;ater om 1933 at Allahabad became his formal initiated disciple. At their first meeting, in 1922 Srila Bhakti siddhanta sarasvati thakura requested Srila Prabhupada to broadcast vedic knowledge through the English Language. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, in 1944, started Back to Godhead magazine and assisted the Gaudiya matha in its work. Recognizing Srila Prabupada’s philosophical learning and devotion, the Gaudiya Vaishnav society honor him in 1947 with the title “Bhaktivedanta”.

In 1950 He retired from married life, adopting the vanaprastha order to devote more time to his studies and writing. He traveled to the holy city of vrindavan where he lived in very humble circumstances in Radha Damodar temple. There he engaged for several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the renounced order of sannyasa in 1959. He began translation of eighteen thousand verses of Srimad-Bhagvatam and also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets. Srila Prabhupada came to the United states in 1965, to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master. Srila Prabhpada was practically penniless and only after almost a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society for Krishna consciousness. In just twelve years, in spite of his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents to preach. Finally he left for the spiritual world on 14 November 1977 in Vrindavan and went back home back to godhead.