A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI SRILA PRABHUPADA

A True Servant Of Sri Krishna

Just the day after Janmashtami (the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna),on September 01 , 1896 ,Gour Mohan De and Rajani in Calcutta was blessed with a baby boy , they named him Abhay Charan(one who is fearless-having taken shelter at the lotus feet of Lord Krishna). But who knows the same boy would later become non other than A .C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Ji,the founder Acharya of ISKCON ( the International Society for Krishna-consciousness).

I think there are two categories of people in this world , one who shared this world with Srila Prabhupada Ji ,the fortunate ones and others who don’t , the unfortunates.

Let's start from his childhood , Swamiji’s father used to do kirtana and always wanted his son to be a servant of Radha Rani so his father gave him religious textbooks to read and take him to attain kirtana in temples when Swamiji was just 4 years old. This early exposure to the spiritual dimension of life impacted his thought process and he started enjoying the process of worshiping Sri Bhagwan (Lord Krishna).But his mother was against it she don’t wanted her child to enter in spiritual world at such an early age, but by the grace of god , neither his father nor Swamiji compromises in it .

It is the prime duty of parents to motivate and encourage their child to practice spirituality , they should always push their child in the path which leads to Supreme God , if they don’t they are not good parents.

One black day came in Swamiji’s life when his mother died leaving his son in a world full of sorrow when he was just 14 ,at that time it was very easy for Swamiji to move in the path of destruction but you know what , he was not a normal child , he was the devotee of Sri Krishna and Lord always guide their devotee in every moment of life .

Swamiji was a student of philosophy in Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta but at the that time Non-Cooperation Movement was initiated by Mahatma Gandhi and in support of that movement he never accepted his degree.He started wearing apparel made up of khadi.His life level up to another stage in 1918 ,when he was in the third year of his college , Swamiji with the consent of his father got married to Radharani Datta. To run his life he opened a pharmacy in Prayagraj ,Uttar Pradesh and his life was going fluent like any other happy man .

I firmly believe that life always gives us many chances to be what we are destined to be, we just have to be conscious enough to be aware of that. Similarly Swamiji was destined to be known by the world not just mere running a pharmacy shop. And the call by god came in 1922 , when one close friend of Swamiji , Narendranath Mullik , invited him to meet Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada Ji from Mayapur . At first Swamiji was very reluctant to meet him because earlier he had encountered with many bogus sadhus , but after being insisted by his friend ,he agreed .They visit Goswamiji , Swamiji and his friend bowed down on the floor before him. Goswamiji was an enlightened being , instantly he got the information of Swamiji being fluent in just by looking at him , Goswamiji said to him :You are educated young men. Why don’t you preach the message of Krishna all over the world ? At that moment Swamiji accepted Goswamiji as his spiritual master and agreed to do the work for the betterment of World.Thereafter he started translating vedic scriptures in English , day and night he used to translate and sleeps for just 2 hours ,such was the devotion he had towards his master. He translated three major scriptures into English-Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam and Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita that contain the essence of Vedic knowledge. Later on it was translated into more than 80 languages so that it can reach the masses around the globe .

After translating books and publishing magazines likes Godhead whose purpose was to spread the message of Krishna Consciousness , he came to a conclusion that he is not justifying his masters order of spreading Krishna Consciousness so in the year 1959 ,he took sannyasa,he left his wife and home for living rest of his life as a sanyasi , he moved to Vrindavan , the place where Lord Krishna spent his childhood . Being alone there, he started learning vedas full day so he had no time to earn money for food but keep one thing in mind , if you are serving god with your works , you will never run out of any thing whether its money ,food etc. So was with Swamiji ,he never felt shortage of anything ,everything was accomplished by Sri Krishna . After spending years in Vrindavan Swamiji formulated a plan to spread the chanting of Hare Krishna throughout the globe.

Now the time had arrived to execute his plan , his was very clear with hai goal which was to spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world ,so at that time America was a powerful nation with famous personalities being there , he started his journey to America’s most advanced city that was New York. A few days before his sixty-ninth birthday , Swamiji set out for America. He got a free ticket to travel to New York from the proprietor of Scindia Steamship Company, Smt. Sumati Morarji. The name of the steamship was Jaladuta. In his possession were a suitcase, an umbrella, a supply of dry cereal, about seven dollars’ worth of Indian currency (approximately Rupees Forty) and several boxes of books. In the ups and downs of the sea waves, he suffered from sea sickness , dizziness and vomiting . He also got two heart-attacks but by the grace of Sri Krishna , he survived . After a long stressed journey of 35 days , on September 17, 1965 at 5:30 , Swamiji reached Boston’s Commonwealth Pier . He took shelter at Tompkins Square Park , being in miserable conditions he was chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra under a tree, the same tree is now preserved as spiritual heritage by U.S. In 1965 , US-VIETNAM WAR was in process and many people popularly known as Hippies entered America . Hippies started roaming in the city naked , always high in narcotics and they had no ethics , no culture , no responsibility ,total useless and had no future but as i said earlier everyone is destined in this world. Srila Prabhupada Ji saw the potential in those Hippies , he grabs the opportunity and started chanting doing Kirtan for the Hippies ,at first they used to spit on Swamiji , disrespected him many times but Swamiji being the God person never got angry on them instead tries to chant Hare Krishna to them .Day-by-day the Hippies started getting transformed , they started respecting Swamiji and within a year all the Hippies were not free anymore , they were tied in the rope of Krishna Consciousness . Swamiji made many disciples there which later on started translating vedics scriptures in many languages .

We should use this human life to get closer to God. The ultimate goal of everyone’s life should be to attain Krishna Consciousness and to achieve this, chant the maha mantra : Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare. In an interview ,Swamiji told that “if a person chants just one shloka ,his birth as human will be successful”.

On September 8, 1966 ,Srila Prabhupada conducted the first initiation ceremony in the storefront. By 1967, Srila Prabhupada was ready to expand his mission beyond New York to San Francisco, Los Angeles,Boston, Buffalo and then on to other countries. To extend his reach , he sent his disciples to many coutries for the promotion of Krishna Consciousness. Swamiji was very much conscious about his time on this planet and so to increase his efficiency he bought a reel-to-reel tape recorder for $54.02 on february 2, 1966 ,he started recording his words so that more of his works can be translated in future. Within 12 years , he established 108 Krishna temples all over the world including 12 in Pakistan such was the aura of Swamiji. Pakistan being the Hindu resistant country , allows the establishment of temples because Swamiji never promoted any religion , he believed in spirituality. Within that small period of he travelled 14 times around the globe making more than 10000 disciples. In July of 1966 ,Srila Prabhupada Ji founded a spiritual society intended for worldwide participation popularly known as ISKCON( the International Society for Krishna-consciousness). Currently there are 550 ISKCON temples all around the world of which 32 temples were opened in single year , between 1970 -1971 by Swamiji. He also introduced the “Sunday Love Feast” and other prasadam (sanctified food) distribution programs that provided millions of free meals to the public.The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, founded by him is now the world’s largest publisher of Vedic literature.

Krishna consciousness is the process of eternal life. The process is simple and the results are sublime.You follow it and you will be happy in this life as well as in the next.

Do you know , Srila Prabhupada comes in Disciple succession which originates from the Supreme Lord ,Sri Krishna.

BOOKS WRITTEN BY SRILA PRABHUPADA JI

Bhagavad-gita As It Is (1972)
Srimad-Bhagavatam
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta — 1975 Edition
Teachings of Lord Caitanya — 1968 Edition
The Nectar of Devotion — 1970 Edition
The Nectar of Instruction
Easy Journey to Other Planets — 1972 Edition
Krsna Consciousness The Topmost Yoga System
KRSNA, The Supreme Personality of Godhead — 1970 Edition
Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahuti
Teachings of Queen Kunti
Krishna, the Reservoir of Pleasure
The Science of Self Realization
The Path of Perfection
Life Comes From Life

The Perfection of Yoga
Beyond Birth and Death
On the Way to Krsna
Raja — Vidya: The King of Knowledge
Elevation to Krsna Consciousness
Krsna Consciousness, The Matchless Gift
Light of the Bhagavata
Sri Isopanisad — 1974 Edition
The Journey of Self — Discovery
Transcendental Teachings of Prahlada Maharaja
A Second Chance: The Story of a Near — Death Experience
Mukunda — mala — stotra
Narada-bhakti-sutra

On November 14, 1977 , at age of 81 ,Srila Prabhupada Ji departs from this world to Goloka Vrindavana(The ultimate place of Sri Krishna ,where life-death cycle terminates ).

Hare Krishna.