His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada a,
Founder-acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(ISKCON), was born Abhay Charan De, on the 1 September 1896, in
Calcutta. In 1922 he met His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati
Thakur, Founder of the Gaudiya Math, who requested Abhay to broadcast
Vedic knowledge in the English medium. In 1933, at Allahabad, Abhay was
formally initiated and made it his life ambition to expound the Vedic
conclusion that real freedom means liberation from the miseries of
material life: birth, death, old age and disease, a state that can be
permanently attained by awakening one’s pure love for God, krsna-prema
or krsna-bhakti.


In the ensuing years Abhay Charanaravinda (his initiated name), wrote a
commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. In 1944 he started the Back to Godhead
magazine, which to this day is being continued by his disciples.


In recognition of his philosophical knowledge and devotion the Gaudiya
Vaishnava Society honored him with the title Bhaktivedanta in 1947.
Following his retirement from married life, A.C. Bhaktivedanta traveled
to Vrindavan where he lived in the humble surroundings of the Radha
Damodar temple. In 1959 he took the sannyasa order of life and, as A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami, started his work on the multi-volume translation
and commentary of the 18,000 verse Srimad Bhagavatam. In 1965, at the
age of 69, when ordinary persons are thinking of retirement, he went to
the United States to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master and
founded ISKCON.


He brought to the West the divine teachings of Lord Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu who taught the public glorification of the Hare Krishna
mantra. Srila Prabhupada, (as he was affectionately called by his
followers), taught on a non-sectarian level that every living being is
an eternal servant of Lord Krishna with a dormant natural propensity to
experience the eternal bliss of pure love of God.


Srila Prabhupada was not ‘just another swamji’ starting ‘just another
movement’. The standard of purity and dedication he demanded of his
followers testifies to his genuineness, as well as his unwillingness to
compromise for the sake of having many admirers.


By 1977 when Srila Prabhupada left this world in Vrindavan he had
completed over 70 volumes of authoritative translations and
commentaries including the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam,
Caitanya-caritamrita and several Upanishads. These literary
contributions are today highly respected by the academic community for
their authoritativeness, depth and clarity. Srila Prabhupada’s works
have been translated into all the major languages of world and are used
as standard textbooks in college courses. Srila Prabhupada also brought
India’s cultural and religious festivals, such as Rathayatra to the
West.


Srila Prabhupada continues to live up the reputation as a spiritual
revolutionist who instilled in many millions krsna-prema. His Divine
Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is considered as India’s
foremost spiritual ambassador. It was through his spiritual dedication
and unprecedented achievements that India’s cultural richness was
introduced in the West and is now practiced, throughout the world.