For millennia the teachings and the rich culture of bhakti-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, had been hidden within the borders of India. Today, millions around the globe express their gratitude to Śrīla Prabhupāda for revealing the timeless wisdom of bhakti to a world.
Born as Abhay Charan De on September 1, 1896, in Calcutta, he joined Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement as a young man. In 1922, a meeting with prominent scholar and spiritual leader Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura proved to be most influential in shaping young Abhay’s future calling.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta was a leader in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community. At their very first meeting, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura asked Abhay to bring the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa to the English-speaking world. Deeply moved by his devotion and wisdom, Abhay became a disciple of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in 1933, and resolved to carry out his guru’s request. Abhay, later known by the honorific Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, spent the next thirty-two years preparing for his journey west and publishing his Back to Godhead magazine.
In 1965, at the age of sixty-nine, Śrīla Prabhupāda begged free passage and boarded a cargo ship, the Jaladuta, to New York. The journey proved treacherous, and he suffered two heart attacks on the ship. After thirty-five days at sea, he arrived at a lonely Brooklyn pier with just seven dollars’ worth of Indian rupees and a crate containing his three-volume translation of the First Canto of the sacred Sanskrit text Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
In New York he faced great hardships and began his mission humbly by giving classes on the Bhagavad-gītā in his shared loft on the Bowery, and by leading public kirtans, singing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in Tompkins Square Park. His message of peace and goodwill resonated with many young people, some of whom came forward to seriously study and participate in the kṛṣṇa-bhakti tradition. With the help of these students, he rented a small storefront on New York’s Lower East Side, which served as a temple.
In July 1966, Śrīla Prabhupāda (as he was fondly known by his disciples) established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for the stated purpose of “checking the imbalance of values in the world and working for real unity and peace.”
In the eleven years that followed, Śrīla Prabhupāda circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours, spreading the teachings and culture of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Men and women from all walks of life came to accept his message, and with their help, Śrīla Prabhupāda established temples, farm communities, a publishing house, and educational institutions around the world. He also began what has now become the world’s largest vegetarian food relief program, Hare Krishna Food for Life.
With a desire to nourish the roots of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in its home, Śrīla Prabhupāda returned to India several times. There he sparked a revival in the Vaiṣṇava tradition. In India, he opened dozens of temples, including large centers in the holy towns of Vrindavan and Mayapur.
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s most significant contributions are his books. He authored over seventy volumes on the Kṛṣṇa tradition, which are highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth, fidelity to the tradition, and clarity. Several of these works have been used as textbooks in college courses around the world. His writings have been translated into 105 languages. His most prominent works include Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (published during his lifetime in thirty volumes), and the seventeen-volume Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Śrīla Prabhupāda passed away on November 14, 1977, in the holy town of Vrindavan, surrounded by loving disciples who continue to carry on his mission today.