Biograhpy of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swami Prabhupãda was born Abhay Charan De on September 1, 1896 in Calcutta. In 1920 he finished his schooling, majoring in philosophy, English and economics at the University of Calcutta. Soon afterward, Abhay Charan De took up the duties of manager of a large chemical concern. Then in 1922, he met His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhãnta

Sarasvati Gosvãmi Mahãrãj, the founder of 64 Gaudiya Vaisnava Maths in India; Berlin and London.

His Divine Grace recently recalled the key to his approaching his spiritual master: "When I first started going to see my Guru Mahãrãj, he said of me, 'This boy hears very nicely. He does not go away. So I shall make him a disciple.' That was my qualification, or whatever you may call it. I would simply ask when Guru Mahãrãj would speak, then I'd sit down and go on hearing. I would understand, or not understand; others would disperse, I'd not disperse. So he remarked, `This boy is interested to hear'. Because I was serious in hearing, therefore I am now serious about kïrtanam, which means speaking or preaching. If one has heard nicely, then he will speak nicely." At Allahabad in 1933, Abhay Charan De was formally initiated, and in 1936, just days before Bhakti Siddhãnta Sarasvati's departure from this mortal world, he was specifically ordered to spread Krsna Consciousness in the English language to the West. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swami Prabhupãda has told us that at first he did not take the mission given to him by his spiritual master with the utmost seriousness. But then he was reading a Bhagavad-gïtã commentary by Srïla Bhaktivinode Thakur, who was the father of Bhakti Siddhãnta Sarasvati and the pioneer of the Krsna Consciousness movement in the modern age. Srila Bhaktivinode has written that just as one cannot separate the body from the soul while in this conditioned state, so the disciple cannot separate the spiritual master's order from his very life. Srïla Prabhupãda took these words seriously, and gradually his whole life became dedicated to carrying out the orders of his Guru Mahãrãj. In 1959 he took sannyãsa, the renounced order of spiritual life, and in 1965, at the advanced age of 70, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swami Prabhupãda arrived in New York City to fulfill his master's sacred mission.

One must try to understand that Srila Prabhupãda is neither an Indian author nor Indian culturist nor Hindu sectarian. The first teaching of the Bhagavad-gïtã is that no one is Indian, no one is American-our real self is beyond this temporary bodily designation; our permanent identity, eternal, blissful and full of knowledge, is with the Supreme Personality of Godhead as His eternal servant; and our position is to be situated beyond the material universes in the spiritual planets, within the spiritual sky. 'This is the platform of Krsna Consciousness. To think, "I am American." "1 am Russian," etc. is our disease, and is due to forgetfulness of our eternal nature as spirit soul. Unfortunately, under the spell of illusion, every embodied creature is satisfied with his present material body. Even the worm in the stool is thinking, "I am all right." Despite so many disadvantages and miseries, all living entities are engaged in satisfying their senses and are thinking it is all right. 'Therefore when the bona fide guru comes with the transcendental message, calling the souls back to home, back to Godhead, they do not want to come out of material encagement. Often, people prefer to be encouraged in illusion and therefore pay fees to learn that they are God or equal to God in all respects and thus "free" to go on "enjoying" material life of sense gratification. So we see yoga and meditation teachers advertising that they will improve one's material facilities. They overlook the fact that elimination of sense gratification is the first step in the standard yoga or transcendental system.
His Divine Grace Srïla Prabhupãda does not encourage unrestricted sense gratification, or the belief that one is God, or that God is impersonal or void. He is passing on, as it is, the information from Vedic literature, that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a Person and that devotional service unto Him is the perfection of all purificatory processes. Lord Krsna in Bhagavad-gïtã is recognized as the Supreme Lord, and Sri Isopanisad confirms the Personality of Godhead as the

anti-material Supreme Controller and the only Enjoyer. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swami Prabhupãda is teaching surrender to Krsna, the Supreme
Lord. Srïla Prabhupãda is the living example of the saintly person pointed to in all Vedic literature who is personally free from all material contamination and active in spiritual understanding.

He is the Krsna conscious personality who is so dear to Krsna, who understands that the highest welfare is not to pose oneself as the friend of humanity, but to teach that God or Krsna is the dear-most Friend Who alone is capable of alleviating the misery of each and every living entity. His Divine Grace is teaching what is really common sense to our intelligence, but we are so bewildered by the glitter of the material nature that we are distracted from his message. He is simply canvassing for God on the order of his spiritual master. Once Srila Prabhupãda was asked, "Are you an incarnation of God?" "No," he answered, "I am servant of God." Then he paused and went on, "Not exactly servant. To be servant of God is not an ordinary thing." The servants or devotees of Krsna are so great that they are beyond the desire to merge with God. Sometimes, in their intimate association and exchange with God, they even become "greater" than Him, as when He allows some devotee to become His mother or lover. Prabhupãda's mission is not less than to distribute this topmost love of God to all persons. It is stated in the Vedic literature that a small man wants to make only himself happy, a somewhat bigger man wants to make his family or his country happy, but the great man wants to make all persons happy. His Divine Grace produces his books by speaking them on a dictaphone. He is presently working on five books at once. These books are a matter of realization. As he has said, "When you become self-realized you automatically write volumes of books." And one of the qualifications of a devotee is that he is poetic. Srïla Prabhupãda is always immersed in Krsna by speaking, dictating, singing about Krsna's Glories, preaching formally at meetings or planning the expansion of the Krsna Consciousness movement. In the Bhagavad-gïtã, Seventh Chapter, it is stated

that out of thousands of men few seek perfection, and out of the thousands who attain perfection hardly one knows Krsna. Lord Krsna also declares in the Eighteenth Chapter that the dearmost devotee of all is he who spreads the teaching of love of Krsna: "Never will there be one dearer to Me." His Divine Grace's spiritual master Bhakti Siddhãnta Sarasvati, once drew a picture of a mrdanga (a drum used on Sankïrtan) and beside it a printing press. He said that the mrdanga can be heard for several blocks, but that the press can be heard around the world. He therefore called the printing press "the big mrdanga." For the purpose of world-wide service to humanity ISKCON Press has been established, for the exclusive printing of Srila Prabhupãda's books. In 1968, Macmillan published The Bhagavad Gïtã As It Is translated with commentary by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swami Prabhupãda. The Gïtã is the gist of the entire Vedic literature. Just this one book can free anyone from the clutches of material nature and fix one in eternal loving service unto Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. As originally written by Srila Prabhupãda, the manuscript of The Bhagavad Gild As It Is is many times larger than the Macmillan version. Publication of this original expanded version is being undertaken by ISKCON. Another important published literature by Srïla Prabhupãda is his Teachings of Lord Chaitanya. This book outlines the precepts of Caitanya Mahãprabhu, the Golden Avatãr Who appeared in India 500 years ago and propagated the Hare Krsna mantra as the means of God realization for the present age. A book called The Nectar of Devotion, an authorized summary study of Srï Rüpa Gosvãmï's Bhakti-rasãmrta-sindhu, has just been published. Srila Prabhupãda is presently writing a several volume work called Krsna, which contains all of the Pastimes of the Supreme Lord when present on this planet 5000 years ago. Translations are also underway of the Vedãnta-sütras, Caitanya-caritãmrta and his 12 volumes of Srïmad-Bhãgavatam. The literatures compiled by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swãmï Prabhupãda are authorized by the disciplic succession, which is descending from Krsna Himself. Srila Prabhupãda's whole life mission is to faithfully pass on the original understanding of Krsna Consciousness without distortion. According to the Vedic literature this descending process is the only way to realization of the Absolute Truth, since the Absolute Truth is beyond the reach of our mundane speculation. The author is not a retired personality, despite his prodigious literary output. He personally and very intimately guides his disciple through the most practical problems of daily life. Spiritual life is practical and, due to the predominant material atmosphere of Kali-yuga, often problematic. As spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedãnta Swãmi Prabhupãda is the last recourse and the ultimate standard of Krsna Consciousness, and he writes some twenty-five letters a day to leaders and students of his various worldwide centers. He himself resides in no one place but travels from center to center and regularly

lectures. The spiritual master is responsible for his devotees; when he accepts a sincere soul as his disciple, he promises to take him back home, back to Godhead. No one should think, "Oh, everyone is taking a spiritual master; let me take one." The spiritual master as a style or as a pet is useless. Rather, his order is to be taken as one's life and soul. By taking shelter at the feet of the bona fide guru and serving him twenty-four hours a day, the fallen soul can be lifted to the spiritual sky. It is said that if the spiritual master is pleased, then one can make great advances in spiritual life. And one pure convinced devotee can make many pure devotees by his example and teachings. Those serious students with an understanding of the absolute value of the spiritual platform of life therefore honor the spiritual master with the honor due to God because the guru is the transparent via medium or representative of God and is distributing unalloyed love of God. The intelligent reader is invited to take to this philosophy with the utmost seriousness.