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His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Biography & Facts

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (IAST: Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Prabhupāda; Bengali: অভয চরণারৱিন্দ ভক্তিৱেদান্ত স্ৱামী প্রভুপাদ) (1896–1977) was a spiritual, philosophical, and religious teacher from India who spread the Hare Krishna mantra and the teachings of “Krishna consciousness” to the world. Born as Abhay Charan De and later legally named Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami, he is often referred to as “Bhaktivedanta Swami”, "Srila Prabhupada", or simply “Prabhupada”. To carry out an order received in his youth from his spiritual teacher to spread “Krishna consciousness” in English, in his old age, at 69, he journeyed in 1965 from Kolkata to New York City on a cargo ship, taking with him little more than a few trunks of books. He knew no one in America, but he chanted Hare Krishna in a park in New York City, gave classes, and in 1966, with the help of some early students, established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which now has centers throughout the world. He taught a path in which one aims at realizing oneself to be an eternal spiritual being, distinct from one’s temporary material body, and seeks to revive one’s dormant relationship with the supreme living being, known by the Sanskrit name Krishna. One does this through various practices, especially through hearing about Krishna from standard texts, chanting mantras consisting of names of Krishna, and adopting a life of devotional service to Krishna. As part of these practices, Prabhupada required that his initiated students strictly refrain from gambling, eating meat, fish, and eggs, using intoxicants (even coffee, tea, or cigarettes), and engaging in extramarital sex. In contrast to earlier Indian teachers who had promoted in the West the idea that the ultimate truth is essentially impersonal, he taught that the Absolute is ultimately personal. His duty as a guru, or teacher, he held, was to convey intact the message of Krishna as found in core spiritual texts such as the Bhagavad Gita. To this end, he wrote and published a translation and commentary he called Bhagavad-gita As It Is. He also wrote and published translations and commentaries for texts celebrated in India but hardly known elsewhere, such as the Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana) and the Chaitanya Charitamrita, thereby making those texts accessible in English for the first time. In all, he wrote more than eighty books. In the late 1970s and the 1980s ISKCON came to be labeled a destructive cult by critics in America and some European countries. Although scholars and courts rejected claims of cultic brainwashing and recognized ISKCON as representing an authentic branch of Hinduism, in some places the “cult” label and image have persisted. Some of Prabhupada's views or statements have been perceived as racist towards blacks, discriminatory against lower castes, or misogynistic. Decades after his demise, Prabhupada's teachings and the Society he established continue to be influential, with some scholars and Indian political leaders calling him one of the most successful propagators of Hinduism abroad. Early life (1896–1922) Abhay Charan De was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, on September 1, 1896, the day after Janmashtami (the birth anniversary of Krishna). His parents, Gour Mohan De and Rajani De, named him Abhay Charan, meaning “one who is fearless, having taken shelter of Lord Krishna’s lotus feet”. Following Indian tradition, Abhay’s father invited an astrologer, who predicted that at the age of seventy, Abhay would cross the ocean, become a famous religious teacher, and open 108 temples around the world. Abhay was raised in a religious family belonging to the suvarna-vanik mercantile community. His parents were Gaudiya Vaishnavas, or followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who taught that Krishna is the Supreme Personality and that pure love for Krishna is the highest attainment. Gour Mohan was a middle-income merchant and had his own fabric and clothing store. He was related to the rich and aristocratic Mullik mercantile family, who had been trading in gold and salt for centuries. Opposite the De house was a temple of Radha-Krishna that for a century and a half had been supported by the Mullik family. Every day, young Abhay, accompanied by his parents or servants, attended temple services. At the age of six, Abhay organized a likeness of the “chariot festival”, or Ratha-yatra, the huge Vaishnava festival held annually in the city of Puri in Odisha. For this purpose, Abhay persuaded his father to obtain for him a scaled-down copy of the massive chariot on which the form of Jagannatha (Krishna as “Lord of the universe”) rides in procession in Puri. Decades later, after going to America, Abhay would bring Ratha-yatra festivals to the West. Though Abhay’s mother wanted Abhay to go to London to study law, his father rejected the idea, fearing Abhay would be negatively influenced by Western society and acquire bad habits. In 1916 Abhay began his studies at Scottish Church College, a prestigious school in Calcutta founded by Alexander Duff, a Christian missionary. In 1918, while in college, Abhay, as arranged by his father, married Radharani Datta, also from an aristocratic family. They had five children over the course of their marriage. After graduation from college, Abhay began a career in pharmaceuticals and later opened his own pharmaceutical company in Allahabad. Abhay grew up while India was under British rule, and like many other youth his age he was attracted to Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement. In 1920, Abhay graduated from college with a specialization in English, philosophy, and economics. He successfully passed the final exams, but as a sign of opposition to British rule he refused to take part in the graduation ceremony and receive a diploma. Midlife (1922–1965) In 1922, while still in college, Abhay was persuaded by a friend, Narendranath Mullik, to meet with Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874-1937), a Vaishnava scholar and teacher and the founder of the Gaudiya Math — a spiritual institution for spreading the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The word “math” denotes a monastic or missionary center. Bhaktisiddhanta was continuing the work of his father, Bhaktivinoda Thakur (1838-1914), who regarded Chaitanya's teachings as the highest form of theism, intended not for any one religion or nation but for all of humanity. When the meeting took place, Bhaktisiddhanta said to Abhay, “You are an educated young man. Why don’t you take the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and spread it in English?” But Abhay, according to his own later account, argued that India first needed to become independent before anyone would take Chaitanya’s message seriously — an argument Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati defeated. Convinced, Abhay accepted the instruction to spread the message of Chaitanya in English, and it was in pursuance of this order from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati that he la.... Discover the His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami popular books. Find the top 100 most popular His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami books.