Prabhupada was born in the city of Calcutta in the year 1896. He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, in Calcutta in the year 1922. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, a prominent devotional preacher and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutions), 1. At the very first meeting, he agreed to the divine program of propagating Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada considered him as his guru and took initiation as per the custom after eleven years.
At the very first meeting, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Gosvami requested Srila Prabhupada to spread Vedic knowledge through the English language. In the following years, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, contributed to the activities of the Gaudiya Matha, and in 1944 AD (Back to Godhead), founded the English-language magazine Bhagavad-darshan. It is now continued by his disciples in India and the West in more than thirty languages.
In recognition of Srila Prabhupada’s devotion and knowledge, the Gaudiya Vaishnava Sangha honored him with the title of “Bhaktivedanta” in 1947. At the age of fifty-four (1950), Srila Prabhupada retired from married life and took up the Vanaprastha ashram in order to devote more time to study and writing. He then went to the holy Vrindavan and lived a simple life in the medieval Sri Radha Damodara temple. There, he was engaged in continuous writing for many years and took up the sannyasa ashram in 1959. At the Sri Radha Damodara Temple, Srila Prabhupada began translating the eighteen thousand verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the main work of his life, into several volumes and writing a commentary on it. At that time, he wrote a small book called Grahathara Sulabhayana.
After publishing three volumes of the Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada, in order to fulfill the desire of his spiritual master, left the
They went to the United States of America. Thus, when they first went to New York City on a merchant ship, they did not have much money. They worked very hard to make everyone aware of the goal of the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, which are the essence of Vedic knowledge, and to make them devotees of Krishna. In July 1966, they founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. They wrote a divine commentary on the eighteen thousand verses of the Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, which is a divine commentary with earthly implications. The future of Srimad Bhagavatam is exciting. Before returning to Krishnadham on November 14, 1977, he founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a worldwide federation of more than a hundred ashrams, gurukuls, temples, and agricultural communities.
They established a spiritual center in West Virginia called Navabrindavana and introduced the Vedic Gurukul education system to Westerners.
Srila Prabhupada built many international devotional centers in India for the propagation of the Gita and the Bhagavad Gita. He selected Kritha in West Bengal for the construction of a spiritual city at Mayapur. This vast project would take many years to complete. He built the magnificent Krishna Balarama Temple and the International Guest House in Vrindavan, India. He established a major cultural and educational center in Mumbai. He built Krishna temples in more than fifty important places in India.
Prabhupada’s most important service was writing. His books, praised by scholars for their authenticity and clarity, have become standard textbooks for countless college classes. His works have been translated into more than eighty languages. Thus, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish his books, has become the largest organization in the world in the field of Indian spiritual philosophy.
Despite approaching old age, Srila Prabhupada traveled the world for about twelve years to explain the true meaning of the Gita and the Bhagavatam.
