 |
| A.C BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI SRILA PRABHUPADA |
Born on 1st September 1896 at Culcutta. Born in a rich and affluent Kayastha Bengali family.At the time of his birth, an astrologer had predicted that Abhay would be a great religious teacher and would establish 108 temples of Lord Krishna.
Early Life : Abhay Charan received a European-style education at the Scottish Church College affiliated to the University of Calcutta, a prestigious university in Bengal. The professors, most of whom were Europeans, were considered sober and moral men. Abhay Charan De was a member of the English Society as well as that of the Sanskrit Society, and it is believed that his education prepared him for future leadership. He graduated in 1920 with degrees in English, philosophy and economics. He rejected his diploma to support Gandhi's independence movement. At the age of 22, he was married to Radharani Devi, who was then 11 years old, in a marriage arranged by their parents. At 14, Radharani devi gave birth to their first son.
Religious journey : In 1922, when he first met his spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, in Prayagraj he was requested to spread the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the English language. In 1933 he became a formally initiated disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta. In 1944 (from his front room at Sita Kanta Banerjee, Calcutta), he started the publication called Back to Godhead, for which he was writer, designer, publisher, editor, copy editor and distributor.
Under the circumstances since 1936 up to now, I was simply speculating whether I shall venture this difficult task and that without any means and capacity; but as none have discouraged me, I have now taken courage to take up the work.
— A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Back to Godhead magazine
In 1947, the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society recognised his scholarship with the title Bhaktivedanta, meaning "one who has realised that devotional service to the Supreme Lord is the end of all knowledge"
From 1950 onwards, he lived at the medieval Radha-Damodar mandir in the holy town of Vrindavan, where he began his commentary and translation work of the Sanskrit work Bhagavata Purana. Of all the notable temples in Vrindavana, the Radha-Damodar mandir had at the time the largest collection of copies of the original writings of the Six Gosvamis and their followers – more than two thousand separate manuscripts, many of them 300 to 400 years old. His guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, had always encouraged him to print books, and beholding his spiritual master, Abhay felt the words deeply enter his own life – "If you ever get money, print books''. referring to the need for the literary presentation of the Vaishnava culture.
Renunciation : Srila Prabhupada also lived at Gaudiya Matha at Mathura, Uttar Pradesh where he wrote, studied and edited the Gauḍīya Patrikā magazine. There he also donated the statue of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which stands on the altar beside those of Radha Krishna. On becoming a sanyasi, he was given the title ofSwami . He single-handedly published the first book of Bhagavata Purana consisting of seventeen chapters, filling three volumes of four hundred pages each. The introduction part of the first volume consisted of biographical sketch of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.
Books and publishing : Bhaktivedanta Swami translated over sixty volumes of classic Hindu scriptures (e.g. Bhagavad Gita, Chaitanya Charitamrita and Srimad Bhagavatam) into the English language. For their authority, depth and clarity, his books have won praise from professors at colleges and universities like Harvard, Oxford, Cornell, Columbia, Syracuse, Oberlin, and Edinburgh.In February 2014, ISKCON's news agency reported reaching a milestone of distributing over half a billion books authored by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada since 1965.
A number of memorial samadhis or shrines to Bhaktivedanta Swami were constructed by the members of ISKCON in his remembrance, the largest being in Mayapur and Vrindavan India as well as the larger sized temples in the United States. Prabhupada's Palace of Gold was designed and constructed by devotees of the New Vrindavan community and dedicated on 2 September 1979.
Bhaktivedanta Swami died on 14 November 1977 at the age of 81, in Vrindavan, India. His body was buried in Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan.
Comments
Post a Comment