Srila Prabhupada made advent into this world on September 1, 1896 in Calcutta, India as Abhay Charan De. He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent devotional scholar and the founder of sixty-four branches of Gaudiya Vaisnava Mathas (Vedic institutes), saw the intelligence and spirit through the young Abhay Charan and convinced him to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge and to broadcast it in the English language in the Western world. Srila Prabhupada became his student, and eleven years later (1933) at Allahabad, he became his formally initiated disciple. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote an authorised commentary on the Bhagavad Gita.
Recognizing Srila Prabhupada’s philosophical learning and devotion, the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society honored him in 1947 with the title “Bhaktivedanta.” In 1950, at the age of fifty-four, Srila Prabhupada retired from married life, and four years later he adopted the vanaprastha (retired) order to devote more time to his studies and writing. Srila Prabhupada travelled to the holy city of Vrndavana, where he lived in very humble circumstances in the historic medieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep spiritual study and writing. He accepted the renounced order of life (sannyasa) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada began work on his life’s masterpiece: a multivolume translation and commentary on the 18,000-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam and he also wrote ‘Easy Journey to Other Planets’. After publishing three volumes of Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada came to the United States, in 1965, to fulfil the mission of his spiritual master.
Since that time, His Divine Grace has written over sixty volumes of authoritative translations, commentaries and summary studies of the philosophical and religious Vedic Literatures.. Highly respected by the academic community for their authoritativeness, depth and clarity, they are used as standard textbooks in numerous college courses till today. His writings have been translated into more than 60 languages.
The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 exclusively to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Vedic religion and philosophy. Every single book is a treasure-house filled with so much of information on the concept of God, our eternal constitutional position as spirit souls and the way to attain love for god and reach his abode to be in his eternal service. Though many spiritual masters have tried to teach this philosophy, they mostly remained confined to their localities and at maximum within their country of origin. However, Srila Prabhupada took this message to the western countries with the aim of spreading Krsna Consciousness to everyone freely.
Arrival In New York City
In 1965, when he first arrived by freighter in New York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. It was after almost a year of great difficulty that he established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in July of 1966. Under his careful guidance, the Society grew within a decade to a worldwide confederation of almost one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities, with thousands of disciples and many more aspiring followers. Just as how a gem shines with great effulgence amongst the dull and useless rocks, the glories of Srila Prabhupada spread worldwide from the moment set out of India in 1965, to preach the message of Godhead, Sri Krsna, to the entire world. Taking the instructions of his Spiritual Master very seriously he preached tirelessly for the benefit of the entire world. In the last ten years of his life, in spite of his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe twelve times on lecture tours that have took him to six continents till his physical disappearance from this world in November 14, 1977.
By the grace of Srila Prabhupada, the organisation transformed the lives of numerous people. The four regulative principles: No meat eating, No intoxication, No illicit sex and No gambling were taught via his teachings. Those who came to know of his teachings gave up their sinful lifestyles and adopted the Vedic culture of serving God, Krsna, regardless of their different backgrounds of race, religion, caste, creed, colour, etc. Simple living and high thinking became the way of life. Most importantly, the Hare Krsna maha mantra (Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare) was given to everyone to be chanted n sankirtana(congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord. This sankirtana was revived as the means of redemption in this dark age of Kali by Lord Caitanya 500 years ago, in West Bengal. It is mentioned in the Brhan-Naradiya Puraṇa (38.126): “In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.”
Furthermore it is stated in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad: “Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. These sixteen names composed of thirty-two syllables are the only means of counteracting the evil effects of the Kali–yuga. After searching through all the Vedic literature, one cannot find a method of religion for this age so sublime as the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra“
Such a potent mantra is chanted all around the world by the single-handed effort of Srila Prabhupada. Lord Caitanya himself mentions, “The fundamental religious system in the Age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the sańkīrtana movement.” (Caitanya Caritamrita Antya Lila 7.11)
Indeed, such a herculean achievement cannot be achieved by an ordinary person. He has to be certainly be favoured by the Lord himself. Such personalities may seem to be born as ordinary people amongst us; however they are in reality empowered incarnations (Saktyavesa-Avatara) of the Lord. It is mentioned in the scriptures that carrying the potency of the Lord, these empowered souls descend to the material world only for the purpose of redeeming the fallen souls back to godhead, Sri Krsna.
Srila Prabhupada Fulfils The Prophecy Of Lord Caitanya
In the middle of the 16th century a great Acarya in the lineage, Locana das Thakura predicted in the Caitanya Mangala of the future appearance of a great senapati bhakta who would preach Krishna consciousness all over the world.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a most recent incarnation of Krsna predicts:
“Prthivite ache yadi nagaradi grama, sarvatra pracara hoibe more nama” (translation: “My holy name will be chanted in every town and village”) as recorded in the Caitanya-caritamrta.
Furthermore Srila Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura(the father of Srila Bhaktisiddanta sarasvati and also an Acarya in the lineage) makes a mention in his magazine publication the sajjana-tosani in the middle of the 19th century, regarding the future appearance of a great personality who would come to the west and preach the message of Lord Caitanya and fulfill the prediction of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu:
“Sriman Mahaprabhu did not descend with His associates to deliver a certain number of human beings in the land of India, but rather His purpose was to deliver and uplift all living beings in all countries of the world by preaching the eternal religion of all souls. He has personally said: ‘Prthivi-parjanta jata ache desa gram, sarvatra pracara hoibe more nama’ (translation: ‘My name will be preached in all the countries and towns that exist throughout the world’ (Caitanya Bhagavata, Antya 4.126). There are many kinds of religion in the world, and among all of them the highest development of religion is the congregational chanting of the Supreme Lord’s Divine Names. Of this there is no doubt.”
Forty-six years before the beginning of Kali Yuga, Vishnuchitta, one of the twelve great Vaisnava saints of the Sri Sampradaya predicted: “There will come a race which will tread the Earth with raised hands and vertical tilaka on their foreheads, who will chant the names of Hari; this will destroy the influence of Kali.” (Divya-prabandha 1.10). This prediction was indeed fulfilled by none other than Srila Prabhupada.
Sripada Madhvacharya of Madhva Sampradaya predicted: “The real knowledge of the difference between jiva and Sri Hari and the service of Sri Hari will spread all over the world very shortly.” (Anu Madhva Vijaya – last chapter). Indeed this transcendental knowledge was spread all over the world by none other than Srila Prabhupada coming in the line of Srila Madhvacarya.
In Bhagavat Mahatmya (Uttara khanda of Padma Purana) Bhakti personified says to Narada Muni: “idam sthanam parityajya videsham ganyate maya” – “I will leave this country, India, and go abroad.” By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada devotional service to Lord Krsna is now performed in all over the world.
None other than Srila Prabhupada has fulfilled all these divine predictions by his factual accomplishments.
Shankaracarya took sannyasa at eight years old and travelled by foot throughout the whole of India and re-established Vedic principles while chasing Buddhism out of India. Sri Madhvacarya wrote 38 books and commentaries and established eight major monasteries in Udupi, and also made thousands of disciples.
He also travelled throughout India and preached strongly against the Mayavadi impersonalist philosophy. He established Vaisnava philosophy in many places throughout India. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally preached throughout South India. He started a spiritual revolution that is still felt today.
However, all these acaryas stayed in India. Their literature and temples were confined to the Indian subcontinent. Prabhupada is the first acarya of the Vedic lineage who has ever travelled out of India and made so many Vaisnavas. He has presented in his numerous purports the true essence of the teachings of all the Vaisnava sampradayas. Thus in one sense he is the greatest acarya, because he has accomplished what no one else has done, in a most difficult environment and very tenuous circumstances.
What Ramanujacarya is to the Sri sampradaya; what Madhvacarya is to the Brahma sampradaya; what Nimbarkacarya is to the Kumara sampradaya; what Visnusvami is to the Rudra sampradaya; what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is to the Gaudiya sampradaya and to all sampradayas; what Srila Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami and Jiva Goswami were in their times after the departure of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by their literary and devotional accomplishments; what Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Sri Baladeva Vidyabhusana were in the 1700s; Srila Prabhupada is today their bona fide representative preaching the glories of Vaisnava philosophy all over the world till today through his books and teachings.
However, it should be noted that most of these acaryas took decades, if not their entire lifetimes, to accomplish their mission. But Srila Prabhupada in a short span of 11 years accomplished what no one else in the entire history of India had accomplished
Srila Prabhupada’s unique position has been very well summed up by HH Vishvesh Tirtha, the pithadipati of Sri Krsna Matha in Udupi in the following way in praise of Srila Prabhupada:
“Of all people, the devotee of the Supreme Lord is the greatest. And in order to become a devotee, one does not need to be born in any specific type of class or caste or nation. Devotion to Krsna was limited only to India but Swami Prabhupada took this devotion out of India and distributed it to anyone and everyone all over the world. That’s why today we can see that people from all over the world are accepting devotional service and becoming devotees of Krsna. In this way, they are becoming the best of humans. The river Ganga is famous for her purifying effect. At one time, however, this Ganga did not flow through the earth planet. It is Bhagiratha who brought the Ganga from the celestial planets down to the earth planet. That is why Bhagiratha is celebrated. Swami Prabhupada, like Bhagiratha, brought the bhakti-ganga, down from above and flooded the whole world. In this way, Swami Prabhupada has done something which is much better than what Bhagiratha had done.”
The following purport by Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati, would speak for itself the great position that Srila Prabhupada holds, if we consider this wondrous feat of his spreading of Krsna Consciousness all over the world:
“Without being empowered by the direct potency of Lord Krishna to fulfill His desire and without being specifically favored by the Lord, no human being can become the spiritual master of the whole world. Only an empowered personality can distribute the holy name of the Lord and enjoin all fallen souls to worship Krishna.
By distributing the holy name of the Lord, he cleanses the hearts of the most fallen people; therefore he extinguishes the blazing fire of the material world. Not only that, he broadcasts the shining brightness of Krishna’s effulgence throughout the world. Such an acarya or spiritual master should be considered non-different from Krishna–that is, he should be considered the incarnation of Lord Krishna’s potency. Such a personality is krsna-lingita-vigraha–that is, he is always embraced by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Such a person is the guru or spiritual master for the entire world, a devotee on the topmost platform, the maha-bhagavata stage.” (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Anubhasya, cited in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 25.9, Purport)
As such, it is with great faith and conviction that we can proclaim that Srila Prabhupada is indisputably the Greatest Acarya of the modern age.
He has proven it and established it especially in three ways:
- His numerous and voluminous bhasyas (commentaries) and profuse practical arrangements to distribute these literatures all over the world in all kinds of languages.
- By his powerful preaching and immaculate purity he has made thousands of Vaisnavas all over the world.
- He has practically created the framework for a universal house of worship and a sanctuary in the age of Kali-yuga by establishing 108 temples, ashrams, farms, gurukulas, etc. and given specific, practical directions on how to manage these institutions for preaching the message of Lord Caitanya.
