A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

He was born as Abhay Charan, on 1 September 1896, in Calcutta, India. His parents, Sriman Gour Mohan De and Srimati Rajani De, were devout Vaishnavas (devotees of Vishnu).

He became a devotee of Lord Krishna at a young age and loved to visit temples. In fact he was so devoted that he preferred to pray to the lord instead of playing with his friends.

He went to the Scottish Church College where he received a European led education. He was a good student and graduated in 1920 with majors in English, philosophy and economics. However, he refused to take his diploma as a protest against the British in response to the budding Indian independence movement.

In 1922, he first met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, a prominent devotional scholar and the founder of sixty-four branches of Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes). Gosvami took a liking towards the devout young man and asked him on their very first meeting to spread Vedic knowledge through the English language in the West.

Abhay Charan became the great scholar’s pupil and several years later, his formally initiated disciple at Allahabad, in 1933.

In 1944, he started the publication called ‘Back to Godhead’ from his home in Calcutta. The magazine, which aimed at spreading Krishna consciousness, was published and distributed by him single-handedly during the initial days. He was the magazine’s sole writer, designer, publisher, editor, copy editor and distributor.

For three years he toiled to spread knowledge about the benign grace of Lord Krishna through his magazine and suffered several physical hardships in his quest to popularize the publication. His efforts were recognized by the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society in 1947 and he was awarded the title ‘Bhaktivedanta’, meaning "one who has realised that devotional service to the Supreme Lord is the end of all knowledge”.

A married man with a family by now, Srila Prabhupada retired from married life at the age of 54 in 1950. After four years, he adopted the ‘vanaprastha’ (retired) order to devote more time to his divine purpose.

He then travelled to the holy city of Vrindavana where he became involved in years of deep study and writing. He lived a very humble life and in 1959 he renounced all his worldly ties and took the order of ‘sannyasa’. The same year, he began working on what would become his masterpiece: a multivolume translation and commentary on the 18,000-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana).

The next six years of his life were spent in intense Krishna bhakti. He took darshan of Madana Mohana, Govindaji, Gopinatha, and Radha Ramana regularly and performed intensive Krishna bhajana. During bhajana he received the blessings and guidance from Sri Rupa Gosvami.

Srila Prabhupada is best remembered as the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City. The society which he initially struggled to establish soon became a fast-growing spiritual movement and today is a worldwide confederation of more than 550 centers, including 60 farm communities, 50 schools and 90 restaurants.