A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 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, he journeyed from Kolkata to New York City in 1965 at the age of 69, on a cargo ship with 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, which now has centers around 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 non-vegetarian food, gambling, intoxicants, and extramarital sex. In contrast to earlier Indian teachers who promoted the idea of an impersonal ultimate truth in the West, he taught that the Absolute is ultimately personal.
He held that the duty of a guru was to convey intact the message of Krishna as found in core spiritual texts such as the. To this end, he wrote and published a translation and commentary called Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is. He also wrote and published translations and commentaries for texts celebrated in India but hardly known elsewhere, such as the and the, thereby making these 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, the "cult" label and image have persisted in some places. Some of Prabhupada's views or statements have been perceived as racist towards Black people, discriminatory against lower castes, or misogynistic. Decades after his death, 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 into a Bengali Hindu Family in Calcutta, India, on 1 September 1896, the day after Janmashtami. 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 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, an annual Vaishnava festival in the city of Puri, 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 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 him 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 the 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 of 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, 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, 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?" However, 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 that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati effectively countered. Convinced by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Abhay accepted the instruction to spread the message of Chaitanya in English, and it was in pursuing this order from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati that he later traveled to New York. Many years later he recalled: "I immediately accepted him as spiritual master. Not formally, but in my heart".
The Gaudiya Math and initiation (1933)
After meeting Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in 1922, Abhay had little contact with the Gaudiya Math until 1928, when from the Math came to open a center in Allahabad, where Abhay and his family were living. Abhay became a regular visitor, contributed funds, and brought important people to the lectures of the Math's. In 1932, he visited Bhaktisiddhanta in the holy town of Vrindavan, and in 1933, when Bhaktisiddhanta came to Allahabad to lay the cornerstone for a new temple, Abhay received from him and was given the name Abhay Charanaravinda.Over the next three years, whenever Abhay was able to visit Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in Calcutta or Vrindavan, he would carefully listen to his spiritual master. In 1935, Abhay moved for business reasons to Bombay; then, in 1937, he moved back to Calcutta. In both places, he assisted other members of the Gaudiya Math by donating money, leading, lecturing, writing, and bringing others to the Math. At the end of 1936, he visited Vrindavan, where he again met Bhaktisiddhanta, who told him, "If you ever get money, print books", an instruction that would inform his life's work.
Two weeks before his death on 1 January 1937, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati wrote a letter to Abhay urging him to teach Gaudiya Vaishnavism in English. After Bhaktisiddhanta died, the unified mission of the Gaudiya Math broke down as a battle for power broke out between his senior disciples. Although Abhay continued to serve with other disciples of his spiritual master and wrote articles for their publications, he kept clear of the political struggles.