He travelled throughout America with his disciples, popularising the movement through street chanting ( sankirtana), book distribution and public speeches. In 1967, a centre was started in San Francisco.
He defended the name, arguing that Krishna included all other forms and concepts of God. In July 1966, he founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New York City.
Prabhupada was the first Hindu preacher to take advantage of the removal of national quotas by the 1965 Immigration Act of the United States. Main article: International Society for Krishna Consciousness He published the first book of Bhagavata Purana. In September 1959, he was initiated as a sannyasi by his friend Bhakti Prajnana Keshava and was given the title of Swami. There he also donated the statue of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which stands on the altar beside those of Radha Krishna (named Śrī Śrī Rādhā Vinodavihārījī). Prabhupada also lived at Gaudiya Matha at Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, where he wrote and edited the Gauḍīya Patrikā magazine. referring to the need for the literary presentation of the Vaishnava culture. His guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, had always encouraged him to print books. įrom 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. He is well known by the honorific Prabhupāda. In 1947, the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society gave him the title Bhaktivedanta, ( bhakti- vedānta). In 1944, he started the publication called Back to Godhead, for which he was writer, designer, publisher, editor, copy editor and distributor. In 1933 he became a formally initiated disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta. He was asked to spread the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the English language. In 1922, he met his spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, in Prayagraj. At 14, Radharani Devi gave birth to their first son. At the age of 22, he was married in 1919 to Radharani Devi, who was then 11 years old, in a marriage arranged by their parents. He is said to have refused his degree in response to Gandhi's calls to challenge British rule. Ībhay Charan studied at the Scottish Church College. His parents, Gour Mohan De and Rajani De, were devout Vaishnavas and resided at 6 Sitakanta Banerjee Lane, Calcutta. Prabhupada was born Abhay Charan on 1 September 1896 in Calcutta. In February 2014, ISKCON's news agency reported reaching a milestone of distributing over half a billion of his books since 1965. After his death in 1977, ISKCON, the society he founded based on a form of Hindu Krishna Bhakti using the Bhagavata Purana as a central scripture, continued to grow. He has been described as a charismatic leader who was successful in acquiring followers in many countries including the United States, Europe and India.
,He was appreciated by various American religious scholars and was criticized by anti-cult groups. As a travelling Vaishnava monk, he became an influential communicator of Gaudiya Vaishnavite theology to India and specifically to the Western world through his leadership of ISKCON, founded in 1966. In 1959, after his retirement, he left his family to become a sannyasi and started writing commentaries on Vaishnava scriptures. While working at a small pharmaceutical business, he met and became a follower of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. īorn in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in a Suvarna Banik family, he was educated at the Scottish Church College.
Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a representative and messenger of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.Ībhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami ( IAST: Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhakti-vedānta Svāmī 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977 ) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the " Hare Krishna movement". Sannyasa, 1959 (by Bhakti Prajnan Keshava) Scottish Church College, University of Calcutta Ībhaya Caraṇāravinda Bhakti-vedānta Svāmīĭiksha, 1933 (by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati)