A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada's biography

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was born in 1896 in Calcutta, India.

Srila Prabhupada was recognized for his philosophical learning and devotion, by the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society and honoured him in 1947 with the title "Bhaktivedanta."

Srila Prabhupada travelled to the holy city of Vrindavan, where he lived in very humble circumstances in the historic medieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep study and writing. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada began to work on his life's masterpiece: a multivolume translation and commentary on the 18,000-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana). He also wrote “Easy Journey to Other Planets”.

After publishing three volumes of Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada came to the United States, in 1965. he first arrived by freighter in New York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. Srila Prabhupada has written over sixty volumes of authoritative translations, commentaries and summary studies of the philosophical and religious classics of India.

It was after almost a year of great difficulty that he established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in July of 1966. Under his careful guidance, ISKCON has grew within a decade to a worldwide confederation of almost one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities.

Highly respected by the academic community for their authoritativeness, depth and clarity, they are used as standard textbooks in numerous universities. His writings have been translated into over eighty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, was established in 1972 exclusively to publish the works of Srila Prabhupada, has thus become the world's largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.

Srila Prabhupada left us a veritable library of Vedic philosophy and culture. Highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth, and clarity, his books are used at colleges and universities around the world. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes his works in over 50 languages.