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Shri Chaitanya Sridhara Sangha
For the importance he had in spreading the Sankirtan Movement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu beyond the borders of India and for being, with his precious books, still a point of reference for all devotees of Krishna, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada deserves to be mentioned on this site, which aims to be inspired by the deepest harmony and hospitality, in the conviction that everything in this world, including this world itself, emanates from Sri Krishna, the Cause of all causes, and as such deserves the greatest respect and admiration.
Srila Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada
Born in Calcutta in 1896 into a Vaishnava family, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has breathed a spiritual atmosphere since his earliest moments of life. During his studies at the University of Calcutta, he actively participated in Gandhi's non-violence movement.
But the year 1922, in which he finished his studies, marked a turning point in his activities with the meeting of the one who would become his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, founder of the Gaudiya Matha, who was then multiplying his centers (there were
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there were 64 in 1922) in India, but also in London and Berlin. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who appreciates the young man's personality and senses his qualities, entrusts him with the task of spreading in the West the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita.
In 1933 he is formally initiated by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who in 1936, shortly before leaving this world, again reminds him of his desire to see him transmit the message of the Bhagavad-gita to Western countries.
In 1959, now fully determined to fulfill his Master's desire, he accepts sannyasa, the order of renunciation; his former name is then replaced with the traditional title of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
He then goes to Vrindavana, the village where, 5000 years ago, the childhood pastimes and amusements of Sri Krishna took place. There, in his small room at the Radha-Damodara Temple, he translates from Sanskrit and comments in English on the first Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam and other Sacred Texts. Piles of notebooks, notepads, and even sheets of newspaper, using the blank parts, are filled, page after page, with translations and commentaries. In addition to this great work, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada continues publishing a magazine in English, Back to Godhead, which he founded in 1944. Editor, financier, printer, he also takes charge of distributing it. Once a week he heads to New Delhi with his arms full of Back to Godhead. He enters tea rooms, sits down without even taking a glass of water, and often converses until late in the evening with people, discussing the science of the Bhagavad-gita and distributing his Back to Godhead.
In 1965 he boards a merchant ship bound for the United States. His manuscripts, his books, and 40 rupees are all his fortune. He settles in New York, where soon many young people, and even some not so young, will feel the charm of his personality; they begin to chant with him the Vedic mantras and attend his lectures on the Bhagavad-gita in a small abandoned shop on Second Avenue.
Always eager to continue his translations of the Vedic texts, he rests only from ten in the evening to two in the morning. The term "translation" is the right word because, while many others have adapted rather than translated the Sanskrit texts according to their own interpretations, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has always made sure to present, in all his works, first the original Sanskrit verse, then its transliteration in Roman characters, the word-for-word translation, and the literal translation; only then does he clarify the content and meaning, but always according to the teachings of the Scriptures. Thus, it is easy to verify whether the translations he proposes are authentic, without personal additions.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is considered today the most important master of Vedic philosophy, and also the most widely read. He has published numerous essential works, such as the Bhagavad-gita, the Srimad Bhagavatam, the Sri Isopanisad, The Teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, The Nectar of Devotion, The Krishna Book, the Chaitanya Caritamrita.
Tirelessly, he also traveled from one end of the Earth to the other, addressing a vast audience every day and consistently instructing his disciples so that Vedic wisdom, in its original purity, could be offered to everyone.
From 1967 to 1977, in the last ten years of his earthly sojourn, after founding I.S.K.CON (The International Society for Krishna Consciousness), he opened more than ninety centers for Krishna consciousness in the major cities of the world, where his numerous disciples lead a simple and healthy life, whose structures are strictly in accordance with the teachings of the sacred texts.
According to these texts, a spiritual Master is one who has realized knowledge through a succession of Masters and whose teachings never deviate, not even in the smallest detail, from those of the Scriptures and previous spiritual masters.
He therefore did not "invent" any religion or new method of spiritual realization, but simply wanted to make known to the world the Vedic wisdom in its pure form.
(freely adapted from the website www.harekrsna.it )