Founder-Acarya of ISKCON · 1896–1977
Srila Prabhupada
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the spiritual master of HH Mahavishnu Swami.
At sixty-nine he left India with his spiritual master’s instruction and little else. In the eleven years that followed he founded ISKCON, circled the globe fourteen times and gave the world his books on Krishna consciousness.
Read his life
Pranam mantra
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine nirvishesha-shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine
His life
From Calcutta to the whole world
1896Calcutta
A childhood in Calcutta
Srila Prabhupada was born Abhay Charan De on 1 September 1896, into a pious family in Calcutta.
1922Calcutta
Meeting his spiritual master
As a young man he met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, who asked him at their very first meeting to bring the teachings of Lord Caitanya to the outside world. He accepted him as his spiritual master at once, and was formally initiated in Allahabad in 1933.
1944Calcutta
Back to Godhead
He started Back to Godhead, an English magazine he wrote and edited himself, to carry his spiritual master’s instruction into print.
1959Vrindavan
The renounced order
On 17 September 1959 he accepted sannyasa. Living at the Radha-Damodara temple in Vrindavan, he began translating the Srimad-Bhagavatam into English.
1965New York
Across the ocean
At sixty-nine he sailed to America aboard the cargo ship Jaladuta and entered the port of New York on 17 September 1965.
1966New York
ISKCON is founded
On 11 July 1966 he registered the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in New York, beginning from a small storefront at 26 Second Avenue.
1969London
Bury Place
His disciples arrived in London in 1968. Srila Prabhupada came in September 1969, and that December the Radha-Krishna Temple opened at Bury Place, in the heart of the city.
1977Vrindavan
His departure
Srila Prabhupada left this world on 14 November 1977, aged 81, in Vrindavan. His books, temples and disciples carry his mission on.
“You should preach this Caitanya philosophy to the outside world.”
His legacy
- temples, ashrams and cultural centres
- 100+
- volumes on the Krishna tradition
- 70+
- languages his writings are translated into
- 76
- lecture tours around the globe
- 14
Figures: ISKCON Governing Body Commission
Guru and disciple
Srila Prabhupada and Maharaja
Born in Birmingham in 1945, Maharaja studied Fine Arts at the Bath Academy of Art. His search for meaning led him to the young ISKCON community in London, only a few years after Srila Prabhupada’s first disciples had arrived there.
In 1971 he received initiation from Srila Prabhupada and became a full-time temple devotee that same year.
Soon after, he joined the BBT Library Party, travelling across India for about twenty months to place Srila Prabhupada’s books in libraries, universities and institutions. He kept serving his spiritual master’s mission until Srila Prabhupada’s departure in 1977.
Today, as a sannyasi and spiritual master himself, Maharaja sees his role simply: a servant helping others come to Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada with his disciples. Photos: ISKCON Desire Tree
- 1945
- 1971
- 1984
- 1990
Further reading
Read the authorized biography
Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami is the authorized biography, commissioned by ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission in 1978 and written with Srila Prabhupada’s own letters, over seven thousand of them. It is free to read online.