About

Srila Prabhupada

“Srila Prabhupada lived with the spirit of the Lord’s compassion shining through his heart. Through his example he showed how to live as a true well wisher and friend of every living being. The genuine essence of all spiritual teachings can be understood by observing his qualities, hearing his words and reading his books.” - Radhanath Swami

His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) is widely regarded as the worlds pre-eminent exponent of the teachings and practices of Bhakti-yoga to the Western world.

Born Abhay Charan De on September 1, 1896, in Calcutta, as a youth he became involved with Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement. It was, however, a meeting with a prominent scholar and spiritual leader, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, which proved most influential on young Abhay’s future calling. Upon their first meeting Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, who represented an ancient tradition of Bhakti (devotional yoga), asked Abhay to bring the teachings of Krishna to the English-speaking world. From birth, Abhay had been raised in a family devoted to Krishna – the name meaning the all-attactive, all-loving Lord. Deeply moved by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta’s devotion and wisdom, Abhay became his disciple and dedicated himself to carrying out his mentor’s request. But it wasn’t until 1965, at the age of seventy, that he would set off on his mission to the West.

Having since been awarded the honorary title of Bhaktivedanta in recognition of his learning and devotion, and having taken the vows of sannyasa (renunciation), Abhay Charan, now known as Bhaktivedanta Swami, begged free passage and boarded a cargo ship to New York. The journey proved to be treacherous, and the elderly spiritual teacher suffered two heart attacks aboard ship. After 35 days at sea he finally arrived at a lonely Brooklyn pier with just seven dollars in Indian rupees and a crate of his translations of sacred Sanskrit texts.

In New York he faced great hardships without money or a place to live. He began his mission humbly, by giving classes on the Bhagavad-gita in lofts on the Bowery, New York’s infamous skid row, and leading kirtan (traditional devotional chants) in Tompkins Square Park. His message of peace and goodwill resonated with many young people, some of whom came forward to become serious students of the Krishna-bhakti tradition. With the help of these students, Bhaktivedanta Swami rented a small storefront on New York’s Lower East Side to use as a temple. After months of hardship and struggle, in July of 1966, Bhaktivedanta Swami established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness for the purpose of checking the imbalance of values in the world and working for real unity and peace. He taught that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of God and that one could find true happiness through living a simpler, more natural way of life and dedicating one’s energy in the service of God and all living beings.

Having begun initiating his American followers into the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage, Bhaktivedanta Swami next traveled to San Francisco. Amidst the emerging hippie community in the Haight-Ashbury district, during 1967’s “Summer of Love” he taught that the experience of devotion through kirtan was a spiritual “high” superior to any pleasures derived from material sources such as wealth, fame, or intoxication. In the following months many more came forward to assist him. Desiring to address him with the respect due a revered spiritual teacher, his disciples began to call him Srila Prabhupada, meaning “one at whose feet the masters sit”.

In the eleven years that followed, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times, bringing the teachings of Bhakti to thousands of people on six continents. Men and women from all backgrounds came forward to accept his message. With their help, Srila Prabhupada established centers and projects throughout the world including temples, rural communities, educational institutions, and what would become the world’s largest vegetarian food relief program. With the desire to nourish the roots of Krishna-bhakti in its home, Srila Prabhupada returned to India several times, where he sparked a revival in the Bhakti tradition. In India, he opened dozens of temples, including important centers in the holy towns of Vrindavana and Mayapur.

Perhaps Srila Prabhupada’s most significant contribution is his books. He authored over seventy volumes on Bhakti-yoga, which are highly respected for their authority, depth, clarity, and fidelity to tradition. His writings have been translated into seventy-six languages. His most prominent works include: Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the thirty-volume Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the seventeen-volume Sri Caitanya-caritamrita.

For millennia the teachings of Bhakti-yoga had been concealed within Sanskrit and Indian vernacular languages, and the rich culture of Bhakti had been hidden behind the borders of India. Today, millions around the globe express their gratitude to Srila Prabhupada for revealing the timeless wisdom of Bhakti to a world immersed in a materialistic and self-destructive ethos.

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada passed away on November 14, 1977, in the holy town of Vrindaban, surrounded by his loving disciples who carry on his mission today.


Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami is a Vaishnava sanyassi (a monk in a Krishna-bhakti lineage) and teacher of the devotional path of Bhakti-yoga. He is author of The Journey Home, a memoir of his search for spiritual truth. His teachings draw from the sacred texts of India such as The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Ramayana, and aim to reveal the practical application of the sacred traditions, while focusing on the shared essence which unites apparently disparate religious or spiritual paths.

Born Richard Slavin, on December 7, 1950, in his teens he came to confront a deep sense of alienation from suburban Chicago life and the civil injustices of mid-century America. At the age of nineteen, while on a summer trip to Europe, his internal struggles culminated in a commitment to search for God wherever it might lead him. Meditating on the Isle of Crete, he felt a supernatural calling and the next morning set off alone to find spiritual India. The Journey Home documents his odyssey as a penniless hitch-hiker though Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and finally India. There he lived as a wandering ascetic, first amongst the forest dwelling Himalayan yogis and later amongst a wide variety of gurus and spiritual practitioners throughout India and Nepal. Ultimately, he was led to the holy town of Vrindavan, where he found his path amongst the Bhakti-yogis.

In Vrindavan he found the teacher he was searching for in A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977) the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and representative of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (the Krishna-bhakti tradition stemming from the 16th century mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya). In choosing Bhaktivedanta Swami, as his guru, Radhanath Swami felt compelled to shear his matted locks and reenter Western society with a mission to share the sacred wisdom he had received. This return exemplifies the form of devotional yoga which is at the heart of Radhanath Swami’s teachings, a spiritual practice expressed as tangible action meant to bring about personal fulfillment and benefit the world.

At the the age of 31 he took the monastic vows of a Vaishnava sanyassi and became known as Radhanath Swami.

Today Radhanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, Europe and North America, sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga. He resides much of the year at the Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. For the past twenty-five years he has guided the community’s development and has directed a number of acclaimed social action projects including Midday Meals, which daily serves more than 260,000 plates of sanctified vegetarian food to the children of the slums of Mumbai. He has also worked to establish missionary hospitals and eye camps, eco-friendly farms, schools and ashrams, an orphanage, and a number of emergency relief programs throughout India.


What is Bhakti?

The term Bhakti is used in a variety of ways.
Most simply, bhakti refers to the common religious devotion that is held in the heart of a devoted person of any spiritual faith.
Bhakti can also refer to a practice of yoga (Bhakti-yoga), a spiritual discipline meant to bring one to a state of pure love of God.
More specifically, the term Bhakti can refer to the devotional interpretation of Vedanta. Vedanta is the most popular of India’s six classical schools of philosophy and the primary influence in Hinduism.
Bhakti also is used to refer to a trend within the history of Indian spirituality – the Bhakti Movement.
Finally, the word Bhakti refers to the perfected state of consciousness – exclusive and continuous love of God, the natural condition of the soul; eternal, enlightened bliss.

So, when we speak of Bhakti, we could be referring to an emotion, a practice, a school of philosophical thought, a popular movement, or a state of consciousness. The common thread that connects all of these uses of the term is its relation to the souls dormant love for God that is seen as the very essence of our being. The idea that the very purpose of human life is uncovering that essence is found throughout the worlds spiritual traditions.

In India, the second and first millennia BCE are known as the Vedic Period, named so due to the influence of the Vedas, a vast body of Sanskrit scripture. Large segments of the Vedas stress a gradual process of elevation trough a complex system of rites and rituals, the performance of which were reserved for an exclusive priesthood. Great emphasis was placed upon social ordering according to caste. It was widely believed that spiritual progress was to be achieved through the meticulous performance of ritual. The scripture that taught the rituals were in the Sanskrit language, which was only known to the priestly caste.

Beginning in the 6th century CE a new movement developed around the writings of mystics who extracted the devotional essence from the Vedas, de-emphasizing the particular formalities of ritual or caste. Prominent among these are the Alvars, twelve South Indian mystics who expressed their intimate love and longing for God through song and poetry. These devotional sentiments were gradually expanded upon, supported philosophically and organized into a method of devotional yoga by saintly philosophers such as Ramanuja and Madva. They were followed centuries later by prominent saints and teachers such as Nimbarka, Sri Cahitanya, Sri Vallabha, Meera Bai, Tukarama and many others. The widespread effect of the teachings of these saints eventually became known as the Bhakti Movement. By focusing on sincere devotion, rather than mere ritual, barriers of language and class distinctions were broken down. Over the centuries, the Bhakti Movement has gone on to promote devotion through philosophy and art, by ever expanding lineages, many of which still flourish today, each with their own unique contribution.


What is Vaishnavism?

Vaishnavism is a tradition, commonly understood as a branch of Hinduism, which holds reverence and devotion for Vishnu or Krishna as the highest manifestation of divinity and the source of all existence.

In the history of Indian spirituality the most important scriptural sources are Vaishnava sacred texts – The Mahabharata (including Bhagavad-gita), The Ramayana, and the The Srimad Bhagavatam. There are several ancient, time-tested linages of Vaishnava saints that focus and expound on the teachings of these Bhakti related texts. These texts and teachings have had a tremendously profound influence on Indian culture, (music, dance, literature, poetry, theater and art). But beyond their cultural influence, through exquisite, heartfelt poetry, they manage to integrate profound theological discourse and astute social thought to support an evolved presentation of Bhakti-yoga. Though these lineages are particularly popular in India, their devotional teachings cross all social borders and are highly relevant to all of humanity because they address the most essential needs of the soul.

The lineage known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism has significantly increased the awareness, recognition and growth of Vaishnavism internationally since the mid-1900’s, largely through the activities of The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founded by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Radhanath Swami is a direct disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and is a representative of the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage and it’s teachings.


What do Gaudiya Vaishnavas believe?

Gaudiya Vaishnavas are the followers of the mystic avatar Sri Chaitanya (1486-1534). Sri Chaitanya worshiped Radha and Krishna and popularized the practice of kirtan (congregational chanting of the names of God). His followers revere him as an incarnation of Krishna, prophesied in the later chapters of The Srimad Bhagavam, who appeared to teach the path of Bhakti.

Sri Chaitanya taught the belief in one supreme God, the ultimate manifestation being in the form of Krishna, accompanied by Radha, whose power and majesty is secondary to his beauty, love and sweetness. They believe that the Absolute Truth, or God, is all-attractive and has both a male and female nature that is beyond the influences of this temporary world.

Regarding the nature of the self, Sri Chaitanya taught that consciousness is not a product of matter but is rather a symptom of the soul. All souls are eternal, never losing their individuality. They are simultaneously the same as God in nature, yet different, being always dependent. In their conditioned state they are under the influence of matter and in their liberated state they are free in their natural expression of pure devotion with God.

Sri Caitanya taught that the ultimate realization of God is intimate and personal. The discovery of a personal relation with the Absolute is “the most secret of all secrets”, the highest truth which sages, yogis and philosophers have been seeking since the dawn of time. After penetrating into the deepest, most confidential aspect of the spiritual journey one finds God to be a person whose beauty, charm and love is all pervading and infinite. The essence of spiritual perfection for a Bhakti-yogi is to awaken ecstatic love for God, which is the intrinsic nature of the soul.

Hare Krsna!!!!

2 comments:

  1. wow. basic principles about ISKCON explained n its functions explained in a single section!!!

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  2. Hare Krishna AGTSP,
    Can any one ableto give me the list of satsang programs in mumbai for people of all age groups. conducted by iskcon chowpatty, please E-mail me on stockmarket211004@gmail.com

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