A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977)
Abhay Charan De was born in Calcutta during the period of Victorian imperialism. His father was a cloth merchant whose lineage is reported to trace back to the ancient sage Gautama. The family's Spiritual tradition has been called Bengali Vaishnava. After traveling to America in 1965, he would go on to achieve international recognition as Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada — founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) associated with the Krishna Consciousness (or "Hare Krishna") movement.
An outlook of complete confidence about the importance of an individual achieving Krisha Consciousness is chronicled in the seven-volume biography Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. As one studies the books by and about Srila Prabhupada, it becomes evident that he recognized that ancient writings evinced many undeniable truths and dedicated himself to translating numerous volumes to English. Srila Prabhupada is quoted by his biographer in a Preface: "The words of Krsna and the disciplic succession that carries the orders of Krsna are actually authoritative . . . he [the pure devotee] must then take permission from the spiritual master, and that permission must also be confirmed by Krsna from within his heart."
An outlook of complete confidence about the importance of an individual achieving Krisha Consciousness is chronicled in the seven-volume biography Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. As one studies the books by and about Srila Prabhupada, it becomes evident that he recognized that ancient writings evinced many undeniable truths and dedicated himself to translating numerous volumes to English. Srila Prabhupada is quoted by his biographer in a Preface: "The words of Krsna and the disciplic succession that carries the orders of Krsna are actually authoritative . . . he [the pure devotee] must then take permission from the spiritual master, and that permission must also be confirmed by Krsna from within his heart."
After attending college for four years, Abhay began working in the pharmaceutical industry in a managerial position. He would continue working in this industry for several decades. A pivotal event in Abhay's life occurred in 1922 when a friend insisted he meet Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a scholarly Vaisnava sadhu.
The sadhu instructed Abhay and his friend about the wisdom found in the Vedic scriptures and the succession of spiritual masters: ". . . the eternal reality is Krsna consciousness, and the real self is the spirit soul . . . Although everyone is an eternal servant of God, when one takes himself to be the temporary body and regards the nation of his birth as worshipable, he comes under illusion."
Srila Prabhupada is quoted about his reaction to meeting the sadhu: "I accepted him as my spiritual master immediately. Not officially, but in my heart. I was thinking that I had met a very nice saintly person."
By 1935 Abhay was able to articulate the Vaisnava philosophy as expressed by Srila Sarasvati and derived from the Gita, Bhagavatam and Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu texts. Abhay distinguished himself as having the ability to preach the Vaisnava doctrine in English. Here is a passage from an English speech delivered by Abhay on the sixty-second birthday of Srila Sarasvati —
The sadhu instructed Abhay and his friend about the wisdom found in the Vedic scriptures and the succession of spiritual masters: ". . . the eternal reality is Krsna consciousness, and the real self is the spirit soul . . . Although everyone is an eternal servant of God, when one takes himself to be the temporary body and regards the nation of his birth as worshipable, he comes under illusion."
Srila Prabhupada is quoted about his reaction to meeting the sadhu: "I accepted him as my spiritual master immediately. Not officially, but in my heart. I was thinking that I had met a very nice saintly person."
By 1935 Abhay was able to articulate the Vaisnava philosophy as expressed by Srila Sarasvati and derived from the Gita, Bhagavatam and Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu texts. Abhay distinguished himself as having the ability to preach the Vaisnava doctrine in English. Here is a passage from an English speech delivered by Abhay on the sixty-second birthday of Srila Sarasvati —
We must conclude that the darkness of the present Age is not due to lack of material achievement, but that we have lost the clue to our spiritual advancement which is the prime necessity of human life and the criterion of the highest type of civilisation.
They [the sages of India] had developed a different kind of civilisation which enables us to know ourselves. They had discovered that we are not at all material entities, but that we are all spiritual, permanent and non-destructible servants of the Absolute.
The speech and a poem by Abhay were published in the periodical The Harmonist, whose editor was instructed by Sri Sarasvati to continue publishing whatever Abhay wrote.
Abhay's life at home was at times one of frustration. The biographer observed: "Ideally, family life and spiritual life should progress side by side. But the difficulty was Abhay's wife. She was disturbed over the business losses and apathetic to the spiritual successes. She wanted to stay within the orbit of home and family, and despite Abhay's suggestions she refused to accept initiation from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. It was his own wife who was his most formidable competitor. And she waged her opposition right in the home, where it was least welcome."
In December 1936 shortly before the passing of the guru, Abhay wrote to him and asked "Is there any particular service I can do?" Srila Sarasvati replied: "I am fully confident that you can explain in English our thoughts . . . I have every hope that you can turn yourself into a very good English preacher if you serve the mission to inculcate Lord Chaitanya's teachings in the people in general as well as philosophers and religionists."
Srila Prabhupada is quoted in the first volume of the biography about witnessing and surviving the cataclysms of Indian independence and partition:
Our independence movement was started by Mahatma Gandhiji for uniting all the different sections of the people. But actually the result was that instead of being united, India was partitioned. And the partition became so poisonous that formerly there was only sporadic Hindu-Muslim riots in some places, but now there was organized fighting between Pakistan and Hindustan. So actually we were not being united, we were being separated.
The Hindus would go to the mosque of the Muslim and break it, and the Muslim would go to the temples of the Hindus and break the idol. And they will think, "We have finished the Hindus' God." Just like the Hindus also think "Oh, we have broken their God." They are all ignorant. God cannot be Hindu. God cannot be Muslim. God cannot be Christian. God is God.
We have seen in 1947 — Hindu-Muslim fighting. One party was Hindu, the other party was Muslim. They fought, and so many died, and after death there was no distinction who was Hindu or who was Muslim — the municipal men gathered them together in piles to throw them somewhere.
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"What Is Krsna Consciousness?" is a chapter in The Science of Self-Realization (first published in 1978) by A.C. Bhaktivdanta Swami Prabhupada. The book presents articles from Back to Godhead magazine, the title selected by Srila Prabhupada for editions of a periodical dating back to 1944 when he was living in Calcutta. The source for the following quotations is an interview with Srila Prabhupada conducted by journalist Sandy Nixon in July 1975.
One of the chapters of The Science of Self Realization is "Superconsciousness" transcribed from a 1967 lecture. Srila Prabhupada is quoted: "The Supersoul, being seated in everyone's heart, can witness everyone's activities, past, present, and future. In the Upanisads the Supersoul is said to be sitting with the individual soul as a friend and witness. As a friend He is always anxious to get the individual soul back home, back to Godhead . . . Simply to understand that God is seated in everyone's heart is not perfection. One has to be acquainted with God from within and without and thus act in Krsna consciousness. This is the highest perfectional stage for the human form of life, and the topmost stage in all yoga systems."
Excerpts from "What Is Krsna Consciousness?" interview
Ms. Nixon: My first question is very basic. What is Kṛṣṇa consciousness?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa means God. We are all intimately connected with Him because He is our original father. But we have forgotten this connection. When we become interested in knowing, “What is my connection with God? What is the aim of life?” then we are called Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Ms. Nixon: How does Kṛṣṇa consciousness develop in the practitioner?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa consciousness is already there in the core of everyone’s heart. But because of our materially conditioned life, we have forgotten it. The process of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—revives the Kṛṣṇa consciousness we already have. For example, a few months ago these American and European boys and girls did not know about Kṛṣṇa, but just yesterday we saw how they were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and dancing in ecstasy throughout the whole Ratha-yātrā procession [an annual festival sponsored by the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in cities around the world]. Do you think that was artificial? No. Artificially, nobody can chant and dance for hours together. They have actually awakened their Kṛṣṇa consciousness by following a bona fide process. This is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22. 107):
nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
Kṛṣṇa consciousness is dormant in everyone’s heart, and when one comes in contact with devotees, it is awakened. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not artificial. Just as a young boy awakens his natural attraction for a young girl in her association, similarly, if one hears about Kṛṣṇa in the association of devotees, he awakens his dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Ms. Nixon: What is the difference between Kṛṣṇa consciousness and Christ consciousness?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Christ consciousness is also Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but because at present people do not follow the rules and regulations of Christianity—the commandments of Jesus Christ—they do not come to the standard of God consciousness.
Ms. Nixon: Could you please tell me a little bit about your life and how you knew that you were the spiritual master of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: My life is simple. I was a householder with a wife and children—now I have grandsons—when my spiritual master ordered me to go to the Western countries and preach the cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So I left everything on the order of my spiritual master, and now I am trying to execute his order and the orders of Kṛṣṇa.
Ms. Nixon: How old were you when he told you to go to the West?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: At our first meeting, he ordered me to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the West. I was then twenty-five years old, a married man with two children. I tried my best to carry out his orders and started managing Back to Godhead magazine in 1944, when I was still in household life. I started writing books in 1959 after retiring from family life, and in 1965 I came to the United States.
One of the chapters of The Science of Self Realization is "Superconsciousness" transcribed from a 1967 lecture. Srila Prabhupada is quoted: "The Supersoul, being seated in everyone's heart, can witness everyone's activities, past, present, and future. In the Upanisads the Supersoul is said to be sitting with the individual soul as a friend and witness. As a friend He is always anxious to get the individual soul back home, back to Godhead . . . Simply to understand that God is seated in everyone's heart is not perfection. One has to be acquainted with God from within and without and thus act in Krsna consciousness. This is the highest perfectional stage for the human form of life, and the topmost stage in all yoga systems."
Hindu religious calendar Bengal style calendar artwork 1960s
Here are excerpts from one of Srila Prabhupada's commentaries from Srimad-Bhagavatam:
Here are excerpts from one of Srila Prabhupada's commentaries from Srimad-Bhagavatam:
The devotees of the Lord are always anxious for the spiritual improvement of the general public. When the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya [wheel-rim forest] analyzed the state of affairs of the people in this age of Kali, they foresaw that men would live short lives.
The human life is especially meant for self-realization. That is to say, man should come to know what he is, what the world is, and what the supreme truth is. Human life is a means by which the living entity can end all the miseries of the hard struggle for life in material existence and by which he can return to Godhead, his eternal home. But, due to a bad system of education, men have no desire for self-realization. Even if they come to know about it, they unfortunately become victims of misguided teachers.
In this age, men are victims not only of different political creeds and parties, but also of many different types of sense-gratificatory diversions, such as cinemas, sports, gambling, clubs, mundane libraries, bad association, smoking, drinking, cheating, pilfering, bickerings, and so on. Their minds are always disturbed and full of anxieties due to so many different engagements. In this age, many unscrupulous men manufacture their own religious faiths which are not based on any revealed scriptures, and very often people who are addicted to sense gratification are attracted by such institutions. Consequently, in the name of religion so many sinful acts are being carried on that the people in general have neither peace of mind nor health of body. The student (brahmacārī) communities are no longer being maintained, and householders do not observe the rules and regulations of the gṛhastha-āśrama [social order]. Consequently, the so-called vānaprasthas [hermits] and sannyāsīs [renunciates] who come out of such gṛhastha-āśramas are easily deviated from the rigid path. In the Kali-yuga the whole atmosphere is surcharged with faithlessness. Men are no longer interested in spiritual values. Material sense gratification is now the standard of civilization. For the maintenance of such material civilizations, man has formed complex nations and communities, and there is a constant strain of hot and cold wars between these different groups. It has become very difficult, therefore, to raise the spiritual standard due to the present distorted values of human society. The sages of Naimiṣāraṇya are anxious to disentangle all fallen souls . . . .
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