Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Bengali: অভয় চরোনারবীন্দ্র ভক্তিবেদান্তো স্বামী প্রভুপাদ; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was a Vedic spiritual teacher (guru) and the founder preceptor (Acharya) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness[1] (ISKCON), commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement". Members of the ISKCON movement view Prabhupada as a representant and messenger of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.[2][3][4][5]
Born Abhay Charan De in Calcutta, he was educated at the Scottish Church College in Calcutta.[6] Before adopting the life of a pious renunciant (vanaprastha) in 1950,[7] he was married with children and owned a small pharmaceutical business.[8][9] In 1959 he took a vow of renunciation (sannyasa) and started writing commentaries on Vaishnava scriptures.[10] In his later years, as a travelling Vaishnava monk, he became an influential communicator of Gaudiya Vaishnava theology to India and specifically to the West through his leadership of ISKCON, founded in 1966.[11][12] As the founder of ISKCON, he "emerged as a major figure of the Western counterculture, initiating thousands of young Americans."[13] He received criticism from anti-cult groups, as well as a favourable welcome from religious scholars such as J. Stillson Judah, Harvey Cox, Larry Shinn and Thomas Hopkins, who praised Bhaktivedanta Swami's translations and defended the group against distorted media images and misinterpretations.[14] In respect to his achievements, religious leaders from other Gaudiya Vaishnava movements have also given him credit.[15]
He has been described as a charismatic leader, in the sense used by sociologist Max Weber, as he was successful in acquiring followers in the United States, Europe, India and elsewhere.[16][17][18] His mission was to propagate, throughout the world, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a school of Vaishnavite Hinduism that had been taught to him by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.[11] After his death in 1977, ISKCON, the society he founded based on a type of Hindu Krishnaism using the Bhagavata Purana as a central scripture, continued to grow. In February 2014, ISKCON's news agency reported reaching a milestone of distributing over half a billion of his books since 1965. His translation and commentaries of the Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is is considered by adherents to the ISKCON movement and many Vedic scholars as one of the finest literary works of Vaishnavism translated into the English Language.
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The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organisation.[6] ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada known to his followers as Guru and spiritual master.[7] Its core beliefs are based on select Hindu scriptures, particularly the Bhagavad Gita and the Bhagavata Purana. ISKCON is a direct descendant of Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya.[8] The appearance of the movement and its culture come from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India since the late 15th century and American and European converts since the early 1900s in North America,[9] and in England since the 1930s.[10] In West Virginia, the Praphupada’s Palace of Gold is now a shrine for the founder, who died in 1977.[11]
ISKCON was formed to spread the practice of Bhakti yoga, in which those involved (bhaktas) dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing, Krishna, their Supreme Lord.[12][13] ISKCON as of 2017 is a worldwide confederation of more than 850 temples and centres, including 60 farm communities, some aiming for self-sufficiency, 50 schools, and 90 restaurants.[14] Its most rapid expansions in membership as of 2007 have been within India and, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe.
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The Bhagavad Gita (/ˌbʌɡəvəd
The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Lord Krishna. Facing the duty as a warrior to fight the Dharma Yudhha or righteous war between Pandavas and Kauravas, Arjuna is counselled by Lord Krishna to "fulfill his Kshatriya (warrior) duty as a warrior and establish Dharma."[4] Inserted[4] in this appeal to kshatriya dharma (chivalry)[5] is "a dialogue ... between diverging attitudes concerning methods toward the attainment of liberation (moksha)".[6]
The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis[7][8] of the concept of Dharma,[7][8][9] theistic bhakti,[10][9] the yogic ideals[8] of moksha[8] through jnana, bhakti, karma, and Raja Yoga (spoken of in the 6th chapter)[10] and Samkhya philosophy.[web 1][note 1] It is a Bhagavata explanation of the Purusha Sukta and the Purushamedha Srauta yajna described in the Satapatha Brahmana.[11]
Numerous commentaries have been written on the Bhagavad Gita with widely differing views on the essentials. Vedanta commentators read varying relations between Self and Brahman in the text: Advaita Vedanta sees the non-dualism of Atman (soul) and Brahman as its essence,[12] whereas Bhedabheda and Vishishtadvaita see Atman and Brahman as both different and non-different, and Dvaita sees them as different. The setting of the Gita in a battlefield has been interpreted as an allegory for the ethical and moral struggles of the human life.
The Bhagavad Gita's call for selfless action inspired many leaders of the Indian independence movement including Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi referred to the Gita as his "spiritual dictionary".
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