His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was born Abhay Charan De, on the 1 September 1896, in Calcutta. In 1922 he met His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati Thakur, Founder of Gaudiya Math, who requested Abhay to broadcast Vedic knowledge in the Engl ish medium. In 1933, at Allahabad, Abhay was formally initiated and made it his life am bition to expound the Vedic conclusion that real freedom means liberation from the mis eries of material life : birth, death, old age and disease, a state that can be perman ently attained by awakening one’s pure love for God, Krishna-prema or Krishna-bhakti.
In the ensuing years Abhay Charanaravinda (his initiated name), wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. In 1944 he started the Back to Godhead magazine, which to this day is being continued by his disciples. In recognition of his philosophical knowledge and devotion the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society honored him with the title Bhaktivedanta in 1947. Following his retirement from married life, A.C. Bhaktivedanta traveled to Vrindavan where he lived in the humble surrounding of the Rad ha Damodar temple. In 1959 he took the sannyasa order of life and, as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swa mi, started his work on the multi-volume translation and commentary
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, also popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement is a spiritual society founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in July 1966 in New York. ISKCON belongs to the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya, a monotheistic tradition within Vedic culture. Today ISKCON comprises of more than 400 temples, 40 rural communities and over 100 vegetarian restaurants. It also conducts special projects throughout the world, such as “Food for Life”, the only free vegetarian relief program in the world. The aim of ISKCON is to acquaint all people of world with universal principles of self-realization and
ADVENT OF HOLY SCRIPTURE – BHAGAWADH GITA On the auspicious occasion of Mokshadā Ekādashi or Gita Jayanti, Lord Sri Kṛishna imparted the divine transcendental knowledge of Srimad Bhagavad Gitā to Arjuna. As Bhagavad Gita emanated from the lotus
