His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was born into a family of Krishna devotees in Calcutta, India, in 1896. From childhood, he showed signs of pure devotion to God, engaging in Krishna conscious activities at school and at play.

In 1922, Srila Prabhupada met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati (1874-1936), a great exponent of Krishna Consciousness in India. At their first meeting, Prabhupada received the instructions that would later bring about a spiritual renaissance: "Go to the West and spread Krishna Consciouness in the English language." Although the followers of the Vedas have worshipped Lord Krishna since time immemorial, their philosophy and transcendental methods have been unknown outside of India.

By following his spiritual master's instructions, Srila Prabhupada would become an important link in the transmission of the original teachings enunciated by Lord Krishna Himself.

In 1944, Prabhupada founded Back to Godhead, a magazine dealing with the science of Krishna Consciousness. Using his own money and working with no assistance, he wrote, edited, printed, and distributed the magazine on a modest basis in and around New Delhi. During the years that followed, he dreamt several times that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was telling him to give up household life and take up the spiritual order of sannyasa (renunciation). When he had the dream again in Vrindaban, India, he resolved to take the challenge. In September, 1959, he took the vows of renunciation and was named A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. As a sannyasi, he was in an ideal position to fulfill his spiritual master's order, but first he needed books, and passage to America.

Depending fully on Lord Krishna's mercy, Srila Prabhupada began his life's literary work: an English translation, with commentaries of the Srimad Bhagavatam. He struggled alone, writing and collecting money to print the first three volumes. In 1965, the way was finally cleared for his now historic journey to the West. The Scindia Steamship Line gave him free passage aboard the freighter Jaladhuta; and in August, Srila Prabhupada left India with a crate of his Srimad-Bhagavatams, a pair of kartals (small hand cymbals) and seven dollars.

The forty-day journey was arduous. A few days out at sea, the Jaladhuta passed through heavy storms, and Prabhupada suffered from seasickness and heart attacks. For two consecutive nights, the attacks came, and at age sixty-nine, Prabhupada knew that they could prove fatal. On the third night, he dreamt that Lord Krishna Himself was rowing the ship to America, urging him on, and offering him all protection. The next day, the storms and heart attacks subsided.

When the ship finally docked in New York City, he wrote: "My dear Lord Krishna, You are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me. How will I make them understand the message of Krishna Consciouness?

I am very unfortunate, unqualified, and most fallen. Therefore, I am seeking Your benediction so I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own." Then, with his books, his cymbals, and seven dollars, Prabhupada entered the anonymity of the world's largest metropolis. Throughout the winter of 1965-1966, he struggled for subsistence in cold Manhattan apartments, selling a few copies of Srimad Bhagavatam to curious strangers. Despite hardships, he continued writing. After his room was ransacked by thieves, he moved to Manhattan's Lower East Side, renting an apartment and a small storefront at 26 Second Avenue.

Word soon spread among young seekers of spiritual truth that an Indian swami had come with a "far -out yoga method": chanting Hare Krishna. In July 1966 he formed the International Society for Krishna Consciouness (ISKCON) with a few disciples. In the autumn, he took his following to the nearby Tompkins Square Park for the first public chanting of Hare Krishna in the Western world, and gained quick notice on the Lower East Side. Though he had only a few disciples - his strict regimen allowed no meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication, or gambling - Prabhupada was well on his way yo realizing his mission.

Within months, he opened centers in San Francisco, Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles, and Buffalo. In 1969 he visited New Vrindaban, where he stayed for two months in a simple wooden shack "Eventually you must construct seven temples on seven hills," he told his disciples. At the time, this seemed an impossible dream.

Srila Prabhupada then went to Europe to visit the newly-opened centers in London and Hamburg. In the following years the Hare Krishna movement swept around the world, with centers in all the major citiesof the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Even though constantly travelling, he never stopped writing on the science of Krishna Consciouness. Over eighty volumes of his works have been published and over a hundred million distributed. These include Bhagavad-gita As It Is (1968), Teachings of Lord Chaitanya (1968), Krishna The Supreme Personality of Godhead (1970), Nectar of Devotion (1970), Chaitanya-caritamrita (1970-1975, seventeen volumes), and thirty volumes of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Srila Prabhupada left this mortal world in 1977. Wherever Srila Prabhupada stayed, whether in a London manor, or a simple Indian hut, he translated the Vedic literatures into English during the early morning hours and nurtured his infant society by day.

Srila Prabhupada accomplished these prodigious feats between the ages of seventy and eighty-two through great personal effort and unshakable faith in Krishna, the Supreme Lord. In this short space, only a few of his accomplishments are mentioned. He was certainly no ordinary person. He was a self-realized soul, chosen and empowered by Krishna to help the people of this world return to their original, spiritual home, the Kingdom of God. Hare Krishna!