His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
A brief history of Srila Prabhupada's life:
The Teacher Who Brought Lord Krishna's Message
The philosophy and culture of Krishna consciousness were brought to the West from India in 1965 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Years earlier, Srila Prabhupada, as he is known, had retired from business and family life to devote himself to serving Krishna and spreading Krishna's message, as he had learned it from his own spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada had published three volumes of Krishna conscious literature, which he had translated from Sanskrit into English. And he started an English- language magazine, BACK TO GODHEAD. Now, at the age of sixty-nine, he received free passage on a freight ship and came to New York.
He was nearly penniless and had no friends or relatives in America. But, depending on Krishna, he chanted Hare Krishna in a public park and taught classes in a small store. Soon people took interest in what he had to say.
Srila Prabhupada's mission was to present Krishna's teachings as they are, without watering them down or compromising them to suit popular fashion. Wheter his message become popular or not, he was determined to give the genuine thing.
Did Srila Prabhupada think himself to be God? Never. He worked as a humble servant of God. Men who claim to be God, he said, are dogs.
Srila Prabhupada taught how to serve Krishna by his words and by the example of his life. In the early hours of the morning he would wake to write and translate, and during the day he would guide his students in devotional service. He lived and ate simply and slept only a few hours a night.
In twelve years, Srila Prabhupada nurtured his small group into a worldwide movement for spiritual culture and philosophical understanding. It came to be known as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Before Srila Prabhupada passed away, in 1977, he wrote more than sixty books. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which he founded, publishes these books in more than sixty languages.
The Books of Srila Prabhupada
Srila Prabhupada wrote over 50 volumes of transcendental literature. From original Sanskrit or Bengali texts, he would write word-for-word and complete translations for each verse and comment on the text in his famous Bhaktivedanta purports. He called these purports "My emotional ecstasies." In clear and lucid language, he exposed the foolishness of the modern materialistic society, which often acts no different than polished animals. But merely exposing the modern society was not his main purpose. He sincerely wished the best for all living entities. Therefore he presented the vast science of spiritual knowledge in such a manner that even any slightly intelligent person could understand the truth: We are eternally parts of Krishna; we are His eternal servants.
Srila Prabhupada's works include the Bhagavad-gita As It Is, Srimad Bhagavatam (12 Cantos), Caitanya-caritamrta (17 volumes), The Nectar of Devotion, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, The Teachings of Lord Kapila, The Teaching of Queen Kunti, Sri Isopanisad, The Nectar of Instruction, and dozens of smaller books.
Srila Prabhupada produced these books (excepting the original First Canto Bhagavatam) within a short span of 11 years, a superhuman feat unmatched in recorded history. Every day he would dictate the text, and later his devoted followers would type his recorded voice and edit the copies. Prabhupada slept only 3 hours a day and ate only a handful of food. The early morning hours, between 1:30 and 4:30 a.m., he would spend writing, and later in the day he would preach to all classes of people in public and in private. Even up to the day before his death, when his physical body was at its end, he was writing the final purports to his last book. By any calculation, he was an extraordinary person.
Here is what some scholars say about the Books of Srila Prabhupada
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"In this beautiful translation, Srila Prabhupada has caught the deep devotional spirit of the Gita and has supplied the text with an elaborate commentary in the truly authentic tradition of Sri Krishna Caitanya, one of India's most important and influential saints."
Dr. J. Stillson Judah
Emeritus Professor of the History of Religions and
Director of the Library Graduate Theological Union,
Berkeley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Bhagavad-gita As It Is is a deeply felt, powerfully conceived and beautifully explained work... I have never seen any other work on the Gita with such an important voice and style. It is a work of undoubted integrity... It will occupy a significant place in the intellectual ethical life of modern man for a long time to come."
Dr. S. Shukla
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Georgetown University
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This definitive edition of the Gita is, due to the extensive purports, a storehouse of ancient Vedic wisdom, poetry, politics and history. It should serve as a useful textbook for students and reference book for scholars of religion, as well as a general introduction to Vedic culture in general, not only from a scholar's point of view, but from that of a lifelong practitioner. It is this sense of devotion which Srila Prabhupada has captured in his discussion of the verses and which other commentators have failed to reveal. For this reason, Bhagavad-gita As It Is is an essential work for understanding the Indian religious tradition."
Dr. David Herron
Department of Religion
Manhattan College
No comments:
Post a Comment