On the auspicious occasion of Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa Puja Mahotsava 2025, newly formed Srila Prabhupada Connection–Mayapur Team (website to be launched soon) in collaboration with the Bhaktivedanta National School (BVNS), Mayapur, organized a special children’s competition on August 14. The initiative was designed to nurture devotion and inspire the younger generation to deepen…
Author: founderacharya
Srila Prabhupada’s opinion on war focused specifically on the protection of innocent, women and children, and, of course, devotees of Krishna Consciousness movement. On February 24, 2022, a brutal war broke out in Ukraine. Cities were bombed, civilians killed, and millions of innocent — including several thousands of devotees — were forced to flee their homes. The following selection of quotes from Srila Prabhupada answer the question of how devotees should respond to such a crisis.
Srila Prabhupada flew to London in July 1977. Upon arrival, he was wheeled off the plane and driven directly to Bhaktivedanta Manor. When his disciples entered his room, he was “radiant, beaming.” Sitting in a rocking chair by the bay window, he looked out over the garden and said, “Western countries are so nice. If only they wouldn’t eat cow. Is there any other meat they can eat?” It was a statement filled with compassion. He was not condoning meat-eating, but lamenting the killing of the cow—the emblem of maternal service and sacredness.
At this stage, although he could not walk, Srila Prabhupada maintained great dignity. He would dress twice daily in fresh clothes, complete with clean socks and gold buttons. He insisted on being well-kept. “Most dignified person,” said one disciple. “He refused to let us carry him at first. I would stand behind him, lifting him under the arms while he moved his own legs.”
Our worship of Srila Prabhupada is not exaggerated. All Founder-Acaryas in the various sampradayas are accorded similar worship. In ISKCON’s case, although it is true that we are a branch of the Gaudiya Math through Prabhupada’s connection with his spiritual master, and as such, we are also part of one of the four basic lines descending from Krishna, Srila Prabhupada began something that was distinguished enough from the main branch that it became a sub-branch in itself. ISKCON is not the same as the Gaudiya Math and neither did Srila Prabhupada try to make it the same. His purpose was to apply the traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to Westerners in a worldwide movement, and that included making adjustments for cultural disparities between traditional Indian Vaishnava cultural expressions and the lack of them in the West-and so many other adjustments that only a worldwide preacher such as Srila Prabhupada could understand. Those adaptations and adjustments form a part of Srila Prabhupada’s emphasis, and make those who accept and identify wholeheartedly with that emphasis his followers.
Pradyumna das, currently residing at ISKCON Radha Govinda Mandir in New York, shares his cherished memories of Srila Prabhupada…
In 1966, a modest storefront at 26 Second Avenue in New York City became the birthplace of a global spiritual movement. It was here that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), introducing the timeless tradition of bhakti-yoga to the Western world.…
Celebrating 60 Years of Spiritual Legacy September 12–14, 2025 | ISKCON Boston In 1965, a humble, determined spiritual teacher stepped aboard a cargo ship in Mumbai, India, bound for an unknown future. Carrying little more than a suitcase, a few books, and a heart full of compassion, His Divine Grace…
by Kalachandji das
In July of ’76, the Rādhā-Dāmodara Party converged on Washington, D.C., for the 200th anniversary of American independence. Śrīla Prabhupāda was there, and though Aindra had been His Divine Grace’s initiated disciple for three years, he had never seen his guru mahārāja in person.
The Genesis of Back to Godhead: Srila Prabhupada’s Mission Amidst Turmoil Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura, the founder-acharya of the Gauḍiya Maṭh, passing in 1937, led to internal disputes over leadership and the future direction of the mission. Despite Bhaktisiddhanta’s clear instructions to establish a governing body of twelve men to…
Atlanta February 28–March 2, 1975 Prabhupada Lila by Satsvarupa dasa Goswami The Deities of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda Prabhu in Atlanta are over four feet tall and effulgent. Their lotus feet are usually fully visible, transcendentally poised atop the whorls of lotus flowers. Their arms are upraised about Their heads,…