Sri Chaitanya sent many of his eternal associates to broadcast His loving mission all around the world. One of these extraordinary and exalted personalities took birth on Tuesday 1st September 1896, on Nandotsava (the day after Janmashtami), at 151 Harrison Road, Kolkata, West Bengal in a family of suvarna baniks (gold merchants). He would become known as Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja. His father, Gour Mohan De, and mother, Rajani Bala, were Vaishnavas and named their son Abhay Charan. In accordance with Bengali tradition, the parents requested an astrologer to prepare their son’s birth chart. The astrologer predicted, “This baby boy has so many symptoms for spreading the loving message of the Supreme Lord; he will also establish many temples around the world.” Due to the influence of his parents, Abhay Charan was spiritually inclined and intellectual by nature since childhood.
When he was six years old, Abhay Charan arranged a Ratha Yatra of Radha Govinda along with his friends in Kolkata. He also used to visit the Jagannath Ratha Yatra conducted by the residents of North Kolkata. While attending the Ratha Yatra festival, Abhay Charan had the desire to establish such grand festivals in the future—decades later, he would inaugurate Ratha Yatra festivals all over the world. Since his childhood, he would take only the remnants of food offered to Sri Sri Radha Govinda and felt a natural attraction to saintly persons.
Abhay Charan studied English, philosophy, and economics at the Scottish Church College in Kolkata. In 1918, when Abhay Charan was 22 years old, his marriage was arranged with Radharani, the daughter of his father’s business friend. In that same year, Abhay Charan’s future spiritual master, Bimala Prasad, had just completed his vow of chanting one billion holy names. In 1918, Bimala Prasad (later known as Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur) took sannyasa on Gaura Purnima day and established Sri Chaitanya Math in Sri Mayapur Dham with the mission to spread the loving message of Sri Chaitanya who is non-different from the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.
Although marriage is generally seen to be in opposition to renunciation, the Lord exhibited a miracle and Abhay Charan would soon come in contact with his spiritual master. Four years later in 1922, Abhay Charan and his friend visited the first preaching center of the Gaudiya Math located at No. 1 Ultadingi Junction Road, Kolkata established by Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur whom he met there.
Upon seeing Srila Prabhupada’s divine form, Abhay Charan felt attraction from the bottom of his heart and offered his prostrate obeisance. Srila Prabhupada allowed Abhay Charan and his friend to sit in front of him. Abhay Charan and his friend asked various questions regarding politics and the independence of India from the British. Srila Prabhupada replied, “There is one Supreme Lord who is Krishna. He is to be served by one and all. All other living entities are Krishna’s servants. This is the philosophy of Sri Chaitanya. If anybody is under the trap of illusion (Maya), running behind the objects of sense enjoyment in a greedy and lusty manner, and they try to establish the government, then their principles will be unstable and always changing. The principles of such people will never be effective in establishing peace in society. Our goal is to reach above this where we can be eternally blissful. You know the English language well. Why don’t you spread the message of Lord Chaitanya to the English-speaking world?” Hearing this brief explanation by Srila Prabhupada, Abhay Charan started to think that his own engagement with M. K. Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, and other political leaders was not the ultimate goal of life. From that time onward, Abhay Charan started to think about how to attain the ultimate goal of life.
In order to maintain his householder life, Abhay Charan opened a pharmaceutical business in Prayag. In 1932, Srila Prabhupada went there on a preaching tour along with various sannyasis, brahmacharis, and other associates. At that time, Abhay Charan invited them all to his home and surrendered to the divine lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. There, Srila Prabhupada gave Abhay Charan both harinam and Diksha initiations simultaneously and gave him the name Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari.
In 1935, Srila Prabhupada was in Radha Kunda, Govardhan. Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu went there to visit his Gurudeva along with his family members. During that time, while Srila Prabhupada and Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu were on the banks of Radha Kunda, Srila Prabhupada gave him the ultimate instruction, again. Srila Prabhupada said, “You know the English language well. I want you to spread the loving message of Sri Chaitanya to the English audience. Please study all of the books of Bhaktivinode Thakur. Try to translate these books into English and distribute them.”
On 1st January 1937 at 5:30 AM, Srila Prabhupada physically departed from this world, leaving behind a very important instruction to all of his followers. He said, “Everybody should cooperatively spread the message of Rupa Goswami and Raghunath Das Goswami under the shelter of Srimati Radharani, who is our one and only shelter and the actual acharya.” The acharya is one who teaches how to serve the Lord in the most precise manner through their own example.
We know from the scriptures that whatever a pure devotee instructs will surely manifest. Srila Prabhupada’s instruction to Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu at No. 1 Ultadingi Junction Road and at Radha Kunda gradually manifested in the following ways.
In 1944, Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu established an English magazine called Back to Godhead, wherein he wrote and published articles on spirituality based on Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur’s philosophy. Simultaneously, in order to fulfill his Gurudeva’s order, Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu started to translate the Srimad Bhagavad Gita into English.
However, as stated in the scriptures – sreyamsi bahu vighnani – performing auspicious activities is always met with obstacles. Once, Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu contracted tuberculosis. There was no proper medicine at the time and his wife and other family members did not allow him to stay in the home as it was an infectious disease. The Supreme Lord inspired Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaja to bring Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu to his temple, Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math in Kolkata, and look after him. After six months under the care of Srila Madhava Goswami Maharaja who arranged for expensive medications and personal care, Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu was physically healed by the mercy of the Supreme Lord. After all, the Lord is our actual shelter. This is an example of genuine Vaishnava culture, keeping amicable relations in order to carry forward the loving mission of Sri Chaitanya.
Although Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu was endeavoring to fulfill the order of his Gurudeva, he often faced obstacles from his family life. One time, his wife, Radharani, sold the English manuscript of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita that Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu had translated from Sanskrit and Bengali. She sold the manuscript in order to get money to buy tea. After this incident, Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu decided to renounce his household life and went to Vrindavan in order to completely dedicate himself to fulfilling the orders of his Gurudeva.
On 17th September 1959, Abhay Charanaravinda Das Adhikari Prabhu took sannyasa from his senior godbrother, Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaja, founder of Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti, and received the name, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja. For several years, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja stayed in a small room at Sri Radha Damodar temple, which is situated next to Srila RupaGoswami’ssamadhi in Vrindavan. There, according to the instruction of his Gurudeva, he chanted 64 rounds of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra every day and worked on translating the Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam into English.
In 1964, in order to fulfill the desire of his Gurudeva (Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur), Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja decided to go outside of India to preach the loving message of Sri Chaitanya to the English-speaking audience. He got in contact with Scindia shipping company’s owner, Sumati Morarjee Desai and she arranged a seat for him on a ship. At 7 AM on 13th August 1965, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja left on the Jaladuta ship from Kolkata to Boston. Although he suffered from two heart attacks on the journey, the Lord wanted him to survive to fulfill an important mission. Sri Chaitanya appeared in the form of Krishna to Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja and safely took him to Boston Port where he arrived on 17th September 1965. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja started what would then be an international movement called ISKCON with just a pair of hand cymbals (karatals). Eventually, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja transformed hippies into happies through the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Apart from that, he also transformed the lives of students, artists, professors, professional musicians, and social workers.
The desire of the exalted personality, Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur, began to gradually manifest through one of his affectionate disciples, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja. In 1966, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), widely known as the Hare Krishna Movement, for spreading the loving message of Sri Chaitanya and the chanting of the holy names of Krishna. Gradually, he met so many famous and celebrated personalities, such as George Harrison of the Beatles, Alfred Ford of Ford Motor Company, Allen Ginsberg, and various professors and scholars of top universities, and convinced them about the philosophy of Sri Chaitanya.
Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja spread the Hare Krishna Movement throughout various countries and established ISKCON centers in dozens of cities throughout the world. One of the most attractive centers at that time was the Bhaktivedanta Manor, which was donated by George Harrison in England. Through the spiritual potency and instruction of Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur and his selfless devotion, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja became successful, even at the advanced age of seventy years, in miraculously and rapidly spreading the loving message of Sri Chaitanya all over the world—within only twelve years (1965 to 1977). His preaching strategy included the distribution of devotional books accompanied by congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. He opened centers for establishing unity in diversity. He founded temples, spiritual schools, farm communities, Vaishnava festivals, and the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which was the Brihad Mridanga that published various scriptures and other literature. One of his major goals was to establish Vedic Daiva Varnashrama in the Western world.
Within a few years of preaching in America, many people became his followers. Due to his previous amicable relation with Srila Madhava Goswami Maharaja’s temple as mentioned above, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja sent three of his disciples, Achyutananda Das Brahmachari, Jayapataka Das Brahmachari (later known as Jayapataka Swami Maharaja), and Bhavananda Das to Srila Madhava Goswami Maharaja’s temple, Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math in Kolkata, for further development in Vaishnava etiquette and culture. Eventually, they started the first mission of ISKCON in India at Kolkata. Later on, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja established the world headquarters at Sridham Mayapur. In order to spread messages throughout India, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja established ISKCON centers in various cities of India including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Vrindavan, and so on.
Vaishnava kriya mudra vijne na bujhay – the actions of Vaishnavas cannot be understood by even the most expert of scholars. In order to spread the loving message of Sri Chaitanya, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja sometimes ignored the endeavors of some of his other godbrothers as seen through his instructions and various letters to disciples. On 13th October 1977, Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami Maharaj and others went to visit Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja while he was manifesting sickness pastimes in Vrindavan a month before his departure from this world. At that time, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja asked for forgiveness from his godbrothers – “Everyone at whose lotus feet I committed the offense, please forgive me. I committed an offense to the Vaishnavas (Vaishnava Aparadh) and having gained some opulence, I became proud.” At that time, Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami Maharaja stated, “Through your preaching, the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, opulence ran behind you. That is the wealth of Krishna. You preached and expanded the devotees, which is the desire of Prabhupada and Mahaprabhu. This is the actuality. Where is the offense (aparadha)? Everything is auspicious. There is no offense.” This conversation establishes the true Vaishnava mood—avoiding antagonism with anyone. Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja established the real mood of Vaishnavism through his own example at the end of his manifest presence.
As soon as Sri Chaitanya saw that His dear associate had fulfilled His message, He took Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja to the spiritual world on 14th November 1977 from ISKCON Vrindavan. Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja was then placed in samadhi within the temple grounds.
Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja’s preaching activities were famous throughout the entire world. Therefore, his disciples gave him the title “Prabhupada”. Nowadays, due to his disciples’ preaching strategies, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Goswami Maharaja is widely known as Srila Prabhupada, the same title as his own Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur.
