His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, was especially fond of the mrdanga and karatalas, and he personally taught his disciples how to play them. As the famed poet Srila Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura wrote three centuries ago, "The spiritual master is always happy to chant the Lord's names, dance in ecstasy, and play musical instruments for the Lord's pleasure."
I am very much indebted to my father, for he took care of me in such a way that I became perfectly Krishna conscious. My father used to receive many saintly persons at our home, and to every one of them he used to say, "Kindly bless my son so that he may become a servant of Radharani [Lord Krishna's eternal consort]." That was his only ambition. He taught me how to play the mrdanga drum, although sometimes my mother was not very satisfied. She would say, "Why are you teaching him to play mrdanga?" But my father would say, "No, no, he must learn a little mrdanga." My father was very affectionate to me. Therefore, if due to past pious activities one gets a good father and mother, that is a great chance for advancing in Krishna consciousness.
SRILA PRABHUPADA
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada appeared in this world in 1896 in Calcutta, India. He
first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami,
in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent religious
scholar and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes)
in India, liked this educated young man and convinced him to dedicate
his life to teaching Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada became his
student and, in 1933, his formally initiated disciple.
At their first meeting Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati requested Srila Prabhupada to broadcast Vedic
knowledge in English. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote
a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work,
and, in 1944, started Back to Godhead, an English fortnightly magazine.
Single-handedly, Srila Prabhupada edited it, typed the manuscripts,
checked the galley proofs, and even distributed the individual copies.
The magazine is now being continued by his disciples in the West.
In 1950 Srila Prabhupada retired from
married life, adopting the vanaprastha (retired) order to devote more time to
his studies and writing. He traveled to the holy city of Vrndavana,
where he lived in humble circumstances in the historic temple of Radha-
Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep study and writing.
He accepted the renounced order of life (sanyasa) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila
Prabhupada began work on his life's masterpiece: a multivolume
commentated translation of the eighteen-thousand-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata
Purana). After publishing three volumes of the Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada went to the United
States, in September 1965, to fulfill the mission of his spiritual
master. Subsequently, His Divine Grace wrote more than fifty volumes of
authoritative commentated translations and summary studies of the
philosophical and religious classics of India.
When he first arrived by freighter in New
York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. Only after almost
a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness, in July of 1966. Before he passed away on
November 14, 1977, he had guided the Society and seen it grow to a
worldwide confederation of more than one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes, and farm
communities.
Srila Prabhupada's most significant
contribution is his books. Highly respected by scholars for their
authority, depth, and clarity, they are used as textbooks in numerous
college courses. His writings have been translated into over fifty
languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish
the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world's largest
publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.
In just twelve
years, despite his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe
fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents. Yet
this vigorous schedule did not slow his prolific literary output. His
writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion,
literature, and culture.
At their first meeting, in 1922, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura requested Srila Prabhupada to broadcast Vedic knowledge through the English language. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work and, in 1944, started Back to Godhead, an English fortnightly magazine. Maintaining the publication was a struggle. Single-handedly, Srila Prabhupada edited it, typed the manuscripts, checked the galley proofs, and even distributed the individual copies. Once begun, the magazine never stopped; it is now being continued by his disciples in the West and is published in over thirty languages.
Srila Prabhupada's most significant contribution, however, is his books. Highly respected by the academic community for their authority, depth and clarity, they are used as standard textbooks in numerous college courses. His writings have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world's largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.
In just twelve years, in spite of his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled
the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents.
In spite of such a vigorous schedule, Srila Prabhupada continued to write
prolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic
philosophy, religion, literature and culture.