About the Author

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupdada appeared in
this world in 1896 in Calcutta, India. He first met his spiritual master,
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami, in Calcutta in 1922. Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta, the foremost scholar and devotee of his time, had
founded the Gaudiya Matha (a Vedic institute with sixty-four branches
throughout India). He liked this educated young man and convinced him
to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada be-
came his student, and eleven years later (1933) at Allahabad he became
his formally initiated disciple.

At their first meeting, in 1922, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura
requested Srila Prabhupdda to broadcast Vedic knowledge through the
English language. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a
commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, the most important Vedic text, and he
assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work. In 1944 he singlehandedly started
an English fortnightly magazine called Back to Godhead. He edited and
typed the manuscripts, checked the galley proofs, and even distributed
the copies for free and struggled to maintain the publication.

Recognizing Srila Prabhup4ada’s philosophical learning and devotion,
the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society honored him in 1947 with the title
‘“‘Bhaktivedanta.” In 1950, at age fifty-four, Srila Prabhupada retired
from family life. Four years later he adopted the vdnaprastha (retired)
order to devote more time to his studies and writing, and soon he trav-
eled to the holy city of Vrndavana. There he lived in a small room in the
historic Radhda-Damodara temple and engaged in several years of deep
study and writing. In 1959 he accepted the renounced order of life (san-
nyasa). At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada wrote Easy Journey to
Other Planets and started his life’s masterpiece—a multivolume trans-
lation of and commentary on the eighteen-thousand-verse Srimad-
Bhagavatam, the cream of the Vedic literatures.

After publishing three volumes of the Bhdgavatam, Srila Prabhupada
came to the United States in 1965 to fulfill the mission of his spiritual
master. After that time, His Divine Grace wrote some eighty volumes of
authoritative translations, commentaries, 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.
But after nearly a year of great difficulty, he founded the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness in July of 1966. Before his much-
lamented passing on November 14, 1977, he guided the Society and saw

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