The Author

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. Bhakti-
siddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent religious scholar and the founder of
sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes), liked this educated young
man and convinced him to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge.
Stila Prabhupada became 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 Prabhupadda to broadcast Vedic knowledge through the
English language. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a
commentary on the Bhagavad-gitd, assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its
work and, in 1944, without assistance, started an English fortnightly
magazine, edited it, typed the manuscripts, and checked the galley proofs.
He even distributed the individual copies and struggled to maintain the
publication. Once begun, the magazine never stopped; it is now being
continued by his disciples in the West and is published in nineteen
languages.

Recognizing Srila Prabhupada’s philosophical learning and devotion,
the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society honored him in 1947 with the title
‘“‘Bhaktivedanta.”’ In 1950, at the age of fifty-four, Srila Prabhupada
retired from married life, adopting the vdnaprastha (retired) order to de-
vote more time to his studies and writing. Srila Prabhupada traveled to
the holy city of Vrndavana, where he lived in very humble circumstances
in the historic medieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged
for several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the renounced
order of life (sannydsa) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada
began work on his life’s masterpiece: a multivolume translation
of and commentary on the eighteen-thousand-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam
(Bhdgavata Purana). He also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets.

After publishing three volumes of the Bhdgavatam, Srila Prabhupada
came to the United States, in 1965, to fulfill the mission of his spiritual
master. Subsequently, His Divine Grace wrote more than sixty volumes
of authoritative translations, commentaries, and summary studies of the
philosophical and religious classics of India.

In 1965, when he first arrived by freighter in New York City, Srila
Prabhupada was practically penniless. It was after almost a year of great

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