 Abhay Charan De was born on the 1st September 1896 in Calcutta, India to Gour Mohan De a cloth merchant, and Rajani his wife. Bengali tradition dictates that an astrologer is consulted. The child Abhay's reading was auspicious and predicted that when this child reached the age of seventy he would cross the ocean, become a great exponent of religion and open 108 temples. Gour Mohan, a pure Vaisnava (devotee of Krsna) raised his son to be Krsna Conscious and had himself never touched meat, fish, eggs, tea or coffee, faithfully worshipping Lord Krsna in his home. Gour Mohan wanted his son to preach Srimad- Bhagavatam (ancient scriptures) and learn the art of playing mrdanga (drum). Rajani was a chaste and religious woman and a model housewife in the Vedic sense. At six years old Abhay asked his father for his own deity (form of the Supreme Lord) and learned all about worship from his father.
During college his father arranged his marriage to Radharani Datta. In the fourth year of college Abhay liked the spirited nationalist Subhas Chandra Bose (he later became the leader of the Indian National Army) and his faith in spirituality. He was especially interested in Mohandas K. Gandhi who always carried Bhagavad-Gita and abstained from meat eating, intoxication and illicit sex. In 1920 after passing his examinations, Abhay protested against the foreign run schools that had instilled a slave mentality. He refused to accept his diploma thus aligning himself with Gandhi?s independence movement. Around this time Abhay?s father arranged employment for him with Dr Kartik Chandra Bose, of Bose?s Laboratory as a department manager. In 1922, Abhay, who was usually skeptical of sadhus, met his spiritual master, who at their first meeting said, ?Why don?t you preach Lord Caitanya?s message throughout the whole world?? He impressed Abhay who felt defeated in argument. He accepted Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati as his spiritual master as he taught Lord Caitanya?s teaching, that Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that the chanting of His Holy Name should be stressed above all other religious practices i.e. the maha-mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. In 1932 Abhay received initiation and in 1935 was told by his spiritual master, if you ever get money print books. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati left this mortal world in December 1936. After 30 years of marriage Abhay left his family to continue his preaching seriously. He continued to write and preach though he was poverty stricken. He later took sannyasa (renounced order) dedicating his mind, body and soul to the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, becoming Abhay Caranaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami. He then set about the translation and commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam. Faithfully obeying the order of his spiritual master to go to the West, he courageously departed India at age 69. On the very difficult voyage in the ship Jaladuta, he suffered severe illness and 2 heart attacks before he arrived in New York on the 19th September 1965. He was dressed as a sadhu with neck beads, simple cotton dhoti, an old shawl, and chanting beads. His head was shaved except for the sikha (tuft of hair) at the back. He wore the whitish markings of tilaka on his forehead, and wore pointed white rubber slippers. He carried only forty rupees (about $8). This was only the beginning of his many amazing achievements. From this time to his passing in 1977 at age eighty Srila Prabhupada miraculously turned hippies into people of character, who were devoted to following the order of their spiritual master. Before leaving India, he had written three books and made one disciple in India. After 1965 he wrote sixty books and made more than 4000 disciples. Srila Prabhupada has changed the lives of many, and trained great leaders to continue his work. He has had a positive and profound effect on the whole world. He had always wanted to build a house in which the whole world could live, and this is very quickly coming to fruition through the society he established ? the International Society for Krsna Consciousness. To be continued. |
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