Founder-Acarya
The following is a GBC Resolution, passed in 1994.
That the following statement be accepted as ISKCON's statement about the Founder-Acarya:
To fulfill the previous acaryas desire for a united worldwide preaching organization to expand Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission, Srila Prabhupada founded the International Society for Krsna Consciousness as a distinct branch of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya. Therefore he is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON.
(a.) Srila Prabhupada is th
Srimad-Bhagavatam - Canto 2 Chapter 4 Text 19
sa esa atmatmavatam adhisvaras
trayimayo dharmamayas tapomayah
gata-vyalikair aja-sankaradibhir
vitarkya-lingo bhagavan prasidatam
sah -- He; esah -- it is; atma -- the Supersoul; atmavatam -- of the self-realized souls; adhisvarah -- the Supreme Lord; trayi-mayah -- personified Vedas; dharma-mayah -- personified religious scripture; tapah-mayah -- personified austerity; gata-vyalikaih -- by those who are above all pretensions; aja -- Brahmaji; sankara-ad
The varanasrama-dharma is prescribed for the civilized human being just to train him to successfully terminate human life. Self-realization is distinguished from the life of the lower animals engaged in eating, sleeping, fearing and mating.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura:
The Lion Guru
During the time of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s stay on this planet the pure religion of Vaishnavism taught by the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu was essentially lost and had come to be considered of the degrading standard of simply a sex religion, or at best a cult of religious fanaticism and sentimentalism. The Thakura was very sad in his heart to see this and with a desire to present the actual teachings of Sri Caitanya, he wr
His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
By Stephen Knapp
In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana, in a conversation with Ganga Devi, Lord Krishna describes that after 5,000 years of Kali-yuga have passed, His mantra upasaka, the great sage and worshiper of Krishna's holy names, will appear and spread the chanting of Krishna's names (in the form of the Hare Krishna mantra) not only in India but throughout the world. Lord Krishna explains that by the chanting of His holy names the world will beco
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
By Stephen Knapp
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu [pronounced Chaitanya] (February 27,1486 to 1534 A.D.) was born in Navadvipa, Bengal, on a full moon night during a lunar eclipse. It is typical for people to bathe in the Ganges during an eclipse and chant the Lord’s holy names for spiritual purification. So, everyone in the area was chanting the holy names when He was born. His parents, Jagannatha Misra and Sachidevi, gave Him the name of Vishvambhara, meaning the support of the un
Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami
Born in a dynasty of Vaisnavas, Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami was the only son of a wealthy landowner. As a boy, he received Haridasa Thakura's association and blessings. At fifteen he met Lord Caitanya. By the mercy of Lord Nityananda he renounced a beautiful wife and an opulent family. He ran to Jagannatha Puri to intimately serve Sri Gaura Raya and his siksa guru Svarupa Damodara Gosvami for sixteen years. Lord Gauranga gave His personal Govardhana sila and gunja mala to Ragh
Gopal Bhatta Goswami
Shri Gopal Bhatta Goswami was the son of Vyenkatta Bhatta, a brahmana resident of Shri Rangam, who was initiated in the Shri Sampradaya. The city of Shri Rangam is located on the Kaveri river in the district of Tanjor about ten miles west of Kumbhakonam. Regarding this temple. Shri Bhaktivedanta Swami remarks as follows. "The Shri Rangam temple is the largest in India, and there are seven walls surrounding it. There are also seven roads leading to Shri Rangam. The ancient nam
Sanatana Goswami (Longer Biography Part - 2)
Sanatana Goswami and Madana Mohan
The Bhakti-Ratnakara describes how Sanatana began the worship of his Madana-Mohan deity. Among Mahaprabhu's orders to Sanatana was his instruction to establish the worship of the Deity of Krishna. The Bhakti Ratnakara how Shri Sanantana Goswami, when he was staying in Vrindavan, began the worship of Shri Madana-Mohan, also known as Madana Mohana. In Mahavana, nearby Krishna's birthplace in Vrindavana, Sanatana Goswami m
Sanatana Goswami (Longer Biography Part -1)
vairagya-yug-bhakti-rasam prayatnair
apayayan mam anabhipsum andham
krpambudhir yah para-duhkha-duhkhi
sanatanas tam prabhum asrayami
[Raghunatha dasa Goswami has glorified Sanatana Goswami as follows in his Vilapa Kusumanjali (6)] “I was unwilling to drink the nectar of devotional service possessed of renunciation, but Sanatana Goswami, out of his causeless mercy, made me drink it, even though I was unable to do so. Therefore he is an ocean of mercy. He is
Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami
danda pranama kari bhatta padila carane
prabhu raghunatha bali kaila alingane
"Raghunatha Bhatta fell straight as a rod at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then the Lord embraced him, knowing full well who he was." (Caitanya Caritamrta Antya 13.101)
From Kasidhama, Raghunatha Bhatta traveled on foot to Puri-dhama. When he arrived in Puri, he went straight to the place of Sriman Mahaprabhu and offered his respects at the Lord's lotus feet. At that time, the Lord em
Short Biography
Sri Sanatana Gosvami appeared in 1488, five years before Sri Rupa Gosvami, in a Sarasvata brahmana family in Bengal. Sanatana and his two brothers, Rupa and Anupama, were always absorbed in bhava bhakti from early childhood. Remembering Vrndavana, they named the forests in which they played after Vraja's twelve forests (Talavana, Madhuvana, Kamyavana, Mahavana). They called their favorite bathing ponds Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda.
In his youth, Sri Sanatana dreamt that a beautiful
Rupa Gosvami
In 1517, Sri Rupa Gosvami and Sri Sanatana Gosvami, his elder brother, came to Vrndavana to fulfill four orders of Lord Caitanya's: (1) Uncover Sri Krishna's lost pastime places. (2) Install Deities, start puja. (3) Write bhakti-sastras. (4) Propagate the rules of bhakti-yoga.
Wearing only kaupina (loincloth) and kantha (patchwork quilt), Sri Rupa Gosvami lived a mendicant's life absorbed in hearing, chanting, writing about Radha-Govinda's sweet loving pastimes in Sri Vrndavana-dhama
Narottama Dasa Thakura
Narottama Dasa Thakura was a lifelong brahmacari. He visited all the holy places and the was the best of pure devotees. On the banks of the Padmavati river, in the town of Gopalpura lived King Krsnanda Datta. His older brother was Purusottama Datta. The wealth and fame of these two brothers was beyond compare. King Krsnananda's son was Sri Santosa Datta. In the month of Magha, onthe day of sukla-pancami, Sri Narottama Dasa Thakura took his birth. Seeing many auspicious omen
The Glories of Narottama
Once when Narottama Thakura passed by the school a learned smarta brahmana insulted Narottama Thakura in front of his students. Blaspheming him again and again, he called Narottama Thakura a Shudra. After this offense, all the limbs of the brahmana began melting away from leprosy. Consumed by his incurable disease and seeing no hope for recovery the brahmana went to throw himself in the Ganges and die. That night Durga Devi came to the brahmana in a dream and said, "You f
Srila Vyasadeva
It is described in the lists of the main avataras of the Lord as found in the Bhagavata Purana, that the seventeenth incarnation was Srila Vyasadeva who appeared as the son of Parashara Muni and his wife Satyavati. His mission was to divide the one Veda into various branches and sub-branches so the people who are less intelligent can more easily understand them. (Bhag.1.3.21 & 2.7.36)
It is further explained that because of his tapasya or austerities at Badrinatha, Vyasadeva was a
Not Just Another Guru
Vyasa-puja Offering By Jayadvaita Swami (1995)
Today we honor the representative of Srila Vyasa. Srila Vyasadeva has many representatives. And so we may think of Srila Prabhupada as one of them. And of course he is.
Yet Srila Prabhupada stands distinct, distinguished, in a class by himself. He is not merely "a guru," our guru, one among many, just as the Bhagavatam is not just another book, Hare Krsna not just another mantra, and Lord Krsna not just another god.
To study Srila
Srimad-Bhagavatam - Canto 2 Chapter 4 Text 18
kirata-hunandhra-pulinda-pulkasa
abhira-sumbha yavanah khasadayah
ye 'nye ca papa yad-apasrayasrayah
sudhyanti tasmai prabhavisnave namah
kirata -- a province of old Bharata; huna -- part of Germany and Russia; andhra -- a province of southern India; pulinda -- the Greeks; pulkasah -- another province; abhira -- part of old Sind; sumbhah -- another province; yavanah -- the Turks; khasa-adayah -- the Mongolian province; ye -- even those; anye -- others; ca
