Bhaktivinoda Asan, located at 1 Ultadanga Junction Road in Kolkata, is a historic landmark deeply cherished by the devotees of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, holding an inseparable connection to the very origins of the Krishna consciousness movement today.
Established in 1918 by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada as his missionary base, it was from here that he began systematically spreading the teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and within these very walls, many of his foremost disciples first met him.
A moment of immense historical significance took place in 1922, when a young Abhay Charan De—later known to the world as His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada—visited Bhaktivinode Asan with his friend Narendranath Mallick. On the terrace, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta spoke a sentence that would alter the course of spiritual history: “You are educated, young man. Why don’t you preach Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s message throughout the whole world?” That simple yet powerful instruction later gave rise to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, now a global spiritual movement.
For this reason, Bhaktivinode Asan is regarded as a spiritual birthplace of ISKCON, the place where the seed of a worldwide mission was first planted.
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