At their first meeting, in 1922, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati requested Shrila Prabhupada to broadcast Vedic knowledge in English. In the years that followed, Shrila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, assisted the Gaudiya Math in its work and, in 1944, started Back to Godhead, an English fortnightly magazine. The magazine is now being continued by his followers.

In 1950 Shrila Prabhupada retired from married life, adopting the vanaprastha (retired) order to devote more time to his studies and writing. He traveled to the holy city of Vrindavan, where he lived in humble circumstances in the historic temple of Radha-Damodara. He accepted the renounced order of life (sannyas) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Shrila Prabhupada began work on his life's masterpiece: a multivolume commented translation of Shrimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavat Purana).

After publishing three volumes of the Bhagavatam, Shrila Prabhupada came to the United States, in September of 1965, to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master. Subsequently, he wrote more than fifty volumes of summary studies and commented translations of the philosophical and religious classics of India.

When Shrila Prabhupada first arrived by freighter in New York City, he was practically penniless. Only after almost a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in July of 1966. Before he passed away, on November 14, 1977, he had guided the Society and seen it grow to a worldwide confederation of more than one hundred centers, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities.

Among the farm communities Shrila Prabhupada established is New Vrindaban, in West Virginia, USA. New Vrindaban is now the site, also, of a memorial built in Shrila Prabhupada's honor, "Shrila Prabhupada's Palace of Gold."

Shrila Prabhupada inspired the construction of several large international centers in India. The center at Sridham Mayapur is the site for a planned spiritual city. In Vrindavan are the Krishna-Balaram Temple and International Guesthouse, gurukul school, and Shrila Prabhupada Memorial and Museum. There are major cultural centers and temples in Bombay, Ahmedhabad, Bangalore and New Delhi. Other centers are planned in several important locations on the Indian subcontinent.

Shrila Prabhupada's most significant contribution, however, is his books, which are highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth and clarity.

In just twelve years, from his arrival in America in 1965 till his passing on in Vrindavan in 1977, despite his advanced age Shrila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents. Notwithstanding such a vigorous schedule, Shrila Prabhupada continued to write prolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.

© 1977-1999 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
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