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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline SEPTEMBER 22, 2023 | The Indian Eye 34

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

One man’s journey into a million hearts

September 1, 1896 to November 14, 1977

OUR BUREAU lineage of Gaudiya Vaisnava teach-
ers who are followers of Lord Krish-
Chicago IL
na and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
n 7th September, Hare The history of these teachings can be
Krishna temples and cen- traced back to over 5000 years.
Oters worldwide celebrated When he arrived at Boston, he
the 127th birth anniversary of their had 40 rupees (an equivalent of 7
founder-Acharya, A.C. Bhaktive- dollars) and a volume of the sacred
danta Swami Prabhupada. More text, Srimad Bhagavatam which he
popularly known as ‘Srila Prabhu- had recently translated into En-
pada’ or ‘Swamiji’ by his early fol- glish.
lowers, he made “Hare Krishna” a He began chanting the maha
household word across the globe. mantra: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
At the ripe age of sixty-nine, he Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare
arrived at Boston on a cargo ship. Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama
The thirty five day journey by ship Hare Hare and gathered a few young
from Kolkata was treacherous on his followers while living at the lower
old body and he had two heart at- east side of New York City. Arriving
tacks while crossing the ocean. in America during the countercul-
However, he was on a mission ture era where youth were rebel-
to fulfill the order of his spiritual ling about the Vietnam War, social
master to give the message of Lord norms, and ‘drugs were a norm’, he
Krishna to the English speaking risked his life on a few occasions
parts of the world. Over the next 11 while trying to share the message of
years, he circled the globe 14 times, God. He firmly believed that chant-
translated 70 volumes of Sanskrit ing and a Vedic life style have the
and Bengali vaisnava texts into En- power to transform the conscious-
glish and established 108 temples ness and character of a person and
across six continents. sure it did as he later recounted the
During the celebration at the transformation of “the hippies into
ISKCON temple in Chicago, His happies.”
Holiness Romapada Swami said, Ever since, millions of people
“reflecting on your gifts given so lib- across the globe have accepted this
erally to this dark world” and spoke ancient wisdom and teachings pre-
about the gift of chanting, his trans- sented by him. The ISKCON Chica-
lation of Srimad Bhagavatam and go temple has a representation from
Srila Prabhupada’s faith in order of over 40 nationalities. Devotees from bration and shared how their lives program culminated with a sumptu-
his spiritual master. Russia, India, Ukraine, Poland, Ne- were transformed by studying the ous vegetarian meal.
Srila Prabhupada belonged to a pal and America joined in the cele- teachings of Srila Prabhupada. The -- Asian Media USA

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