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The opening of the temple in the heart of the booming hippie community of Haight-Ashbury attracted many new adherents and was a turning point in his movement’s history, marking the beginning of rapid growth. Bhaktivedanta Swami personally taught his first followers to spread Krishna’s message, prepare food to offer to Krishna, collect donations, and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra (“great mantra”) on the streets. He stayed at various places — sometimes in a windowless room, sometimes a Bowery loft — until with the help of early followers he found a place to stay on the Lower East Side, where he converted a store-front curiosity shop at 26 Second Avenue with the serendipitous name “Matchless Gifts” into a small temple. After accepting sannyasa, Bhaktivedanta Swami began planning to travel to America to fulfill his spiritual master’s desire to spread Chaitanya’s teachings in the West.

Other books

Also in 1970, Harrison sponsored the publishing of the first volume of Prabhupada’s book Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which related the activities of Krishna’s life as told in the tenth canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In August 1969, Harrison produced a single of the Hare Krishna mantra, sung by the London disciples, and released it on Apple Records. A further breakthrough came in December 1969 when the disciples managed to meet with members of the rock band the Beatles, who were at the peak of their global fame.

Indeed, he even quotes from other texts in the canon (whether written before the Gita or after) to indicate the intention of the Gita, “as though they have the same authority as the Gita itself”. Baird takes upon himself the task of not merely seeing Prabhupada as “an authentic proponent of Vaishnavism” but of examining as an academic scholar the way Prabhupada reads the Bhagavad-gita. Eric Sharpe, scholar of religion, considers Prabhupada’s reading of Bhagavad-gita single-minded and fundamentalist.

Translations of such texts as the Gita, Hopkins says, cannot be done mechanically. Instead he takes a position as a spiritual master within the disciplic succession and “merely declares” what is true. In Prabhupada’s view, Baird says, “Since these scholars are not surrendered to Krishna, they are not Krishna conscious; they are merely offering their own ideas rather than the truth within the paramparā system the lineage of masters and disciples”.

Association with devotees

• In keeping with Gaudiya-Vaisnava rites, after Prabhupada’s death at the Krishna-Balarama temple in Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh, India), his disciples interred his body on the temple premises and erected a marble samadhi, or shrine, over his burial site.
• When Prabhupada’s young American followers came to India in the early 1970s and began holding festivals, including public sankirtana, many Indians were surprised to see Westerners adopting Indian modes of worship and devotion.
• In 1970, Prabhupada established a Governing Body Commission (GBC), then consisting of twelve leading disciples, to oversee ISKCON’s activities around the world and to serve as ISKCON’s ultimate managing authority.
• To carry out an order received in his youth from his spiritual teacher to spread “Krishna consciousness” in English, he journeyed from Kolkata to New York City in 1965 at the age of 69, on a cargo ship with little more than a few trunks of books.

After the monument was unveiled, the “departure” part was installed at the ISKCON temple in Kolkata, the “arrival” part in front of the ISKCON temple in Boston. Daily puja (traditional worship) is offered to larger-than-life statues of Prabhupada at both sites. Prabhupada was conferred with the title Vishwa Guru by the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara prabhu 365 bonus Parishad during the 2025 Prayag Maha Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh in recognition of his contributions to humanity and his efforts in spreading Indian culture, traditions and “spiritual wisdom to every corner of the world”.

Block D, 5th Floor, Cyber Gateway, Hi-Tech City, Madhapur, Hyderabad -500081, Telangana, India

In 2013, Rochford wrote, “The fact that ISKCON has survived for nearly 50 years, despite significant change, is a testament to the devotees’ resilience and to the power of Prabhupada’s teachings and vision for ISKCON”. Within Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Prabhupada’s preaching achievements are viewed as the fulfillment of a mission to introduce Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings to the world. Through his writings and his movement, many Westerners have become aware of bhakti for the first time. By explaining the teachings of bhakti yoga and Gaudiya Vaishnavism and arousing interest in them worldwide, Prabhupada made a lasting contribution.