Prabhupada Lila

An American photojournalist, disillusioned by the pressures and mindlessness of Western education and consumerism, journeys with a friend to the East looking for fun and adventure. In India she unexpectedly finds truth and knowledge beyond the intellect, beauty and hope beyond the mundane. Slowly, unexpected love softens her skepticism. Her life is never the same.

Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta tells the story of a remarkable individual and a remarkable achievement. The individual is A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: philosopher, scholar, religious leader, saint. The achievement is the revolutionary transplantation of a timeless spiritual culture from ancient India to twentieth-century America. This second volume begins in 1971. In the West, Srila Prabhupada had firmly established the Krsna consciousness movement, which his disciples were expanding in his absence. This volume chronicles Srila Prabhupada's triumphant return to India and his plans for constructing temples in three crucial locations: Bombay, the center of India's wealth and business; Vrindavana, the sacred village where Lord Krsna lived and sported; and Mayapur, the holy birth site of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who had inaugurated the Hare Krsna movement some five hundred years earlier. These are vigorous years spent building a spiritual society in India and establishing centers around the world where people could contact the ancient, orthodox faith of India in their own cities. In this volume, Srila Prabhupada circles the globe repeatedly, speaking out on timely issues and defending his budding religious society against "brainwashing" charges in America and shady business practices in India. Srila Prabhupada wanted to unite two worlds, the "lame man" of India and the "blind man" of America. "A blind man can carry a lame man," he said, "and together they can walk. Similarly, the combination of Indian spirituality and American technology can benefit the whole world." His principal means of accomplishing this feat was to publish his books – annotated translations of India's spiritual classics. Under his guidance, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust was organized, and by 1977 it had produced and distributed more than sixty million volumes of Srila Prabhupada's writings. A final tour of India in 1977 took Srila Prabhupada, eighty-one and in failing health, to the colossal Kumbha-mela religious festival, to Hrsikesha, and finally back to his beloved Vrindavana. The time for his passing had come, he said. As his anguished disciples flooded Vrindavana from all corners of the world, Srila Prabhupada presented them with the greatest challenge – and the greatest lesson – of their young spiritual lives.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta is the main work on the life and teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the incarnation of Krishna who appeared in India five hundred years ago. Lord Chaitanya introduced the chanting of the holy names of God as the prescribed method of God-realization for our time. He began what is today called the Hare Krishna movement, since the movement's founder, Srila Prabhupada, comes in the Chaitanya line of spiritual masters. Lord Chaitanya transformed the face of India in four respects: philosophically, by encountering, defeating and converting the greatest philosophers and thinkers of His day; religiously, by organizing the largest, most widespread theistic movement in India's history; socially, by His strong challenges to the religious inequities of the caste system; politically, by His organization of a massive civil disobedience movement in Bengal, more than four centuries before Gandhi. This English translation with commentary, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, reveals his consummate Bengali and Sanskrit scholarship, his intimate familiarity with the precepts of Sri Chaitanya, and his pure devotion to God.

Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta tells the story of a remarkable individual and a remarkable achievement. The individual is A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada: philosopher, scholar, religious leader, saint. The achievement is the revolutionary transplantation of a timeless spiritual culture from ancient India to twentieth-century America. This first of two volumes begins with the story of the events leading up to Srila Prabhupada's meeting his guru, an encounter that ignited in Srila Prabhupada a slowburning flame of desire to take Krishna consciousness to the Western world. His early life was a period of patient and transcendent determination as he prepared for a mission that would later be crowned with astounding success. In August and September of 1965 Srila Prabhupada traveled alone aboard a steamship from India to New York City, with no more than the equivalent of eight dollars in his pocket and no institutional backing, but with unshakable faith in Lord Krishna and the instructions of his spiritual master. It is the 1960s, an era in which the children of those who fought World War II were leading a sweeping revolt against a society losing its soul to godless mass consumerism. Into this milieu Srila Prabhupada brought a vision for a new kind of society, a society born of a radical transformation of human consciousness from materialism to the loftiest spiritual and ethical idealism. By 1967 he had arrived in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, America's counter-culture capital, where he continued his work of calling America's youth to live up to their higher spiritual ideals and distributing the holy name of Krishna indiscriminately. By the end of the volume, we have seen Srila Prabhupada in England (meeting the Beatles), Holland, Japan, Africa, and finally back in India, where he triumphantly returned with his "dancing white elephants" – a group of his mostly Caucasian Western followers. The research team assembled by the author traveled throughout the world to gather thousands of hours of interviews with hundreds of people who knew Srila Prabhupada; diaries and memoirs from his students; and more than seven thousand of Srila Prabhupada's letters. Then the author and his team distilled this voluminous firsthand source material into a rich composite view of Srila Prabhupada, a dazzling and colorful picture of one of the most remarkable lives of our times.

“Prabhupada AntyaLila” by author Tamal Krishna Goswami is a profound exploration of the final pastimes and teachings of Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement. Through meticulous research and heartfelt devotion, Goswami offers an in-depth portrayal of Prabhupada’s last days, imparting invaluable lessons on spirituality, leadership, and devotion. This book serves as a tribute to a spiritual luminary and an inspiration for seekers of divine wisdom.

“Servant of the Servant” by author Tamal Krishna Goswami is a compelling memoir that provides an intimate perspective on the life and teachings of Srila Prabhupada, the spiritual luminary who founded the Hare Krishna movement. Goswami’s personal journey and close association with Prabhupada offer readers a unique insight into the guru-disciple relationship and the profound spiritual transformations that can occur through unwavering service and devotion. This book is a testament to the power of surrender and selfless dedication on the spiritual path.

Follow Rupa-Raghunatha is the science of self-realization for entering into Krishna's lila following the internal path of rasa-upasana - a method taught by Lord Caitanya in the line of Rupa Goswami, Swarupa Damodara, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami, Narottama Dasa Thakura, and now you! Gain a deeper understanding of the internal path (antah-panta) of rasa-upasana, which are Lord Caitanya's real teachings on raganuga-sadhana-bhakti, entering Krishna lila, ekadasha-bhavas, ashta-kaliya-lila and siddha-swarupa - with step-by-step guidelines for beginners and advanced sadhakas on the path of vaidhi, raganuga-sadhana-bhakti and bhava bhakti. An authoritative and proven spiritual science based on case studies of contemporary devotees who reported achieving apana-dasha (self-realization) by following this method. Featuring a comprehensive summary, qualifications, considerations, warnings and reading list (of 75+ titles) for each major stage - PLUS - get all these 7-Books included: Manah Shiksah, Vraja-Vilasa-Stotram, Swaniyama- Dasaka-Stotram, Vishakhanandabhidha Stotram, Vilapa-Kusumanjali and Upadeshamrita + Follow Rupa-Raghunatha. As a companion work to Jaiva Dharma and Harinama Chintamani, the book helps advancing devotees remain faithful to guru, sadhu and shastra without having to search outside for what is already within and serves as a "literary vaccine" against the many strains of sahajiyism plaguing Mahaprabhu's movement. Useful for all Vaishnavas. BOOK REVIEWS ("Highly Recommended by Senior Devotees") Review By His Grace Daneshwar Prabhu (ACBSP), a very senior devotee author and preacher who writes on Vedic economics, "Follow Rupa-Raghunatha by Prabhupada Dasa is good in that it fills a need for ISKCON devotees...who have heard about raganuga bhakti, and who may have heard all sorts of speculative things regarding how it is achieved. "Prabhupada Dasa makes it clear that one can achieve everything without having to leave the shelter and loving guidance of His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, which was one of his main goals in writing the book. For that he has done a service for all devotees attached to Srila Prabhupada as their primary guru. "Follow Rupa-Raghunatha offers an overview of the Gaudiya Vaishnava path, what I explain as "the map of devotional service." Devotional service is a complicated journey and on such a journey a guide is essential. Of course the vast Vaishnava literature is there, but navigating through it all and making sense of it is too much to ask of a beginner. Therefore an overview, or map, is needed to explain to those who are new to the Vaishnava science of self-realization where they are going, the major stages along the way, and how to mark one's progress. This book is useful for these purposes, and helpful in that it offers a suggested reading list for each stage of development. "The book is written in a personal manner and Prabhupada Dasa offers some hand-holding for the endeavoring bhaktas to guide them along the journey. (I rated the book 4/5 stars ****)."