Who is Vishwa Guru?

Need of a Spritual Master

A guru should be approached not for any material benefit but only for the purpose of getting liberated from the pangs of material existence. It is explained in Srimad Bhagavatam (11.3.21)

A spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descended from the spiritual world to this material world for reclaiming the fallen souls. Everyone is in the darkness of ignorance. Therefore everyone needs to be enlightened with transcendental knowledge. One who enlightens his disciple and saves him from rotting in the darkness of ignorance in this material world is a true guru. The word guru means “heavy.” He is heavy with Vedic knowledge.

तस्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासु: श्रेय उत्तमम् ।
शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्मण्युपशमाश्रयम् ॥

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam

“Any person who seriously desires to achieve real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters.”

Confidential Associate of the supreme lord

A bona fide spiritual master is a very confidential associate of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. On the order of the Supreme Lord he becomes the spiritual master of the whole world and preaches the gospel of Krishna. He has no business other than teaching people about reestablishing their forgotten realtionship with the Lord and taking them back to Godhead. A bona fide spiritual master is not self made – he is authorized to become a spiritual master by the order of Lord Krishna. A guru is also known as 'Acharya', one who teaches by his own example. Varaha Puraan defines an acharya as, “One who knows the import of all Vedic literature, explains the purpose of the Vedas, abides by their rules and regulations, and teaches his disciples to act in the same way.” Srila Prabhupada is the 32nd spiritual master descending in the glorious 'Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya', which begins from Lord Krishna Himself.

Srila Prabhupada Conferred as 'Vishwa Guru'

When His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada entered the port of New York City on September 17, 1965 few Americans took notice - but he was not merely another immigrant. He was on a mission to introduce the ancient teachings of Vedic India into mainstream America. Before Srila Prabhupada passed away on November 14, 1977 at the age of 81, his mission proved successful. He had founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (HKM) and saw it grow into a worldwide confederation of more than 100 temples, ashrams and cultural centers.

Srila Prabhupada was born Abhay Charan De on September 1, 1896 to a pious Hindu family in Calcutta. As a youth growing up in British - controlled India, Abhay became involved with Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement to secure independence for his nation. It was, however, a 1922 meeting with a prominent scholar and religious leader, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, which proved most influential on Abhay’s future calling. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was a leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnava denomination, a monotheistic tradition within the broad Hindu culture, and asked Abhay to bring the teachings of Lord Krishna to the English-speaking world. Abhay became a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta in 1933, and resolved to carry out his mentor’s request. Abhay, later known by the honorific A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, spent the next 32 years preparing for his journey west.

In 1965, at the age of sixty-nine, Srila Prabhupada traveled to New York City aboard a cargo ship. The journey was treacherous, and the elderly spiritual teacher suffered two heart attacks aboard ship. Arriving in the United States with just seven dollars in Indian rupees and his translations of sacred Sanskrit texts, Srila Prabhupada began to share the timeless wisdom of Krishna consciousness. His message of peace and goodwill resonated with many young people, some of whom came forward to become serious students of the Krishna tradition. With the help of these students, Srila Prabhupada rented a small storefront on New York’s Lower East Side to use as a temple. On July 11, 1966, he officially registered his organization in the state of New York, formally founding the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

In the eleven years that followed, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe 14 times on lecture tours, bringing the teachings of Lord Krishna to thousands of people on six continents. Men and women from all backgrounds and walks of life came forward to accept his message, and with their help, Srila Prabhupada established HKM centers and projects throughout the world. Under his inspiration, Krishna devotees established ic_temples, rural communities, educational institutions, and started what would become the world’s largest vegetarian food relief program. With the desire to nourish the roots of Krishna consciousness in its home, Srila Prabhupada returned to India several times, where he sparked a revival in the Vaishnava tradition. In India, he opened dozens of ic_temples, including large centers in the holy towns of Vrindavan and Mayapur.

Srila Prabhupada’s most significant contributions, perhaps, are his books. He authored over 70 volumes on the Krishna tradition, which are highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth, fidelity to the tradition, and clarity. Several of his works are used as textbooks in numerous college courses. His writings have been translated into 76 languages. His most prominent works include: Bhagavad-gita As It Is, the 30-volume Srimad-Bhagavatam, and the 17-volume Sri Caitanya-caritamrita.

Fifty years ago, the West was in a similar dilemma; materialistic expansionism had led to two ghastly world wars. Various committees and organizations formed to create world peace only helped in increasing the number of flags and wars. At that time the youth of America, disillusioned by the misplaced efforts of their predecessors, started embracing eastern traditions of spirituality. Thus began a steady stream of teachers, from varied eastern traditions, populating the western spiritual market place. Unfortunately many of these teachers came to exploit the uninformed western youth.

In this age of consumerism and modern technology, practically everything is available at the fingertips of consumers. Alas! The same is not the case with spirituality; one may argue that there is enough information about spirituality on the internet and there are many do-it-yourself guides that could make one a deeply spiritual person. But what is spirituality is all about, how do you choose one spiritual product rather than the other? Does it involve choosing a spiritual master or teacher? If so, is it something available at one’s fingertips?

At this juncture, on September 17, 1965 there arrived an elderly Indian saint, to proclaim the age-old message of India’s foremost scripture, theBhagavad-gita. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, later lovingly called by his disciples as “Srila Prabhupada,” not only proclaimed the message of theBhagavad-gita, but also led a life of a true spiritualist. His personality attracted thousands of hard-core westerners towards Indian spirituality. His divine compassion erased the apparent wide generational gap, and those disillusioned western youth happily embraced this elderly saint. What are the qualities of Srila Prabhupada that attracted them? For decades Srila Prabhupada only saw reversals in India, but how was he so selfless and how did he achieve so much success in a short period of time?

Ancient scriptures of India extol the virtues of a true spiritualist. The Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu list 85 qualities a true spiritualist should possess and one can note that Srila Prabhupada had all of the above qualities in completeness. Classification of Pastimes: Many devotees who regularly chant 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra have worked with great care to index the Memories of Srila Prabhupada against the following: 85 Qualities of a Pure Devotee 125 Keywords or Topics Location where it happened Devotee who narrated it These classifications have also been verified by a few other volunteers.

Biography

His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was born in 1896 in Calcutta, India. He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent devotional scholar and the founder of sixty-four branches of Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic Institutes), liked this educated young man and convinced him to dedicate his Life to teach Vedic knowledge in the Western world. Srila Prabhupada became his student, and eleven years later (1933) at Allahabad, he became his formally initiated disciple.

In 1922, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura requested Srila Prabhupada to propagate Vedic knowledge in English at their first meeting. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, and in 1944, he started an English fortnightly magazine, Back To Godhead, without any assistance.

Recognizing Srila Prabhupada’s philosophical learning and devotion, the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society honored him in 1947 with the title “Bhaktivedanta”. In 1950, at the age of fifty-four, Srila Prabhupada retired from married Life, and four years later, he adopted the Vanaprastha (retired) to devote more time to his studies and writing. Srila Prabhupada traveled to the holy city of Vrindavana, where he lived in very humble circumstances in the historic medieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged himself for several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the renounced order of Life (sannyasa) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada began work on his Life’s masterpiece: a multivolume translation and commentary on the 18,000-verse Srimad-Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana). He also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets.

Founding the Hare Krishna Movement

After publishing three volumes of Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada went to the United States in 1965 to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master. Since then, His Divine Grace has written over sixty volumes of authoritative translations, commentaries, and summary studies on India’s philosophical and religious classics.
In 1965, when he first arrived in New York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. After almost a year of great difficulty, he established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in July of 1966. Under his careful guidance, the society in a decade grew into a worldwide confederation of nearly one hundred ashrams, schools, temples, institutions, and farm communities.

In 1968, Srila Prabhupada created New Vrindavana, an experimental Vedic community in the hills of West Virginia. Inspired by the success of New Vrindavana, then a thriving farm community of more than one thousand acres, his students founded several similar communities in the United States and abroad.
In 1972, His Divine Grace introduced the Vedic system of primary and secondary education in the West by founding the Gurukula school in Dallas, Texas. The school began with three children in 1972, and by the beginning of 1975, the enrollment had grown to one hundred fifty.
Srila Prabhupada also inspired the construction of a large international center at Sridhama Mayapur in West Bengal, India, which is also the site for a planned Institute of Vedic Studies.

Books by Srila Prabhupada

Srila Prabhupada’s most significant contribution, however, is his books. Highly respected by the academic community for their authenticity, depth, and clarity, they are used as standard textbooks in numerous colleges. His writings have been translated into eleven languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 exclusively to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world’s largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy. In the last ten years of his life, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe twelve times on lecture tours that took him to six continents despite his old age. Despite such a vigorous schedule, Srila Prabhupada continued to write prolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature, and culture. Srila Prabhupada left us a veritable library of Vedic philosophy and culture. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust publishes his works in over 50 languages. From 1966 until he breathed his last in 1977; Srila Prabhupada traveled the world extensively, meeting world leaders, giving lectures and interviews, and providing spirit to understand Vedic philosophy.