His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was born Abhay Charan De on September 1, 1896, in Calcutta. In 1920 he finished his schooling, majoring in philosophy, English and economics at the University of Calcutta. Soon afterward, Abhay Charan De took up the duties of manager of a large chemical concern. Then in 1922, he met His Divine Grace Śrī Śrīmad-Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, the founder of sixty-four Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Maths in India, Berlin and London. Bhaktivedanta Swami recently recalled the key to his approaching his spiritual master: "When I first started going to see my Guru Mahārāj, he said of me, 'This boy hears very nicely. He does not go away. So I shall make him a disciple. That was my qualification, or whatever you may call it. I would simply ask when Guru Mahārāj would speak, then I'd sit down and go on hearing. I would understand, or not understand; others would disperse, I'd not disperse. So he remarked, 'This boy is interested to hear. Because I was serious in hearing, I am now serious about kīrtanam, which means speaking or preaching. If one has heard nicely, then he will speak nicely."
At Allahabad in 1933, Abhay Charan De was formally initiated, and in 1936, just days before Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī's departure from this mortal world, he was specifically ordered to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the English language to the West.
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, known as Prabhupāda to his disciples, has said that at first he did not take the mission given to him by his spiritual master with the utmost seriousness. But then he was reading a Bhagavad-gītā commentary written by Śrīla Bhaktivinode Ṭhākur, who was the father of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī and the pioneer of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in the modern age. Śrīla Bhaktivinode has written that just as one cannot separate the body from the soul while in this conditioned state, so the disciple cannot separate the spiritual master's order from his very life. Bhaktivedanta Swami took these words seriously, and gradually his whole life became dedicated to carrying out the orders of his Guru Mahārāj. In 1959 he took sannyāsa, the renounced order of spiritual life, and in 1965, at the advanced age of 70, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami arrived in New York City to fulfill his master's sacred mission.
Bhaktivedanta Swami produces his books by speaking them on a dictaphone. He is presently working on five books at once. These books are a matter of realization. As he has said, "When you become self-realized you automatically write volumes of books." And one of the qualifications of a devotee is that he is poetic. Śrīla Prabhupāda is always immersed in Kṛṣṇa by speaking, dictating, singing about Kṛṣṇa's glories, preaching formally at meetings or planning the expansion of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Seventh Chapter, it is stated that out of thousands of men, few seek perfection, and out of the thousands who attain perfection, hardly one knows Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa also declares in the Eighteenth Chapter that the dearmost devotee of all is he who spreads the teaching of love of Kṛṣṇa: "Never will there be one dearer to Me."
Śrīla Prabhupāda's spiritual master, His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, once drew a picture of a mṛdaṅga (drum used on saṅkīrtana) and, beside it, a printing press. He said the mṛdaṅga can be heard for several blocks, but that the press can be heard around the world. He therefore called the printing press "the big mṛdaṅga." For the purpose of worldwide service to humanity, ISKCON Press has been established for the exclusive printing of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books.
In 1968, Macmillan published The Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, translated with commentary by Śrīla Prabhupāda. The Gītā is the gist of the entire Vedic literature. Just this one book can free anyone from the clutches of material nature and fix one in eternal loving service unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa the Personality of Godhead. As originally written by Śrīla Prabhupāda, the manuscript of The Bhagavad-gītā As It Is is many times larger than the version published by Macmillan. Publication of this original, expanded version is being undertaken by ISKCON Press. Another important published literature by Śrīla Prabhupāda is his Teachings of Lord Caitanya. This book outlines the precepts of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Golden Avatara who appeared in India 500 years ago and propagated the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra as the means of God realization for the present age. A book called The Nectar of Devotion, an authorized summary study of Śrīla Rupa Gosvāmī's Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, has just been published. Śrīla Prabhupāda is presently writing a several volume work called Kṛṣṇa, which describes the pastimes performed by the Supreme Lord when present on this planet 5000 years ago. Translations are also underway of the Vedānta-sūtra, Caitanya-caritāmṛta and his work of twelve cantos of Śrīmad-Bhagavatam. The literatures compiled by His Divine Grace are authorized by the disciplic succession, which is descending from Kṛṣṇa Himself; Śrīla Prabhupāda's whole life mission is to faithfully pass on the original understanding of Kṛṣṇa consciousness without distortion. According to the Vedic literature this descending process is the only way to realization of the Absolute Truth, as the Absolute Truth is beyond the reach of mundane speculation or scholarship.
His Divine Grace is not a retired personality, despite his prodigious literary output. He personally and very intimately guides his disciples through the most practical problems of daily life. Spiritual life is practical and, due to the predominant material atmosphere of Kali-yuga, often problematic. As spiritual master, His Divine Grace is the last recourse and the ultimate standard of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he writes some twenty-five letters a day to leaders and students of his various worldwide centers. He himself resides in no one place, but travels from center to center and regularly lectures. The spiritual master is responsible for his devotees; when he accepts a sincere soul as his disciple, he promises to take him back to home, back to Godhead. No one should think, "Oh, everyone is taking a spiritual master; let me take one." The spiritual master as a style or as a pet is useless. Rather, his order is to be taken as one's life and soul. By taking shelter at the feet of the bona fide guru and serving him twenty-four hours a day, the fallen soul can be lifted to the spiritual sky. It is said that if the spiritual master is pleased, then one can make great advances in spiritual life. And one pure convinced devotee can make many pure devotees by his example and teachings. Those serious students with an understanding of the absolute value of the spiritual platform of life therefore honor the spiritual master with the honor due to God because the guru is the transparent via media or representative of God who distributes unalloyed love of God. The reader is invited to take to this philosophy with the utmost seriousness.