Srila Prabhupada

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE HARE KRISHNA MOVEMENT. . .

(The following biography is excerpted from the book "Prabhupada" by Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami. It can be purchased usually for about two dollars plus shipping from the Hare Krishna snail mail catalog which can be ordered from ISKCON in Houston: PO Box 926337 Houston, Texas 77292. Or call toll free 800-829-2579.)

PREFACE (BY THE WEBMASTER)

The Hare Krishnas are a traditional Indian Hindu sect that gained popularity in the l960's after The Beatles had gone to India and had gotten involved with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who resided in Rishikesh in northern India. They had helped him form the Transcendental Meditation Society which has a large Vedic University in Fairfield, Iowa.

The Beatles, Mia Farrow, The Beachboys, Peter Max and many other celebrities began to "take Darshan" or instructions on the many methodologies of Yoga from Indian Masters. The Beatles moved on to include other forms of Hinduism in their daily lives and studies.

George Harrison to this day is a devout Vaishnava who chants the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra (above) daily. He credits this chanting to an immense peace of mind. He donated his mansion near London (now Bhaktivedanta Manor) to the Movement as did Walter Reuther's and Henry Ford's grandchildren (who married each other). Detroit, Michigan boasts the Ford mansion which has been converted to a Krishna Temple. Walter Reuther was the Labor Union leader that fought the Fords and instituted the famous Auto Workers assembly Labor Unions in Detroit and elsewhere.

The couple are both Hare Krishna members in long standing and the webmaster has met Ford's granddaughter who was chanting her rounds at the time. Hari Bol.

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EXCERPTS FROM "Prabhupada: A Biography"

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was born on Sept. 1, l896.

In l947 India gained Independence from Britain.

The year was now l965, the former Abhay Charan De was 69 years old. There was a ship coming. He was to travel upon it to the United States of America. The generous Mrs. Sumati Morarji had booked a free passage for him on her ship the Jaladuta. She being the owner of an entire shipping line.

Preceeding him to the United States had been Paramahansa Yogananda in the l930's, travelling even into the Deep South during racial segregation and Jim Crow, establishing the Self-Realization Fellowship which eventually attracted such people as Elvis Presley who named his favorite dog "Babaji" and who had helped his own people in East Tupelo, Mississippi with many donations and a community center.

Elvis, himself, was Choctaw and suffered most of his life with glaucoma which eventually made him dependent on pain-killers. He struggled to overcome his disease, which finally got the better of his Yoga practices and Native American healing techniques (of which he was a practitioner), rendering him sleepless until he died of a heart attack in Hawaii.

Swami Vivekananda also preceded Prabhupada as a representative to the Congress of World Religions in Chicago and founded his Vedanta Society Centers around the United States.

THE JOURNEY FROM INDIA

It was to be a rough journey for the elderly Sanyasin, now having received another name after his initiation after having raised several children to adulthood and finally divorcing his wife due to some irreconcilable incompatibilities. The motion of the ship had made him very ill and he had several heart attacks on board on top of that misery. But he chanted ... and survived.

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had as his luggage only a suitcase, an umbrella, and a supply of dry cereal. He wore traditional Indian rubber shoes (made from plant latex or rubber tree rubber) that were to become one of his trademarks of the early years forming the Hare Krishna movement from Butler, Pennsylvania to New York City and around the entire globe.

He didn't know what he would find to eat in America, perhaps there would be only meat. If so, he was prepared to live on boiled potatoes and the cereal which he carried with him. His main baggage, several trunks of books, was being handled separately by Scindia Cargo. He had two hundred three-volume sets of his own translations of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

In America, he would be no one, a foreigner. There was no traditon of sadhus, no temples, and no free asramas. He thought that when he met someone in America, he would give them a flyer to come to his lectures: "Srimad Bhagawatam, India's Message of Peace and Goodwill."

He had been born and raised in Calcutta. His family was still there. And some of his children and other relatives would survive him and remain active in the Hare Krishna organization that he founded.

The Gaudiya Vaishanavas whose traditons formed the basis of the Hare Krishna Movement (or International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON) were descendants themselves from the two thousand year old teachings of Sri Shankaracharya the famous Yoga philosopher. Abhay Charan De or Srila Prabhupada himself had been raised in those traditions from birth: the dress, haircut (sikha), etc. are an ancient traditional lineage in India. (The recording in the background of this page is Srila Prabhupada himself chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra.)

MATCHLESS GIFTS: THE FIRST KRISHNA TEMPLE - In the Bowery, New York City, l965

Right from the beginning, Srila Prabhupada was well-known for cooking for all the people who had invited him to stay and also speak in their homes. He had a reputation for being a fine cook, as a matter of fact. A movement tradition that is still cherished to this very day.

The very first Hare Krishna temple was the storefront on Second Street in New York City's Bowery that Prabhupada enthusiasts rented for him for $196.00 a month. It had an unusual hand-painted sign above the window: "Matchless Gifts" that had been created by a previous tenant.

Not a contradictory coincidence.

CHANTING HARE KRISHNA

The area around the "Matchless Gifts" storefront was occupied by the sixties culture drop-out explosion. Hippies, head shops, LSD and marijuana dealers, artists and the older Bowery dwellers such as heroin addicts and alcoholics were the first to find Krishna's mercy. They would appear for the singing and dancing inside the storefront (not to mention the free dinner) - and learn the new intoxicating chant that took the USA and the western world by the storm of its rhythm and joy: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare - Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, Hare Hare ..."

It didn't take much for the young people that ran away from home in droves to come for a free new-fangled vegetarian meal and learn how to play the small Indian Hindu cymbals and drums called kirtalas and mrdangas. Dah, dut-dut, dah ... dut-dut dah ... dut-dut dah. The ancient traditional rhythm rang over Central park and, soon, all over the major cities of the world: Paris, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Geneva, Moscow, Boston, Los Angeles and beyond.

And, of course, again, the famous prasadam of the Krishna Movement was ever-present in and around almost everything the new Sanyasins (monks & nuns) and their Guru, Srila Prabhupada did. (Prasad or prasadam are Sanskrit words denoting food that is offered to the Hindu dieties.)

In London, Srila Prabhupada was not only to establish a new temple, but to meet the legendary members of The Beatles who had been travelling in India and accepting instruction from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He was to spend time with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their mansion; and meet George Harrison and Paul McCartney. He especially impressed the young George Harrison with his simplicity of chanting and the ecstasy of worshipping Krishna. George was to record his number one hit, "My Sweet Lord" dedicated to Krishna and the Maha Mantra. McCartney was to continue his lifelong journey of Hindu studies, antiwar activities and vegetarianism.

Prabhupada devotee grew among the rich and famous and the rock stars of the sixties ... extending even to the present to include such people as Hailey Mills and Diana, Duchess of Windsor (Princess Di), the only liberal in the hereditary English House of Lords and modern day heroine to the Welsh people, instigating a strong, successful movement to reinstate the speaking and teaching of Welsh in the Welsh public schools instead of the use of English. Princess Di's former husband, Prince Charles is an architect that is also a liberal politician who is interested in the economical use of alternative heating sources such as solar.

In the twelve years he was in the west, Srila Prabhupada established hundreds upon hundreds of free temples and feeding programs around the globe and gave the Indian Hindu community access to their own culture and a large support for their own struggles to create sustainability in their home economy by studying and working in the west.

Not only that, of course, but he has now given at least three generations of Americans and westerners in general access to free housing, free food and a gentle and intelligent community in which to raise their children.

One of the main goals of the Hare Krishna Movement in India is still to feed all her peoples, to this day Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's words echo around the world:

"No one shall be hungry. Let them come to me. Let them come inside."

COW WORSHIP

Do you know the
technical history of the little known wonders of the healing and wish
fulfilling potencies of the holy cow? Is there any difference between
Western cows and the holy cow? What are the distinguishing characteristics?
Why is the holy cow considered sacred? Which ancient civilizations of
the world honored the cow? If we want peace, how do we attain that through
cow worship?

Read about the history of cow veneration for the last five thousand years, Shivaaji's power, Guru Govind Singh's vow, and King Raghubir Singh's elegance. Read about the descendants of the cross-bred wild animals known in the time of Julius Caesar as yuras or yurach which are predecessors to western cows.

Ayurveda heals its patients with treatments that traditionally includes non-violent elements of the cow such as milk, yogurt, butter, ghee, cow urine and dung. All of these things are mixed and combined into certain ancient formulas with amazingly strong potencies.

TO READ MORE ABOUT COW WORSHIP AND ITS HISTORY read Swami Shyam's book "Holy Cow".

To order write to ilcc@mrinter.net --The book is $10.00 plus $1.25 postage & handling. California residents pay sales tax. For a complete listing of Swami Shyam's books go to - www.swamishyam.org

The picture above was painted by a Hare Krishna member and is Krishna's cousin Arjuna - the person in the dark moustache - and Krishna as they go into battle to fight the Mahabharatam war against another relative that was an impetuously bad leader and threatening Krishna's own Kingdom. Krishna won, but in the end he was shot in the bottom of the foot as he lay asleep hidden in some grass. It was the only vulnerable part of his body and he was vowed to leave the planet Earth through ascension to his own planet Krishnaloka if this happened - as he had predicted anyway. He then left Earth at this time. This is a real historical battle that actually took place. Krishna and most of the Hindu dieties actually have blood relatives in many of the families in India.

The armor and chariots are actually Hindu in origin. All the depicted costumes are pretty accurate with perhaps a few changes in the past five thousand years since the battle was fought in Kurukshetra in Northern India near Vrindaban. The Greeks and Romans and Egyptians took much of their dress and architecture from India during the 25,000 or so years since the Caucasian migration downward from Northern Europe after the glaciers melted and made travel possible. The confluence of the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers in the peninsula near Saudi Arabia was actually an ancient trade route from Hindu India and the discoveries there are probably purchases, trades or imitations of Hindu merchandise that traveled the seas up the Arabian coast line.

Eventually Hindu culture became the mestizo culture of the Middle East. Unfortunately the meat-eating cultures of Egypt and other areas were unwilling to give up their slaves & eventually Egypt colonized Greece & Italy leading to the further colonization of the rest of the world using the Guru Daksina system of "paying tribute" to one's leader by placing their picture on a piece of paper or metal: thus colonial economics was instituted by force with military violence as a poor replacement for meditation & chanting.

Even the tall ships of the British Isles are almost exact replicas of Hindu traditional sail ships with which Europeans have been familiar for thousands of years. The woodturning and even polished mahogany (which is a tropical wood by the way) are traditional Hindu designs built to this day. The spice trade in southern India has been an industry of international mercantile for many milennia.

HARE KRISHNA HISTORICAL PHOTO ALBUM: coming soon! - See photos and the addresses of the original Hare Krishna Photo Sites. George Harrison, Matchless Gifts, etc.

Prema Baba Swamiji - BABAJI - Meet Prema Baba a Native American-Jewish Swami who was initiated by Swami Muktananada, is a Martial Arts expert and bodybuilder, a chiropractor & reiki healer. He has been initiated by BABAJI MAHAVATAR and has written a new book: "The Initiation".

Free Vedic Ebooks & Srimad Bhagavatam Audio Downloads - Go to our Mega Site to download free wma files of Srimad Bhagavatam Stories & read entire Vedic manuscripts on our book download page. Hanuman Chalisa, Yoga Vasistha & many more. Ebooks are commentaries by Swami Shyam.

Free Internet Yoga Radio - Bhajans, Mantras & Indian Classical music, 24 hours a day 7 days a week at www.live365.com - Listen to the Antarbrahmandiya radio show!

Sri Sriman Kalki Bhagavan: A Biography - See the Miracle of the Honey pouring from Sri Kalki's picture! This page has links to that site and his first-ever biography by a childhood friend and now fellow swami.

Photo Album of Early Pictures of Satya Sai Baba - eight photos of Satya Sai Baba on this site plus his biography.

Hundreds of early pictures of Satya Sai Baba - Really a fine site with lots of info on Satya Sai Baba. One of His official sites.

BACK - Karunamayi Ma & Babaji!

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HOME - General Links & SEVA (charity) links.

HARE KRISHNA SEARCH ENGINE: www.iskcon.org - One rather good Hare Krishna link, from there try and surf to their catalog and book/product indexes. They have one of the best Hindu catalogs in the US. See address in Houston above.

Hare Krishna Search Engine & Many Sites/Stores - Loi Bazaar is a really nice unusual Hare Krishna Links Page with a Search Engine.

ENTIRE BHAGAVAD GITA ONLINE - see Sanskrit, English & explanation with RealPlayer Audio music or without. In about twenty languages.

The Hindu Digest - Articles by Swami Shyam on Ayurveda and healing with Indian Classical music and more...