The Founder-Ācārya

Bhakti, or loving devotional service, is not an imaginary or sentimental state of delusional adepts. The bhakti-yoga process is a science of spiritual development based on the teachings of self-realized souls who have come— and continue to come—to this world to help conditioned souls free themselves from their entanglement in material existence. Even God Himself comes from time to time to spread the spiritual knowledge of bhakti, for example through the Bhagavad-gītā, spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself over 5,000 years ago. The latest avatāra of Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, appeared about 500 years ago in Bengal to teach the process of bhakti by chanting the holy name of the Lord. His devotees and followers have written many books on the science of bhakti-yoga, and they continue to spread this same knowledge through the guru-paramparā, a lineage of teachers and disciples tracing back to Kṛṣṇa Himself. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of followers of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world who teach the path of bhakti through their example. The most prominent follower in recent times was the founder of the International Society for Kṛṣṇa consciousness (ISKCON), His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda came to the West in 1965, at the age of 69, and propagated the process of bhakti-yoga, demonstrating it through his exemplary life as a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Until his departure from this world in 1977, he traveled around the world 14 times on lecture tours, bringing the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa to hundreds and

Introspection

thousands of people on six continents. Men and women of all walks of life accepted his message and, with their help, Prabhupāda established ISKCON centers and projects all over the world. Under his inspiration, Kṛṣṇa devotees established temples, rural communities, and educational institutions. Prabhupāda returned to India on several occasions, eager to nurture the roots of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in his home country, where he sparked a revival of the bhakti tradition. In India, he opened dozens of temples, including large centers at the holy sites of Vṛndāvana and Māyāpura. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s most significant contribution is undoubtedly his books. He authored more than 70 volumes of philosophical works in the kṛṣṇa-bhakti tradition, offering translations of revered scriptures that are highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth, fidelity to the original text, and clarity of meaning. Several of his works are used as textbooks in university courses. His writings have been translated into more than 100 languages. The most prominent titles are Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, ŚrīmadBhāgavatam (published in 30 volumes), and Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (published in 17 volumes). As of 2024, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has over 600 centers around the world, welcoming anyone who wishes to hear about Kṛṣṇa and participate in the spiritual practices of bhakti-yoga. We invite the reader to contact their nearest ISKCON center to deepen their knowledge and experience of the teachings presented in this essay.