Srila Prabhupada

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Indian religious writer and guru, is the founder/acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He founded ISKCON in New York City in 1966. Prabhupada produced many scholarly translations of ancient Vedic religious texts and made them accessible to the English speaking Western world. His most famous work is "Bhagavad Gita As It Is". His guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur, before he died in 1936, had advised him to spread Krishna consciousness to the English speaking countries. In August, 1965, aboard the commercial ocean liner Jaladhuta, he left Calcutta, India, for the United States, landing in Boston in September, 1965. By teaching devotion to Krishna as the universal religion, he did much to assist the spread of Vaishnavism in the West. He initiated over 5000 disciples and established over 100 Hare Krishna (ISKCON) centers.