A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Born Abhay Charan De in 1896, he received an order in his youth from his spiritual teacher: spread Krishna consciousness in English. In 1965 he boarded a cargo ship from Kolkata to New York City, carrying little but texts. He taught that the Absolute is personal, not impersonal — a break from earlier Indian teachers in the West — and that the self is eternal, distinct from the body, meant for devotional service to Krishna. In 1966 he established the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, which grew into a global network. He wrote more than eighty books, including Bhagavad-Gītā As It…