His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in this world in 1896 in Calcutta, India. He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, in Calcutta in 1922. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent religious scholar and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes), liked this educated young man and convinced him to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada became his student and, in 1933, his formally initiated disciple.
When he first arrived by freighter in New York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. Only after almost a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in July of 1966. Before he passed away on November 14, 1977, he had guided the Society and seen it grow to a worldwide confederation of more than one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes, and farm communities.
The search for happiness Everyone is looking for happiness but it elusively slips away from everyone. What is the reason that despite our numerous attempts we never feel completely satisfied and when we do feel happy, the bliss is short lived and once again we are plunged into the ocean of miseries. We suffer, even though we don’t want to suffer, we experience loss, heartaches, depression and all such undesirable feelings even though we never want to. What then forces us to go through such emotions and keeps us away from the happiness and peace that all of us are hankering after? The Krishna consciousness movement gives answers to all such questions and gives the perfect path leading to uninterrupted eternal happiness, untinged by any misery, which is to be experienced in the company of the blissful Lord Sri Krishna. The true nature of a living entity is to be eternal, full of knowledge and bliss, but this material creation which is running under the influence of time has a beginning and an end, unlike our actual eternal existence, and is a place of utter misery, unlike our inherent nature to be blissful. We can therefore conclude that we actually do not belong here and are meant to experience something much more sublime. However, we ourselves are responsible for being in this situation, as we made the wrong decision of trying to become that Master and Lord whereas we are by nature meant to be the servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Seeing his subordinate souls straying away from their true nature, the Lord arranged for this material world where the living entity can attempt to enjoy independently, but due to being repeatedly unsuccessful, the person is sure to turn back to him and when that happens, the Lord mercifully calls him back to the spiritual realm where there is no birth, death, old age and disease, where there is no misery but true bliss and where the soul experiences ultimate pleasure, being situated in its true nature of loving and associating with Sri Krishna. This is the ultimate destination where true happiness can be realized.
Sanatana-dharma means sanatana characteristic, eternal characteristic. Sanatana-dharma means the characteristic of the soul. At Sanatan Dharma, we are committed to helping individuals discover their true selves and live a fulfilling life. Our philosophy is based on the eternal principles of the soul, which are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.