His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, also known as the ‘Hare Krishna Movement’, became the first Vaishnava acharya in the history of the world to travel to the West and convert Americans and Europeans to Krishna Consciousness also known as Bhagavata-dharma. After traveling to America in 1965, He established hundreds of Radha-Krishna temples, not only in America but around the globe, and translated into the English language for the first time a large volume of books on the subject of Vedic culture and religion, including the Vedic classics Shrimad-Bhagavatam and Chaitanya-charitamrita.
His unique translation of the celebrated Bhagavad-gita became the best selling edition of the Gita in history and his books are most highly appreciated by scholars, educators and academicians the world over. Shrila Prabhupada was also the first Vaishnava acharya to introduce Westerners to the Vraja Mandala Parikrama when in 1972, he arrived in India from the West with a large party of Europeans and American devotees and personally took them to all the important holy places around Vraja Mandala including: Vrindavana, Govardhana Hill, Radha-kunda, Varsana, Nandagrama, and Gokula. He later established the famous Krishna Balarama Mandira in Vrindavana, where his foreign disciples could visit on pilgrimage and become purified of all contamination of the material world while spending their time appreciating the transcendentally surcharged atmosphere of the holy dhama, while engaging in yoga, meditation, chanting Krishna’s holy names and performing parikrama.
In November 1977, during the last few days of his life, as Shrila Prabhupada lay ill in his rooms at the Krishna Balarama Mandira in Vrindavana, even though in a precarious state of health, he desired to be taken on parikrama to Govardhana Hill and requested that his disciples bring a bullock-cart in which he could travel to the various holy places. When a number of senior disciples objected saying that the ride would kill him, he challenged them saying that parikrama of Govardhana Hill would in fact give him life. Shrila Prabhupada also said that it was far better to die while on parikrama of Govardhana Hill, than to die while lying in bed, as it would be a far more glorious death.
However, his senior disciples refused to allow him to go, in fear he would die at the first bump in the road. On the third day after Govardhana-puja, which is the celebration of Krishna’s pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill, Shrila Prabhupada breathed his last and entered into maha-samadhi and the eternal pastimes of Krishna’s Vraja-lila. In order to fulfill Shrila Prabhupada’s final wish, a parikrama was organized by his disciples and a Deity of Shrila Prabhupada was taken on parikrama around Govardhana Hill. It was decided to organize this parikrama as an annual celebration and it has been performed each year since then. A few years later, it was decided to perform the full Vraja Mandala Parikrama in honor of Shrila Prabhupada, and this particular parikrama is now organized every year in the holy month of Kartika, which has now become very popular with all ISKCON devotees from around the world who flock to Vrindavana to take part in this ecstatic parikrama.
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