A CHALLENGE in writing Prabhupada’s biography for general readers was portraying his humanness, which risked making him seem like an ordinary person who became extraordinary. That impression would be at odds with his esteem in the devotional community. Devotees of Krishna (the Sanskrit name for God in personal form) revere Prabhupada as a nitya-siddha, an “eternally liberated” being, a person sent by God to save humanity, someone who never knew material life as the rest of us do. Some scholars use the term “doubling” to describe this dual citizenship of eternal and temporal worlds. My task was facilitated by a simple fact: Throughout his life, Prabhupada loved Krishna. He never had to convert to Krishna worship, nor did his faith ever waiver. In that sense, it does not matter whether one views him as descending into the world by God’s will or as rising through the world to become an exalted teacher. His life stands on its own merit. If, on occasion, the narrative veers overly toward the human, for the sake of making his life story accessible to readers, I assume the responsibility and thank my devotee colleagues for their patience with such literary license.
The Vaishnava tradition honors senior devotees with honorific titles such as Sri, Srila, His Divine Grace, or His Holiness, and during his lifetime Prabhupada was often called “His Divine Grace” or “Srila Prabhupada.” To simplify the reading, I chose to use the one-word title Prabhupada and eliminate longer forms of address. Prabhupada’s spiritual master was also addressed by lengthy honorific titles, such as Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj or sometimes Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada. Here, he is referred to as Bhaktisiddhanta or Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. No disrespect is meant in abridging these formal titles. For similar motives, the suffix Das (awarded to initiated men) and Dasi or Devi (awarded to initiated women) have often been left out.1