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|| It all started with one great soul's vision ||

The Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and International School was founded by renowned scholar and devotee A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Srila Prabhupada single-handedly spread Vaisnava/Hindu dharma all over the world, establishing 108 temples and several schools in India and throughout the West.

Srila Prabhupada, a highly educated leader, exemplifies the kind of education that BGIS offers and the kind of graduate that BGIS hopes to produce. He was kind, bold, influential, humble, humourous, gentle, balanced, hard-working, respectful, highly spiritual, determined and an excellent communicator - both as a speaker and as a writer.

He felt equally at home in an Indian village and in a busy Western metropolis. He could converse meaningfully with a simple worker and a head of state. Business, math, the gentle art of persuasion, philosophy and four languages - he was proficient in it all. He cared deeply for people and touched the hearts of all he met.

We at BGIS are awed by his abilities and character, and we hope that this, his school, continues to represent his qualities and pass them on. Which is what we strive towards through our teachers and students.

|| Srila Prabhupada on education ||

Education means to lead the people gradually to Krsna consciousness. [Lecture SB 1.3.20 Los Angeles 1972]

For the present you should continue going to school because education is important. Without education nobody has any social position and all our students in Krishna Consciousness are expected to be preachers. So preachers must have sufficient education because they have to meet with so many opposing elements. Education should be continued at the same time chanting should be continued. There will be no difficulty. [Letter to: Indira and Ekayani —San Francisco 17 December, 1967]

Human life is meant for cultivation of spiritual knowledge, in eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the executive heads of all states and all planets are obliged to impart this lesson to the citizens by education, culture and devotion. [Bhagavad – Gita, 4.1. Purport]

Regarding the answers which you gave to Bilas Vigrahadas, they were all correct. When you study very carefully all of the literature which is available, especially Bhagavad-gita As It Is, you will have in your grasp answers to all questions that may be put to you. Please encourage the others to read this Bhagavad-gita at least one chapter every day. [Letter to Upendra, 6th January, 1969]

Please see that the program for studying our literatures is also undertaken very seriously by all the devotees there. Everyone of us must become thoroughly acquainted with our philosophy, so that our preaching work may be carried out nicely. [Letter to Jagadisa, 27th February, 1970]

Yes, we must set up our society as a school as best we can—I have already sent you letter. Please formulate the whole curriculum because we have to immediately submit to the Draft department and if this is accepted that will be great gain for our society. "Bhakti-sastri'' is awarded after extensive study of Bhagavad-gita, Easy Journey, and Nectar of Devotion. "Bhakti-vaibhava'' is awarded after study of Vedanta-sutra and Srimad-Bhagavatam on a preliminary basis; and "Bhaktivedanta'' the highest title, is awarded after extensive study of Caitanya-caritamrta. [Letter to Brahmananda, 23rd March, 1969]

It is necessary for the leaders of the Krsna consciousness movement to start educational institutions in different parts of the world to train children, starting at the age of five years. Thus such children will not become hippies or spoiled children of society; rather, they can all become devotees of the Lord. The face of the world will then change automatically. [SrimadBhagavatam 4.12.23 Purport]

I consider this Gurukula school to be one of our most important aspects of this movement and it should be given all serious consideration by the members. If we are able to make a whole generation of our children into fine Krsna Conscious preachers, that will be the glory of our movement and the glory of your country as well. But if we neglect somehow or other and if we lose even one Vaisnava, that is very great loss. [Letter to Stokakrsna - Los Angeles 20 June, 1972]

Gurukula is our most important project. If the children are given a Krsna Conscious education from early childhood then there is great hope for the future of the world. [Letter to Dayananda, Nandarani - Calcutta 27 January, 1973]

By all means you should continue practicing Krsna Consciousness everyday. But that does not necessarily mean that you have to move into the Temple immediately. It is also important to get some education. So for some years you should remain studying in school. But on the weekends with your parents permission you can go to the Temple and stay there but do not fall behind in your school work. [Letter to Durgesh, 16th December, 1974]

|| Biography ||

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 through the English language. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work and, in 1944, started Back to Godhead, an English fortnightly magazine. Recognizing Srila Prabhupada's philosophical learning and devotion, the Gaudiya Vaisnava Society honored him in 1947 with the title "Bhaktivedanta."Srila Prabhupada traveled to the holy city of Vrndavana, where he lived in very humble circumstances in the historic medieval temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the renounced order of life (sannyasa) in 1959.

In 1965 Srila Prabhupada sailed from India to New York at the age of 69 in a cargo ship to fulfill the orders of his piritual master. When he first arrived 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 his passing away on November 14, 1977, he guided the Society and saw it grow to a worldwide confederation of more than one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities.

In 1968, Srila Prabhupada created New Vrindaban, a farm community in the hills of West Virginia. His students have since founded several similar communities in the United States and abroad.

In 1972, His Divine Grace introduced the Vedic system of primary and secondary education in the West by founding the Gurukula school in Dallas, Texas. Since then, under his supervision, his disciples have established children's schools throughout the United States and the rest of the world, with the principal educational center now located in Vrndavana, India.

Srila Prabhupada's most significant contribution, however, is his books. Highly respected by the academic community for their authority, depth and clarity, they are used as standard textbooks in numerous college courses. His writings have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world's largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.

In just twelve years, in spite of his advanced age, Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents. In spite of such a vigorous schedule, Srila Prabhupada continued to write prolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.