Prabhupāda

This article contains phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of phonetic symbols.

Prabhupāda is an honorific used by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and some other Gaudiya Vaishnava groups, to refer to ISKCON founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.

Etymology[]

Prabhupāda (প্রভুপাদ)^[1] is composed of the words prabhu (প্রভু) and pāda (পাদ). Prabhu means "Lord," while pāda means "foot" or "feet."

Interpretations[]

Lord's Feet
At the Lord's Feet.
One Who Sits at the Lord's Feet
He at Whose Feet All Masters Sit (—Tamal Krishna Goswami)^[2]

Usage[]

In Gaudiya Vaishnavism, "Prabhu" usually refers to Caitanya "Mahā Prabhu", i.e. "Great Lord Caitanya."

In the Gaudiya Math, "Prabhupāda" is used as an honorific for the founder Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

In the ISKCON, "Prabhupāda" has been used since 1968 exclusively to refer to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. From 1966 to 1968, his American disciples called him "Swamiji." In 1968 ACBS, objected to the term, and said that in India they called their guru "Prabhupāda."^[3] The ISKCON has called him "Prabhupāda" ever since and has made the honorific term so popular worldwide that most non-Indians mistakenly think that "Prabhupāda" and "Swāmī Prabhupāda" are his names – although A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami himself did not use this honorific to refer to himself.

Similar terms[]

This usage set a pattern for the "ISKCON Guru-Ācāryas" – who took over the ISKCON after the death of ACBS in 1977 – to create similar self-applied honorifics, such as "Ācāryapāda," "Bhaktipāda," "Gurupāda," "Tīrthapāda," etc.

Visnupāda = "Visnu's Feet" (an honorific for Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī)
Bhagavatpāda = "Lord's Feet" (a popular honorific for Sankara)
Padmapāda = "Lotus Feet" (a disciple of Sankara)
Srīpāda = "Venerable Feet" (an honorific for Sankara, Rāmanuja, and Madhva)^{[note 1]}
Srīpāda Rāya = "Kingly Venerable Feet" (an honorific for Sripadaraja)
Srīpāda, Srīpādaru, Srīpādangalavaru = Satyatma Tirtha
Krsnapāda = "Krsna's Feet"^{[note 2]}
Rāmapāda = "Rāma's Feet"^{[note 3]}
Kālīpāda = "Kālī's Feet"^{[note 4]}
Gangapāda^{[note 5]}

Notes[]

^ See the Wikipedia disambiguation page Sripada.
^ Used as a name by Krishnapada Ghosh.
^ Used as a name by Ramapada Chowdhury.
^ Used as a name by Kalipada Singha Thakur, Kalipada Ghosh Tarai Mahavidyalaya, Kalipada Ghoshal, Kalipada Pahan.
^ Used as a name by Gangapada Basu.

References[]

^ The Digital South Asia Library, Biswas, Sailendra. Samsada Bangala abhidhana. 7th ed. Calcutta, Sahitya Samsad, 2004.
^ The Perils of Succession
^ Satsvarūpa Dās Goswāmī, Srīla Prabhupāda-līlāmrta.

[4] See the Wikipedia disambiguation page Sripada.

[5] Used as a name by Krishnapada Ghosh.

[6] Used as a name by Ramapada Chowdhury.

[7] Used as a name by Kalipada Singha Thakur, Kalipada Ghosh Tarai Mahavidyalaya, Kalipada Ghoshal, Kalipada Pahan.

[8] Used as a name by Gangapada Basu.

[1] The Digital South Asia Library, Biswas, Sailendra. Samsada Bangala abhidhana. 7th ed. Calcutta, Sahitya Samsad, 2004.

[2] The Perils of Succession

[3] Satsvarūpa Dās Goswāmī, Srīla Prabhupāda-līlāmrta.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[note 1]

[note 2]

[note 3]

[note 4]

[note 5]