Disappearance Day of Srila Prabhupada

What is the Disappearance Day of Srila Prabhupada?

The Disappearance Day of Srila Prabhupada remembers the day His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada left this world. He entered the Lord's eternal pastimes on the evening of 14 November 1977, in his room at the Krishna-Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan.

Significance

Srila Prabhupada is the Founder-Acarya of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. An acarya is a teacher who follows the scriptures himself and teaches by his own example. Devotees recall that his departure was exemplary, as his whole life had been, and that in the last hours the doors were opened to all while devotees surrounded him with kirtana, the chanting of the holy names.

For his followers the day is above all a time for gratitude and for recommitting to his order. In his purport to the Bhagavad-gita Srila Prabhupada writes:

to be well versed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness one has to act firmly and obey the representative of Kṛṣṇa, and one should accept the instruction of the bona fide spiritual master as one’s mission in life.

Bhagavad-gita 2.41, purport

How to observe it

Devotees offer prayers of gratitude to Srila Prabhupada, feel his separation, hear about his life, read his books and chant the holy names. The day follows the lunar calendar. The English date 14 November 1977 is when he left, so the observance moves from year to year.