Acceptance of sannyasa by Srila Prabhupada

What is the acceptance of sannyasa by Srila Prabhupada?

On 17 September 1959, at the Kesavaji Matha in Mathura, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada accepted sannyasa from Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja. In 2027 devotees honour the event on Wednesday, 15 September, a day shared with Bhadra Purnima and Sri Visvarupa Mahotsava.

Significance

Srila Prabhupada had left household life five years earlier and was writing in Vrindavana. His spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, had wanted him to preach in the West. At the ceremony Srila Prabhupada sat on kusa grass, received the sannyasa staff and saffron cloth, and was given the name Bhaktivedanta Swami. His Godbrother Srila Kesava Maharaja asked him to speak to the gathering, which he did in English.

Srila Prabhupada had been reluctant at first. Speaking frankly about it in a lecture in Seattle in 1968, he recalled how his Godbrother had pressed him on behalf of their spiritual master:

Because without accepting the renounced order of life, nobody can become a preacher. So he wanted me to become a preacher.

Bhaktiprajñāna Keśava Mahārāja's Disappearance Day Lecture, Seattle, 21 October 1968

How to observe it

Read the account of the ceremony in Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta and the Seattle lecture in which Srila Prabhupada tells the story himself. Remember with gratitude Srila Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja, whose insistence gave Srila Prabhupada the sannyasa he had no wish to accept. Chant some extra rounds, and pray for the readiness to give up whatever stands in the way of serving Srila Prabhupada's mission.