Samadhi of Srila Prabhupada
A Comprehensive Guide to Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma
In front of the temple is the beautiful white marble Samadhi Mandir of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). This is where his body was laid to rest after he left this world and returned to the spiritual world. His body was placed directly under where the large murti of Srila Prabhupada is located. Normally the bodies of dead people are burned and the ashes are put in a holy river. But in the case of a paramahamsa, a highly elevated devotee of Lord Krishna, the body is not burned, but buried in samadhi. This is because the body of a pure devotee is spiritual.
Every year in the month of Kartika (Oct-Nov) there is a festival here to celebrate the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada. On the upper floor of the museum side of the samadhi there is a video machine, where videos of Srila Prabhupada are shown. There is also a picture exhibit on the upper floor. On the upper floor of the main samadhi building people are shown how to chant japa. They then chant one round of 108 Hare Krishna mantras.
When entering the temple devotees chant these prayers in honor of Srila Prabhupada:
namah om vishnupadaya krishnapresthaya bhutale shrimate bhaktivedanta swamin iti namine
“I offer my humble obeisances unto His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krishna on this earth having taken shelter at His lotus feet.
namaste saraswate deve gaura-vani pracharine nirvisesa shunyavadi paschatya-desha-tarine
“Our respectful obeisances are unto you, O Spiritual master and servant of Saraswati Gosvami. You are kindly preaching the message of Lord Chaitanya and delivering the western countries, which are filled with impersonalism and voidism.”