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174 How I AcHIeved ReAl SucceSS
checked the galley proofs, and even distributed the individual
copies. Today, Back to Godhead is being continued by his
followers.
In 1950, Śrīla Prabhupāda retired from married life to devote
more time to study, writing, and preaching. For that purpose,
he travelled to the holy city of Vṛndāvana, where he lived
in humble circumstances in the historic temple of Rādhā-
Dāmodara.
In 1959, Śrīla Prabhupāda accepted sannyāsa (formal renunciation
of family life for full dedication to spiritual pursuits). At Rādhā-
Dāmodara, he began work on a multivolume commentated
translation of the eighteen-thousand-verse Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
He also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets.
In August 1965, after publishing three volumes of the
Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Prabhupāda set out to the United States
to fulfil the mission of his guru. When he first arrived, by
freighter, he was practically penniless. After almost a year of
great difficulty, in July of 1966 he established the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Before his passing away, on 14 November 1977, Śrīla Prabhupāda
had guided the Society and seen it grow to a worldwide
confederation of more than one hundred ashrams, schools,
temples, institutes, and farm communities. He had also inspired
the construction of several major temples in India, including
the international headquarters of ISKCON, at Māyāpur, West
Bengal, the site of a developing Vedic city. In Vṛndāvana, Uttar
Pradesh, is the magnificent Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple. ISKCON
also has established several other major temples throughout
the world.