Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda appeared in Kolkata in 1896, and after a successful education and engagment in business, he met his guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in 1922. He formally took initiation from Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in 1933 and later accepted sannyāsa in 1959. Upon the order of his guru, he began writing philosophical essays and books in English and eventually travelled to the United States where he began the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness (ISKCON) in 1966. After establishing over 100 temples, initiating over 5000 disciples and writing sixty books on Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava teachings, he passed away in Vṛndāvana in 1977.