Srila Prabhupada was born by the banks of the Ganges river in Tollygunge, Calcutta. It was the time of the British Raj in India, September 1st 1896, the day after Janmasthami, the birthday of Lord Krishna.
Srila Prabhupada's mother and father were both devoted to Lord Krishna, especially in His form of Lord Chaitanya. His family line descended from the great sage Gautama.
In Bhagavad Gita, the central scripture of India, Lord Krishna states:
atha va yoginam eva kule bhavati dhimatam
etad dhi durlabhataram loke janma yad idrsam
"..(one who) takes birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom, certainly such a birth is rare in this world."
Srila Prabhupada spoke of his father who earned a humble but adequate living as a cloth merchant:
"Actually his real business was worshipping Krishna, but for livelihood he did some business. We would be sleeping and father would be worshipping the Lord. Ding, ding, ding - we would hear the bell and wake up to see him bowing down before Krishna"
The stars foretell his great destiny
According to the custom, on the occasion of his birth an astrologer was called. He calculated the birth-chart and predicted, to the joy of all present, that when Srila Prabhupada would reach the age of seventy he would cross the ocean, become a great exponent of religion and open 108 temples.