Lord Caitanya's Teachings to Srila Rupa Goswami

He was born in Mysore (Karnataka, India) on 20th April, 1973.

Madhusudan Masa (Vaishaka Pouranimantah)

Krishna Paksha Tritiya, Vishaka Nakshatra (4th Pada).

His grandmother named him Krishna Kiran as she had vowed to Sri Udupi Krishna in her prayers to Him that a male child born will be named after Him.

Childhood

Born into an orthodox Madhva family, he spent his childhood in and around Madhava Mutt (Uttaradi Mutt) learning all the rituals and mantras. Hanuman and Sripad Madhvacharya were his natural heroes. His grandmother’s Mahabharata and Ramayana stories became his passion. Later he did his schooling in Tenali (the place of famous Tenali Ram) regularly visiting the Hauman’s deity (Mukyaprana) installed by Narahari Tirtha (No. 7 in our Guru Parampara list).

Youth

When he was just 14, the usually naughty and playful nature in him suddenly changed into a serious and philosophical one after the demise of his mother. While studying in college (Marine Engineering) he tried to explore sense gratification under peer pressure, but found it against his nature. It was in the 3rd year of college that he heard a lecture by HG Dayaram Prabhu and made up his mind not to marry.

As he read the Gita many times and frequently heard from HH Bhakti Vidyapurna Swami at the Mayapur Gurukul, his conviction to dedicate his life for preaching the message of the Bhagavad-gita became strong.

Shastric study

While working in the Merchant Navy as an engineering officer, he utilised his abundant spare time studying Srimad Bhagavatam for hours a day. In the meantime, during his 3 months of break from his job in Shipping, he got the divine association of HG Atmatatva Das who further inspired him to study Srila Prabhupada’s books and dedicate his life for preaching and told him that life is not meant for doing some shudra work. He gave up his highly lucrative job and joined ISKCON Mira Road on Aug 20th 1997.

Services done in ISKCON

As soon as he joined ISKCON Mira Road in 1997, he took up the responsibility of “New Bhakta training” and youth preaching. he got his first initiation in Jan 1998. Circumstances led me to become the Vice-president of ISKCON Mira Road in 1999. He took up congregation development and teaching in VIHE in the year 2002 after his second initiation. In 2007, he was made the President of ISKCON Mira Road, which came out to be a very strong community with a beautiful temple. He is known more for his philosophical discourses than his managerial abilities. He has also produced leaders and set up many temples and preaching centres in Vapi, Bhavnagar, Bhilwara, Udaipur, and many other places.

He has served as WIDC Vice-Chairman and has also completed the GBC College training from its first batch.

Current Services

Along with being the President of ISKCON Mira Road, he is also the member of the ILAC.

He travel extensively in South Gujarat, South Rajasthan and Punjab for preaching and guiding in setting up a standard gurukul as envisioned by Srila Prabhupada. Education is his passion; so he identify himself as teacher of Bhakti Shastri, Bhakti Vaibhav, Shad darshnas and other scriptures.