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H.H. Radhanath Swami was born in the USA. He studied Islam, Christianity and Shaivism before finding his spiritual path in Krishna Consciousness.
Introduction to Devotees
On a spiritual search, Radhanath Swami was practicing renunciation as a devotee of Lord Shiva in India, when he was forced to get off the train at Vrindavana due to the train breaking down. The day of the breakdown happened to be Janmashtami, the Appearance Day of Lord Sri Krishna. When he met Srila Prabhupada, he felt an instant connection with him and knew that he was his eternal spiritual master.
Radhanath Swami was a humble pujari in ISKCON New Vrindaban, where he took sanyasa.
HH Radhanath Swami's Spirtual Journey through Mathura-Vrindavana
On the day of the 'train-breakdown' incident cited above, Radhanath Swami asked a Sadhu on the railway platform that what day it was and he was told it was Janmashtami. That night he stayed in Mathura in a Temple of Lord Siva, with a devotee named Sivananda.
Next day he started walking down the road and some people on a bus picked him up and said he didn't have to pay anything and thus reached Vrindavana . There he asked someone whether there was a river close by and he was told of the River Jamuna. Whilst in Vrindavana, he met a Brajvasi (a resident of Braj) who asked him if he was from 'foreign land' and said that the Brajvasis belonged to the Lord Krishna's family. He took Radhanath Swami to the ashram of a blind Sadhu. On his third day in Vrindavana, Radhanath Swami, woke up with a fever on the Mathura Station. Incidentally, some of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples who happened to be there took him to a hospital. The doctor asked him to rest for at least two months before traveling further. However, after two weeks or so, he realized that of all the philosophies, religions he had known so far, nothing is more beautiful that the religion of Vrindavana .
In Vrindavana, Radhanath Swami would usually sleep under the trees near the banks of river Jamuna. Every night few sadhus and he would go around Vrindavana and visit different temples at night to attend Mangala Aratis. One of the sadhus he met was a sitarist who use to play Sitar on the banks of Jamuna in the moonlight. One day a sadhu wanted him to meet a very simple and pure soul and took him to the Radha Vallabha temple area. After walking over a sewage gutter and through a small alleyway he reached a very simple and small house. In one of the hallways of the house, there was a closet and in that closet there were deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopijana Vallabha. There he met a pujari whose name was Ghansham. This pujari who came from a very wealthy family who had once come to Vrindavana with his family and became deeply attached to Vrindavana, so much that he saw no other purpose to life except surrendering to Sri Radha-Krishna. He told his parents he will not leave Vrindavana. His parents threatened they will take away all his wealth and abandon him, and so they did. He was thus living in total poverty and had no residence. He would sleep on the ground, in dust and chant the holy names of the Lord.
He would everyday write the holy names of the Lord in the dust and erase them at the end of the day so that no one could trample on them. One day when he was erasing the holy names written in the dust, he found some gold. Upon digging deeper into the ground, he found the top of the head of a deity of Srimati Radharani and a complete deity of Sri Krishna's. Ghansham would sit there with the deities and chant the holy named under a tree. People would sometimes come by and offer him some rotis (Indian wheat-flour bread) etc. Sometime after, the residents of a small house offered him to put the deities in the closet of their house. Even so, Ghansham Prabhu would never leave the deities alone except once a day when he would go to the river Jamuna to bring water. When Radhanath Swami met this man, he was in his eighties. Ghansham Prabhu considered himself to be the most fallen and insignificant devotee of the Lord. He would consider anyone who came to his temple as a guest of the Lord. Radhanath Swami began to see him everyday after his daily prayers. One day Ghansham invited Radhanath Swami to come at noon and gave him three rotis. Henceforth, he asked Radhanath Swami to come everyday insisting that Sri Gopijana Vallabha and Srimati Radharani wanted him to come to his temple everyday.
After few days, one of the sadhus told Radhanath Swami that Ghansham hadn't eaten for four days. Radhanath Swami went there the next day, the pujari again offered the rotis but Radhanath Swami refused to accept the rotis. Ghansham cried and pleaded him to eat the rotis and he began to weep and begged him to eat the bread. At this Radhanath Swami insisted that he would only eat if Ghansham Prabhu shows him that there were more Rotis in the house. Next day Ghansham did not eat the rotis again and both had a fight over this again. Radhanath Swami was only 20 years old at that time and one day offered Ghansham Prabhu some help who was carrying a heavy bucket of water but Ghansham refused his offer of help. When Radhanath Swami insisted to help, the pujari began to cry and with a choked-up voice explained that the service of carrying the bucket to the closet everyday to the Lord was all he had in his life.
Another incident happened one day when Radhanath Swami happened to be there and some Brijvasis brought some sweet rice to offer to the deities in the closet of the old pujari. Ghansham Prabhu sat Radhanath Swami down in the closet and put one spoon in the cup and then put it next to the mouth of Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna's deities and then poured a spoonful of the sweet-rice in Radhanath Swami's mouth and then repeated the same routine again, showing his humble regard for the 'guest' of Sri Srimati Radharani and Sri Krishna.
Once in the cold month of January, Radhanath Swami came to see Ghansham Prabhu who asked him to stay the night with him in the hallway and put his blanket on him, then he laid next to him with only but a thin dhoti (loincloth) and chaadar (sheet of cloth) without any pillows in the freezing cold. Radhanath Swami insisted to give the blanket back but Ghansham Prabhu refused to take it back saying he (Radhanath Swami) was now a guest of the Lord and he must sleep in a comfortable manner! Radhanath Swami remembers that Ghansham Prabhu never use to be idle. He would always do the puja or arati, sing devotional songs on harmonium or use to be always busy doing some sort of service.
Thus the above episodes became memorable experiences for HH Radhanath Swami which he recounted in one of his lectures about his spiritual journey through Mathura-Vrindavana.
Disciples
- Gauranga prabhu - Based in Mumbai, India. He regularly appears on the Star Plus TV Show on the Bhagavad Gita 'Aatma'.
- Navadvipa Chandra Dasa (Milind Vaidya) - based at Bhaktivedanta Manor, Watford, he recently appeared on Channel 4's show 'Preachers To Be'.
- Sanatana Goswami dasa (Paul Swinbanks) - based in Los Angeles, he recently appeared on Channel 4's show 'Preachers To Be'.
- Rangadevi devi dasi (Rajvi) - a member of Pandava Sena.
- Sri Radha Raman Prabhu - a member of Pandava Sena.
- Ananga Sakhi devi dasi - a member of Pandava Sena.
- Nityananda Priya Prabhu - Melbourne
- Radhika Priya Devi Dasi - London
- Gaura Hari Prabhu Ph.D. IIT Bombay