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Romapada Swami’s first encounter with Krishna consciousness came in Buffalo, in the shape of a lecture at the State University of New York in 1969. The lecturer was His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The following year, Romapada Swami joined the movement in Boston and was initiated in 1971. Despite being admitted as a pre-med student, he decided to follow his spiritual path 100% and never looked back. He took sannyasa in 1983 and became an initiating spiritual master in 1985. In 1992 he began serving as a member of the GBC.
His devotional career began with book distribution, college outreach and temple leadership for over a decade. His first role as president came at the TP of the Manhattan temple (1977-78), then as regional secretary for New England (1979-82), and then again as president of the Brooklyn temple (1982-83). From 1996 up to 2008, he served continuously as the chairman of the North American Executive Committee (NA EC), and he was the chairman of the GBC EC in 2009-2010. Romapada Swami has GBC zonal assignments in New York, New Jersey, the New England states in Northeast USA as well as the Midwest USA.
Inspired by his experiences wherein GBC members regularly shared their daily meeting deliberations with the devotees present in Mayapur, Romapada Swami regularly shares with ISKCON audiences the extensive progressive work which the GBC is currently performing to strengthen the future to the Society, and he tries to actively involve capable persons to participate in the dynamic strategic planning work of the GBC.
In his efforts to share Krishna consciousness with others, Romapada Swami draws on the benefits he himself gained from the University outreach
programs he attended in the 1960s. Thus, he continues to encourage programs that fulfill students’ spiritual needs. He has spearheaded the creation of
numerous Krishna-conscious student organizations in reputed institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois, Northeastern Univ (Boston), Northwestern Univ (Chicago), and Penn State Univ, to name but a few. Bridging the gap between secular society and inner life, Romapada Swami conducts presentations on topics such as “Stress Management,” “Spiritual Economics,” and “Science and Spirituality” within the US corporate sector. Some of the companies in receipt of his training are Intel, Microsoft, Ford Motor Co., Lucent, Cisco and Fanny Mae.
Programs for youth and children are very important to Romapada Swami, as Devotee Care is one of his areas of concern. He has actively inspired Soul
Connection youth groups in Chicago and St Louis, along with multiple youth Gita Summer Camps in the area where he travels.
Under Romapada Swami’s guidance, congregational groups of devotees of Krishna have grown in many places in the US and abroad, including Chicago,
Washington DC, St. Louis, Detroit, New York, New Jersey, Houston, Orlando, Tennessee, Boston, China, Hyderabad and Guyana.
For over thirty years, multiple annual retreats have been conducted by Romapada Swami at the Gita Nagari Farm as well as other venues. Since Gita
Nagari was originally purchased as “the NY Farm”, for decades Romapada Swami has invested sustained input to help develop the infrastructure of Gita
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