GBC SPT

Episode 5

GBC SPT welcomes you to join the fifth episode of our 5-week series on the GBC History. This series is to encourage devotees to ask any questions pertaining to the GBC body, its conception to inception to execution.

This is a specially exciting series as we welcome Hari Sauri Das, who lived through the Zonal Acarya days of ISKCON being a GBC and will share with us his first hand experiences during that era.

About Hari Sauri Das 

Hari Sauri was born in England on November 17th 1950. In May 1971, he emigrated to Australia where, on the second day of his arrival, he met the members of the newly emerging Krishna Consciousness movement. He was duly accepted as an initiated disciple by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on April 9th, 1972 in Sydney.

In August 1975, he moved to the newly opened ISKCON Krishna Balaram temple in Vrindavan U.P. India, where he served as temple commander. In November of the same year, he joined A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada’s personal entourage, remaining as His Divine Grace’s servant for 16 months. In March of 1977, Srila Prabhupada appointed him ISKCON’s Governing Body Commissioner for Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, a service he performed for over 7 years. During that period, he oversaw the growth of the ISKCON society in the South Seas from 4 temple and ashrams, to 17, including 4 farming communities, 2 schools and several restaurants. He was also instrumental in establishing branches of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Australia and Indonesia.

In 1986, he began the work of transforming the diary he kept while traveling with Srila Prabhupada into a book, or rather a series of books. In 1990, he moved to America and worked as publisher for Back To Godhead magazine, the Krishna consciousness movement’s spiritual periodical, for a year.

He lives at ISKCON World Head Quarters, in Mayapur West Bengal, India, near Kolkata, with his wife and daughter where he continues to publish his memories of being with Srila Prabhupada. He is currently the director of the Bhaktivedanta Research Center in Kolkata an academic resource of Gaudiya Vaisnavism and an archive library of ancient vaisnava text. These ancient texts are being both digitized and preserved in the original state.

Episode 4

Reflections on the Zonal Acarya Days GBC SPT welcomes you to join the fourth episode of our 5-week series on the GBC History. This series is to encourage devotees to ask any questions pertaining to the GBC body, its conception to inception to execution.  This is a specially exciting series as we welcome Gopal Bhatta Das and Pancharatna Das, who lived through the Zonal Acarya days of ISKCON and will share with us their first hand experiences.  About Gopal Bhatta Das Gopal Bhatta Dasa was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1971 in Detroit, US. From 1973 until 1976, Gopal Bhatta Dasa served as a sankirtan leader for the following cities: Cleveland, Detroit, Dallas and Chicago. He was the temple president in Los Angeles from 1977 until 1980. It is unique that Gopal Bhatta das is currently in no position of formal leadership or management within ISKCON but he contributes with an independence that is considered by many to give a fresh perspective. He is the chairperson of the Strategic Planning Team (SPT) that was activated in 2006 and he has created vitality and drive among the team members that are supporting the GBC’s future. His vision for ISKCON is “more devotees, happier devotees.” He has three sons and one daughter, and his home base is Los Angeles, CA.  About Pancharatna Das Pancharatna dasa joined ISKCON in Toronto, Canada as a brahmacari in 1970. He went on to serve in ISKCON New York in various capacities until 1976 when he moved to Sri Mayapur. There he accepted many responsibilities including building construction and establishing the Bengali language division of the BBT. He met his wife Atitaguna dasi in Mayapur and was married there in 1980, raising four children with her mostly in Mayapur. He currently resides in Mayapur and serves the GBC in various capacities primarily through ISKCON Online.  About Kaunteya Das Kaunteya Dasa, a disciple of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, joined ISKCON in 1980 and is a member of the SPT since 2007. He has served in ISKCON as a book distributor, Gurukula teacher, Deputy GBC member and GBC Zonal Secretary. Kaunteya Dasa currently serves as co-chair of the GBC Organizational Development Committee and, together with His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, as co-minister of the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry. He has designed courses on congregational and community development and has presented them in dozens of countries; has compiled books (Bhakti-Vrksa Manual, Super Sunday and The Book of Icebreakers) and has produced twenty issues of the “Congregational Development Journal.” As “Dr Carlo Oppecini” he is professor of Indovedic Psychology and Philosophy at the Bhakti Yoga College, Florida, USA. He also serves as trustee and faculty member of the GBC College for Leadership Development.

Episode 3

This is a specially exciting series as we welcome Hridayananda Das Goswami, who was an eye witness to the Zonal Acarya days of ISKCON and will share with his first hand experiences with us.  About Hridayananda das Goswami  As one of the most senior and respected spiritual leaders of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Hridayananda das Goswami (Howard J. Resnick, Ph.D.) is an early pioneer and renowned teacher of bhakti yoga in the Western world. At the forefront of contemporary religious dialogue, he is celebrated for his unique ability to adapt the wisdom of ancient Indian philosophy into teachings that are comprehensible for Western audiences.  H.D. Goswami (born November 5, 1948) grew up in Los Angeles, California an began his studies at the University of California, Berkeley where he participated in the political and cultural movements of the late sixties. In 1969, after attending a campus lecture delivered by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON, he began studying the philosophical literature of Prabhupada’s movement, and in September 1969, took up the monastic practice of bhakti-yoga in the Prabhupada’s Berkeley ISKCON center. In 1970, he was formally initiated into the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. During the next four years, he served as president of bhakti-yoga centers in Gainesville, Florida and Houston, and lectured on university campuses throughout North America. In 1974, Prabhupada asked him to assume responsibility for Latin America and in the next several years, he opened dozens of bhakti-yoga centers in over a dozen countries, and organized the leading publishing house of Indian spiritual literature in Spanish and Portuguese. In 1982, he took responsibility for ISKCON’s many centers in Florida, and in 1987 in Italy and Greece. Around this time, together with a team he formed, he completed Prabhupada’s epic translation and commentary on the Bhāgavata-purāṇa.  ​ Meanwhile, H.D.Goswami had returned to the University of California in 1991 as a student of World Religions. After graduating, he continued his studies at Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in Sanskrit & Indian Studies in 1996. Having published articles with Harvard University Press, University of California Press, and Columbia University Press, he recently published his dissertation as the ninety-first volume of the prestigious Harvard Oriental Series. He has taught at the Graduate Theological Union and the University of Florida, and lectured at many dozens of universities in North and South America, Europe, and India.  Fluent in seven languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Sanskrit), Resnick recently completed the literal translation of his popular Complete Guide to the Bhagavad-gītā with Literal Translation, and published Quest for Justice, an explanation of the epic Mahā-bhārata. He is now currently working on a trilogy of the Mahā-bhārata. ​ Around 2013, he founded Krishna West to help facilitate ISKCON’s outreach to Western audiences. Krishna West now has centers throughout the world

Episode 2

The Beginning; It Was a Different ISKCON with Kaunteya Das GBC SPT welcomes you to join the second part of our 5-week series on the GBC History. This series is to encourage devotees to ask any questions pertaining to the GBC body, its conception to inception to execution. About Kaunteya Das Born in Rome, Italy, in 1963; he joined ISKCON in May 1980. After years of full-time book distribution, he moved to India, where he is based for more than twenty-seven years and where he served, among other things, as Gurukula teacher in Mayapur (Bhakti-Sastri, Bhakti-Vaibhava, etc.). He regularly teaches at the ILS (ISKCON Leadership Sanga) and at the GBC College. Kaunteya Das is also a certified mediator and has practiced conflict resolution in several countries. Kaunteya Das has a PhD in Indovedic Psychology and serves as distance-learning professor of Indovedic Philosophy & Psychology at the Bhakti Yoga College (Florida, USA), overseeing students from various continents. (www.bhaktiyogacollege.com) He authored/compiled the following books on congregational development: the Bhakti-vriksha Manual, the Book of Icebreakers and Super Sunday. He has travelled to dozens of countries presenting seminars and workshops on principles and ideas for building vibrant Vaisnava communities. (www.iskconcongregation.com, www.bhaktimarriages.com) At present he is serving as: Co-Minister with HH Jayapataka Maharaja, his diksa-guru – of the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry Co-Chairman – with HG Gopal Bhatta Prabhu – of the GBC Organizational Development Committee Member of the GBC Strategic Planning Team Member of the Strategic Planning Committee for Mayapur

Episode 1

Episode 1

The Esoteric, Underlying Idea of a "Governing Body" with Kaunteya Das

About Kaunteya Das

Kaunteya Das, a disciple of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, joined ISKCON in 1980 and is a member of the SPT since 2007. He has served in ISKCON as a book distributor, Gurukul teacher, Deputy GBC member and GBC Zonal Secretary. Kaunteya Das currently serves as co-chair of the GBC Organizational Development Committee and, together with His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, as co-minister of the ISKCON Congregational Development Ministry. He has designed courses on congregational and community development and has presented them in dozens of countries; has compiled books (Bhakti-Vrksa Manual, Super Sunday and The Book of Icebreakers) and has produced twenty issues of the “Congregational Development Journal.” As “Dr Carlo Oppecini” he is professor of Indovedic Psychology and Philosophy at the Bhakti Yoga College, Florida, USA. He also serves as trustee and faculty member of the GBC College for Leadership Development.