Bhakti Charu Swami

Bhakti Charu Swami
Religion Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Hinduism
Personal
Born 17 September,[1] 1945[1]
Kuthi,[1] Comilla District,[1] Bengal Presidency
Religious career
Initiation Diksa–1977,[1] Sannyasa–1977[1]
Post ISKCON Guru, Sannyasi, Member of the Governing Body Commission

Bhakti Charu Swami is a Vaishnava swami[2] and a religious leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).[3] He is a Guru and a member of the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON.[3] Previously he was simultaneously acting as ISKCON's minister of arts and culture.[3] He is an initiated disciple of ISKCON's founder His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and has translated Shrila Prabhupada's literary works in Bengali[3] and also produced a television serial on Prabhupada's life entitled "Abhay Charan".[3] He's also serving on an advisory panel of I-Foundation,[4] a leading Hindu charity organisation in the United Kingdom.[5]

Bhakti Charu Swami was born in Bengal in 1945, and spent most of his early life in the city of Calcutta. In 1970 he left India to study in Germany. He came across Vedic literatures while in Germany. In 1975 he returned to India to pursue spiritual life, and studied the Vedic scriptures.

Bhakti Charu Swami joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness temple in Mayapur. When A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Srila Prabhupada) returned to India at the end of 1976, Bhakti Charu met him. Srila Prabhupada gave him the assignment of translating his books into Bengali and made him his Secretary for Indian Affairs. Within a few months Srila Prabhupada initiated him into the disciplic succession and soon thereafter awarded him the renounced order of Sannyasa.[6]

Alongside his official responsibilities, Bhakti Charu translated all of Srila Prabhupada’s works on major Vedic literatures, consisting of more than fifty volumes of books, into Bengali. Subsequently, he became a member of the Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and served as its chairman in 1989. In 1996 he embarked on a 104-episode television series on the life of Prabhupada, called Abhay Caran[7] in conjunction with Indian National Television. He is one of the pioneers of the VIHE in Vrindavan, and taught Vaishnava Etiquette in 1987 and 1988, and Brihat Bhagavatamrita in 1989.

In February 2006 Bhakti Charu Swami built a temple with three altars for the worship of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohan and Sri Sri Krishna Balaram.[8][9] This temple is situated in the holy town of Ujjain.[10] The Ujjain ISKCON temple under the direction of Bhakti Charu Swami feeds 23,000 school children per day. To facilitate this feeding project Bhakti Charu Swami built a 6,000 sq ft (560 m2) industrial kitchen.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Singh & Bandyopadhyay 2001, p. 619
  2. ↑ List of Sannyasis in ISKCON April 2008 ISKCON Sannyasa Ministry, Retrieved on 5 May 2008
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Kuppan 2006
  4. ↑ I-Foundation
  5. ↑ Britain's first Hindu school gets planning permission
  6. ↑ http://www.bhakticharuswami.com/about
  7. ↑ http://www.abhaycharan.com/
  8. ↑
  9. ↑
  10. ↑

References

External links