CHILDHOOD
His Holiness Krishna Das Swami Mahārāja appeared on 2nd June, 1932, in his maternal grandfather’s village in the district of Ludhiana, Punjab, Bhārat. Mahārāja’s paternal village was Daulatpur, in the district of Kapurthala, Punjab.
At a very young age, Krishna Das Mahārāja left his parents’ home and was raised by his maternal grandfather, who was a devout Vaiṣṇava and a renowned astrologer. Under his personal guidance, Mahārāja memorised the famous ‘Bhaja Govindam’ (Charpaṭ Panjarikā Stotra) when he was a toddler. Then, Mahārāja memorised the details of the ‘Rāmāyaṇa’ at the age of eleven, and a few years later memorised all the verses of Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā.
From a young age, Mahārāja was raised as a missionary of Sanātan Dharma. To this end, his wise grandfather made His Holiness aware of other religions such as Sikhism. This particularly proved very useful when Mahārāja was once invited to speak at a Sikh Gurudwara in Spain. His Holiness astounded the congregation by quoting the Sikh scriptures to endorse Krishna conscious principles.
DĪKṢĀ
After searching earnestly for a spiritual master, in the year 1949, at the tender age of 16 years, Krishna Das Swami was initiated into the Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya by His Divine Grace Pandit Trilochandev ji Mahārāja Parampād.
EDUCATION
Parallel to the Vaiṣṇava training, Mahārāja also studied at Punjab University and, after qualification, joined the Civil Service Education Board. Mahārāja served as the Headmaster in a secondary school and also taught English, Hindi and Social Studies. Apart from Hindi and English, Mahārāja also knew Sanskrit, Punjabi, Urdu and could read and understand Gujarati.
COMING TO THE WEST
Knowing that Mahārāja was meant to serve a higher purpose, in 1966, His Holiness’s respected spiritual master ordered Mahārāja to renounce his Civil Servant duties and embark on a journey to the West, with the aim of preaching Sanātan Dharma.
On 3rd April, 1966, Krishna Das Mahārāja left Bhārat for the United Kingdom (UK) and started preaching in London. As destiny would have it, one day some devotees from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) visited Mahārāja’s residence to invite him to the temple at Bury Place. The temple president was most impressed with Mahārāja and kindly requested His Holiness to give regular classes, both in English and in Hindi, on Sundays as well as festival days.
MEETING ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA
During the historical 1973 London Ratha Yātrā, when Śrīla Prabhupāda graced the occasion, Krishna Das Mahārāja had the opportunity to have the divine darshan of Śrīla Prabhupāda. A month later, Mahārāja and Śrīla Prabhupāda had a personal meeting at the Bhaktivedanta Manor.
During that meeting, Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasized the fact that Mahārāja had come to the West for the same mission for which Śrīla Prabhupāda had come. Therefore, there was no need for Mahārāja to start afresh. Instead, it would be better if Mahārāja joined ISKCON and made use of the preaching centers that had already been established. In this way Śrīla Prabhupāda convinced Krishna Das Mahārāja to join ISKCON. Śrīla Prabhupāda also suggested that Mahārāja renounce his Grihastha Āśrama and take up Sannyāsa.
When Mahārāja was fully convinced with Srīla Prabhupāda’s advice, Mahārāja immediately and humbly accepted Śrīla Prabhupāda as his Śikṣā Guru and Sannyāsa Guru. Śrīla Prabhupāda became very happy and immediately accepted Krishna Das Mahārāja as His sannyasi disciple.
Mahārāja then said that there was one last etiquette to follow through before he could formally join ISKCON: As per the Vedic injunctions and traditions, Mahārāja had to take permission from his Dīkṣa Guru.
Thus, Krishna Das Mahārāja wrote a letter to his Dīkṣa Guru, His Divine Grace Pandit Trilochan Dev ji Mahārāja Parampād, requesting to allow Mahārāja to join the Hare Krishna Movement that was originally founded by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu in Bhārat, and now in the western world, by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. In the letter, Mahārāja explained everything about the movement and Śrīla Prabhupāda; how they were preaching the complete philosophy of Sanātan Dharma as described in Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam without any compromise; abstaining from even onion, garlic, tea and coffee, and preaching and following all four regulative principles very strictly.
In a broad-minded spirit of a true Vaiṣṇava, knowing the benefit of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s proposal, His Holiness’s spiritual master gave Mahārāja blessings to join ISKCON so that Sanātan Dharma could be spread rapidly all over the world.
SANNYĀSA AND GURU
Krishna Das Mahārāja had a family with three children. While carrying out his family duties, Mahārāja would visit and preach at the ISKCON temple on weekends. When his two oldest sons were old enough, had stopped further studies and started working, Mahārāja renounced his family attachments in order to follow Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desire to preach Krishna consciousness all over the world.
On 7th April, 1974, Mahārāja joined ISKCON full time and started living at the Bury Place temple. On 29th October, 1976, Mahārāja shifted to the Bhaktivedanta Manor where His Holiness stayed for 18 years. On Rāma Navami day in 1981, Mahārāja installed the deities of Śrī Śrī Sītā Rāma Lakṣmaṇa Hanumān at the Bhaktivedanta Manor.
In July 1987, ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission appointed His Holiness Krishna Das Swami as an Initiating Guru. Since then Mahārāja initiated over 450 disciples globally and was an inspiration to thousands of others.
WORLD PREACHER
Krishna Das Swami constantly travelled to preach the message of Sanātan Dharma all over the world. Some key places where Mahārāja preached are Bhārat, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Spain, Portugal, USA, Trinidad, Surinam, Grenada, Venezuela, French Guiana, British Guyana, UK, Holland, Belgium, Gibraltar, Ceuta and Luxembourg. Mahārāja was instrumental in establishing temples in the UK (Coventry, South London), South Africa (Ladysmith), Botswana (Gaborone), Mauritius, and Bhārat (Punjab), to name a few.
Mahārāja used to preach to the Westerners and also the Bhāratiya diaspora in all these countries by personally visiting their homes in different cities and encouraging them to become ISKCON Life Members. Many Bhāratiya people were generally not accepting of the young, foreign devotees, however they were highly impressed by the heavy, strong preaching of an elderly, Bhāratiya sādhū. Hence, they were convinced to join ISKCON, which they otherwise viewed as a foreign, hippy movement.
On a few occasions, Mahārāja met world leaders and preached vegetarianism to them. One example was Dr. Nelson Mandela. Mahārāja also preached in Mosques where he distributed copies of Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā and met with leaders of the Muslim community, thus enhancing relationships between the two faiths.
Krishna Das Mahārāja undertook and led a number of significant projects namely, the ‘Save The Manor’ campaign in the UK, inter-faith preaching programs, renaming of roads and villages in Mauritius, establishment of a Gaushālā in Bhārat, Pandāl events in Mauritius, preaching to political and social leaders and ISKCON Life Membership campaigns in various countries.
PRAYERS TO LORD KALKI
It pained Mahārāja’s heart to see the state of irreligion prevailing in the world, especially Bhārat. Bhārat, the land where religion was born and flourished, is now witness to all kinds of sinful and irreligious activities. Mother cow is being killed and beef is being exported from the land where cows were worshiped and protected. All the symptoms of Kali-yuga mentioned in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other scriptures are manifesting. The age of Kali has committed so many sinful activities that it has devoured itself and shortened its duration.
As a result, Mahārāja had started praying to Lord Krishna to fulfil His promise made in Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā (BG 4.7-8), to appear whenever there is a rise of irreligion. Mahārāja had been praying to Lord Krishna to appear as Lord Kalki to end this most degraded age (Kali-yuga) and re-establish the religious principles and the Golden Age (Satya-yuga).
PHYSICAL DISAPPEARANCE
Krishna Das Swami left this world in Braj Bhūmi, near Kosi, Bhārat, on 20th July, 2016, and entered the eternal pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā Śyāmsundar.
Though no longer physically present among us, Mahārāja lives forever through his instructions or vāṇī, and in the hearts of all those whose lives His Holiness touched.
ŚRĪLA KRISHNA DAS SWAMI MAHĀRĀJA KI JAI!