mahamantradeviyoga

Rain of Mercy

When Prabhupada was ill, preparing to depart from this world in the summer and fall of 1977, reports of Ghanashyama’s exploits were among the few things that brought him solace. Numerous letters from Tamal Krishna Goswami, Prabhupada’s secretary at the time, reported Prabhupada’s unparalleled joy when hearing of Ghanashyama’s activities. Naturally, then, when Prabhupada made his final trip to the West, to England, Ghanashyama received special mercy in Prabhupada’s presence. He called the young book distributor into his room and, asking him to sit at his side, embraced him. With tears in his eyes, Prabhupada told him, “Your life is perfect.”

But his “perfection” did not make him complacent. After Prabhupada left this world, Ghanashyama continued to distribute books like a man possessed, and to serve his guru’s mission with full enthusiasm. In due course, in New Vrindavan, West Virginia, he took sannyasa from Kirtanananda Swami, receiving the name Bhakti-tirtha Swami. This was in 1979. Soon thereafter he started The Committee for Urban Spiritual Development. The aim of this project was close to his heart, since, as an inner-city child himself, he could relate to the concerns of the downtrodden and knew how to bring them to Krishna consciousness. Inner-city preaching, combined with welfare work and prasadam distribution, usually through opening restaurants, became a mainstay of his endeavors. His restaurant in Washington, D.C., was particularly successful.

It was around this time that he had a dream wherein Srila Prabhupada requested him to “open the door.” In the dream, he continued to tend to other services, leaving Prabhupada’s request aside. Finally, after Prabhupada uttered the request for a second and then a third time, Bhakti-tirtha opened the door, and a multitude of African people came running through. From this dream, he deduced that Srila Prabhupada wanted him to go to Africa, and so, without any particular inclination toward that part of the world and in the midst of a successful project in Washington, he left, suddenly, and with little planning.

In the end, his African venture was immensely successful. His accomplishments in Africa, and elsewhere, are too many and too vast to describe in detail here. In Africa, he opened and oversaw two farm communities and more than twenty temples across six countries. In addition, he maintained two public schools and worked at a grassroots level to enhance the spiritual lives of people throughout the continent, particularly in West Africa.

Among his most prominent accomplishments in America is perhaps his founding, in 1988, of the Institute for Applied Spiritual Technology (IFAST), dedicated to presenting Krishna consciousness to New Age spiritual seekers around the world. One of the aims of the Institute was to establish self-sufficient farm communities, and to that end he rejuvenated ISKCON’s Gita-nagari project in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. With this project, the Swami found an attentive audience among professionals as well—high-powered doctors, lawyers, and others saw truth in his message.

A few highlights of his illustrious career:

Soon after taking sannyasa, he went to Jagannatha Puri and, although Westerners are not allowed in the temple, managed to get in to see the beautiful Jagannatha deities.
He met Mohammed Ali in 1981 and became one of his spiritual advisors.
He became a member of ISKCON’s governing body in 1982 and an initiating spiritual master in 1985.
He went to Africa, where Pushta Krishna Dasa, Brahmananda Dasa, and others were preaching, and opened it up in an unprecedented way. He stayed there, on and off, for sixteen years, meeting and working with the country’s most distinguished dignitaries, celebrities, and leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nelson Mandela.
In 1990 he was honored by being given the position of a high chief in Warri, Nigeria, in recognition of his outstanding work in Africa. He was widely accepted as an authentic religious leader throughout the African subcontinent.
As he became something of a well-known international spiritual leader, with numerous college lectures, TV and radio talk shows, and inter-religious conferences lined up for years to come, the ravages of time manifested in an unexpected way, changing his plans forever.