Bhakti Caitanya Swami

Bhakti Chaitanya Swami (IAST: Bhakti Caitanya Svāmī; born 14 August 1951 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a Gaudiya Vaishnava swami[4] and a religious leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (also known as the Hare Krishna movement or ISKCON).[2][3][5] He is a member of its Governing Body Commission and is the leader of ISKCON in South Africa, the Baltic states and Russia.[3]

Bhakti Chaitanya Swami
Other namesRichard Naismith[1]
Personal
Born14 August 1951
Auckland, New Zealand[2]
ReligionGaudiya Vaishnavism, Hinduism
Other namesRichard Naismith[1]
Senior posting
InitiationDiksa–1973, Sannyasa–1994
PostISKCON Guru,[2] Sannyasi,[3] Member of the Governing Body Commission[3]

He was born as Richard Naismith[1] on 14 August 1951 in Auckland, New Zealand.[2][3] In 1972 he first met ISKCON founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in Auckland University.[1] A year later he joined that society in London and received initiation from Prabhupada, who gave him the sanskrit name of Raghubhir Dasa.[1]

The swami is closely associated with the educational programs of ISKCON and teaches at the Vaisnava Institute for Higher Education in Vrindavana. In 1994, during the Gaura Purnima Festival, he took the renounced order of sannyasa from Giriraja Swami and received the name Bhakti Caitanya Swami. Later he became a member of its Governing Body Commission[3][5] and ISKCON Guru.[2][3]

See also
  • List of ISKCON members and patrons

Footnotes
  1. Kūrma Dāsa 1999
  2. Petrova 2009
  3. Verba 2004
  4. List of Sannyasis in ISKCON April 2008 Archived 21 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine ISKCON Sannyasa Ministry, Retrieved on 5 May 2008
  5. Khan 2005

References
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