Biography

His Holiness Srila Jayapataka Swami Guru Maharaja appeared on the Ekadasi day after Rama Navami among the opulent surroundings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, America. His father has been a trainee Christian priest who left his ministerial training during the second world war. His paternal grandfather was the founding chairman of a large paint factory which was a multi-billion dollar concern at the time of His Holiness's birth. His Holiness's early life was unique. When in primary school, his extraordinary intelligence was recognized by the school authorities, who advanced him ahead to a higher class skipping some years of education. His Holiness studied mythological books as soon as he could read and his interest in philosophy and spiritual matters was astounding for a young child. At eleven, when he was affected by a skin disease at the suggestion of his grandfather, he cured himself by invoking the holy name of the Lord. At fourteen, His Holiness, entered St. John's Academy, a renowned preparatory school, for private colleges. At St John's Academy he became an acolyte of the campus church and rose every morning at 3:30 to assist in religious ceremonies. He graduated from the St. John's almost effortlessly in the very top of his class.

He was also in the top 1% of the students taking the American university admission exams and was offered scholarship by several major universities. His Holiness accepted admission into Brown University. There, as a fresh enrollee, he was so much impressed by a guest lecturer on the life of Lord Buddha that he lost all interest in his studies and began searching for a spiritual master. Realizing he would not get any bona fide spiritual master in the West, he decided to go to India. As he was preparing to leave for India by will of the Lord he met the disciples of His Divine Grace. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and join them on a Ratha Yatra day in San Francisco. His Holiness then went to Montreal and met Srila Prabhupada. During those days he accepted ordinary jobs in order to raise funds for the temple. Being the son of rich parents, he endured various hardships and became close to the common working man, also showing his pure dedication to carrying out his spiritual duties during extreme trials. He was then initiated as Jayapataka dasa brahmacari, which means victory flag, by Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada told him he would be the victory flag of Lord Krsna.

In addition to personally serving Srila Prabhupada, he served as pujari and later as president of the Montreal temple. Following Srila Prabhupada's order he helped found the Toronto and Chicago temples. In 1970, Srila Prabhupada sent him to India to establish ISKCON in India on behalf of Srila Prabhupada. They would do kirtan, enroll Life Patron Members, deliver lectures, and perform public and private programmes in people's houses. In the same year, 1970, on the holy Radhastami day, His Holiness was initiated into the renounced order of life, sannyasa, by Srila Prabhupada. He was given the name Jayapataka Swami.

As the president of ISKCON Calcutta, he helped organise two gigantic programmes which over 30,000 people gathered to hear Srila Prabhupada every night. In 1971 land was obtained at Sri Mayapura dham for constructing the world headquarters of ISKCON's international preaching centre and Srila Prabhupada assigned him to develop the project as his life's mission. "I have given you the kingdom of God, now you develop it," Srila Prabhupada told him. During the initial development of Sri Mayapura Chandrodaya Mandir, the presiding Deities were brought to Mayapura and His Holiness recognised Them from a dream he had had years ago while preaching in the West. On one occasion, Srila Prabhupada told His Holiness that he had formerly been born in India as devotee of Lord Caitanya and that he and other devotees had taken their birth in the West to assist in spreading the Krsna consciousness movement there.

His Holiness works tirelessly and preaches dynamically in India and around the globe. He had learned many Indians languages as well as foreign languages and had wonderfully accepted the original Vedic culture, mainly the culture of Mahaprabhu's Bengal. He organised the ISKCON Food Relief programme in India after the Bangladesh war to feed the refugees and hungry people. This programme has continued for over a decade, feeding an average of around four million plates of nourishing Krishna prasadam every year to the needy without discrimination. He did a remarkable job during the 1978 flood in Bengal and sometimes he would even risk his life for distributing prasadam to the affected villagers. Ever since then, the food relief programme, headed by His Holiness, has continued to provide this much-needed service. All this selfless service caused several prominent Indians and tens of thousands of villagers to petition the Indian government to grant him Indian citizenship. In 1978 , after the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada, His Holiness began accepting disciples on behalf of the Gaudiya Sampradaya. He is at present one of the initiating spiritual masters (guru) of ISKCON and a member of the Governing Body Commission, as well as divisional trustee for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. He is also the Minister for Congregational Preaching. In recent years, His Holiness has extensively traveled around the world to initiate new disciples as adherents of sanatana dharma and Krsna consciousness.

His principle destinations are South America, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Middle East, Malaysia, Australia, Russia and Europe. In 1989, His Holiness survived a murder attempt on his life by an insane person who had been brainwashed by anti-cult propaganda. Although during this time he was physically affected his consciousness remained undisturbed in his meditation on Krishna. Due to prayers of all devotees, he quickly recovered and almost immediately began his normal course of preaching activities. His Holiness's pioneering spirit never abates. Under his guidance many new centres have sprung up, the most recent one being in Bangalore; and many new publications in various languages have been published. Due to his enthusiasm and force, book distribution and free food distributions are also increasing every year in his preaching zones.

His Holiness participated in the inauguration of the 6000km ISKCON Padayatra to commemorate the 500th appearance celebration of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is also assisting in publishing of Srila Prabhupada's books in different languages. He translated several important Vaisnava text into English including Vaisnava Ke?, originally written in Bengali by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and is currently preparing other important works including Caitanya Lila a book containing many pastimes of Lord Caitanya from different biographers, Vrndavana Bhajana (a poem written by Srila Prabhupada); Sri Krsna Bhajanamrta and Godruma Kalpatavi. Together with his god brothers, His Holiness is closely monitoring and developing Sri Mayapura Dham into a spiritual city, unparalleled in human history, as envisaged by the previous acaryas. From here, it is predicted that the message of love of Godhead will inundate the entire world. In the midst of his myriad responsibilities, congregational preaching remains close to his heart. His Holiness is at the forefront of namahatta preaching in India as well as in other parts of the world. Acknowledging his keen interest in this area, he was given the role of Increasing Congregation for Srila Prabhupada Centennial celebrations in 1996. His Holiness's mission is to double congregational members every year and Srila Prabhupada personally instructed him to make 50,000 devotees.

Feeling most humbled at being awarded this mammoth task, His Holiness endeavors to serve this instruction of Srila Prabhupada in the mood of separation. Always immersed in the sankirtan mood of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he internally rejoices the eternal pastimes of Gauranga and Nityananda.Through his extensive preaching activity, His Holiness has made every ISKCON temple his home yet the land of Caitanya Mahaprabhu remains most dear to him. In Sri Mayapura Dham, His Holiness is absorbed in the mood and atmosphere of Gaudadesa, Lord Gaurasundar's eternal abode. Here, sometimes he could be seen mingling freely with the locals, meeting the villagers, relishing simple Bengali preparations, taking a cool dip in Ganga or shedding a tear or two in deep meditation upon the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Madhava. It was this golden land that Srila Prabhupada gave him to develop and His Holiness made it his home and life mission.

Through his extensive preaching activity, His Holiness has made every ISKCON temple his home yet the land of Caitanya Mahaprabhu remains most dear to him. In Sri Mayapura Dham, His Holiness is absorbed in the mood and atmosphere of Gaudadesa, Lord Gaurasundar's eternal abode. Here, sometimes he could be seen mingling freely with the locals, meeting the villagers, relishing simple Bengali preparations, taking a cool dip in Ganga or shedding a tear or two in deep meditation upon the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Madhava. It was this golden land that Srila Prabhupada gave him to develop and His Holiness made it his home and life mission. Feeling most humbled at being awarded this mammoth task, His Holiness endeavors to serve this instruction of Srila Prabhupada in the mood of separation. Always immersed in the sankirtan mood of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he internally rejoices the eternal pastimes of Gauranga and Nityananda.