Gender

Male

Birthday:

August 18

Name / Initiated name

Jadhavacarya Das

Daily number of rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra.

16

When, where and how did you come into contact with the Hare Krishna Movement?

1968 Boston

Name the nearest or most frequently Visited ISKCON temple/ centre and name few of the devotees whom you know.

Columbus, Krishna House, ISKCON

Please describe yourself so that other like minded devotees can find you.

Jadhavacarya’s first encounter with an ISKCON devotee was in Boston in 1968. “I remember a girl came up and tried to offer me some incense, and that was pretty much about it. Then I would see them from time to time in different locations. And finally, after a certain point in time, I remember I was in Detroit. By that time I was about 21 years old, and I had been questioning a lot of things, and I had some basics, but I really didn’t understand anything. I also knew I was in a very awkward position, because I was seeing things around me. I had been reading the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It described examples of what happens when you’re dead and you’re in this first level of ‘bardo’, which explains that things around you seem to have a certain appearance and beings around you have a certain types of characteristics. And I was starting to see that. So, in reality, I didn’t know whether I was alive or dead. Because what I was seeing, what I was hearing, what I was learning... it was a little too mixed, too jumbled, there was not a clear designation.... “So, finally, I saw the devotees. I realised that I needed to try to understand this Krishna Consciousness. I knew that there was something special, so I literally ran to the temple, and I stayed there. “I didn’t know in the beginning how fortunate I was. Because all I know is that I’d asked the Lord, Please give me knowledge. I didn’t care who or where or how. I wasn’t trying to reinvent something. I wasn’t trying to just take bits and pieces. I wanted to know in full. And the experience was that, as I later became aware and began to read my Bhagavad Gita. It says that when one is actually serious, when he is anxious to end this process of repeated birth and death, then the Lord, from within the heart, will eventually assume or send a spiritual master on the outside, depending upon one’s desire. So He sent me Prabhupada.” Jadhavacarya joined ISKCON in 1970 in Detroit, Michigan, but it was in St Louis, Missouri that he received his first initiation, the harinamadiksa (bestowing of the holy name of Krishna), which functions as initial entrance into the movement. He served as a brahmacari for two years. Living at the temple, his duties “included daily sankirtan, lecturing, and temple commander responsibilities.” It was about this time that his brother Robert also joined the movement: “His name is Rasaparayana. He joined the movement after a couple of run-ins with the law. I don’t know what he thought he was doing. The boy was raised up, as we used to say then, ‘as a good middle class Negro', and he wound up going to Detroit, trying to sell some marijuana. And he got busted. So it was a question of him getting busted or becoming a devotee. He was lucky that, at that time, the judge was favourable. He came to live with us in the temple and, eventually, he shaped up. And now he is also a devotee. Actually, I think I may have influenced my brother, because he saw that there was something happening. He just didn't dismiss it like other people. You have to have a certain reason to want to become a devotee. You have to be a little crazy, from a material point of view. You have to want to get out of the material world. People who don't want to get out don't become devotees. We're not looking to try to make everyone a devotee. Srila Prabhupada said, everyone won't be a devotee, but at least they should have the opportunity.

What are your expectations from this community?

The nice service of the devotees

Describe any specific service you would love to offer to Lord Krishna & His devotees?

Helped to build the Vrindaban Krishna Balarama Temple. Helped to make the first 72 Srila Prabhupada Murtis while working at F.A.T.E. in Los Angeles