Gender

Male

Location

Bhaktivedanta Manor

Birthday:

January 1

Name / Initiated name

Sri Syama Dasa

Daily number of rounds of Hare Krishna mahamantra.

4-8. I read shastra several hours daily however.

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

1992, joined Bhaktivedanta Manor 1993, lived New Mayapura France 1994; Harinama initiation 1996 in Vrndavana, Diksa 1998 in Navadwipa Dhama.

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

Bhaktivedanta Manor (New Gokula), Dhama Sevana Prabhu (Pujari), Anadi Krsna Prabhu (Receptionist), Bhakta Mohan Prabhu (Preacher), all Kirtaniya devotees there know me, as I am a singer. Have been a sanga member 33 years. Ananta Purusottama Prabhu, membership secretary, I saw him at a Nama-hatta tonight. Also Soho St. Temple (Sri Radha Londonisvara), my son Balarama (25) served there at Govinda's Restaurant so I know Thirupati Prabhu, the manager, many devotees there know me, including. Parasurama Prabhu (Food for Life director), with whom I did Padayatra in 1990s.

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

I love shastra & Sanskrit, and the songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas. I want ISKCON devotees to sing more of them, like Vibhavari Sesa in the morning & Yasomati Nandana at noon, as they do in Vrndavana. Jaya Radhe, Jaya Krsna daily, and Hari Haraye Namah Krsna at the end of Kirtan - many Prabhupada disciples still remember this was His standard. I speak & read some Hindi & Bengali, as well as other languages (French, Spanish, German etc.) I have done some proofreading, for TVP & GVP (Tattva Vicara, Srila Gour Govinda Swami, & Gaudiya Vedanta - of which Srila Prabhupada was a founder member in 1940-41, & in which Sanga He took sannyasa in September 1959). I have done Vraja Mandala Parikrama around a dozen times, Navadwipa Dhama 6 or 8 times, Jagannatha Puri 4 or 5 times, also Tirupati Balaji, Udupi Sri Krsna, Haridvara, Jaipura & other tirtha-yatras. I am getting older now, but would still like to teach what I have read and heard from our Acaryas and Guru Parampara.

What are your expectations from this community?

I only signed up to repot an issue on the website: the translation & transliteration of the Narayana Kavacha. It is full of spelling errors in the Sanskrit, and the interpretation is by a smarta with some mayavada tendencies. I suspect it was just copied and pasted from somewhere without proper scrutiny. Why not use Srila Prabhupada's translation and the flawless BBT transliteration instead? https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/narayana-kavacham

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

I love to sing bhajanas & kirtanas. I would like to teach these bhajanas (Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas) to younger devotees and encourage them to sing these moods (bhavas) of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura & Srila Narottama Thakura, etc. I believe this helps us advance quickly in spiritual life and gives bhakti-jñāna & paramārthika sraddhā.