Historical impact of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta with Krsna Ksetra Swami

Описание: Historical impact of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta with Krsna Ksetra Swami

Krishna Kshetra Swami is, since 1972, a disciple of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. From 1973 to 1975 he distributed Shrila Prabhupada’s books and served as a pujari in Amsterdam and Schloss Rettershof, Germany. Between 1977 and 1979 he traveled and preached with Bhakti Tirtha Swami, Harikesha Swami, Bhakti Sudhir Goswami, Dvarakesha Prabhu and Devamrita Swami throughout eastern Europe. From 1982 to 1985 he oversaw Lord Nrisimhadeva’s worship in Simhacalam, Germany.

In 1987 ISKCON’s GBC body appointed him as an initiating guru. Then, up to 1995, he helped compile and publish Pancaratra-pradipa, ISKCON’s manual for temple worship. He also served ISKCON’s GBC as the minister for Deity worship until 2005.

Amidst these and other services, encouraged by senior ISKCON leaders, in 1995 Krishna Kshetra Swami resumed formal academic study which he had interrupted in 1972, completing a B. A. in Religious Studies (University of California, Santa Barbara), an M.A. in the Study of Religion (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley), an M.St. (Master of Studies) in the Study of Religion (University of Oxford, U.K.), and a D. Phil. (Ph.D., University of Oxford, U.K.), finishing studies in 2003.

Based on his doctoral dissertation he then published “Attending Krishna’s Image: Chaitanya Vaishnava Murti-seva as Devotional Truth” with Routledge Hindu Studies Series. Krishna Kshetra Swami is now a Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. He also acts as the dean of studies at Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, Belgium, where he has been teaching since 2002.

As during several previous years, and now continuing after his taking formal sannyasa vows (Janmastami, 2014), Krishna Kshetra Swami travels extensively for teaching, counseling, and to support spiritual communities in the Vaishnava devotional tradition.