A Brief life history of H.H. Bhakti Swarup Damodar Swami Maharaj

[Guest guest]

3rd October 2006 PRESS RELEASE In a far and remote corner of the

world, there lies a legendary and mystical kingdom known as Manipur or "Land

of Jewels" in the mystic valley of the eastern Himalayan Mountain Range. At

the centre of the valley lies the Loktak Lake. The life and soul of the

people in the mystical kingdom is the devotional recitation and enactments

of Lord Sri Krishna's divine pastimes. The kingdom is located on the border

of Burma (Myanmar) and has maintained its aristrocratic and vaishnavite

tradition for thousands of years. The Srimad Bhagavatam and the Mahabharata

depict Manipur's rich culture, abounding with generations of saintly kings.

It was in this Manipur, Arjuna, the hero of the Pandavas, married princess

Chitrangada, whose son Babhruvahana defeated his own unconquerable father

Arjuna who had accompanied the horse of the great Asvamedha Sacrifice. In

the mystical kingdom of Manipur, in a village known as

Toubal, a lovely child was born on the 9th December 1937 to Shri Yogendra

Singh and Smt. Kanyahanbi Devi. Being vaishnavas, they named their child

Damodara, From the very moment of Damodara's appearance in this world, his

father filled his son's ears with the devotional sounds of the holy names

and pastimes of the Supreme Lord. The boy's mother also nurtured him in a

spiritual atmosphere of remembrance of Lord Sri Krishna. The second world

war greatly affected the quiet and peaceful valley of Manipur and created

difficulties for the people of Manipur and forced Damodara to face a series of

unfortunate incidents. In 1945, the concluding phase of world war II wreaked

havoc on the villages of Manipur. Damodar was a mere child of seven years.

Damodara's father brought them to a barrack on the bank of Yangoi River

which runs into Loktak Lake. Soon thereafter, Damodara's father suddenly

passed away of typhoid. Shortly after the war came

to an end, by the will of Providence, Damodara was separated from his

mother and younger sister. His elder sister, Smt. Ahanbi Devi began to look

after him. Al though he was young boy, Damodar learned to till the land

left by his father, in order to maintain himself and his sister. After

sometime, Damodar's sister got married and he was left alone. At the age

of 12, he was being on his own depending on the income from the cultivation

of the paddy field left by his father. Working in the fields and doing

household duties, Damodar could not find sufficient time to devote to his

studies. He was thinking of giving up his studies altogether. At t he

request of Shri Yadav Singh, his primary school teacher, Shri Kerani

Singh, his colleague, who was a noble person and one of the most influential

persons of Toubul village agreed to help him..Damodara became one of the

members of Kerani's family and thus began a new chapter in his

life. His teachers found him to be a bright, diligent, sincere, humble and

obedient student. When Damodar was 14 years he came severely ill with

typhoid. The village physicians declared that he would soon die. However,

by the mercy of Lord Krishna and under the loving care of Shri Kerani Singh,

who recited daily the Dasavatara Strotra and with the help of Dr. Yogendra

Singh, a naturopath from Imphal, Damodara miraculously recovered after

fasting for 40 days and drinking only whey. From the early childhood

Damodara was very much attracted to hearing about the pastimes of the Lord

He would also regularly participate in the Deity worship of Sri Sri Radha

Krishna, Sri Gaur Nitai and Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra in his

village local temple. In 1957, Damodara passed his matriculation exam in the

first division and joined the prestigious D.M. College of Imphal, Manipur.

He obtained his Intermediate Science Degree in 1959

and graduated with First Class Honors in Chemistry in 1961. He later

acquired his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and Chemical

Technology in 1963 and further obtained his Master of Technology degree with

First Class in Pharmaceutical Science from Calcutta University in 1964.

Shortly thereafter Damodara was awared an overseas scholarship from the

Ministry of Education, Government of India, to further his studies in the

U.S.A. In 1969, Damodara was a student at the University of California,

Irvine, USA, doing his Ph.D. research work in Physical Organic Chemistry. One

day in April 1970, the secretary of the Chemistry Department gave him a

telegram from India informing him that his mother had passed away. Damodara

had not seen his mother for more than three years and was unaware of any ill

health. As such the news was very shocking. He wanted to return to India to

perform her shraddha but he had no money for the

flight He managed to borrow some funds but just before leaving, he got a

letter from his guardian and teacher, Sri Kerani Singh advising him not to

return to India from the shraddha ceremony. Damodara began to lose interest

in his studies. He spent the succeeding nights meditating on the flickering

nature of this material world. Hearing the sad news of his mother's passing

away, Damodara's friend Dr. Ravindra Pratap Rao, cam to see him. Dr. Rao

suggested that they go for a drive. He took Damodara to Laguna beach. While

walking along the coast, they saw some ISKCON devotees chanting Harinam

sankirtan. They followed the sankirtan party and some devotees who noticed

them invited them to join. One of the devotees explained to them that daily

they chanted Lord Krishna's holy names and partook of the delicious sanctified

foods offered to Lord Sri Krishna. He asked them to visit the temple and

join them in singing, dancing and feasting programs.

The following day, Dr. Rao went to the Temple along and told Damodara about

the wonderful and pleasant experience he had there. One day Dr, Rao told

Damodara that Srila Prabhupada, the founder acharya of ISKCON, was staying

Los Angeles and asked Damodara to go to Los Angeles to meet Srila Prabhupada.

However Damodara refused saying that he was busy with his academic work. Dr.

Rao went alone to Los Angeles but since he was a stranger, he was not allowed

to see Srila Prabhupada. He still waited in his car and a little later a

devotee came and informed him that Srila Prabhupada wanted to see me. Thus

he met Srila Prabhupada. After this, Dr. Rao requested Damodara several

times to go with him to see Srila Prabhupada but he refused.. One day Dr.

Rao told Damodara with an ultimatum that if he did not accompany him the

next day to see Srila Prabhupada, he will never come and see him again in

his lifetime and their friendship will be finished

forever. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, Damodara decided to accompany

Dr. Rao next day. Net morning they got up early at 5 a.m. and . on the way

to Los Angeles,,Dr. Rao told Damodara that he was going to be initiated by

Srila Prabhupada that morning. . Damodara was struck by his fiend's

determination, enthusiasm and sincerity. He said to him that he admired

his courage and that he must have been blessed by Srila Prabhupada. They

reached the Temple around 6 a.m. Srila Prabhupada was just leaving for his

daily morning walk. He returned after about an hour and took darshan of the

Deities and sat on the Vyasasana. Damodara was standing near the Deities,

facing Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada started singing and Damodara's mind

was captivated by Srila Prabhupada's sweet, melodious and intense devotional

singing. Dr. Rao was initiated and was given the spiritual name, Ramananda

Ray Dasa. After initiation, Srila Prabhupada went

to his room. Then they went to see Srila Prabhupada. . Ramanand Ray

introduced Damodara to Srila Prabhupada informing him that Damodara was from

Manipur and was currently working on his Ph.D in Chemistry at the University

of California, Irvine. Srila Prabhupada remarked," Manipuri people are

descendents of Babhruvahana, the son of Arjuna. They have been vaishnavas

since the time of the Pandavas and Manipuri kings have established Sri

Krishna temples in Vrindavan, Radhakund and Nabadvip". Prabhupada asked

Damodara that being born in a vaishnava family why did he come to USA,

crossing the ocean. He added, "You young scholars and students have come

here as beggars to beg scientific knowledge and dollars. But I have not

come here to beg. I have come here to give the Americans something very

valuable, which they do not have - Bhagavata culture. Whey don't you do

the same as I am doing? Why are you simply taking? Why don't you also

give something?" Damodara was deeply moved by Srila Prabhupada's words.

After that momentous meeting Damodara started visiting Srila Prabhupada in Los

Angeles almost every day and after a short period of time, he received

spiritual initiation. Srila Prabhupada gave him the spiritual name, Svarupa

Damodara Dasa. Later, after taking sannyasa initiation, the prefix

"Bhakti" was added to his name and since then he has been known as Sripada

Bhakti Svarupa Damodara Maharaja. Shortly after his initiation, Sriman

Ramananda Ray Dasa left the USA and returned to Gorakhpur, India and opened

an ISKCON center there. Unfortunately, he left this world in 1976. Srila

Bhakti Svarup Damodara Swami Maharaj passed away on the 2nd October at

12.15 A.M. due to a cardiac arrest. At Kolkata where he was at present

residing. His body will be brought to Vrindavan on the 3rd October evening

and his Samadhi ceremony will be performed at Radha Kund at 1.30

P.M. on the 4th October 2006. Maharajq's contribution to ISKCON and the

spiritual world is an everlasting one and all the devotees of ISKCON are

feeling the great vacuum created his passing away. Vrajendra Nandan Das, ISKCON Communication India, New Delhi,

 

 

 

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