Great to see how a white Jewish guy from near Chicago, USA, is now Radhanath Swami, an inspirational leader of the globally well known ISKCON Hindu sect

Last updated on 8th April 2019

I have written about Radhanath Swami earlier. For those readers who may not have read my earlier posts on him, here is some info. about Radhanath Swami based on his wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radhanath_Swami.

Radhanath Swami was born as Richard Slavin in December 1950 in Chicago, USA to a Jewish family with roots in Eastern Europe.

He has been into Bhakti Yoga and acted as a spiritual teacher for over 40 years.

He is viewed as a key figure in ISKCON's free midday meal scheme for over a million school children across India, and the Bhaktivedanta hospital in Mira Road, Mumbai.

He is largely based in Mumbai, India, and travels extensively in Europe and USA in what seems to be a role of a spiritual mentor and a preacher of ISKCON and Hindu devotional path and the philosophy behind it.

I never had the good fortune of seeing Radhanath Swami in person (as against seeing him in videos). But a software industry colleague of mine in late 1990s, if I recall correctly, who had the good fortune of having some association with Radhanath Swami, took me to the Chowpatty ISKCON centre where Radhanath Swami is a key figure. I have vivid recollections of the powerful devotional atmosphere in the main worship hall of that centre.

The two videos shared below both seem to show Radhanath Swami in that same worship hall that I mentioned above.

1) There are many gods in India. Why you worship Krishna?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B75Z3s--NlQ, 5 min 19 secs, published by Radhanath Swami on 30th Oct. 2015. Radhanath Swami answers this so well and in such a beautiful way!

2) This is an ISKCON traditional Bhakti dance video with the Hare Krishna Mahamantra being sung. I like such traditional worship dancing. Radhanath Swami`s ecstatic dancing in Chowpatty, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RZNLpVdfik, 14 mins 4 secs, published on 23rd March 2015

It is wonderful to see that a white Jewish guy from USA has become such an inspirational spiritual leader of a Hindu spiritual organization with global presence - ISKCON. That he was based for many years, and continues to be based, in the city where I was born, raised, studied and earned a living as a software professional, Mumbai, makes me happier. Really great to see a foreign national from the other side of the world adapt to Hindu tradition and become a saintly and noted Hindu spiritual teacher! How many people of India and other countries will have already benefited from his spiritual teaching and mentorship! And how many more people will benefit in future! What a great contribution Radhanath Swami (Richard Slavin) has made to contemporary Hindu faith through his work in ISKCON! May God continue to shower His Grace on him and his devotional and social work.

P.S. The former software industry colleague who took me to ISKCON Chowpatty centre in the late 1990s (if I recall correctly), is now serving (full time, I think, and as of a few months back when I spoke to him on phone) at Bhaktivedanta hospital in Mira Road, Mumbai, along with his wife, who too is a software industry professional.
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In response to a comment on Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2449671478582748, associated with this blog post, "Aren’t we all one at the spiritual level - no race, no religion, no caste nor creed?", I wrote:  Well, that is the teaching of Sai and that is my belief but a belief that is not backed by any mystical experience of such oneness. And while we are in this world we have to deal with the reality of differences and explore how we can live in harmony with these differences. That's my humble view.

For me, a very simple test about oneness of all as a matter of practice (as against belief) is whether I am willing to share all my rather limited material possessions with the vast number of very poor people in India who have much lesser material possessions than me. As of now, I am not there. That is the plain and simple truth of the matter. I am still far away from a great renunciate like Gautam Buddha or Mahatma Gandhi. So oneness of all is only a matter of belief and NOT experience and practice for me, as of now at least.
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