Biography

Gadadhara Pandit Dasa was born in Kanpur, India in 1972 and moved to Los Angeles with his parents in 1980. In 1993, he moved to Bulgaria to assist in his family business and two years later returned to the United States and settled in New York.

Desiring to make further progress in his spiritual life, he received initiation in 2001 in the line of disciplic succession of the Gaudiya-Brahma Vaisnavas. Vaisnavism is a monotheistic tradition with roots in ancient India. He recieved initiation from His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaja, a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). In 1998, Gadadhara Pandit Dasa spent six months in Mumbai, India receiving monastic training, after which he decided to continue his commitment to monastic life at the ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Ashram in New York, where he has been residing since. He received second initiation, known as brahminical (priestly) initiation in 2004.

In 2001, he began his campus ministry efforts in colleges in the New York area, including Queens College, SUNY Albany, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and most recently Columbia University where he currently focuses most of his efforts. At that time, Gadadhara Pandit Dasa was invited by the Columbia students to help increase awareness of Indian and Hindu culture, launch a Bhakti Yoga club and teach a vegetarian cooking class. In a relatively short time, the attendance at the cooking class grew to over 100 students. As students became fans of the vegetarian feasts, their curiosity about the traditions and philosophy of India also increased. Additionally, he began holding regular discussion groups on the Bhagavad Gita and received a very positive response from students of all cultures.

During the Fall of 2003, he taught an accredited course on the Bhagavad Gita at SUNY Albany. During the same time, he was accepted as a "visiting scholar" for the Center for the Study of Science and Religion (CSSR) at Columbia University. As a chaplain with the United Campus Ministry at Columbia, he provides representation for the Hindu community, raises awareness of Indian and Hindu culture, and participates in Interfaith dialogue. Gadadhara Pandit Dasa also serves as priest and spiritual counselor to the communites in New York and New Jersey. In October of 2008, he became New York University's Hindu Chaplain.