Bhakti Vikasa Swami

Bhakti Vikasa Swami is a guru within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He is well-known throughout the movement for his public talks and written work describing both theological and practical elements of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy.

Life story
Born in England in 1957, Bhakti Vikasa Swami joined ISKCON in 1975 and was initiated in the same year with the name Ilapati Dasa, given to him by the movement's founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Bhakti Vikasa Swami's early years in the society were primarily spent travelling and preaching in remote villages of Bangladesh, away from the comforts of many modern amenities. He lived a very simple and austere life, enduring many difficulties. This was the time when he learnt so much about Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the culture and the language.

Latter he devoted himself to preaching in Burma, Thailand and Malaysia. Some of the challenges that he faced was to preach in Thailand, where Buddhist and Advaita philosophies where the more dominant ideologies.

In 1989 he was granted the order of sannyasa (the renounced order of life) by Jayapataka Swami. Since then he has made his base in Baroda, India and widely travels across the subcontinent, where he preaches in Hindi, Bengali and English. Bhakti Vikasa Swami also travels to the Persian Gulf, Europe and America in order to perform service to other devotees and his disciples.

Written work
Bhakti Vikasa Swami has written several books (with translations into numerous languages) and has written many articles based on his experiences while travelling in India, which themselves have been translated in some 15 languages or more.

Bibliography
*A Beginner's Guide to Krishna Consciousness
*A Message to the Youth of India, Plus: Srila Prabhupada on India
*Brahmacarya in Krishna Consciousness and A Brahmacari Reader
*Jaya Srila Prabhupada!
*My Memories of Srila Prabhupada
*Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
*Vamsidasa Babaji
*Glimpses of Traditional Indian Life
*On Pilgrimage in Holy India
*The Story of Rasikananda
*Ramayana
*The Lion Guru - Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Maharaj (currently in the works)
*Vaisnava Etiquette, Culture and Behaviour (currently in the works)

Other
Bhakti Vikasa Swami occasionally appears on the TV show 'Aatma' on STAR Plus.

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