Born in 1949, in the village of Aravade in Maharashtra India, HH Lokanath Swami (born Raghunath Patil) always had an ambition to dedicate his life to serving people, his country and humanity. Bereft of resources, he did not know where to begin. It was while studying Chemistry in Bombay that his life was irrevocably changed.
was in Vrndavan on Gopasatami 1972 that he became an initiated disciple of Srila Prabhupada. He received the sannyasa order from His Divine Grace in December 1975, at the age of 26 years. Lokanath Dasa officially became Lokanath Swami.
One of the most important instructions he received from Srila Prabhupada was to preach Lord Caitanya’s message by organising Padayatra (a walking festival) worldwide in order to realise Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s declaration - “the holy name of Krsna will be preached in every town and village on this earth.” The first leg of the journey was from Vrndavana to Mayapur.
In the course of his Padayatra service, His Holiness travelled on foot to many of the major tirthas and sacred sites of India.
One of Srila Prabhupada’s final wishes was to go on parikrama in Vrndavana with Lokanath Swami leading the way. This was never realised. As per Srila Prabhupada’s wishes, in 1996 Lokanath Swami was appointed as ISKCON Minister for Srila Prabhupada Centennial. He co-ordinated a global campaign. This magnificent Centennial celebrations achieved unprecedented success in terms of the number of Srila Prabhupada’s books distributed, plates of prasada served and festivals conducted worldwide.
Today Lokanath Swami travels regularly throughout India, preaching mostly in Maharashtra. For the past forty years he has travelled and preached in the major cities and towns and remotest villages of Maharashtra guiding their development and spiritual upliftment. He regularly travels to Europe, Africa and Asia sharing the teachings of Bhakti-yoga.
Lokanath Swami has worked on establishing many temples - ISKCON Aravade, ISKCON Nagpur, ISKCON Amravati, ISKCON Noida, ISKCON Pandharpur, ISKCON Solapur, to name a few.
He is well known for his inspiring lectures and kirtanas. In 2006, he took over the World Holy Name Project which is an initiative to increase the events and activities that people can participate in to spread the holy name on this planet. The basic purpose of this World Holy Name Festival is to spread the message of Lord Krishna as well as to impart the teachings of Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada was deeply concerned by the education system followed in modern India. He always expressed dissatisfaction on how the current education system is stripping Indians of their priceless heritage of Vedic culture and wisdom With this in mind Lokanath Swami has established the Bhaktivedanta Academy for Spiritual Sciences (BASS) in Noida.
H.G. Padmamali prabhuji has served Srila Guru Maharaj personally for more than 7 years and is still serving, so lets hear all the experience and get immersed in Glorious katha.
#LokanathSwami #GlorificationofLokanathSwamiMaharaj
#KrishnaBandhu