His Holiness Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami is from West Africa. He is the first Sannyasa disciple of His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami. He

is known for his years of dedicated services to ISKCON. He is very dear to devotees from Africa. He has been teaching them the principles of devotional service the way he received from His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami & Srila Prabhupada.

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Maharaj got his first initiation in 1985 and his second initiation in 1986, from His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaj. And after twenty years of practicing and serving the movement in different capacities, he was initiated as a sannyasi (cardinal) on the 25th of March 2005 at Mayapur, India by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on

behalf of his Srila Gurudeva, who left this world three months later.

 

On the 6th of February 2011, he took the guru oath before His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada at the Hare Krishna Temple, Ilupeju, Lagos and now would also serve in the capacity of Spiritual Master. His Holiness Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami is the first African sannyasi (cardinal) and guru (spiritual master) of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Maharaj has also served as a GBC of West Africa for about 5 years.

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Currently, Maharaj teaches courses like Bhakti Shastri and Bhakti Vaibhav regularly in Vrindavana Institute of Higher Education (VIHE)

& Mayapur Institute (MI) along with facilitating various seminars on practical aspect of the Krishna Conscious philosophy like community building, self-sufficiency, etc. He is also on the MIHE panel of facilitators to facilitate ISKCON Disciple’s Course (IDC).

 

After Sannyasa, he has been preaching extensively in different countries outside West-Africa, to name a few as USA, Mauritius, India, Brazil and currently has opened a new ISKCON frontier in an island country Seychelles. Apart from this Maharaj is developing a vibrant Krishna Conscious farm community in Ghana, Nigeria, West Africa, inspiring and empowering devotees to be self-sufficient.

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