New Vrindaban Brijabasi Spirit

At 8pm yesterday, we received news that His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja has departed from this planet. He suffered from a heart attack some time after midnight on Monday morning, Indian time. At the time we phoned the Bhaktivedanta Institute in Kolkatta, they were still waiting for the official death certificate.

There will be a puspanjali ceremony in Maharaja’s honor at the RVC Temple tomorrow beginning at 12:30 pm. We humbly request you to join us in honoring the departure of this glorious servant of Srila Prabhupada .

A brief biography follows:

His Holiness (Dr. T.D. Singh, Ph.D.) is an extraordinary combination of scientist, interfaith leader, educationist, poet, singer, and cultural ambassador. He is well known for his pioneering efforts for more than thirty years to interface between science and religion for a deeper understanding of life and the universe.

He received his Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry fro the University of California, Irvine in 1974. He has contributed many papers in the Journal of American Chemical Society and the Journal of Organic Chemistry. He underwent Vaishnava Vedanta studies (1970 – 1977) under His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and was appointed director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute (1974 -), a center to promote studies about the relationship between science and vedanta. He has organized three international conferences on science and religion – First and Second World Congress for the Synthesis of Science and Religion (1986 & 1997) and First International Conference on the Study of Consciousness within Science (1990) which were attended by prominent scientists and religious leaders including several Nobel Laureates.
He has authored and edited several books including What is Matter and What is Life? (1977), Theobiology (1979), Synthesis of Science and Religion: Critical Essays and Dialogues (1987), Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Religion (2001), and Seven Nobel Laureates on Science and Spirituality (2004), and is the editor-in-chief of the journal of the Bhaktivedanta Institute entitled, Savijnanam: Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradignm.

His Holiness is a founding member of the United Religions Initiative (URI), and is president of it Manipur (NE India) Cooperation Circle. He started a network of schools in NE India where about 4000 students receive education centered on spiritual values. He is the founder and director of “Ranganiketan Manipuri Cultural Arts Troupe” which has about 600 performances at over 300 venues in over 15 countries. He guides over a thousand of his students around the world in the techniques of spiritual life. His poems inspire introspection and his beautiful singing of prayer at openings of various global peace and interfaith meetings is a much-awaited sacred moment.