His Holiness Lokanath Swami Maharaj - ISKCON
His Holiness Lokanath Swami Maharaj , ISKCON
Forgiveness, Tolerance , Truthfulness , Purity ,Knowledge and Faith in the transcendental service of the Lord –these are some of the qualities epitomizing His Holiness Lokanath Swami Maharaj , an exalted Vaisnava and a completely surrendered devotee of Sri Krsna in ISKCON.
Born as Raghunath Patil, on the auspicious day of Asadhi Ekadashi, 5th July 1949, Tuesday, in the tiny, remote hamlet of Aravade , located 400 kms south east of Mumbai, his childhood was nurtured in an isolated rural community , lying off the beaten track . Abhimanyu heard the narration of ‘cakravyuha’ while he was in the womb of Mother Subhadra ,however, Maharaj, in the womb of his mother, heard the holy names of the Lord like ‘Rama Krsna Hari’, ‘Panduranga’ and ‘Vitthala’.
An academically bright student, he completed his high school education from Tasgaon ,a small city 10 kms from his village, followed by community college at Sangli and then proceeded to Mumbai for further studies .
A farmer at heart and a true son of the soil ,he had a curious fascination with airplanes , little knowing at that time that in future, he would be a pioneer of both – Padyatra and Airyatra , traversing the entire globe , on foot as well as in air , spreading the Holy Names of the Lord . In his own words , he hopes for perfection at the end of life by being rescued from this material journey by a transcendental airplane .
Greatly attracted to Lord Vitthala, he grew up hearing bhajans and abhangas composed by Tukaram, singing glories of Lord Krsna as well as worshipping Tulasi everyday .
From aspiring to be a doctor for his family to venturing on the path of Krsna consciousness , Raghunath found his real purpose in life . With the divine association of Srila Prabhupada, the spiritual master of the world and founder acarya of ISKCON, he received Harinama initiation and an opportunity to propagate the holy name of the Lord (Hare Krsna Mahamantra) and spread the message of Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagvatam all over the worlds as a member of ISKCON.
In 1975, Prabhupada gave Lokanath Maharaj sannyasa initiation. In 1984,on the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, Lokanath Maharaj started Padayatra, a walking festival preaching the Holy name of Krsna in every village and town and today Padayatra is going on in about 110 countries around the world.
One of the initiating gurus in ISKCON, acclaimed all over as the Kirtan Samrat , his ecstatic kirtans , amrit vani from the vedic scriptures, superlative realizations in form of books written by him to the everyday group chanting and Japa talk , Maharaj’s one and only goal is to enthusiastically fan the flame of Harinaam Sankirtan and sow the seeds of Krsna prema in every jiva .
He expounds Prabhupada’s ISKCON mission and theory of “Simple living and High thinking ‘ by reverse migration to our roots, namely our villages and is involved in various temple building ISKCON projects .
Hare krishna guru maharaj dandvat pranam 🙏🙏🙏
ReplyDeleteGuru Maharaj is a perfect Sanyasi following in the footsteps of his spiritual master A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, accomplishing his Guru's mission fervently. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All glories to Prabhupada's Sant Tukaram. Haribol.
ReplyDeleteJai Srila Lokanath Swami is the great example of humility
ReplyDeleteHareKrishna Anant Koti Dandavat Pranam Param Pujaniya GuruMaharajji Ke Chran kamlo mein.🙇🙇🙇🙇🙇👐👐👐👐👐💐💐💐💐💐
ReplyDeleteHe is a true son of God.
ReplyDeleteHare krishna !
ReplyDelete