Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami was born in New York City, USA in 1965, the same year that ISKCON Founder Acarya, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, came to New York. His mother’s younger sister regularly heard Srila Prabhupada’s kirtans in Tompkins Square Park in 1966. He joined the Hare Krishna movement in Ireland early in 1991. Fourteen years earlier, as a music student at the Aaron Copland Music and Arts Program in New York, he first began chanting the Hare Krishna Mantra as a performer in the Broadway Musical “Hair”. His Holiness Lokanath Swami initiated Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami later in 1993, giving him the name Ekalavya Das. Twenty-seven years later in Pandharpur, the order of sannyasa was awarded to Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami. With this venerated title, he continues to be an inspiration for many spiritual practitioners around the world.Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami was born in an affluent family who encouraged education, culture and the arts. While bouncing on his father’s knee, he began his fledgling piano studies at five. At six, he started guitar lessons, and at seven years, he began trumpet lessons. By the time he entered the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1982, he had already learned sixteen different instruments and performed in music groups in venues across the USA. In 1984, he accompanied a friend to the Boston Hare Krishna Temple and became a regular visitor. In 1987, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami received his degree from Berklee College of Music in Recording Engineering and Production, a unique science combining acoustic engineering, electrical engineering and music. Upon graduation, he traveled to twenty-five countries as a professional musician and spiritual seeker.
This year, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami is celebrating 31 years as a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). From 1991 to 1992, he traveled on a pilgrimage on Padayatra through Holland, Belgium, France, and Spain. In 1992, during a meeting in Spain with his spiritual master, His Holiness Lokanath Swami, he was instructed to go to India. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami traveled with Lokanath Swami as his secretary for twelve years. In 1996, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami was elected as an ISKCON General Body Commission Deputy. In 2006, he was appointed as secretary of the ISKCON Kirtan Ministry. In 2023, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Swami was elected as GBC Kirtan Minister and GBC Padayatra Minister. His services include coordinating ISKCON’s Annual International World Holy Name Festival for 25 years. He is one of the founding members of the Bhaktivedanta Band and performs at Youth Festivals worldwide. He is a well-known presenter and has traveled extensively to the USA, Canada, France, England, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Russia, India, amongst other countries.
At present, he is based in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, India. Alongside many other projects, he oversees the construction of a new recording studio on the ISKCON Pandharpur Campus, LOK.STUDIO, to facilitate live streaming, audio, and video productions for His Holiness Lokanath Swami and the ISKCON Kirtan Ministry.
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