Mukunda Goswami ( sa, मुकुन्द गोस्वामी; born Michael Grant, April 10, 1942) is a spiritual leader (

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan- Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

) within the

International Society for Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...

(popularly known as ISKCON or the ''Hare Krishnas'').

Early life

Mukunda Goswami was born as Michael Grant in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

he became a professional jazz musician and moved to New York to pursue his music career. In 1965 Michael met the Hare Krishna founder

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the " Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a rep ...

. The next year he was in the first group of initiated disciples, receiving the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

name Mukunda Dasa. Mukunda was a pioneer in the early days of the Hare Krishna movement. In 1966 in New York City he helped Bhaktivedanta Swami rent a storefront for the first Hare Krishna temple. In 1967 he founded the first Hare Krishna temple in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

and organized a major music event, the

Mantra-Rock Dance The Mantra-Rock Dance was a Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture music event held on , 1967, at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. It was organized by followers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) as an ...

England, George Harrison, and Apple Records

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada sent Mukunda and wife, Janaki, and two other devotee couples to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1968, where they established ISKCON in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The devotees met

Beatle The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

. As well as assisting them in opening the

Radha Krishna Temple This article discusses the London Radha Krishna Temple (also Radha Krsna Temple), which has been the headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. It was founded in Bu ...

there, Harrison produced an album of their devotional music, titled '' The Radha Krsna Temple''. The album was released on

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...

in 1971. Mukunda (credited as Makunda Das Adhikary) wrote the musical arrangements for the songs. The Temple's 1969 hit single, "

Hare Krishna Mantra The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the ("Great Mantra"), is a 16-word Vaishnava mantra which is mentioned in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad and which from the 15th century rose to importance in the Bhakti movement follo ...

", climbed the pop charts, including the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The devotees toured Europe and also appeared on England's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' TV show. The song made the devotees famous and proved to be a significant event in establishing ISKCON in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. George Harrison considered Mukunda and the others who first came to England to be his lifelong friends.

ISKCON public affairs

Mukunda established the ISKCON Communications Office in Los Angeles in 1977. Publications included the ''ISKCON World Review'' (starting in 1981) and a series of paperback books: ''Search for Liberation, Chant and Be Happy, Coming Back,'' and ''A Higher Taste'' vegetarian cookbook. Other publications included ''Who Are They?'' magazine, ''Omni'' magazine, and the '' ISKCON Communications Journal'' (ICJ). Mukunda Goswami is still an ICJ Advisory Board Member.

Personal life and achievements

Mukunda's wife left him and ISKCON in England, and Mukunda never remarried. In 1982 he accepted

Sannyasa ''Sannyasa'' (Sanskrit: संन्यास; IAST: ), sometimes spelled Sanyasa (सन्न्यास) or Sanyasi (for the person), is life of renunciation and the fourth stage within the Hindu system of four life stages known as '' A ...

(the renounced order of life) from Jayapataka Swami. From 1984 to 1999, Mukunda Goswami served on the Governing Body Commission as the ISKCON Minister of Communication. Whenever the ISKCON organization was mired in legal troubles Mukunda worked at damage control, but has since left the position in the hands of his assistants. The public relations effort has been based in Washington, DC, since the late 1990s. Mukunda lived in San Diego until the late 1990s, then moved to New Zealand, then to the ISKCON New Govardhana community, near

Murwillumbah Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-e ...

, NSW, Australia. Mukunda's brother, Tom Grant, is a jazz musician in Portland, Oregon.

Publications

*Mukunda Goswami & Drutakarma Dasa. ''Chant and be Happy ... The Story of the Hare Krishna Mantra''. — 1st ed. — Los Angeles, CA:

Bhaktivedanta Book Trust The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...

, 1982. — xvi, 108 p. — (Contemporary Vedic Library Series). — *Mukunda Goswami. ''Coming Back: The Science of Reincarnation''. — 1st ed. — Los Angeles, CA: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1982. — xvii, 134 p. — (Contemporary Vedic Library Series). — *Mukunda Goswami & Drutakarma Dasa. ''The Higher Taste: A Guide to Gourmet Vegetarian Cooking and a Karma-Free Diet''. — 1st ed. — Los Angeles, CA: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1983. — xi, 156 p. — (Contemporary Vedic Library Series). — *Mukunda Goswami & Michael A. Cremo. ''Divine Nature: A Spiritual Perspective on the Environmental Crisis'' / Foreword by

William McDonough William Andrews McDonough is an American architect, designer, and author. McDonough is founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, co-founder of McDonough MBDC, and co-author of '' Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things'' ...

. — 1st ed. — Los Angeles, CA: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1995. — xx, 108 p. — (hc). — (pbk) *Mukunda Goswami. ''Inside the Hare Krishna Movement: An Ancient Eastern Religious Tradition Comes of Age in the Western World'' / Foreword by Malory Nye. — 1st ed. — Badger, CA: Torchlight Publishing, 2001. — xxv, 278 p. — *Mukunda Goswami. ''Miracle on Second Avenue: Hare Krishna Arrives in the West: New York, San Francisco, and London, 1966–1969'' — 1st ed. — Badger, CA: Torchlight Publishing, 2011. — 440 p. —

References

External links

* *
Interview with George Harrison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukunda, Goswami Converts to Hinduism International Society for Krishna Consciousness religious figures Living people 20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians American Hare Krishnas 1942 births Reed College alumni American expatriates in Australia Kirtan performers Vegetarian cookbook writers