6.02 Bhakti Tirtha Swami

Beyond Quiescence - Awakening to God Consciousness - UPDATED July 2010

"Reflections of a Yogi" - articles quoting Swami Krsnapada

One of the first generation sons of Prabhupada is initiating Spiritual Master Bhakti Tirtha Swami, well known for leading powerful and colourful kirtana together with Hare Krishna devotees, taking Lord Caitanya's vision of chanting the Lord's names, into the streets .

His Holiness Bhakti-Tirtha, Swami Krishnapada, the founder and director of the Institute for Applied Spiritual Technology, was born into a pious family in Cleveland, Ohio with the name John E. Favors. In his early years, he appeared regularly on television as a child evangelist. As a young man, he became a leader in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement. Later, he served as president of the student council at Princeton University, from which he graduated with a degree in psychology. He served as an international coordinator of the Seventh Pan African Congress, and in 1990 he was coronated as a high chief in Warri, Nigeria in recognition of his outstanding missionary work in developing self-sufficient farm communities there.

His Holiness has been consulted internationally for his unique insight and expertise in politics, African studies, Indology and international law. After graduating from Princeton, Bhakti-Tirtha Swami served as an assistant coordinator for penal reform programs in the state of New Jersey's Office of the Public Defender, and directed several drug abuse clinics in other areas of the United States. He also worked as a political campaign manager and was a special consultant for Educational Testing Services in New Jersey. He gained international recognition as a representative of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust for his outstanding work with scholars of then-communist countries.

In the United States, Bhakti-Tirtha Swami is the founder and director of the Institute for Applied Spiritual Technology and director of the International Committee for Urban Spiritual Development. A specialist in international relations and conflict resolution, Bhakti-Tirtha Swami travels around the world consulting with influential leaders. His visits to South Africa have included highly publicized meetings with then-President Nelson Mandela, where they have shared their visions and strategies for world peace.

Bhakti-Tirtha Swami's books have been acclaimed around the world for their universal appeal and their straightforward, insightful treatment of issues that face us on the global, national, community, family and individual levels. He shares with us his own practical applications of "spiritual solutions for material problems" from several different angles and teaches us to address the roots of issues and interactions without being deceived or distracted by the temporary and external pitfalls that so often cause us to fall short of our goals.

Bhakti Tirtha Swami left this world on the 27th June 2007 and left a legacy of recordings which are being converted into books so that more and more people may benefit from his extraordinary wisdom.