Draft:Danavir Goswami

Danavir Goswami (IAST: Dānavīr Goswāmī)(born 14 November 1949) is an American Gaudiya Vaishnava guru, author, community builder, cosmologist, a preacher of Bhakti Yoga and a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He is associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for more than 50 years. He has contributed in undertaking the research work into Vedic Cosmology for the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP), Mayapur. In the past, he has helped set up ISKCON communities in Czechia, Slovenia, Israel, and the USA. He currently serves as the inaugural President of Rupanuga Vedic College (IAST: Rupānuga Vedic College), Kansas City, Missouri, USA. According to Goodreads, Danavir Goswami has authored over 74 books in the matter of Vedic Cosmology and training of new devotees.

Early Life
Danavir Goswami was born, as Dane Holtzman in Los Angeles on 14 November 1949. He went to study  at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). While graduating with a degree in economics and sociology, he participated in athletics and was voted the Most Outstanding Player of 1970 (indoor volleyball) at the NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament and secured gold at the international 2-man beach volleyball tournament at Santa Cruz in 1969.

Meeting with Spiritual Master
Upon meeting his would be spiritual master, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on 11th June, 1970, Dane Holtzman received formal initiation from him in 1971 and served across various posts within ISKCON as the Temple President of Portland, Oregon branch and as the national sales manager for ISKCON’s Spiritual Sky Scented Products Company, and was later instructed to institute the Bhakta Program in October,1974 at Los Angeles ISKCON center.

Work in ISKCON
ISKCON authorized Danavir Goswami as an initiating spiritual master in 1987.

In 1996, Danavir Goswami inaugarated the Rupanuga Vedic College in Kansas City, Missouri, with a view to offers a pure Vaishnava educational environment with the opportunity to learn Vedic Culture through an intensive Bhakta Program, a three-month introductory course teaching the basics of Krishna Consciousness

Garga Samhita Cantos 1-7
The Garga Samhita is a Vaishnava text describing the pastimes of Lord Krishna as narrated by Garga Muni, the head priest of the Yadu dynesty. Sanatana Goswami describes the one of the rare text teachings "the confidential science of pure devotional service." The Garga Samhita originally comprises of 11 Cantos, namely the Goloka-khanda, Vrindavana-khanda, Giriraja-khanda, Madhurya-khanda, Mathura-khanda, Dvaraka-khanda, Vishvajit-khanda, Balabhadra-khanda, Vijnana-khanda, Ashvamedha-khanda and the Garga-samhita Mahatmaya.

Danavir Goswami and Kusakratha Das give an English translation of the Garga Samhita, along with purports based on commentaries of Vaishnava acharyas.

Commentaries on 5th Canto Bhagavatam by Vaishnava Acaryas - Edited by Danavir Goswami
A compilation of the commentaries of Srila Sridhara Swami, Sri Viraraghavacarya, Srimad Vijayadhvaja Tirtha, Srila Jiva Gosvami and Srimad Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura on the 5th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam, describing the structure of the material universe.

If Attacked I'll Chant Hare Krishna
A series of true events taken place during the First Intifada in 1988, this book is a that takes you through some hilarious tales of a swami in the Israeli army outmaneuvering every attempt to sideline his mission of serving Krishna and preach the ancient secrets of Vedic wisdom to the unsuspecting Israeli Army soldiers.