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Lokanāth Swami Mahārāja was born in 1949 in Aravade, a village in the Sāìglī district of Mahārāṣṭra. While pursuing his college education in Mumbai in 1971, he met the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees at an ISKCON pandāl program.

Lokanāth Swami says, “Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke every evening. He discussed many issues relating to Krishna consciousness and made many points. But the point that had the greatest impact on me and which attracted me to him and his society more than anything else, was the simple point that if you serve Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you simultaneously serve everyone and everything else. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave the analogy of what happens when one waters a tree. Just by pouring water on the root of a tree, one automatically waters all the leaves, branches, fruits and flowers on the tree. This idea greatly appealed to me.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda conferred Harināma dīkṣā initiation in 1972 and sannyāsa dīkṣā initiation in 1975 upon Lokanāth Swami in Vṛndāvana dhāma. Lokanāth Swami is one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s very first Indian disciples. Following the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1976, Lokanāth Swami organized ISKCON’s first padayātrā (a walking pilgrimage) in India. The first phase of padayātrā was from Vṛndāvana to Māyāpur. During this period, the Padayātrā Party had also reached the Kumbha-melā in Allahabad (Prayāga), where Śrīla Prabhupāda was also present.

As Padayātrā Minister, Lokanāth Swami expanded the padayātrā activities all over the world. He is still serving as the Minister of Padayātrā. Lokanāth Swami was appointed to serve as Minister for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Centennial. He coordinated a four-year worldwide preaching program in 1996 as part of the grand centennial

celebrations and padayātrā was organized in more than one hundred countries all over the world.

Even forty years after the inception of padayātrā, devotees inspired by Lokanāth Swami, continue to distribute the holy name of the Lord and Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books in all the towns and villages all over the world.

Lokanāth Swami provided the inspiration to begin ISKCON’s yearly Vraja-maëòala parikramä in 1987 and currently serves as the chairman of the parikramä management board. He is also credited with having developed the Navadvépa-maëòala Parikramä.

Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed his sannyāsi disciples to preach all over the world. Keeping his spiritual master’s instructions at heart, Lokanāth Swami is touring the world and continues to preach Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission to date. Well-known for his inspiring kīrtanas and lectures, Lokanāth Swami has been a part of many worldwide celebrations.

th Swami has penned many books including Vraja-m Darśana, Saṁskṛtoccāṛaṇam, In Conversation with Śrīla Prabhupāda, Bhū Vaikuṇṭha Pandharpur, Festivals, and is working on many more.