Anagarika Govinda Biography 
Anagarika Govinda was a Buddhist follower and the founder of the order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala. He was an expositor of Tibetan Buddhism, Abhidharma, and Buddhist meditation. He was also an artist, known as a painter, author and poet, who married his student at Shantiniketan, Li Gotami Govinda. Her real name is Ratti Petit, and she changed her name to Li Gotami Govinda after she married Govinda, and embraced Mahayana Buddhism as well. She also gained recognition as an artist, painter, composer, photographer and writer, post marriage. They got married in 1947. Govinda wrote several books on a wide variety of Buddhist topics. His books - The Way of the White Clouds and Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism were translated to many languages.
Anagarika Govinda was born as Ernst Lothar Hoffmann on 17 May 1898. He was born in Waldheim, Saxony, German Empire. His father was a German, and his mother was a Bolivian. He was born into a financially well settled family which owned cigar business. He lost his mother at the age of three. Though he enrolled in the German army during World War I, he caught tuberculosis and relieved from service. Once he recovered at a sanatorium, he studied different subjects. At the age of 16 he had already started to study philosophy. He made a comparative study of different religions and finally convinced with Buddhism at the age of 18.
He has exclusively travelled to India, Sri Lanka, Tibet etc as a Buddhist monk. He spent most of his time in Tibet, and got married to Li Gotami Govinda in 1947. He conducted world tours in the 1960s and 1970s and authored a series of books on Buddhism. Govinda finally settled in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife during his final years.
Published: November 27, 2018
Updated: November 27, 2018
