Radhanath Swami

Radhanath Swami Biography

Radhanath Swami is a spiritual guru belonging to the category of Gaudiya Vaishnava. He was born in US, but his works are mostly concentrated on Mumbai, India. His real name is Richard Slavin. He was drawn towards Swami Prabhupada, a devout Vaishnava saint and was ordained as a monk with the spiritual name Radhanath das. Later he came to be known as Radhanath Swami. Throughout his spiritual journey, he got opportunity to meet famous Spiritualist like Mother Teresa, Chidananda Saraswati, Maharshi Mahesh yogi, Anandamayee maa, Baba Rama Dasa, Dalai Lama, Neem Karoli baba, A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and many more. He played a significant role in starting Bhaktivedanta hospital in Mumbai.

He was born in a Jewish family in Chicago in the year 1950. Apart from Judaism, he also learnt Christianity and Islam. He got drawn towards Indian culture and spirituality and started his spiritual journey at the age of 19. After travelling many places, he reached India and finally settled at Himalayas. He has already accepted monk style of living. He met devotees of Lord Krishna during this time and moved to Vrindavan. He was drawn towards the principles of ISKCON when he witnessed A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s religious meetings and once returned to US, he joined New Vrindaban ISKCON farm community in West Virginia.

He was initiated by none other than A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami in 1973. He established The Radha Gopinath Temple for Vaisnavate devotees and has been instrumental in initiating several projects related to this temple. "The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami" is his autobiography work. Through this book he records how a young hippie from Chicago left home to travel the whole world in search of spiritually and how he finally settled in India.

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Updated: March 21, 2014