ABOUT
Mukunda Goswami was born as Michael Grant in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from Reed College he became a professional jazz musician and moved to New York to pursue his music career. In 1965 Michael met the Hare Krishna founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The next year he was in the first group of initiated disciples, receiving the Sanskrit name Mukunda Dasa.
Mukunda Goswami was a pioneer in the early days of the Hare Krishna movement. In 1966 in New York City he helped Bhaktivedanta Swami rent a storefront for the first Hare Krishna temple. In 1967 he founded the first Hare Krishna temple in San Francisco and organized a major music event, the Mantra-Rock Dance.
England, George Harrison, and Apple Records
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada sent Mukunda Goswami and his wife, Janaki, and two other devotee couples to London in 1968, where they established ISKCON in England.
The devotees met Beatle George Harrison. As well as assisting them in opening the Radha Krishna Temple there, George produced an album of their devotional music, titled The Radha Krsna Temple . The album was released on Apple Records in 1971. Mukunda (credited as Mukunda Das Adhikary) wrote the musical arrangements for the songs. The Temple’s 1969 hit single, “Hare Krishna Mantra”, climbed the pop charts, including the UK Singles Chart. The devotees toured Europe and also appeared on England’s Top of the Pops TV show. The song made the devotees famous and proved to be a significant event in establishing ISKCON in Europe. George Harrison considered Mukunda and the others who first came to England to be his lifelong friends.
ISKCON Public Affairs
Mukunda Goswami established the ISKCON Communications Office in Los Angeles in 1977. Publications included the ISKCON World Review (starting in 1981) and a series of paperback books: Search for Liberation, Chant and Be Happy, Coming Back, and A Higher Taste vegetarian cookbook. Other publications included Who Are They? magazine, Omni magazine, and the ISKCON Communications Journal (ICJ). Mukunda Goswami is still an ICJ Advisory Board Member.
Personal life and achievements
In 1982 Mukunda Goswami accepted Sannyasa (the renounced order of life) from Jayapataka Swami. He served on the ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (GBC) as the ISKCON Minister of Communication from 1984 to 1999 where he managed communications and public relations for ISKCON worldwide. He serves as an emeritus member of the ISKCON GBC.
He lived in San Diego until the early 1990s, after which he moved to Washington DC where he established the ISKCON Communications head office with Anuttama dasa. Later, in 1999, he moved to Auckland, New Zealand for few years. Finally, he settled in the ISKCON New Govardhana community, near Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia.
He has initiated many disciples worldwide whom he regularly coaches in their spiritual journey. He rises every day at 2am to do his meditation of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra for few hours. After this, he attends the Mangal Arati (an early morning worship) at the Krishna temple in the community at the age of 81, despite health difficulties. He gives classes on spiritual subjects at the temple and online.
