Swamiji - An Early Disciple, Brahmananda Dasa, Remembers His Guru

This book is a long-overdue addition to the early history of ISKCON and fills in many details that only an insider could know. Certainly, apart from Bhaktivedanta himself, no one was more of an insider during the first years of the movement than Brahmananda. One of Bhaktivedanta’s earliest disciples at the temple on 26 Second Avenue in New York, Brahmananda went on to become ISKCON’s first president and was involved in nearly every foundational activity of the movement—chanting and dancing in city parks, producing the earliest issues of Back to Godhead magazine, organizing meetings and lectures, overseeing the first book publications, and, as one of the few disciples with a salaried job, providing a modest but steady financial lifeline for the temple.
In Swamiji, Steven Rosen offers readers a rare and intimate glimpse into Brahmananda’s close relationship with Bhaktivedanta. For this valuable contribution to the historical and spiritual understanding of ISKCON’s beginnings, we owe him a debt of gratitude.”
— Thomas J. Hopkins
Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies
Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania