BDDS

The biography of His Holiness Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami

I was born and brought up as a Christian, in the Roman Catholic faith. Since childhood I have always loved topic relating to God, reincarnation, karma and life after death. My best subject in secondary school was Religious studies which was based on the Bible. I studied this subject with a strong desire to understand God rather than for a superficial purpose of just passing it. Despite my sincere effort to understand God and the principles of His creation through my Bible teachers in the Roman Catholic Church and my secondary school, I still did not succeed.

Then as a young adult, with a formal training in Electrical Engineering, I decided to seek for Bible teachers from other parts of the world with the hope of finding answers to my questions. I did a correspondent course with the World Bible College based in the US with an American woman as my instructor. In one of my letters to her I asked her to explain the concept of reincarnation and her reply was that I was asking about something outside of the Bible. Although I completed the course with a good grade that qualified me to start a church with their financial support, I did not continue on this path because those questions that had bugged me for long remained unanswered. I furthered my search by associating with some Pentecostal Churches, Rosicrucians, the Grail Message Movement and other spiritual and mystical groups trying to find perfect answers to the fundamental questions of life.

I was also into music with the hope of preaching the message of love and peace through it. I began to get closer to my goal when in 1980 I saw the Hare Krishna Movement´s advert in the Daily Times Newspaper of Nigeria on self-realization, karma, yoga and reincarnation. I wrote them and was sent a copy of Back to Godhead Magazine. That particular edition had some vegetarian dishes on the cover so I quickly concluded that it was simply an Indian magazine advertising their food, so I did not read it. The following year, the same advert came up and I did apply once again and another BTG magazine was sent to me. By now my karma was mature to read and understand the transcendental message of the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna. I immediately went to my box to search out the previous BTG magazine. With great interest I read the whole content of the two magazines. Gradually I developed a deeper interest and went to the temple through the address given in the newspaper advert. The devotees I met in the temple were very friendly. They answered all of my questions satisfactorily and encouraged me to visit the temple regularly in order to study the scriptures with them.

I moved into the temple full time in 1983 and become initiated in 1985. After 20 years of strictly following I was initiated into the renounced order of life. It was by the mercy of my Gurudeva and Krishna that I got my Sannyasi initiation on the 25th of March 2005 in Shridham Mayapur, India, on Gaura Purnima day. The initiation rites were performed by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami Maharaja on behalf of my Gurudeva, His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaja, who left this world 3 months after my initiation into the Sannyasi order of life.

Bhakti Dhira Damodara Swami