The Author

Bhakti Gauravani Goswami, born in Germany in 1951, met devotees in Hamburg in the summer of 1971, while doing mandatory military service. After reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Śrī Īśopaṇiṣad and receiving guidance from Prabhupāda’s disciples at ISKCON’s Hamburg temple, he became a vegetarian, shaved his head, and lived (as far as circumstances allowed) a devotional life while still in the army. To help him focus, devotees asked him to translate the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam into German. Shortly after his discharge, he traveled to Paris in June of 1972 to meet Śrīla Prabhupāda who accepted him as his disciple and gave him the spiritual name Vedavyāsa dāsa.

For the next eight years, Vedavyāsa dāsa translated his spiritual master’s books into German and managed the German BBT. After moving to Spain in 1981, he oversaw the printing for the Spanish BBT and assisted in the administration of the Spanish temples. In 1982, he met his future wife, Rasāmṛta devī dāsī, with whom he would raise four children.

In 1985, he established the European office of the Spanish BBT and organized the translation and production of Prabhupāda’s books in Spanish. During the next ten years the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and several other works were published, and the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta was translated and prepared for publication.

For the occasion of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s centennial celebration, Vedavyāsa wrote and published a book called Śrīla Prabhupāda and His Disciples in Germany, which narrates the history of ISKCON Germany from 1969 to 1977 and features the memories of Prabhupāda’s disciples.

In 2007, he and his wife entered into the retired order of life, vānaprastha. Seven years later, after 32 years of marriage, Vedavyāsa dāsa entered into the renounced order of life. On the auspicious day of Gaura Purnima in 2014 he received sannyāsa initiation and his new name Bhakti Gauravani Goswami from His Holiness Prahladananda Swami in Śrīdhāma Mayapur.

At present, Bhakti Gauravani Goswami is retranslating Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books into German, incorporating his matured understanding of his spiritual master’s teachings into the new edition. He also pursues his own writing and recording projects and continues to travel and preach in Europe, South America and India.