Radhanath Swami abandoned a life of privilege in his home in the United States to search for a way to experience God in this world and a more authentic way of living than was being offered by the hippie subculture or the materialistic mainstream culture of the period. His search led him across the world and through many adventures until he arrived in India, where he took up a life of austerity and sought out representatives of God wherever he could find them. Eventually he encountered the teachings of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He has recounted his search in his famous book, The Journey Home. After accepting Prabhupada as his guru, Radhanath Swami dedicated his life to spreading the transcendental knowledge he had acquired in his own search to others, and toward this end he took the order of sanyassa, which is the complete renunciation of the materialistic aspects of life. Today he divides his time between his congregation in Mumbai, India and his tours throughout the rest of the world.
Radhanath Swami has attracted many souls into his service, both to his community in Mumbai as well as during his annual visits to many different countries. Today he has thousands of students in India, the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. All of them are bound together by the faith that Radhanath Swami has awakened in them and the tangible impact that his teachings have had on their lives. His viewpoint is non-sectarian, and even many of those who come from different spiritual traditions have found much that is beneficial in his words. In an age when many of the worst ideologies and movements present themselves in the guise of religion, Radhanath Swami’s realizations have been found to be a refreshing return to the purity of genuine wisdom by many who have been disappointed elsewhere.
