Mahāmandelswar Mahant Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balarām Swāmi


Mahāmandelswar Mahant Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balaram Swami appeared in a family of pure Gauḍa-Brāhmaṇa Vaiṣṇavas, which specialized in the Yajur Veda, on July 1, 1956, in Nandagram in Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma, and given the name Balaram. His gotra or blood-line descends fro the progenitor Kaśyapa Muni (one of seven spiritually conceived sons of the first created being in this universe, Lord Brahmā). He was the eldest of five sons of the renowned Sanskrit scholar, astrologer and spiritual master Śrī Hare Krishna Pāṇdeya Sharma, and thereby acquiring the necessary spiritual guidence from childhood.

At an early age Balaram Sharma so was fluent in Sanskrit that he memorized the whole of the Bhagavad Gītā‟s 700 verses along with those from the Amora-kośa dictionary which deals with many schools of Vedic thought.

He was educated at Vṛndāvana's Nimbarka Sanskrit Mahāvidyalaya and later tranferred to an English medium college to gain sufficient proficency in the international language which would prove his worth as a preacher of the highest calibre to the whole world.

After receiving initiation from His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, the world‟s greatest authority on sanatana-dharma or Vedic science of spirituality in modern times, in 1975 he was given the diksa or initiating name Kṛṣṇa Balaram Das. Kṛṣṇa Balaram Das, thereafter, began his illustriuos career as one of India's greatest proponents of spirituality. Subsequent years saw him spreading the mission of his spiritual master around the world. He accepted sanyāsa or the renounced order of life at the age of 27.

He has authored many books on true Vedic Science including Vaiṣṇava Kantha Hara, Gurū Nirnaya Dīpikā, Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā – The Song of God and Five Volumes of the Tenth Canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

The title of Mahant or High Priest of Vṛndāvana was bestowed upon His Holiness in 1991. In 2004 at the Kumbh Mela in Ujjain, India Mahant Śrī Kṛṣṇa Balaram Swami was bestowed the title of „Mahāmandelswar‟ by the Bhārata Sādhu Samāj.