I was inspired by Karnamrita Prabhu's nice description of his coming to Krishna consciousness. Those stories show how Krishna reciprocates with the sincere, and or in my case, even partially sincere seeker.

When the devotees explained that the material world was a miserable place, I could relate to it. When I was twelve, my father died. When I was thirteen, I broke my leg skiing in the winter and my grandmother died in the spring. Before I met the devotees when I was twenty, my four girlfriends had all broken up with me.

I fancied myself to be a spiritual seeker. The Quakers who I was brought up as always valued seeking. I did Transcendental Meditation (TM) and visited a Zen Buddhist temple. I was even touched by Swami Muktananda's peacock feather while visiting his ashrama! I read different spiritual books. One series of books was called The Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East. It talked about some explorers who met these yogis with mystic powers who lived in the Himalayas. In one of the books, it was said one interested in self-realization should read Bhagavad-gita or Mahabharata.

I had a spiritually interested friend at Brown University, named Bob Kelley, who was also a computer science major. After we did TM together, he would play a truly beautiful album called The Radha Krishna Temple Album. The words to the songs were on the back, and I would sometimes sing along. My friend also had Bhagavad-gita As It Is but I never read it nor connected it with the Radha Krishna album.

Once time I went to a party where someone had some grain alcohol which was 190 proof (95% alcohol). I liked to experiment with different substances, so I tried it mixed with some juice. I must have gone unconscious as I woke up a block away in my second story bedroom, wondering how I got there, having a splitting headache, and wanting relief from the agony. I remembered the Hare Krishna mantra from the Radha Krishna temple album and chanted it and amazingly my headache went completely away.

Another time we had a party in my co-op house, but it was getting off to a slow start. I was really bored, so I went to my friend’s room, and put on his Radha Krishna Temple Album and happily danced along to it, having my own party.

I had taken time off from college after my sophomore year and was planning to hitchhike around the West Coast of the United States with a friend to see Bob Kelley who had graduated the previous year. Our plan was to begin by taking the Gray Rabbit, the hippy bus, with mattresses and not seats, to San Francisco.

Wandering around New York with a day to kill before the bus was to leave, I pulled out of my wallet an invitation card I received the previous week at an anti-nuclear rally. It mentioned “Bhagavad-gita classes” at a temple on 55th Street. I noticed I was at 47th Street, just 8 blocks away. I thought this was the next clue on my spiritual path, and I should follow it up.

A devotee named Locanananda Prabhu, invited me into his first floor office and showed me Srila Prabhupada’s books, including Science of Self-Realization. Prabhupada’s authority was evident from his writing. He was talking about a state of self-realization that you could experience that was beyond mere religious rituals. I was attracted.

The bus I was to take broke down and could not be repaired till Monday, so I stayed for the weekend in the temple. Niranjana Swami, then Niranjana Prabhu, was the brahmacari in charge of the bhakta program in New York. When I was about to commence my trip, he told me, "If you go out to the West Coast, you will do the same, old, hackneyed, materialistic activities that you have been doing back here. Better you use your time off from college to live in the temple and see how much spiritual advancement you can make." I thought that made a lot of sense. However, I had been planning my trip for a long time and my friend wanted to continue on it. Therefore my mind was being pulled in two directions. Niranjana Swami later said that I was the hardest person he ever convinced to stay in a temple and that he had to pray to Krishna in my case. So I think you can say I became a Hare Krishna devotee by the pure prayers of Niranjana Swami.

I wish I could say I lived happily after in Krishna consciousness, but I survived about six months in the temple before the austerity of a regulated life, especially one devoid of sense gratification, was too much for me. I did not want to leave, but it was just too hard to stay. I went back to my previous life, in a more despondent mood, as I failed in my spiritual endeavor, but deep within I knew material life would not satisfy my soul. I made a half-hearted attempt to kill myself, and voluntarily spent two weeks in a mental institution. I remember feeling really sorry for the people there as they were worse off than me. My downward spiral ended, I started TM again, and I remembered that I used to be a Hare Krishna devotee, and I had really liked it. I found Kesihanta Prabhu had a preaching center in Providence, and after a week, I moved into the center and continued my studies. Sometimes it would be too much, and I would go back to live in the co-op house, but by the time I graduated, I became steady in chanting and following the principles.

I worked with Adi Kesava Prabhu in a computer programming business for six years, and became involved with Back To Godhead, when he became circulation manager. Adi Kesava Prabhu kindly recommended me for first and second initiation, in 1983 and 1985, to Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, who thus linked me to Srila Prabhupada and his ISKCON society. After burning out on business programming, I decided to do computer work for Sadaputa Prabhu of Bhaktivedanta Institute which I did for seventeen years. Then I studied Bhakti-sastri in Mayapur, falling in love with that holy dhama and realizing it is my real home. Now I study and teach the scripture, answer questions for Krishna.com, and try to promote the congregational chanting of the holy name, the prime benediction for humanity at large. Please give me your blessings that somehow or other I can help advance Lord Caitanya’s glorious mission of spiritual happiness.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I found in Srila Prabhupada's books the answers to life's important questions, and I find the congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra to be full of spiritual happiness. For this reason I am very happy. My only unhappiness is that I have not really found the means to help others appreciate the great value of these two treasures. I pray that Krishna and the devotees may give me some insight how to proceed.