Childhood

He was born in the year 1961 in Bakura of West Bengal in an aristocratic Vaishnava family. He was named as Shiv Das by his parents. His father left this wold at very young age and he had to shoulder the family responsibilities. This struggle made him strong and matured at very young age. An aristocratic family, agricultural lands, family business, loving mother, caring siblings and supportive relatives. He got everything that is needed for a teenager to lead a so called happy and successful life. He was brilliant in academics too. He just finished the matriculation and trying to figure out what he wanted to become in future. No career option was promising to fulfil the emptiness he was experiencing within. His heart was longing for something beyond this. After lot of contemplation, inspired by one of his cousins, he finally decided, “My life is for Krishna”. He left home to Mayapur at the age of 16 to join the worldwide Krishna Consciousness movement started by Srila Prabhupada.

Meeting the Spiritual Master

He met his spiritual master H.H. Jayapataka Swami in Mayapur. He was trained in the practice of devotional service unto the lotus feet of Krishna and got initiated by him in the year 1980. He was given the name Samba Das. As per the instruction of his Guru Maharaj, he started serving for ISKCON Guwahati temple project. He was very instrumental in building of ISKCON Guwahati temple. During his 3 years stay in Guwahati, he travelled extensively throughout Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura.

Became Temple President at very young age

Later, he was shifted to Vrindavan and assisted H.H. Surabhi Maharaj as his secretary in construction of many projects including construction of Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi in Vrindavan, Mayapur and designing many temples across the globe. Surabhi Maharaj used to be called as the Viswakarma of ISKCON by Srila Prabhupada. Samba Prabhuji got very close association with him as his secretary for ten years. He learnt many skills from Surabhi Maharaj in management, design and construction of temples. ISKCON got a very nice property in west Delhi, Punjabi Bagh area and the same was converted into a small temple. Samba Prabhuji became the founder president of it at the age of 21 years. He developed the temple and used to organize grand Janmashtami Melas where lakhs of people used to participate from 1983 to 1992 . Delhi being the transit point many iskcon Gurus, GBCs, senior devotees and sannyasis from different parts of the world used to visit and stay in that temple. Samba Prabhuji had the fortune of serving and associating with those saintly souls. Today ISKCON Punjabi Bagh centre in Delhi is one of the most vibrant centres in India with two big branches in Bahadurgarh and Rohini.

Marriage

From 1996 to 1997, he also served as president of ISKCON Abids temple in Hyderabad for one and half year. During this period, he got married to H.G. Nitai Sevini Mataji. They together for about 2 years served in United States of America and Europe. We are aware that Mataji is spreading Krishna Consciousness throughout the world and bringing light in the lives of many souls with his guidance and support.

Starting the Centre in Visakhapatnam

With the directive from his Spiritual Master and the ISKCON authorities, he along with his good wife H.G. Nitai Sevini Mataji started ISKCON Visakhapatnam centre in the year 1999 to spread the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada.

This centre has been started from scratch, with a picture of Radha Krishna and few books of Srila Prabhupada in a small, rented house and in the past 23 years it has grown in both size and reach. Today ISKCON Visakhapatnam is preaching Sankirtan movement from its own temple set up in 3.5 acres of land in a serene atmosphere facing sea and surrounded by green hillocks. Prabhuji got divine vision and ambitious plans for Visakhapatnam. He embarked upon constructing one of the biggest Radha Krishna temple in South India with world class amenities and unique architectural designs and the same is in the verge of completion. The project also includes 110 room guest houses, three Kalyana Mandapams, Govinda’s Restaurant, Open Air Auditorium, Audio Visual Library, Dioramas, Under Water Meditation Hall, Old Age Home etc. Not just a temple. It is a learning centre Samba Prabhuji says that it not just a temple. It is a spiritual learning centre where the people would be trained systematically in the spiritual knowledge. With this knowledge only, which is taught in Srimad Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam, we can achieve real peace in the lives of people as well as in the society. This knowledge will check the imbalance of values in their life It facilitates spiritual advancement of its devotees as well as general public. It will also be a strong base for spreading Krishna Consciousness all over the world. Right now there is a very big spacious make shift temple for the deities, mechanized kitchen, rooms for devotees, office rooms, nice guest house for Life Members and devotees, a Goshala with around 42 cows in the centre. There are about 46 resident devotees serving full time for Krishna. ISKCON Visakhapatnam centre is vibrant with thousands of active congregation devotees and 5000 life members.

Samba Prabhuji says that obtaining the land from the Government, getting CRZ clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forests, collecting donations to build such a gigantic temple maintaining the day to day affairs of the temple, overseeing the execution of the project, is not possible for an ordinary human being like me. But this was made possible only because of the blessings of Guru and Krishna. “Krishna wanted to build a palatial building for himself in the serene beaches of Visakhapatnam and he made me an instrument out of his causeless mercy”, Samba Prabhuji says with so much humility.

Vizianagaram Project

In addition to the Visakhapatnam Temple Project, ISKCON Visakhapatnam got an extension centre in Vizianagaram spread in 2.5 acres of area. This is being used mainly for organic farming and cow protection. There is an ashram building constructed here and beautiful deities of Gaura Nitai are worshipped. Samba Prabhuji started the construction of big size temple in Vizianagaram also.

On this auspicious occasion we wish that you celebrate many more such Krishna Conscious Birthdays and fill light in the lives of many more fallen souls.