Achayra Shri Shrivatsa Goswami

Acharya Shrivatsa Goswami comes from a family of eminent scholars and spiritual leaders at Sri Radharamana Mandir of Vrindavan. He is a leading figure in the Vaishnava tradition. He has participated in conferences on philosophy and culture and lectured at major universities around the world, including as a visiting scholar at Harvard and Heidelberg. His book Celebrating Krishna was received with much acclaim. He is the Director of the Vraja Prakalpa, a multi-disciplinary research project that has already published eight volumes on various facets of Vraja culture and history.

Among other commitments, Goswami ji is devoted to Interfaith relations worldwide and is presently working on the alliance of religion and conservation. He is connected with several important international peace and environmental movements. He was invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the World Bank to represent Hinduism at a historic meeting of world religions at Lambeth Palace, London. In 2007 he was a resource person for religion at the meeting of over 40 heads of state in Vienna. In 2009 he was invited as a Plenary Speaker at the Centenary Celebrations of the American Academy of Religions. In 2011 Pope Benedict XVI invited him to the Vatican. In 2012 he was one of the main speakers at the Interreligious Harmony Week function at the UN General Assembly.

The President of India awarded him the Sangit Natak Akademi lifetime award for overall scholarship and service to Indian culture.