Sacred Site Seeing

Jagadananda Das, a.k.a. Jan K. Brzezinksi, a.k.a. Hiranyagarbha Das (b. 1950), studied comparative religious studies and the history of religions at McGill University (Canada) getting top honors. In 1988 he was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship to study for his doctorate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, which had a special relationship with the Vrindavan Research Institute (India). In 1992 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Sanskrit Literature.

His studies had been inspired by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and immersion, study and service in the ISKCON organization which he joined in 1970. He was also deeply influenced by Lalita Prasad Thakur from whom he took diksha (initiation) and was given the name Jagadananda Das.

After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto and a one-year appointment at the University of Manitoba, he spent the next few years translating from Bengali and Sanskrit for Mandala Press in San Rafael, California. He also published numerous scholarly articles on various aspects of Vaishnava history and bhakti-rasa.

Since 2007 Jagandanda Das has been living primarily in India, involved in numerous editing and translation projects for educational institutions in Vrindavan and Rishikesh. He is the editor of an on-line repository of Sanskrit texts called Gaudiya Grantha Mandir (granthamandira.com). He is also the editor of an online magazine called Vrindavan Today (news.vrindavantoday.org). He has a blog, Prema Prayojana (jagadanandada.blogspot.com).