Indradyumna Swami has been a traveling monk and spiritual teacher in the Bhakti Yoga tradition for the last 48 years; he is also an author and photographer.
In 1970, Indradyumna Swami met his guru, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896-1977), Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krsna Consciousness. A year later, he left the USA to facilitate the opening of Bhakti Yoga Centers across Europe to continue the work of his spiritual teacher.
He accepted the renounced order of life, sannyasa, in 1979, at the age of 29 and served as temple president for a few years at the New Mayapur Project in France.
Since 1986, Indradyumna Swami has been spreading the message of Krishna Consciousness throughout the world. In 1990, he coordinated the very first annual Festival of India tour in Poland, a program which he couldn’t have guessed at the time would meet with so much success that it would continue every Summer into the present. In fact, the tour made a successful debut as the “Discover India” tour in the USA in the Fall of 2017.
The festival events on the Baltic Coast, which are attended by between 5,000 to 10,000 people at a time, seek to introduce people to the spiritual tradition of Bhakti Yoga through classical Indian dance performances, theatre presentations based on Vedic texts such as Bhagavad-gita, musical performances, graphic exhibits, stalls with books and handicrafts, and prasadam (sanctified vegetarian food). The tour also has a strong presence at the Polish Woodstock Festival, which attracts over a million people.
Indradyumna Swami has been writing his well-known “Diary of a Traveling Monk” since 1995. The series describes the adventures he experiences and the people he encounters while traveling. When he is not managing festivals, Indradyumna Swami interfaces with many spiritual and political leaders, including the Dalai Lama, the King of the Zulu Nation and the late Nelson Mandela.