Vaisesika Das Bhakti Lectures description

William Suczek, the youngest of two brothers and one sister, was born in Walnut Creek, California in the autumn of 1956. His parents, both professors at San Francisco State University, raised William to be open to new ideas and tolerant of diverse lifestyles and values. In his youth William spent years searching for God and for the meaning of life. His prayers and intense austerities - which included vows of poverty, fasting, and silence - were answered when a friend gave him a copy of Back to Godhead magazine during the summer of 1973. As soon as he saw the photo of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, he knew that his search was over.

The knowledge in that magazine so inspired William that he at once - with the help of his mother - began visiting the ISKCON temple in San Francisco. Within a few weeks, at the age of sixteen, he had moved into the temple to become a full time monk. He soon met his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, who instructed him to distribute his books and to read them with great care and attention. Not long after this meeting, in early 1974, Srila Prabhupada gave William spiritual initiation and the name Vaisesika Dasa.

Since then Vaisesika Dasa has devoted his life to his spiritual master’s mission. He has continuously read, studied, and distributed to the masses the Vedic knowledge contained in the translations and commentaries of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Currently, Vaisesika Dasa travels extensively, lecturing, counseling, and inspiring devotees and spiritual aspirants alike throughout the world.

In 2009, to help fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s order that his movement continue to expand, Vaisesika Dasa began initiating disciples into the disciplic succession.