In the spring Bhaktivedanta College hosted Srila Prabhupada’s disciple Garuda Dasa, who is also known as Dr. Graham M. Schweig at the Dept. of Philosophy and Religious Studies of Christopher Newport University in Virginia. He was in Europe to present the Wahlstrom Lecture at OxfordUniversity, a talk entitled “The Bhagavad-gita: Innovations and Challenges in Its Translation.” He has translated the forthcoming Bhagavad-gita for Harper Collins/HarperSanFrancisco.
Garuda was one of the first ISKCON devotees to pursue a formal education. He saw a great opportunity to reach educated circles by inaugurating the field of Vaishnava studies. He earned his doctorate in Comparative Religion from Harvard University. Recently, Princeton University Press published his thesis under the title “Dance of Divine Love- India’s Classic Sacred Love Story: The Rasa Lila of Krishna.”
Students, devotees, and guests gathered to hear his amazing, inspiring talks on the Bhagavatam and the history of intellectual preaching in ISKCON. During this visit, Garuda committed himself to become part of the College project.