About the Artist - Vishnu Dasa

Hare Krishna!
Welcome to Krishnaland.com

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Vishnudas

In 1968 I studied art at Portland Community College, but I didn't really take it seriously until I met the Krishna devotees in 1970. My mother knew I was leaning toward a monk's life so one day she showed me a picture of a robed monk in the newspaper. The article mentioned that the devotees of Krishna just moved into town (Portland OR). She said I should go see them.
I did, and the next day I became a celebate Krishna monk (brahmachari). I first met devotees like Locan dasa, Krishna Valasini devi dasi, Narada Muni dasa, and Bhakta Steve (who first taught me that I'm an eternal jiva soul, part and parcel of Krishna, the Supreme Suol), then later Danavir dasa (now HH Danavir dasa Goswami), the departed and truly missed HH Vishnujana Goswami, and HH Mukunda dasa Goswami, who all inspired and encouraged me to continue painting for Krishna.

I was then fortunate to be initiated in 1971 by our eternal spiritual master His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
I learned that I was being initiated in disciplic succession starting from Lord Krishna to Lord Brahma on down through Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's line to Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur then to Gaura Kishora Das Babaji, who was the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta instructed A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (my guru) to go to the West and throughout the world to every town and village and teach Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's message.
When Srila Prabhupada arrived in America he had only a few dollars and some books, and from there he established the world-wide movement of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Then his followers multiplied, among them were scholars, students, yogis, professional men and women, families, musicians and artists. So he wanted his group of artists to flood the world with Krishna art and his books became the medium in which the artwork flourished.

Painting in New York 1973
In 1972 I then went to Brooklyn New York to see if I could work in the art department with the other artists on Srila Prabhupada's books. I met Baradvaja dasa who helped me start my service there. Starting out just watching and stretching the other artist's canvases, I later helped paint the Chaitanya Charitamrita paintings alongside my brilliant assemblyline painting partners Pariksit dasa, Muralidhar dasa, Jadurani devi dasi, Puskar dasa and of course the talented Baradvaja dasa who Srila Prabhupada later sent to India to learn the art of making dioramas, or "dolls" as he called them.

After working for some time with the book artists, I learned to do mural paintings with the airbrush. I painted the Manhattan Hare Krishna temple walls in 1976, and Srila Prabhupada was very pleased with my work. He said I should go to India and also paint murals on the temple walls there. The temple president said he would pay my way, but first I must paint one more mural in the restaurant, which I did. But when that was finished, he asked me to do just one more upstairs in a meeting room, which I did.

When that was finished I was very anxious to get to India because I knew that's what Srila Prabhupada wanted. So by the Lord's arrangement an Indian doctor from Bombay (Mumbai), happened to show up the same week I finished the mural. He paid me to paint a Krishna mural on his living room wall in Long Island. And that was my ticket to the holiest of holy lands, Vrindavan, India!

Intro continued - Click here