Harikesa Swami

Harikesa Swami also known as Vishnupad (born Robert Campagnola) was one of the leading disciples of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and a guru within the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as 'the Hare Krishnas' or ISKCON).

ISKCON

He personally met the founder of ISKCON, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in Brooklyn, while recording the Prabhupada's music in July 1971. Harikesa Swami was initiated by Prabhupada in New York, July, 1971, and given the name Harikesa dasa.

Problems in 1998

Harikesa collapsed due to stress on June 2, 1998, at the start of an intercontinental education, general management, and research conference he had organized and was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. As part of his recovery, a pranic healer named Monika was brought in. Soon, a relationship started between Harikesa and Monika.

Resignation

Shortly after this, feeling unable to continue any relationship with ISKCON, at the request of the Executive Committee, Harikesa Swami submitted his resignation from ISKCON and his guru duties, to ISKCON's Governing Body Commission. His resignation was accepted at the GBC meetings in 1999.

COM System

As the publishing expanded, in the early 80's one of the BBT programmers, Prsni, suggested the creation of an internal conferencing system and a PDP-11-45 was purchased and a limited internal conferencing system called KOM was installed. Soon it became apparent that the capacity to discuss the publishing affairs in conference format greatly increased the capacity of the BBT. Considering that Harikesa Swami was now traveling almost non-stop throughout an expanding area and engaging in publishing in dozens of languages, the system was rewritten to allow users to dial into the network from anywhere in the world. This system, renamed COM, connected all parts of ISKCON and the BBT in real-time, and was soon carrying hundreds of communications a day long before the creation of the www or the usage of the internet (then known as the usenet and only used by educational and government institutions). Harikesa Swami was instrumental in facilitating and organizing this development from the first day. Later, as the system became larger with many thousands of users, programmers were brought in to create a user interface to allow desktop organization of the texts in the conferences and personal mail.

Recording Artist

Harikesa Swami has been producing music that bridges the gap between classical music from Western culture and Eastern Mantra since 1978. Harikesa Swami has produced more than 28 albums (under the group names of Rasa, BLISS, and Sri Hari).^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

• Harikesa Swami, Varnasrama Manifesto for Social Sanity, 1981, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, ISBN 0-892-13042-3. Edited by Devamrita Swami.
• Harikesa Swami, The Thirteenth Chapter, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1985, ISBN 91-85580-46-5
• Harikesa Swami, The Krsna Conscious Handbook, Underground Soviet Publication during the Cold War, 1986
• Harikesa Swami, Basic Management Book for ISKCON Temples, ISKCON publication, 1989
• Harikesa Swami, Essential Truths – The Questions and Answers Conference 1989–1994, 1996, Sentient Press, ISBN 91-7149-296-8
• Harikesa Swami, All glories to the Sankirtana devotees, 1996, Sentient Press, ISBN 91-7149-298-4
• Harikesa Swami, On Social Issues, 1998, Sentient Press,ISBN 91-7149-392-1
• Harikesa Swami, The Leadership and Management Seminar, 1998, Sentient Press, Video and Audio Cassette Packs

Discography

Year	Band	Title	Label
1978	RASA	Oasis	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1979	RASA	Coming Into Full Bloom	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1980	RASA	Setting the Scene	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1980	RASA	Alive	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1981	RASA	Creation	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1981	RASA	Transparent Media	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1982	RASA	Dancing on the Head of the Serpent	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1982	RASA	Swinging	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1983	RASA	Universal Forum	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1987	BLISS	Along the Edge	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1988	BLISS	Rebellion	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1988	BLISS	Blissed Out	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1988	Stick of Saffron	Treasure Island	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1988	BLISS	Wings to Fly	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1991	BLISS	The Future Belongs to Me	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1992	BLISS	Connected	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1993	BLISS	Under a Desire Tree	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1994	BLISS	Illumination	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1994	BLISS	Remember	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1994	Gauranga Bhajan Band	Chant!	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1995	BLISS	Rosewater	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1995	BLISS	For Your Pleasure	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1997	BLISS	Mother Bliss	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1994	Sri Hari	Rising Sign	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
1996	Sri Hari	One But Different	Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
2002	Hari	Living Dream	Earthfuture Media