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Richard Naismith arrives in Port Elizabeth on Thursday 10 January. Now known as Bhakti Chaitanya Swami, he will be presenting inspirational talks on Bhakti yoga, from the Vedic literatures such as Srimad Bhagawatam, and Srimad B.Gita at the Hare Krishna Centre, 22 Alexander Road Newton Park on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday and Friday\u2019s talk will start at 6:30 pm ending at 8:30 pm, Saturday\u2019s seminar will start at 5:00 pm whilst on Sunday the seminar will start at 4:00 pm.<\/p>\n
For the past fifteen years Bhakti Chaitanya Swami has focused on photographing and videotaping the sacred places of Vrindavana, and has compiled one of the most extensive collections of images of this most holy place in existence.<\/p>\n
Bhakti Caitanya Swami travels constantly all over the world lecturing on Vedic subjects, and he is widely known for his Vrindavana Parikrama DVD series; a collection of videos produced by himself of the famous holy places of India, especially Vrindavana and Navadvipa Areas.<\/p>\n
Born on 14 August 1951 in Auckland, New Zealand as Richard Naismith, Bhakti Chaitanya Swami is a Gaudiya Vaishnava (a Vaishnava spiritual movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486\u20131534) in India in the 16th century.) swami and a religious leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (also known as the Hare Krishna movement or ISKCON). He is a member of the Governing Body Commission and is the leader of ISKCON in South Africa, the Baltic states and Russia.<\/p>\n
In 1972 he first met ISKCON\u2019s founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at the Auckland University. A year later he joined ISKCON in London and received initiation from Swami Prabhupada, who gave him a sanskrit name Raghubhir Dasa.<\/p>\n
Bhakti Caitanya Swami is closely associated with the educational programs of ISKCON and teaches courses at the Vaisnava Institute for Higher Education in Vrindavana. In 1994, during the Gaura Purnima Festival, he took the renounced order of sannyasa from Giriraja Swami and received the name Bhakti Caitanya Swami.<\/p>\n
Sannyasa is considered the topmost and final stage of the ashram systems and is traditionally taken by men or women over fifty or by young monks who wish to renounce worldly and materialistic pursuits and dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits.<\/p>\n