His Grace Śrīla Kṛṣṇa Kṣetra Prabhu
nama oṃ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrī-kṛṣṇā-kṣetra-dāsāya prabhupāda-priyāya teśila-vṛtta-guṇadhāraṃ kalā-gītāmṛtārṇavaṃ
bhakti-sarvāṅga-kovidaṃ tvām upādhyāyam īmahi
I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Grace Krishna Kshetra Prabhu, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet and who is very dear to Srila Prabhupada.
You are the reservoir of all the excellent qualities of character and conduct, the nectar ocean of melodious songs, and the authority in all the processes and intricacies of devotional service. Therefore let us surrender to you and whorship you as our teacher and spiritual master.
His Grace Srila Krishna-kshetra Prabhu appeared in this world on the 18th of December 1950. in New York as Kenneth Russel Valpey. In 1969 Guru Maharaj became an Architecture student at the University of California in Berkeley. That was the time when USA was involved in the Vietnam War. Frequent demonstrations, against the war, were happening at the University of California. Like so many young people at this disturbed time he was searching for the meaning of life. He was asking himself. “What am I doing here? Where am I going?”
One day he was walking down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and a deep thought came to him “Whatever the problem is it is not going to be solved by anything else or less than meeting a perfect person. A perfect person could perfectly understand and perfectly help me.” He thought he has to go and find that person. Deciding to give up his studies and travel, he soon went to Germany, where, by the arrangement of Supreme providence Sri Krishna, our Guru Maharaj meets devotees in Germany in June 1972.
He joined ISKCON immediately after meeting the devotees, in Stuttgart, Germany, soon taking residence in Heidelberg, in the temple at Rohrbacher Strasse. A few days after joining he was distributing ”Zuruck zur Gottheit”, (Back to Godhead) magazines on the streets of Stuttgart. Less than a month later, in July 1972, he went with the German devotees to Paris to see Srila Prabhupada, whom he immediately recognized to be ‘perfect person’ he had been looking for. Guru Maharaj received initiation from Srila Prabhupada at that time.
From 1973 to 1975 he distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany and he become a pujari in Amsterdam and Schloss Rettershof. For three weeks in 1977 he travelled with Ganasyam Prabhu (Bhaktitirtha Swami) placing orders for books in libraries. That year Guru Maharaj saw Srila Prabhupada at Bhaktivedanta manor in London for the last time. That same year to 1979 he visited Poland, USSR, Hungary, former Yugoslavia, former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Rumania, preaching together with Harikesa swami, Dhira Krishna Prabhu, Dvarakes Prabhu and Devamrita Swami. He became Harikesa Swami’s secretary until mid-1980.
In August 1980/82/85 he settled in Simhacalam, where in 1982 Lord Nrisimhadeva was installed. Guru Maharaj took care of Hs worship until 1985. In 1984 and ’/85 he preached together with Sacinandana swami, travelling through Europe encouraging many nama-hatta centres in Krishna consciousness.
1987 by Krishna’s will and arrangement and to our great fortune, the GBC appointed him as an initiating spiritual master of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and he humbly accepted this service. From 1991 to 1994 he was appointed as the GBC monitor for the Deity Worship department in ISKCON. Meantime he travelled around Europe preaching and inspiring devotees in different temples. The highlights of this preaching were concerts performed by the Gauranga Bhajan Band.
In 1994 he compiled a handbook for deity worship ‘Pancaratra Pradipa’, in order to establish a standard of worship in ISKCON temples. From 1991 to 1995 he helped developed the Vaisnava Library at the Gurukula in Mayapur, and also he passed the Bhakti-sastri exam in Vrindavan.
With the encouragement of Hridayananda Gosvami and Tamal Krishna Gosvami, aiming to help in developing ISKCON as an educational institution, he took up studies at University of California in Santa Barbara. There he completed his ‘Bachelor of arts’ degree majoring in religious Studies. Meantime, in the memorable Centennial year he promoted the idea of rising spiritual standards in ISKCON. From January 1997 until December 1998 he lived at the Berkeley temple, continuing studies at the Graduate Theological Union, near the University of California at Berkeley. At the GTU he successfully completed his ‘Master of art’ degree with a thesis on Vaisnava deity worship theology (now available as a book:”Krishna-Seva: The Theology of Image Worship in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.”)
From 1999 to 2000 he took up studies at Oxford University and become involved in the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies while completing a ‘Master of Studies’ degree in the ‘Study of Religion." In 2003 he completed his doctoral study in Gaudiya-Vaisnava Theology at Oxford University. ‘Attending Krishna’s Image: Caitanya Vaisnava Murti-seva as Devotional Truth’ is a remarkable book published by Routledge, developed from the doctoral dissertation that Guru Maharaj submitted to the University of Oxford. In year 2006 he taught courses in the religion department ay University of Florida, and he continues (since 2002) to teach at Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, Belgium.