Vaikunthanath Das (far left) smiling at his spiritual master Srila Prabhupada who is laughing. 

Vaikunthanath Das departed from this world to join Srila Prabhupada on November 21, 2024, while residing at Tucson’s Krishna’s Home. Srila Prabhupada was chanting in the background and Vaikunthanath Das was wearing a maha garland and peaceful at the time of his departure.

The following is written by his daughter, Braj:
“My father, Vaikunthanath, was an early disciple of Srila Prabhupada where he joined the Krsna Consciousness movement in the 1960’s. He was a very devout and scholarly person. He wrote a memoir of his time with Srila Prabhupada titled Srila Prabhupada’s Miracle: The Transformation of Matter into Spirit.

Early on he helped Srila Prabhupada with his book publishing, especially when it was the ISKCON Press, both in the printing of the books and the distribution. He did some of the transliteration of Bengali to English for the Caitanya Caritamrta as well. He also served as Srila Prabhupada’s personal secretary for a short while.

He and his then wife, Saradiya, started the first temples in Guyana and Trinidad in the early 1970’s. Later on, they lived in India where they helped early on in the temples in Bombay, Delhi and Vrindavan. After I was born, our family lived in different temples, including in India a few times where my father worked with the book distribution.

Vaikunthanath liked to work independently, moving about frequently, creating his own programs. During the 80s and 90s he lived in New York where he had a program bringing people to the temple for festivals and making life members.

For the last 25 years, he lived in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Bhanu, but more recently had relocated to Krishna’s Home in Tucson, AZ.
All glories to His Grace Vaikunthanath prabhu. All glories to Srila Prabhpada!”

Fr0m the Krishna’s Home December newsletter: “We are writing with both a heavy heart and deep gratitude as we share the recent journey of one of our beloved residents, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada Vaikuntanath Prabhu. He peacefully left his body surrounded by the loving presence of devotees. His final days were blessed by a kirtan-filled visit to the Tucson temple, where he enjoyed a George Harrison tribute concert with his brother and sister. Just before his transition, devotees came together in Kirtan to guide him on his spiritual journey.”