Krishna Dasa, an ISKCON youth from Moscow, died on March 20, in Mayapur, India. He was twenty years old.

The day before the Gaura Purnima festival, Krishna Dasa and his friends had taken a boat out into the Ganga, and were playing, swimming and diving from it. Krishna Dasa is reported to have been dragged under by the current, although details are sketchy at present.

The son of Bal Krishna Dasa and Savitri Dasi, Krishna Dasa was well-known as an open and friendly person, an activitist for uniting ISKCON youth, and a talented film-maker. His documentary on the Anapa festival in Russia took a prize at Mayapur’s ISKCON Television Film Festival.

Vrindavana Lila Dasi, a Moscovite who relocated to Mayapur, remembers Krishna Dasa on her website mayapurkatha.blogspot.com: “I’ve known him since he was a baby, and I’ve always noticed how spiritually inclined he was,” she says. “We have lost a very valuable young member of our society, full of potential to preach effectively and to attract people to Krishna consciousness through his art and personality.”

Shri Dhruva, a fellow ISKCON youth and Moscovite said, “Krishna Dasa was one of the brightest gurukulis (ISKCON youth) I’ve ever known. He was one of the first Russian youth to be actively involved in ISKCON from a young age. And he inspired me with his ability to make it through any difficulty. He was enthusiastic, devotional, and very kind.”

At Krishna Das’ funeral, his mother Savitri said she felt that all gurukulis were her children, and offered her help, association and motherly love to all friends of Krishna Dasa and all gurukulis.

Vrindavana Lila also offered comforting words at this sad time: “We all have no doubt that Krishna Dasa is in good spiritual care, whatever destination he has gone on to.”