His Grace Hari Das, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, who joined ISKCON Juhu in the early 1970s, left his body on September 9, 2024, at 5:20 pm (IST) in Hare Krishna Land, Juhu. He was 73 years old and had been ill for several months. We are deeply grateful for his life and his service to ISKCON.

“He offered significant personal service to Srila Prabhupada at Juhu and was in charge of ISKCON Television (India),” said Mukunda Madhava Das. “He was instrumental in broadcasting Gita lectures on StarTV and sharing live darshan of Juhu, Vrindavan, and other temples on the Colours Channel in India. He was also part of the team that produced the Haridas Thakur movie in the 1980s.”

Anuttama Dasa, ISKCON Global Communications Minister, called Hari Das a pioneer for Srila Prabhupada: “He was the first to use television broadcasting in an ongoing, daily, wide-scale manner to bring ISKCON and ISKCON Temple functions into the lives of millions. He was a visionary who truly believed that everything, and every technology, should be used in the service of the Lord. His service set a high standard of excellence for the rest of us. I pray we can continue to be inspired by Hari Das Prabhu’s example and follow in his footsteps. I’m certain that Lord Krishna will continue to bless Hari das and give him full shelter under His lotus feet.”

You can hear Hari Das share the unique circumstances of his initiation and his personal association with Srila Prabhupada here and here. Click here to read more about his original motivation for meeting Srila Prabhupada and the special mercy of Prabhupada for Hari Das, in spite of his mixed motives.

His funeral was performed on September 10, 2024, following a parikrama of the Juhu temple. A special memorial service was held on September 13th, click here for the full video of the event. We pray for Sri Sri Radha Rasabihariji’s and Srila Prabhupada’s full blessings on him. We request all devotees to pray for him.