Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami

Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja (Dr. T. D. Singh)
Founding Director Bhaktivedanta Institute (Dear most disciple of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja Prabhupada)
Religion	Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Hinduism
Other names	Thoudam Damodar Singh
Personal
Born	(1937-12-09)9 December 1937 Toubul, Manipur, British India
Died	2 October 2006(2006-10-02) (aged 68) Calcutta, India
Senior posting
Based in	Manipur
Title	Guru, Sannyasi
Period in office	1980 - 2006
Religious career
Initiation	Diksa–1971, Sannyasa–1980
Post	ISKCON Guru, Sannyasi, Member of the Governing Body Commission
Website	bhaktiswarupadamodara.com

Bhaktivedanta Institute

Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja (9 December 1937 – 2 October 2006), also known as Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader, scientist, writer and poet. In 1971 he received spiritual initiation from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A few years later he became one of the religious leaders of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (also known as the Hare Krishna Movement).

For more than thirty years he was the international director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute which promotes the study of the relationship between science and Vedanta. Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja was a pioneer in "advancing the dialogue on synthesis of science and spirituality throughout the world". He was a co-founder and regional director of United Religions Initiative, a member of Metanexus Institute and founding rector of University of Bhagavata Culture (2000) in the State of Manipur (India). He authored and edited several books and organised a number of significant conferences and world congresses around the world, where a number of prominent scientists and religious leaders including several Nobel Laureates participated. He was the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Bhaktivedanta Institute entitled, Savijnanam: Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm.

Thoudam Damodar was born in Toubul, part of the Bishnupur district, Manipur, India, on 9 December 1937 to Sri Thoudam Yogendra Singh and Srimati Kanyahanbi Devi. During World War II on 10 May 1942, the Japanese began bombing Imphal, the Capital of Manipur. Yogendra Singh took his family to shelter in a barrack on the banks of the Yangoi river. In 1944, Yogendra died of typhoid. The war eventually came to end, his uncle Thoudam Ibomcha Singh struggled through tough times to support him and shortly thereafter Thoudam Damodar was separated from his mother and younger sister. His elder sister Srimati Ahanbi Devi began to look after him. As a young boy, he learned how to till the land left by his father to help maintain himself and his sister. In 1949, his sister got married and he was left alone. Not wanting to burden anyone, he used to cultivate paddy for his livelihood. Living through hardships, Thoudam Damodar planned to give up schooling. Seeing his adversity, Sri Thokchom Yadav Singh, his primary school teacher, approached his colleague Sri Thoudam Kerani Singh and requested to help Thoudam Damodar. Sri Thoudam Kerani Singh agreed, and Thoudam Damodar moved into Sri Kerani's home.