Ranchor Prime

Ranchor Prime is a British author, researcher on Hindu environmental issues, and a Hindu religious scholar. Ranchor Prime is best known for his books on Hinduism and ecology. He is a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Ranchor Prime has translated the Bhagavad Gita into English. It was published with illustrations by B. G. Sharma as The Illustrated Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation with Commentary.

Ranchor Prime is an advisor on religion and conservation to the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, and he is co-founder and director of Friends of Vrindavan, an environmental charity active in Britain and India. He is also a member of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture (ICOREC).

Ranchor was born as Richard Prime in the 1950s in Leeds. He was brought up within the Roman Catholic tradition. From a very early age he was "saturated with Catholic devotion". He lived in a cathedral, lived with Benedictine monks and was a choirboy.

While studying at Chelsea College of Art and Design, he "very quickly lost faith in the materialistic sort of life". He started to look for something deep and spiritual, and along with his friends used LSD and other drugs. At the same time, he became interested in the "mystic East", which provided "a tremendous spiritual tradition but one that was different to the West".

In the 1970s he joined ISKCON, popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. Richard came in contact with Hare Krishna mantra through the musical Hair, that had then just arrived in London. One of the centerpieces of the musical was the whole cast dancing on stage and singing Hare Krishna. Later, Richard's sister bought the record, which caught his imagination. After that, he and his friends used to sing Hare Krishna "without really knowing what it was about". Around the same time, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had sent six of his very early disciples from America to London. Later, they recorded Hare Krishna mantra with The Beatles on the Radha Krishna Temple album. In radio interviev with Alex Chadwick Ranchor Prime recalls: "I saw the devotees once or twice, the Hare Krishna devotees, singing on Kings Road in Chelsea. A friend of mine said, "Why don't you come along, they're really nice people." I met them, and it was one of those moments in life when I knew that I belonged here with these people". Richard recalls, that it took him about three days to become a Hare Krishna monk.

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