Page 127 - Shri Venkateswara Book

PROFILE

Hari Vilas Das Joined ISKCON in 1969 and was initiated
the following year by Srila Prabhupada. He set up the
first temple in Paris the same year and was appointed
the temple president. Prabhupada visited Paris for the
first time in 1971 and returned six times.

Sensing a need for satvik products, he started the
Spiritual Sky in Paris in 1971. It bloomed into a very big
business by 1976 with two factories, one in France and
the other in England with offices in France, England
and Holland to enable distribution of products all over
Europe.

Hari Vilas das realized the importance of books in
Prabhupada’s mission and donated generously to print
Srila Prabhupada’s books in foreign languages in order
to spread Krishna Consciousness across the world. His
generosity resulted in translation and printing of books
in many languages like Bengali, Oriya, Japanese, Swahili,
Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, and Farsi.

Hari Vilas das, with his keen grasp on philosophy and
working of ISKCON, was nominated as a member of the
GBC in 1987 and also a BBT Trustee. In 1987, he moved
to Berkeley to take on the role of Temple President
and became GBC for California, Oregon, Washington
State, Western Canada, Alaska and many countries of
the Middle East and parts of India. His timely efforts

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