His Holiness Giridhari Swami Maharaja found himself at a very young age to be especially inclined to religion and religious activities. Being the deeply spiritual person that he is today, he always tried to see a philosophical or religious aspect to everything; indeed at a very early stage in his life. He was always attracted to reading various types of books and gathering different ideas pertaining to philosophy, religion and spirituality. He remained unsatisfied, being unable to see the practical application of those philosophical ideas. In the course of his search, he encountered many religious communities, and came in contact with various persons, searching for the same things, trying to apply philosophies matter-of-fact. Striving to understand them, nothing really hit him as being the thing he was looking for. His questions remained unanswered, and the process of application, remained vague. Giridhari Maharaja would very often and intensely pray to God, asking God to show him the answer, point the way. Shortly after that, in 1974, believing it to be Krishna’s arrangement, he somehow or other went to a second-hand bookstore. When he moved to Florida, USA. It had been practically a year that he was continuously chanting sixteen rounds, following the principles, reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, listening to his lecture tapes, and training himself to cook and offer his food. He had not yet visited any temple nor met one of the devotees. Svarupa Prabhu then sent him a Back to Godhead magazine with the complete list of ISKCON temples worldwide. Noticing that ISKCON Gainesville, Florida, USA was only about 60 miles from where he was living, he was elated. Giridhari Maharaja joined the GBC in 1996, as several devotees as well as His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja felt that it would increase his service in various ways. He became GBC chairman in 2002. He also assisted His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja in various projects in Texas, where he was assigned GBC.
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