HH Prahladananda Swami

His Holiness Prahlādānanda Swami is a Vaiṣṇava swami and a religious leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). He is an initiating spiritual master (dīkṣā-guru) and a member of the Governing Body Commission. Prahlādānanda Swami was born as Philip Burbank in 1949, in Buffalo, New York. In January 1969, while studying at the University of Buffalo, he joined ISKCON and the same year was initiated by A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda, receiving the name Prahlādnānda Dāsa. In 1975 he joined the Rādhā-Dāmodara preaching bus tour, organized by Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Goswami and Viṣṇujana Swami. In 1982 he took sannyāsa and in 1986 he became one of the initiating gurus in ISKCON. In 1989 he became a member of the VIHE (Vṛndāvan Institute for Higher Education) in Vṛndāvana. In 1990 he was appointed to head the Governing Body Commission’s committee of Health and Welfare. In 1991, the GBC also made him the head of sannyāsa ministry.