Sant Keshavdasji

Sant Keshavdas was a Advaita Vedanta teacher, a prolific writer, composer and international teacher. He has founded the Temple of Cosmic Religion at Nelamangala, near Bangalore. He was born on 22-07-1934 in Bhadragiri, a villege in Udupi District. Bhadragiri Venkataramana Pai and Rukminiyamma were his parents In 1956, he passed B.A. from M.G.M. College, Manipal and L.L.B. from Udupi Law College.

Career
At the age of 11, Keshavdas received a mystical vision of Lord Vishnu, which inspired him to sing the word of God wherever he went in order to spread Sanatana Dharma across the world. Bhaktha Prahlada was his first performance of Harikatha at his native Bhadragiri. Later he was invited to render Harikatha at Brahmavar, Barkur, Kalyanapur and nearby villages. He became very famous both in Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada District. In 1959, He received a invitation to give Bhagavata Saptaha in an ashram at Malleshwaram, Bangalore. He was scholar of Kannada, Konkani, Tulu, English, Hindi, Marathi languages and he used to perform program in all those languages. In 1961, he founded Dasashrama in Bangalore. There he established a statue of Purandara Vithala and celebrated 400th birth anniversary of Purandara dasa. He established Vithala temple and Keerthan College at Rajamandri, Kakinada and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. He wrote text books for Keerthana College. He published Dasavani (Knnada) and Dasajyoti (English) monthly magazine. He has also organised a convention of Keerthankaras of Karnataka and All India Keerthanakara sammelan in Bangalore. In 1966, at the Kumbhamela held in Allahabad, Keshavadas met the immortal Babaji, who encouraged him to go to west to establish the cosmic religion. He traveled to Germany, England and Newyork to spread the message of Sanatana Dharma. Keshavdas continued to make frequent trips across the world over the next 30 years. He established several ashram including Vishwa Shanthi Ashram Bangalore, in Trinidad and in Oakland, California. All 700 stanzas of the Bhagavad Gita are carved in black marble in English, Hindi, Sanskrit and Kannada in his Bhagavad Gita Temple, Bangalore. He has composed more than 600 keerthanas.