
Nicholas
D'Angelo was born on May 20, 1950 and was raised a strict Roman
Catholic. He went to Catholic school for 13 years, but did not even
finish one semester of college at St. Johns University in New York
City. Instead, the dormant lusty desires in his heart manifested
and he became a "hippy" in 1968.
Pursuing the
path of "sex, drugs and rock n roll", he tried to become
famous and successful as a singer. But by 1972 the reactions of
four years of intense sinful life began to weigh him down mightily.
Fortunately, he came in contact with first the books, then the devotees
and then Shreela Prabhupada himself. In July of 1973 Nicholas surrendered
to Krishna via ISKCON. Shreela Prabhupada gave him his spiritual
name, Nirantara dasa, in April of 1974.
Next year, he
got his 2nd birth. From 1973 until 1980 he served the mission as
a brahmacari in the capacity of book distribution, either directly
or as a back-up helper. From 1980 until the present, he has tried
to serve the will of Shreela Prabhupada by preaching through lectures
and music concerts. His preaching began in Canada (Montreal, Ottawa,
Vancouver), where he met his wife, Varuni devi dasi, also an initiated
disciple of Shreela Prabhupada, and co-author of one third of his
song-repertoire. From there he returned to the United States (1982),
spending time preaching in San Francisco (teaching at the ISKCON
school), then in 1983 until present he made his preaching headquarters
in the Los Angeles area.
Since 1999 he
makes yearly preaching visits to Panama; since 2005 yearly visits
to Santiago, Chile; and has also preached in South Africa, South
India, as well as Seattle, Portland, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and
Arizona. Primarily his preaching is with the Indian community, but
his music concerts widen his audience to include others. From 1995
until 2001 he was Vice President of ISKCON Los Angeles (New Dvaraka)
and from 1995 until 2007 he was also the Life Membership Director.
In February 2007 he became an independent preacher for Shreela Prabhuapda
with no particular affiliation with any particular temple. This
has allowed him to do more extensive preaching world-wide. In 2005
he produced a Bhagavad-geeta DVD wherein the entire text is explained
in simple and concise language for anyone to understand the deep
mysteries of its science.
In his spare
time (when not going out for preaching) he composes and records
original recordings of the Shreela Prabhupada's teachings of what
he calls "Bhaktivedanta-yoga" in western musical format
using guitar, keyboard, and bass. His only desire is to live to
be 108 following in the footsteps of Narada Muni, traveling all
over the world preaching and singing.
In 2005 he was
awarded the prestigious "Global Excellence Award" for
congregational preaching services from ISKCON.
|