Sivarama Swami is an internationally acknowledged religious leader, theologian, author of 23 books and dozens of articles, and an environmental and human rights activist. His scholarship and writings, his extensive public activities, his continued efforts to stand up for human rights, and his regular involvement in interfaith dialogues have made Sivarama Swami one of the most prominent religious leaders in Europe.

Sivarama Swami was born in 1949 in Budapest, Hungary, to Pal and Magda, survivors of the Holocaust. His family’s trauma has largely contributed to Sivarama Swami’s sensitivity to human rights issues throughout his life. In 1956, after the failed Hungarian revolution, he and his family migrated to Canada. He studied engineering at McGill University in Montreal, but shortly before graduation turned his interest towards Eastern philosophy and religion.

In 1973, Sivarama Swami joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a dynamic organisation representing Vaishnavism, and became a disciple of ISKCON’s Founder-Acharya, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Six years later, at age 29, he entered a life of renunciation and was awarded the order of sannyasa (celibate monk). In 1987 he was ordained as an initiating spiritual master in the Vaishnava denomination.