| Madhu Pandit Dasa (former name Madhusudan S) | | | | and construction of a colossal cultural complex, |
| was born in 1956 in Trivandrum, India. As a pre-degree | | | | mobilization of support and fund raising to a tune of Rs. |
| student, he was selected by the National Science | | | | 38 crores (Rs.380 million or $ 9.5 million) and recruiting |
| Talent search program of the country. He completed | | | | and training nearly 100 full-time dedicated members of |
| his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT-Mumbai in the | | | | ISKCON Bangalore. The monumental Cultural Complex |
| year 1980. During his days in IIT, he became interested | | | | was inaugurated in 1997 by the then President of India |
| in the books of Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya | | | | Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma. |
| of ISKCON Bangalore. While he was doing his M.Tech | | | | In 1994, Madhu Pandit Das initiated an integrated social |
| course in IIT-Mumbai in 1981, he dedicated himself to | | | | development project for the benefit of the rural people |
| the service of humanity by becoming a full-time | | | | of Mysore and Mandya districts. A model, prototype |
| member of ISKCON. | | | | organic farm based on natural and earth-friendly |
| Madhu Pandit Das began to travel all over South India | | | | farming methods along with an internationally |
| organizing programs to increase the awareness of | | | | accredited farmer-training center has been setup in the |
| ISKCON and its mission. Seeing his potential as a | | | | 110-acre land on the banks of river Kaveri in |
| leader, he was soon made the President of ISKCON, | | | | Srirangapatam. |
| Trivandrum. In 1983, he became involved in overseeing | | | | The primary purpose of this is to establish |
| the activities of ISKCON, Bangalore along with his | | | | self-sufficient farming communities. The farming |
| responsibilities in Trivandrum temple. At that time a | | | | techniques employed are traditional and organic to |
| small fledgling centre in a rented apartment in an | | | | promote pro-environmental agriculture. Hundreds of |
| inconspicuous neighborhood of the city. Under his | | | | farmers are deriving inspiration to adopt environmental |
| leadership, soon the popularity and activities of | | | | and soil friendly agricultural methods researched and |
| ISKCON-Bangalore began to blossom. In 1988, the | | | | disseminated scientifically from this model farm. Rural |
| Government of Karnataka allotted 6.5 acres of a | | | | women are trained in this farm in the practices and |
| rocky abandoned hillock in the city to set up a cultural | | | | methods of organic farming. This farm is also |
| complex. Being dissatisfied with what the | | | | supporting hundreds of farmers during the transition |
| commissioned architects were proposing for the | | | | from chemical to organic farms. Many neighboring |
| cultural complex, he took upon himself to design the | | | | farms have successfully converted into organic farms. |
| complex according to what he had envisioned. Soon | | | | Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa initiated the Akshaya Patra |
| he also started organizing efforts to raise funds for the | | | | program to provide mid-day meals to underprivileged |
| construction of the complex. The next ten years | | | | children in the Government schools of Bangalore Rural |
| unfolded an unprecedented scale of development on | | | | District during July 2000. |
| the hillock, now called the Hare Krishna Hill: the design | | | | |