The Journey Begins: Why Ananta Rāma?

beach editedAnanta Rāma is a combination of two names of God in the Vedic tradition: the former means infinite, endless, infinity; the latter means pleasing, pleasurable, or the source of all pleasure. I loosely translate it as the Source of Infinite Pleasure. My spiritual preceptor, Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami Maharaja, gave me the name of Ananta Rāma Dāsa (the servant of Ananta Rāma) upon initiating me into the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition in 2006 in the holy city of Jagannatha Puri, Odisha (formerly Orissa), India. Due to my good fortune, I was able to visit India as part of a $2,000 grant from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, to present at the Second All India Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest, where I was a plenary speaker.