Bhaktisiddhanta Das was the creative Director of the ISKCON Delhi Museum.

His
contribution to conscious art and making Murtis is well known. He is also the
coordinator of the Vaisnava Art Committee of the WVA. For more than 35 years
he was dedicated in Vrindavan to his artistic work and the daily seva to Radha
Syama Sundar.

Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhu’s career as a professional artist (painter, sculptor,

architect etc.) and art professor started in the sixties in New York city. After
graduating from one of the country’s most prestigious art colleges he traveled to
Italy where he spent two years painting. His life and career had a very important
turnover when he later met His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada who became his Spiritual master. Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhu became
then part of the L.A. art division team until Srila Prabhupada directly told him to
stay in Vrindavan. Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhu has been living in Vrindavan since,
doing pujari service for over thirty years, training artists within ISKCON and
producing an immense body of work using different media. He is now publishing
Krishna conscious art books and made a presentation to our teachers of his latest
publication of an illustrated biographical book on Srila Prabhupada. He also
spoke about the importance of education and the arts and how we should always
keep Srila Prabhupada in the center.

Legal Name (optional): 

Alfred J. Valerio
Spiritual Master (diksa, siksa, or aspiring for): 
Srila Prabhupada
Birth Year and Place: 
1939, Corning, New York
Current Location: 
Vrindavan
Phone: 
Mobile- 9759182406, land: (955) 742-7947
Email: 
bhaktisiddhanta@yahoo.com
Website: 
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003421071488
Tell us about your creative experience: 
In short, I am trained and qualified in the areas of Architecture, Painting,
Sculpture, Drawing, Writing, and normally give classes in the Vrindavan temple
each month. Over the years I have been making hundreds of Srila Prabhupada
murties as well as murties or statures for many different outside groups who see
the murties that we have made here of Srila Prabhupada. In the field of
Architecture my training has been wide, ranging from standard conventional to
radical new unknown concepts in construction. Srila Prabhupada wanted Vedic
cities built in all the dhamas; first of course Mayapur then Vrindavan, Puri,
Dwarka, and Kurukshetra. The Vrindavana Vedic City plan I now have copy writ
is a mixture of both trends evolving over a period of 28 years of thought and
consideration based on all the problems confronted on the Mayapur project over
the many earlier years I was involved, and the mistakes I witnessed on all other
projects before and after the Samadhi work. Biographical: From a back issue of
BTG written by her grace; Nandarani, DD While in Florence, Bhaktisiddhanta das
painted murals for churches and seriously considered letting his beard grow,
donning a long flowing robe, and joining the order of Capuchin monks. But he
gave up that idea and returned to the States to begin his career. "I was frustrated
as an artist," reflects Bhaktisiddhanta das, "because I wanted to amalgamate
truth and beauty. But the truths of life around us birth, old age, disease, and
death are far from beautiful. And the beauty we do see is so temporary and
insubstantial that it doesn't represent any lasting truth." Unable to find a
satisfying solution to his dilemma, Bhaktisiddhanta das had to content himself
with producing ads for Jeeps, Tide, Ivory Soap, and Duncan Hines cakes. Then
Bhaktisiddhanta das and his wife, now known as Vidya-devi dasi, paid their first
visit to a Hare Krsna temple, in Miami. "I was astounded," he remembers. "I was
introduced to Lord Krsna, who is simultaneously the Absolute Truth and the
embodiment of Absolute Beauty. I knew immediately that Krsna consciousness
was what I'd been looking for." Joining the Hare Krsna movement didn't slow
down Bhaktisiddhanta's art production in the least. In fact, it gave his artistic life
new depth and direction. Now at last he had a worthy subject for the painting,
sculpture, and architecture he'd mastered. Bhaktisiddhanta das reflects on the
first lecture he attended at the Hare Krsna center in Miami: "The speaker
described how Maha-Visnu, an expansion of Lord Krsna, creates the cosmos by
exhaling universes as He lies in the Causal Ocean. I anticipated with great
excitement being able to illustrate the actual creation in full detail." Even more
exciting for Bhaktisiddhanta das was discovering the personalistic theology
taught in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, two basic books of Vedic
knowledge. This theology encompassed the life and activities of a personal God,
not an abstract, impersonal energy. Bhaktisiddhanta das learned that God has
form and personality along with an enchanting kingdom full of His friends and
relatives and a variety of flowers, trees, birds, and animals. Moreover, Krsna
consciousness was exemplified by a self-realized master of the art of serving God
Srila Prabhupada. "To become a professional artist you must find an art master
and study under him," explains Bhaktisiddhanta. "So the idea of accepting a guru
wasn't new to me. I'd had many art 'gurus' who'd helped me shape my art style
and professional techniques. But my spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, was able
to improve my art in a more profound way, by giving it a spiritual foundation."
Now Bhaktisiddhanta is offering that spiritual art back to Srila Prabhupada. His
expertise in sculpture and painting is helping to produce a unique architectural
masterpiece Srila Prabhupada's puspa-samadhi, or memorial tomb, in Mayapur.
He described some of its features: "Around the dome of the samadhi will stand
sixteen twelve-foot-high statues depicting devotional practices taught by Srila
Prabhupada, such as worship of the Deity in the temple, protection of cows,
Vedic education, and distribution of literature about Krsna. Nine eight-foot-high
statues will show various ways to serve Krsna hearing His instructions, chanting
about Him, remembering Him, and so on. In addition, sixteen hundred feet of
bas-relief panels will portray devotees chanting Hare Krsna in chorus while
hundreds of demigods shower flowers and benedictions upon them and Srila
Prabhupada." Working as an assistant to His Holiness Surabhir-abhipalayantam
Goswami, the chief architect for the Mayapur project, Bhaktisiddhanta has
designed all the figures that embellish the samadhi. He gives his drawings to
sculptors, who carve the pieces and later cast them in cement or bronze under
his direction. Bhaktisiddhanta is also preparing a larger-than-life-size statue of
Srila Prabhupada, which will sit in an ornate inner chamber four stories high. In
addition, he plans more than a dozen three-quarter-size plaster dioramas that
will encircle the eighty-foot-wide building and portray the philosophy of Krsna
consciousness and the pastimes of Lord Krsna. Simultaneously, Bhaktisiddhanta
is helping to construct a traditional samadhi in Vrndavana, the town ninety miles
south of Delhi where Krsna enacted His childhood pastimes. This samadhi, which
marks the actual resting place of Srila Prabhupada's body, will be finished in
luminous white marble. It will house a museum of dioramas portraying Srila
Prabhupada's life. Bhaktisiddhanta's work will by no means end with the
completion of the samadhis in Mayapur and Vrndavana. At that point he will
simply turn his attention toward the greater task of spreading Krsna
consciousness all over the world through art. "Architecture coupled with
painting, sculpture, and dioramas is a potent way to spread Krsna
consciousness," says Bhaktisiddhanta das. All major religions have glorified God
by erecting magnificent buildings temples, mosques, churches, cathedrals,
synagogues. We want to affirm the permanence of Vedic culture through
splendid architecture, and we also want to introduce the West to Krsna, the
pinnacle of artistic expression. "Just as the philosophy of Krsna consciousness is
gradually bringing about a spiritual revolution in the field of Western
philosophy, I believe the art of the Hare Krsna movement will cause a similar
revolution in the art world. The philosophy is personal and the art is personal
nothing abstract about it. Abstract art typifies social alienation. But people don't
want to be alienated: they want meaningful personal relationships. Through our
sculptures, paintings, and dioramas, people can learn the philosophy of Krsna
consciousness and begin to reestablish their eternal relationship with the
Supreme Person, Krsna." Many Hare Krsna leaders agree with Bhaktisiddhanta
that art and spreading Krsna consciousness go hand in hand. Bhaktisiddhanta
will design and direct the production of dioramas from the Srimad-Bhagavatam
as well as the Mahabharata and Ramayana, two classical Vedic historiesfor the
Delhi ISKCON temple. Although busy with two large construction projects,
Bhaktisiddhanta still finds time to use his illustrational talents. In Vrndavana, he
often turns his attention to what he was first trained for book illustration. His
current project is The Life of Srila Prabhupada, a 32-page illustrated booklet
based on the Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, a biography of Srila Prabhupada by Srila
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami. In his illustrations, Bhaktisiddhanta has caught the
mood of Srila Prabhupada as he struggled with determination to spread love of
God worldwide. Another book consists of on-site illustrations detailing the
arduous task of building the samadhis in Mayapur and Vrndavana. For
Bhaktisiddhanta, life in the Hare Krsna art world is far more exciting and
productive than life on Madison Avenue. "By the ingenuity of my spiritual
master, I have found a satisfying way to put all those years of training and
experience to use. My love for my work grows as I find newer and more potent
means of achieving and teaching spiritual knowledge through art."
Achievements: 
• First one man show/ 1947, eight years old; subsequent shows in Europe,
America, Costa Rica, and India. • Received the Eagle Scout award the highest rank
in the Boy Scouts of America. 1955. • Received the Fred Carter award for
excellence in the arts- 1957. Graduated as the top artist in my high school class. •
Received the John F. Stacey fellowship for classical painting- 1965. • BPA/ BFA
graduate of Art Center School, Los Angeles, Calif. 1965. Ad designer storyboard
artist working for Compton Advertising 1965-66 • Graduate study work in Rome
and Florence 1966- 1968, produced more than seven hundred paintings in one
summer. • Professor Drawing and Painting at New York University Extension,
Corning, New York. • In the spring of 1969, the Today Show ran a special on a
series of paintings which featured grape growing and wine making of upstate
New York Finger Lakes area. • Commissions and painting contracts from
corporate logos to city hall murals. In Italy executed several commissions for
paintings in churches in Northern Italy. • Architectural design and art work for
ISKCON 1975- to present day. • Received the honorary title of master of art/
excellence in the arts from Agra University, 1998. • Overseeing teams of
sculptors, painters, and craftsmen finalized bronze panels in the Samadhi of His
Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder and spiritual
guide of the Hare Krsna movement. • Early conceptual designer for the Mayapur
Vedic Planetarium, (see Y-tube for a virtual reality presentation.) • After leaving
high school I joined the U.S. Navy for 2 years active duty working one year as an
Illustrative Draftsman third class petty officer for the Admiral of Destroyer Force
Atlantic Fleet. (Comdeslant)- 1958-60. Married Mary Lou Evans of Mansfield, Pa.
1973, one daughter age 21. • Education: Attended the newly formed Corning
Community College then in its second semester, later transferred to Art Center
School, Pasadena, California- 1961-65 and received a BFA/BPA in Illustration.
Graduate study in Italy- Academia di Belli Arti- Rome, Italy- 1966-67- Universita
di Stranieri- Florence, Italy- 1966-67. • Awards: The John F. and Anna Lee Stacey
fellowship for classical painting- 1965, Master achievement in the arts, Agra
University- 1998. Present Sevite- The Radha Madhava Temple, Vrindavana, India.
Present Minister of Culture for the ISKCON society. • Art experience: Madison
Ave. storyboard artist for Compton Advertising, NYC doing TV and Print media-
1965-66, developed idea sketches from rough stick figures to finished
illustration from memory. Typical accounts: Proctor and Gamble, Jeep, Duncan
Hines, Tide, etc. Professional experience of nearly 50 years in the areas of;
painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic design, illustration, photography, [still
and film], history of art, art appreciation and creative writing. Lecturer in all the
above with demonstrations given in all areas of painting and sculpture- in all
mediums. Also lecturer in the areas of; comparative religions, eastern and
western religions, eastern philosophy Specialization; Seasoned professional in
bronze casting, fiber-glass and mixed media sculpture. • Architectural projects:
Designed and helped in all phases of the construction on two major projects-
[Vrindaban and Mayapur, India] Samadhi or memorial tomb marble
constructions for His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada-
1978-90, both projects required initial sketch concept drawings to finished full
size drawings on all phases of the construction. The artwork for both projects
required elaborate painting and sculpture work. Delhi, India- assisted in the
design and construction of the Glory of India Museum and temple project. The
Delhi museum work consisted of 23 high relief fiber-glass and bonded bronze
sculptural panels and several large oil murals. The artwork was executed during
the period 1997-99. • Present project: designing The Temple of Understanding,
[Temple of the Vedic Planetarium] this temple and museum complex will be
larger than the Vatican church, when the project reaches maturity hundreds of
artists will be working to execute all the paintings and sculpture that will have to
be completed over the next period of 20-30 years. • Books published: The Birth
of Lord Krsna- text and illustration. The Life of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada, text. Vrindavana Vedic City, a spiritual city on earth- text and
illustrations. Art Treasures of the Mahabharata- text, sculpture and illustrations-
Torchlight publishing. Bio- data: • After leaving high school I joined the U.S. Navy
for 2 years active duty working one year as an Illustrative Draftsman third class
petty officer for the Admiral of Destroyer Force Atlantic Fleet. (Comdeslant)-
1958-60. Married Mary Lou Evans of Mansfield, Pa. 1973, one daughter age 17. •
Education: Attended the newly formed Corning Community College then in its
second semester, later transferred to Art Center School, Pasadena, California-
1961-65 and received a BFA/BPA in Illustration. Graduate study in Italy-
Academia di Belli Arti- Rome, Italy- 1966-67- Universita di Stranieri- Florence,
Italy- 1966-67. • Art experience: Madison Ave. storyboard artist for Compton
Advertising, NYC doing TV and Print media- 1965-66, developed idea sketches
from rough stick figures to finished illustration from memory. Typical accounts:
Proctor and Gamble, Jeep, Duncan Hines, Tide, etc. Professional experience of
nearly 60 years in the areas of; painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic design,
illustration, photography, [still and film], history of art, art appreciation and
creative writing. Lecturer in all the above with demonstrations given in all areas
of painting and sculpture- in all mediums. Also lecturer in the areas of;
comparative religions, eastern and western religions, eastern philosophy
Specialization; Seasoned professional in bronze casting, fiber-glass and mixed
media sculpture. • Architectural projects: Designed and helped in all phases of
the construction on two major projects- [Vrindaban and Mayapur, India]
Samadhi or memorial tomb marble constructions for His Divine Grace Srila
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada- 1978-90, both projects required initial
sketch concept drawings to finished full size drawings on all phases of the
construction. The art work for both projects required elaborate painting and
sculpture work. Delhi, India- assisted in the design and construction of the Glory
of India Museum and temple project. The Delhi museum work consisted of 23
high relief fiber-glass and bonded bronze sculptural panels and several large oil
murals. The art work was executed during the period 1997-99. • Present project:
designing The Temple of Understanding, [Temple of the Vedic Planetarium] this
temple and museum complex will be larger than the Vatican church, when the
project reaches maturity hundreds of artists will be working to execute all the
paintings and sculpture that will have to be completed over the next period of
20-30 years. • Books published: The Birth of Lord Krsna- text and illustration.
The Life of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, text. Vrindavana Vedic City, a
spiritual city on earth- text and illustrations. Art Treasures of the Mahabharata-
text, sculpture and illustrations- Torchlight publishing. • Working with Abhirama
das, I submitted some changes on the last Mayapur Planetarium concept which
he immediately implemented. I saw the existing concept at that time was given a
cosmetic job coating the real form which was the base structure sitting inside. So
along with striping down the coating I introduced the traditional indigenous
Bengal arch and charja which covers some outside areas, which I indicated in my
conceptual drawings, must house large bronze sculpture. I have set up a large
scale bronze casting facility for casting two large 9’X6’ bronze panels for Srila
Prabhupada’s Samadhi in Vrindaban. • Working with Surabhir, just after Srila
Prabhupada left, I was commissioned to do the first elevation drawings of
Samadhies, here and Mayapur, meaning there were no finished views of anything
before these drawings were produced. Surabhir was in charge and approved all
the work I did and suggested changes; we worked well together for all the years
we were together on both the Samadhies. Although I did the first drawings and
brought the first views into reality, many were involved from start to finish. •
Working with Gopal Krishna Maharaja my studio and group of artists did all the
art work for the Delhi project, this included all of the 23 large Mahabharata
panels measuring as large as 11 feet long and 6 feet high. Also all the paintings
hanging on the ceiling in the temple were all done under my supervision. • The
name ‘Glory of India’ was taking from my early brochure printed in Bombay 20
years ago entitled, “Vrindavana Vedic City”. I was the first and only devotee
architectural consultant on the Delhi project. At that time I was the only person
who could read the drawings and found many errors which saved the project
considerable embarrassments and vast amounts of Laxmi. • Working with some
of the leading bronze casters in India, we produced the high relief, highly
detailed eight bronze panels now upstairs in Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi here in
Vrindaban. • Working with the devotees in Shiliguri, West Bengal, I designed
their temple and surrounding areas. In addition I have been instrumental in
many other temple and small constructions here in India. • At present I have
some five books ready for print, one was printed before by Torchlight publishing
some years ago called, Art Treasures of the Mahabharata, and this book shows
the drawings I did in preparation for the 23 high relief panels cast in fiber glass.
Another book called; ACARYA is a series of drawings which illustrate some of the
words Srila Prabhupada himself spoke or wrote concerning his own life history. •
For all of the last 35 years I have been serving Their Lordships, Radha
Shyamasundar in Vrindaban, except for a short 2 year break my wife and I spent
in Mayapur when I was in charge of both Samadhi constructions. • For Torchlight
I also illustrated their ‘Ramayana’ book, and have done many other books, one
for Bala books, a pictorial drawing book on The Life of Srila Prabhupada. o I
worked for FATE in the early days, I did the ‘Changing Bodies’ display three
times, the first model, and the first two big editions from which all the molds
were taken. I did most of all the animals, demons and weapons used in all the
different dioramas in that first museum. • Vrindaban contact info: • 9557427947
mobile number or email; bhaktisiddhanta@yahoo.com
Ability to Travel: 
yes
Expenses and fees for your services: 
only expenses