Visnujana Swami

He was born as Mark Stephen Datillo on June 2, 1948, in San Jose, California to parents Maureen (née Desmet) (1924-2017) and Joseph D'Attilo (1923-2006). At the age of seventeen, he moved to San Francisco along with his girlfriend, whom he then married. In 1966–1967 Vishnujana first came into contact with the Hare Krishnas, and by 1968 he had received initiation from Srila Prabhupada and became a full-time member of the movement. On July 20, 1970, he was ordained a sannyasa.

Vishnujana played the harmonium and mridanga. Musical recordings of Vishnujana would later be released in 1995[http://www.vishnujana.com/Timeline.htm "Timeline - 1995 - BBT releases Vishnujana recordings"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927024955/http://www.vishnujana.com/Timeline.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}, Vishnujana.com.

By 1973, he led a group of Hare Krishnas, the Radha-Damodara Traveling Sankirtan Party (named after the particular murtis (deities) carried on the bus), in a proselytizing bus trip across the USA.{{cite book |last1=Goswami |first1=Satsvarupa dasa |title=Prabhupada: Your Ever Well-Wisher |date=1995 |publisher=Bhaktivedanta Book Trust |page=271 |isbn=9789171494696 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_GkZAkxYOEC&dq=Visnujana+Radha-Damodara+Traveling+Sankirtan+Party&pg=PA271 |access-date=13 January 2022}}

In March 16, 1976,[https://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/festival/38/sri_gaura-purnima_srimad-bhagavatam_7938/mayapur/march/16/1976 Śrīla Prabhupāda's class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.9.38), March 16, 1976 (Śrī Gaura-Pūrṇimā) at Māyāpur.][https://www.drikpanchang.com/iskcon/iskcon-event-calendar.html?year=1976 ISKCON Calendar.] In 1976, Gaura-Pūrṇimā fell on March 16. during the Gaura Purnima festival in India, Vishnujana Swami disappeared.{{Cite web |title=The Legend of Vishnujana Maharaja {{!}} Suhotra Maharaja Archives |url=https://www.suhotraswami.net/abhaya-ashram-notes/the-legend-of-vishnujana-maharaja/ |access-date=2023-09-18 |language=en-US}} "Disappear" is a word used in the Vaishnava/Hare Krishna movement that means "to die."{{cite web | url=https://btg.krishna.com/novdec2012-dying-to-disappear | title=Dying to Disappear | date=June 6, 2023 }}

In 1999, a biography of Vishnujana Swami entitled Radha-Damodara Vilasa was published by Vaiyasaki das Adhikari.

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• [http://www.prabhupadavani.org/Bhajans/Vintage_Series.html Vishnujana & Prabhupada Kirtan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070120102602/http://www.prabhupadavani.org/Bhajans/Vintage_Series.html |date=January 20, 2007 }} (VN024-06)

{{Modern Gaudiya Vaishnavas|state=collapsed}}

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Category:International Society for Krishna Consciousness religious figures

Category:Converts to Hinduism

Category:1948 births

Category:1976 deaths

Category:American Hare Krishnas

Category:Performers of Hindu music

Category:20th-century Indian singers

Category:1976 suicides

Category:Suicides by drowning