This picture is of when Prabhupada was arriving at the Pittsburgh airport in 1974 on his way to New Vrindaban.
The question is which three devotees in this picture later became ISKCON gurus. Click on the thumbnail to try your luck.
One of them practically everyone in ISKCON will recognize and this will be a treat for his disciples. Another one you would probably have to have spent some time in New Vrindaban. Hint: his face is partially covered. The third I will be surprised if anyone gets.
I will put the answers into a comment on this post.
FYI, I was on the security detail and walked ahead of him coming down the corridor checking hallways and doorways. I am out of frame because I opened the car door for him.
It was the first time I ever saw Srila Prabhupada. I had two immediate impressions. One, he was shorter than I expected and he seemed to glow.
Looking back down the corridor the visual was like seeing a flower. Prabhupada was like the stamen and Kirtananada was like the pistil and all the devotees were like petals.
Letting go for a moment the cultural baggage of the present conception, at that time Kirtanananda was in good graces and Prabhupada was pleased him. He was our link to Prabhupada receiving the future from Prabhupada just as a pistil receives pollen from the stamen.
View From a New Vrindaban Ridge 
January 22, 2010 at 9:37 am
Halfway between the pillar and the left of the picture with his hands folded in front of him is Radhanath das brahmacari. Most of you probably saw him.
On the right side of the picture with his face partially obscured by a woman holding a baby is Kasyapa das brahmacari, aka Varsana Swami. Trust me, it is him, I spent my first winter in New Vrindaban as a brahmacari in an unheated cabing with him at the Vrindaban farm. WE spent years togehter in the plow department. FYI, Radhanath was the pujari at that time up there.
Here is the stumper. In the middle of the picture standing off the curb holding a baby is Paramananda das adhikari. He later moved to and was one of the founders of Gita Nagari. He became a guru and only initiated one disciple, Hare Krishna dd, compiler of the Varnashrama books.
If anyone got him please let meknow as that is a pretty obscure bit of ISKCON trivia.
January 26, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Paramananda was the first one I saw, right away. But I’ve lived at Gita-nagari since early 80’s, when Hare Krsna dasi was initiated. Then I saw Varsana Maharaja. It took your description for me to find Radhanatha Swami. So, do I win some maha??
January 27, 2010 at 12:16 pm
That is true, for oldtimers in Gita Nagari you would know Paramananda. As for the maha, I will use all my influence with the pujaris at Gita Nagari to get some for you. Which may not help much as I don’t knwo any of them. :-)
January 22, 2010 at 9:44 am
FYI, the guy holding the danda isn’t a swami, that was sort of the trick part of this, because you might have thought a swami would have become a guru. That is Sudhanu das adhikari, my current next door neighbor.
My speculation is he is holding either Kirtanananda’s or Prabhupada’s danda.
In a way, he was a guru, because I have heard Bhakta Tirtha Swami refer to him as his vartnaman guru, the one who first brings you to Krishna consciousness. He says Sudhanu came to Princeton and visited him in his room and convinced him to visit a temple. He was the first devotee Bhakta Tirtha Swami met.
January 24, 2010 at 12:31 am
Well, now I know what to call you. You are my “varmint guru”. Figures…