Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami
Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Maharaja , also known as Dr. Thoudam Damodara Singh, was a Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader, scientist, writer and poet. In 1971 he received spiritual initiation from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A few years later he became one of the religious leaders of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness .
Thoudam Damodar was born in Toubul, part of the Bishnupur district, Manipur, India, onDecember 1937 to Sri Thoudam Yogendra Singh and Srimati Kanyahanbi Devi. During World War II onMay 1942, the Japanese began bombing Imphal, the Capital of Manipur. Yogendra Singh took his family to shelter in a barrack on the banks of the Yangoi river. In 1944, Yogendra died of typhoid. The war eventually came to end, his uncle Thoudam Ibomcha Singh struggled through tough times to support him and shortly thereafter Thoudam Damodar was separated from his mother and younger sister. His elder sister Srimati Ahanbi Devi began to look after him. As a young boy, he learned how to till the land left by his father to help maintain himself and his sister. In 1949, his sister got married and he was left alone. Not wanting to burden anyone, he used to cultivate paddy for his livelihood. Living through hardships, Thoudam Damodar planned to give up schooling. Seeing his adversity, Sri Thokchom Yadav Singh,
Source: Wikipedia