 In April 1969, while studying at Brandeis University in Boston, he met A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), from whom, he felt, he learned more in one brief exchange than he had learned in his many years of academic education.After graduating from Brandeis "cum laude", he accepted formal initiation from Srila Prabhupada and received the spiritual name Giriraj das.Giriraj quickly became a leading member of the Boston center, and he was soon given the opportunity to go to India with Srila Prabhupada and helped establish Prabhupada's mission there.