The Formal Version
Dhanesvara Das (Don Rousse), MS, is a social healer, social economist, guru, or spiritual teacher, international speaker and monk. He is a father of three wonderful people and the grandfather (so far) of four. His interests include applying Vedic Dharma to current cultural and social issues, especially economic activity, and developing practices that encourage and support the gift economy. Dhanesvara was initiated into the Gaudiya-Vaishnava sampradaya spiritual order 48 years ago, which introduced him to his current way of life. He travels throughout the United States, Europe, India, and the former Soviet Union teaching the methods of living a spiritual life, Spiritual Economics, spiritual psychology, etc. Besides writing for his websites and blogs, he is currently working on the second edition of “Spiritual Economics – Creating a Culture of Satisfaction to Heal the World.”
Looking at this bio one may wonder what my qualification is for writing a book about economics. Good question and one that deserves to be answered.
Please take note of the title of my book: “Lessons in Spiritual Economics from the Bhagavad-gita – Part 1 Understanding and Solving the Economic Problem.” Another way of stating that is: “Lessons from the Bhagavad-gita in Economics.” The book is an application of the principles of the Bhagavad-gita applied to both psychology and economics. My qualification for this is my 40 year study of the Bhagavad-gita. While my treatment of economic theory heavily references those who are established in the field, my unique individual contribution is to explain economic behavior as a function of human consciousness and explain how consciousness, the symptom of the spiritual soul, is influenced by activities in the material world.
I make no claims about being an economist in the traditional sense of the word. Instead I claim to be a “social economist” in that I write about how the economic practices of the world affect people and their social well being, and comment from the perspective of the Vedic worldview. I claim to be a “social healer” in that I understand how this world works from a spiritual perspective, and thus understand how to heal it from the root level of existence.
A More Personal Introduction to Dhanesvara Das
Besides giving you the formal version of me, I want to provide you with a more personal story about myself. Knowing who I am and how my life has developed will give you a better idea of what I am about, and what my work is about. The official ‘public persona’ above may not allow you to understand me in the same way.
I was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in Dearborn, home-town of Henry Ford, and suburb of Detroit. Our family was middle class, which in the years of my upbringing was quite nice. We didn’t want for anything. I attended Michigan State University and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering in 1970, and went on to graduate school at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Two years later I was awarded a Master of Science Degree in Materials Science and Engineering.
My college years were times of turmoil in the United States. There were many protests against the war in Vietnam, there were civil rights marches and riots by the blacks, four unarmed student protesters were shot and killed at Kent State University, there was the intrigue of the Watergate break in, the downfall of Nixon, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. All of these events made an impression on developing young minds, mine included.
It seemed to me that the whole world was ready to go to war with each other, and I used to ask myself “why can’t people just be happy?” What was all the fuss about? It seemed simple enough—just follow the golden rule—live and let live. But it seemed that too many people weren’t interested in living by that standard and I couldn’t find a good answer to the question of happiness. Instead it seemed that people just kept getting more and more unhappy.
When the end of my studies was approaching I stood at a significant crossroads. Would I just continue to live as I was expected to live by my family and by society? Get a job and ‘enjoy’ life? But I knew by that age that enjoyment and happiness were two different things. I had had enjoyment, but I didn’t have happiness. And if I just followed the trend of society wouldn’t I reap the same results that they seemed to be reaping—material success but with no real happiness?
About that time I read a poll taken by George Gallop in which he reported that people who were very involved in their religious life reported to be happier than people in general. Very well then, if happiness was to be found in religion that is where I would look. Having been raised as a Catholic and attending parochial school through the 8th grade I had a pretty good idea of what Christianity was about and there were a number of things in their doctrine that I simply could not accept, so I decided that I would search elsewhere for spiritual truths and their guiding light. For lack of a better alternative I turned to the East and began to read any book that appeared to have an Eastern influence: Tibetan Book of the Dead, Siddhartha, I Ching, Be Here Now, Eckankar, etc. No matter how much I read however, my intelligence was not satisfied. I still had questions about life that remained unanswered.
Then by “chance” I was given one of the books of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami by a friend—The KRSNA Book. Well, I thought, all the swamis
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
come from the East, and this Swami is “His Divine Grace,” so this might be what I was looking for. Indeed it was. Prior to reading that book I was an agnostic. Not that I had given up believing in God, but I had no reliable information with which to form an opinion, so I adopted a neutral stance—not for, not against. The KRSNA Book changed all of that. This book contained a philosophy about God that towered above anything else that I had read. In fact it made everything else look like child’s play by comparison. It explained the nature of God, how His energies are what everything is made of, how He is a person and how He reciprocates with his friends and those who love him. It explained how this world was working and why we are in it. It was obvious that Bhaktivedanta Swami (aka Srila Prabhupada) knew what he was talking about—he spoke with an authority on the subject that I had not encountered anywhere—and by comparison all the others appeared to be faking it. And the authority he spoke with was not his authority but that of the Vedas themselves.
After reading the KRSNA Book I got a copy of Srila Prabhupada’s book “Bhagavad-gita As It Is”. This was the real deal! The soul, the material energy, karma, time, the Godhead—everything was here and way more that I couldn’t begin to even imagine. I finished it just as I was preparing to graduate and there was no doubt in my mind that I had found what I was looking for. I managed to find a job in the local area, and within a few weeks I met the devotees of Krishna who opened a center there in Gainesville, Florida. My attendance increased over the coming weeks and I used to eagerly look forward to going there for the evening classes on the Bhagavad-gita to hear its philosophy explained more deeply. Asking all of the questions that I had I was quite happy to find that all of them were answered without contradiction in the framework of the Vedic philosophy. Thus I became convinced by my intelligence that this was the highest truth that I had found, and even the highest truth that existed.
One point that made an indelible impression on me was Srila Prabhupada’s statements about how to change the world, a idea that as a young idealistic youth I wanted to contribute to. When asked for example, “Why is the world polluted?” he retorted “Because your consciousness is polluted!” Asked how to solve the problems of modern society he drove home the same point: “consciousness is the basis of everything and if we want to change society we must change consciousness.” That sounded a lot more realistic and permanent than marching in the street and protesting. And how to change consciousness? How to cleanse the consciousness from the depths of ignorance that led to a polluted, confused and antagonistic world? “By associating with God by the sound vibration of His holy names. God is all pure, and if we associate with God by chanting His names we also become pure. The recommended process for this in this age of Kali is to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
Convinced by these arguments and wanting to do something to change the world I joined the mission about nine months later, and applied the process in my own life. I have continued to this day, leaving active participation in the Society of Krishna Consciousness to raise my family, and to more active involvement now that I have retired. Thus “Krishna Consciousness” has become my life, and I have now realized the truths that I was learning from my spiritual master some forty-seven years ago. I have experienced for myself the truth that by chanting the maha-mantra that the consciousness is purified resulting in inner happiness and satisfaction.
At this point in my life, now some 48 years after first contact I have taken on the role of guru, or spiritual teacher. I am an author of five book, and international speaker having traveled to more than 30 countries. You can find out more about me, my books and current activities here.
If you are interested in learning more about genuine spiritual truth I encourage you to read the books of Srila Prabhupada.
In North America order from here.
In Europe order from here.