Ven. Gautam Ratna Thero is a Buddhist monk of great caliber .At the age of 18,he received Samanera (Lower) ordination under the guidance of Ven. Dhammaratna Mahathero in Mumbai.After 2 years i.e. in the year 2000 he received Higher Ordination (Upasampada) under the preceptor ship of most Ven.Dharmapala Mahathera (the then Sanghanayaka of Inadia). Ven.Thero is a graduate from the University of Mumbai.He had a ambition to go forth in academic education.But after the graduation he had to stop for further education because of frequent health reason. Later it is diagnosed that Ven. Thero is lacking of factor VIII in blood which is a genetic case , because of that he suffers severe bleeding at even minor causes since babyhood.
Nevertheless,Ven.Thero didn’t pay much attention to the health but to the Dhamma.Since he has established a Vihara at the very early age of 20, at Kalyan.Later, a Charitable Trust named Buddha Bhoomi Foundation (
http://bbfmumbai.blogspot.com/) is registered on 22 acres of land at Kalyan.That huge land is donated by a generous devotee Mahaupasaka Mr.D.L.Kamble.In the meantime Ven. Thero had to bear the big charge of Ajanta Buddha Vihara Trust (Regd.) (
http://gbuddhamum.blogspot.com/) at which Ven.Dhammaratna Mahathero appointed him as the General Secretary of the trust.Ven.Thero organized many Seminars,Meditation Camps,Children Dhamma Courses,Samanera Shibir etc.Ven.Thero met several Buddhist leaders including great Vipassanacharya S.N.Goenkaji .At present Ven. Thero has a big vision at BBF where he wishes to transform the 22 acres land into a huge International Buddhist Centre with all-round development for Dhamma,Charitable and Educational.
Thank you all
With Metta
Mr.Vivek Salvi
E-mail:abvt02@rediffmail.com