Giriraj Swami met His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in March 1969, while studying at Brandeis University in Boston. He felt that he learned more in one brief exchange with Srila Prabhupada than he had learned in his many years of academic education. After graduating from Brandeis University, 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.

In the year following Srila Prabhupada's death in 1977, Giriraj was awarded the renounced order of life and appointed president of ISKCON's board of trustees in India. In 1982 he was appointed to ISKCON's Governing Body Commission, and he went on to oversee the Society's activities in Bombay, Mauritius, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. 

Presently based in California, Giriraj Swami is now focusing on one of the main instructions he received from Srila Prabhupada - writing. He is the author of Watering the Seed, Many Moons and Life's Final Exam: Death and Dying from the Vedic Perspective. He is working on several publications, including books about his search for a spiritual master and his early days in the Boston temple, his travels with Srila Prabhupada in India and Srila Prabhupada's monumental efforts in Bombay, and Vaishnava festivals.