[6] While studying at Chelsea College of Art and Design, he "very quickly lost faith in the materialistic sort of life".
[8] At the same time, he became interested in the "mystic East", which provided "a tremendous spiritual tradition but one that was different to the West".
I was ready to just drop everything, but out of consideration for other people, I went to have a long discussion with the principal of the art college, who told me it was a very bad idea.
So I went on his request and stayed for a week in a Benedictine monastery not far from London [...] I had a wonderful time staying with the Benedictines, this is the Abbey in Sussex, while they were saying their morning rosary, I was chanting Krishna on my beads and I took long walks with most monks in the community, and talked over my decision and told them that I really feel that God is calling me to do this.
I went to see him and he said that "some of the monks, a few of them have come to me and suggested that Richard is going to join Krishna temple, we would like to have prayer vigil through the night to pray for his soul because, we're worried."
[6]He was initiated by ISKCON's founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and received name Ranchora Dasa,[12] which means "servant of Krishna".
[6] According to Ranchor Prime "All religions contain powerful traditions and teachings about how to live in this world in a way that is sympathetic to nature because it is part of God's creation.
[6] As a result, he embarked on writing a book on Hinduism and ecology, and that brought him to Vrindavan "with a completely fresh pair of eyes".
[6] Ranchor Prime approached the World Wide Fund for Nature in Geneva and proposed to them a three-year project based in Vrindavan that would try to draw out the lessons which Hinduism had to teach about ecology, and try to apply them, in a way to have "a positive effect on all the millions of pilgrims who come to Vrindavan so they could take away some positive lessons with them - and also then provide a model project that could be applied elsewhere".
[14] He conceived a plan with Sevak Sharan, a longtime resident of the area, to plant trees along the eleven-kilometer parikrama path that encircles the holy town.
[14] In succeeding months, ISKCON donated the use of one and a half acres beside the pilgrimage path for a nursery to plant and raise 10,000 trees of local origin.
[13] The project was formally initiated on 21 November 1991, the festival day of Vrinda Devi, the goddess representing the local flora and regarded as a queen of Vrindavan.
However, we, the people of this region, have cut its trees, polluted its Yamuna river, and spoilt its dust with our rubbish and sewage.
[13] Stage two included further planting along the entire pathway, and continued outreach efforts to involve local population.
[13] After the funding came to an end, Ranchor started his own charity to continue the work, which is called Friends of Vrindavan.