Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Satsvarupa dasa Goswami served as A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami's personal typist and secretary during the early days of ISKCON and went on to manage ISKCON Boston and ISKCON Press. He became a member of the Governing Body Commission (GBC) and was one of the original members appointed by Bhaktivedanta Swami in 1970 to take over the management of ISKCON. He was also a trustee in Bhaktivedanta's will for the management of ISKCON.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was a prolific author, and his books include a biography of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, Srila Prabhupada-Lilamrta, He Lives Forever, and five volumes of Prabhupada Nectar. He also wrote With Srila Prabhupada in the Early Days, which covers the early years of ISKCON, and Life With the Perfect Master, which describes his time serving as Bhaktivedanta Swami's personal servant.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was asked by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust to complete a number of works started by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, and his writings were translated into over forty languages. He was appointed as a ritvik (representative) by his preceptor and became the most senior member of the movement. Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was also involved in preaching and traveling, and he led the BBT Library Party in the mid-1970s to establish a distribution network to universities in the United States and Eastern Europe.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami was also the editor-in-chief and one of the main contributors to Back to Godhead magazine, which was a project that required a lot of contribution and supervision from the early days of ISKCON. In accordance with ISKCON GBC resolutions in March 1978, Satsvarupa dasa Goswami and eleven other Governing Body Commissioners assumed the duties and services of initiating disciples in assigned zones after the death of Bhaktivedanta Swami. Satsvarupa dasa Goswami became a zonal acharya in the United States, Caribbean, and Ireland.
Satsvarupa dasa Goswami took part in a controversial zonal acarya system in the years 1978-1985, in a position of an Acharya, while initiating reform of a high standard of worship. He attempted to reform the system by assuming a more humble and appropriate role of a guru as per recorded instructions of the "Founder-Acarya."