Adi Purusa dasa, a disciple of Gopal Krsna Goswami, joined in 1990 in West Ukraine. After distributing books for some time, he joined the Ukrainian BBT and for 10 years served there as a translator, translating Caitanya-caritamrita, parts of Srimad-Bhagavatam, other books. Studied Bhakti-sastri with Purnacandra Prabhu in 1993 and with Bhanu Swami in 1998. Taught Bhagavad-gita in the BBT and VIHE. Since 1999 stays in Vrindavan, studying and teaching sastra.

Anuttama dasa, a member of ISKCON since 1975, serves as the International Director of Communications. He joined ISKCON in Denver, Colorado and served there as Sankirtan Leader and later as the Temple President before transferring to Washington DC in 1993.

He became a GBC member in 1999. He is a founding Board Member of Children of Krishna, an organization that assists second-generation ISKCON youth, and is a Board Member of the Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh. He serves as Vice President of the Religion Communicator’s Council (USA), and as a Board Member of the National Conference for Community and Justice in Washington, D.C.

Atul Krishna dasa joined ISKCON’s Melbourne Mahaprabhu Mandir in 1985. A disciple of Prabhavisnu Swami, he served as a book distributer and fundraiser in Melbourne from 1986 to 1996. He joined the Bangladesh Yatra in 1996 and preached village to village for 3 years, during which he learnt fluent Bengali. Since 1999 he has been residing in Sri Dhama Mayapur. He has been teaching Bhakti-sastri in Mayapur for the last 8 years and has been involved in teacher training for the last 5 years. He conducts teacher training and Bhakti-sastri seminars throughout India, Asia and Australia. He is currently supervising Bhakti-sastri and Bhaktivaibhava courses in Mayapur.

Bhakti Caru Swami joined ISKCON in 1976. During his first meeting with Srila Prabhupada, His Divine Grace instructed him to translate his books into Bengali. Soon afterwards, Srila Prabhupada awarded him first and second initiations simultaneously, and appointed him as his secretary for Indian affairs. About three months later Srila Prabhupada gave him sannyasa.

Bhakti Caru Swami is a member of the GBC, the Minister of Culture and an initiating spiritual master. He has gained respect throughout the movement for his scholarship and Vaishnava qualities. In 1996, he embarked on a 104 episode television mega-series on the life of Srila Prabhupada called Abhay Caran in conjunction with the Indian National Television.

He is one of the pioneers of the VIHE in Vrindavan, and taught Vaishnava Etiquette in 1987 and 1988, and Brihad Bhagavatamrita in 1989. Now we are very fortunate to have him on our Systematic Sastric Study Facilitation Team.

Bhakti Vighna Vinasa Narasimha Swami joined ISKCON in 1971. He has preached for the last 20 years in Asian Countries, such as India, Philippines and China and recently in Thailand. Through his years of preaching he has given countless souls practical guidance and deep inspiration. Taking sannyasa in 1994 did not mean much of a change in his lifestyle, since Maharaja has always been strict in his sadhana. Whoever gets to know Maharaja admires and respects his sincere and faithful practice of chanting the Holy Names of the Lord. He truly “walks his talk”.

Devamrita Swami was born on October 16, 1950 in New York City. At the age of seventeen, he received a scholarship to Yale University and graduated in 1972. Upon graduation Devamrita Swami began to study Srila Prabhupada’s books. In 1974, Devamrita Swami took initiation from Srila Prabhupada. He accepted the renounced order of sannyasa in 1982. For the past twenty-six years, he has traveled worldwide, presenting the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness. Currently he is based in Australia and New Zealand, and frequently travels to India and the Orient on preaching missions.

Dr.Liladhar Gupta of Vrindavan, India, is a 4th generation Ayurvedic doctor. During his youth and schooling his father comprehensively trained him in the knowledge and preparation of Ayurvedic herbs. After obtaining a Bachelors of Science Degree in Biology and Chemistry, he entered a 5 1/2 year course of Ayurvedic study and in 1992 achieved his B.A.M.S (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery).

He now travels extensively propagating Aryurveda through seminars and consultations. He has a strong desire to introduce Ayurveda to the world and to demonstrate its holistic nature, grounded in spiritual understanding and practice, as well as its practical and scientific nature. He presents Ayurveda “As It Is” in its original form from the Vedas, and demonstrates the benefits of living the Vedic way of life in the present day.

Ekendra dasa is originally from the USA. He joined the Krishna Consciousness Movement in Australia where he spent his devotionally formative years doing book distribution. After completing a degree in education he now serves the Mayapur Institute in administration and teacher training.

Hari-sauri dasa was born in England on November 17th, 1950. In May 1971 he emigrated to Australia where, on the second day of arrival, he met the members of the newly-emerging Krsna consciousness movement. He was duly accepted as an initiated disciple by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on April 9th, 1972 in Sydney.

In August of 1975 he moved to the newly-opened ISKCON Krishna-Balaram temple in Vrndavana, India, where he served as temple commander. In November of the same year, he joined Srila Prabhupada’s personal entourage, remaining as His Divine Grace’s servant for sixteen months.

In March of 1977 Srila Prabhupada appointed him ISKCON’s Governing Body Commissioner for Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, a service he performed for over seven years. During that period he oversaw the growth of the ISKCON society in the South Seas from four temples and asramas, to seventeen, including four farming communities, two schools and several restaurants. He was also instrumental in establishing branches of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust in Australia and Indonesia.

In 1986 he began the work of transforming the diary he kept while traveling with Srila Prabhupada into a book.

In 1990 he moved to America and worked as publisher for Back to Godhead magazine, the Krsna consciousness movement’s spiritual periodical, for a year.

He is currently living in Mayapur with his wife Sitala dasi and daughter Rasarani. In 2006-7 Hari-sauri dasa taught Sri Isopanisad for the Mayapur Institute.

Jayadvaita Swami is a disciple of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. He received initiation from Srila Prabhupada in 1968, at the age of nineteen. Practically the first task assigned to him was to staple booklets. He later went on to typing manuscripts, transcribing Srila Prabhupada’s dictation for books, and then typesetting, proofreading, managing book production, and editing. He served as an editor or assistant editor for nearly all the books of Srila Prabhupada published during Srila Prabhupada’s lifetime. In 1978 he accepted the order of renounced life, sannyasa. In 1985 and 1986, he spent a year and a half traveling with a party of pilgrims on pada-yatra, a journey on foot, through various states of India, stopping in a different town or village every night. Since 1988 he has served as a director of Srila Prabhupada’s publishing house, the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. From 1991 through most of 1998 he served as editor in chief of Back to Godhead magazine, for which he had been an assistant editor for several years. Recently he served as editor for a three-volume translation and commentary for Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta, a sixteenth-century Sanskrit philosophical and devotional work. Apart from his services in publishing, he travels widely, teaching about the philosophy and culture of Krishna consciousness.

Kadamba Kanana Swami started his spiritual life in Vrindavan and immediately felt he had found his home. Joining ISKCON in 1978, shortly after Srila Prabhupada’s departure, he became a disciple of Jayadvaita Swami. He served in Vrindavan from 1978 to 1984 in various managerial positions.

After a one year break from India in Australia, he returned to India to take charge of the construction of Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi in Mayapur, remaining there from 1985 to 1990.

He relished the pioneering spirit of working in India and above all he liked to stay in the Holy Dhama. In 1990 he became the Temple President of the Krishna Balarama temple in Vrindavan and remained in that position until 1995.

He then began to travel and preach around the world and took sannyasa in 1997. Besides preaching in Europe, South Africa, India and Australia, he is on the Vrindavan Executive Board and oversees the development of a big farm project in Spain.

In a very broadminded spirit to benefit the sankirtana mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Jayadvaita Swami requested his disciple to become an initiating spiritual master, although by etiquette a disciple does not initiate in the physical presence of his own spiritual master.

Now Kadamba Kanana Swami is simply aspiring to become a humble servant of his spiritual master and of the Supreme Lord and His devotees.

Laksmimoni devi dasi joined ISKCON in 1969. She also completed her B.A. in Clinical Psychology at SUNY Buffalo that year. She was a pujari in different ISKCON temples from 1969 to 1974. Between 1974 and 1983 she worked in several gurukulas, mostly teaching and being counselor for teenaged girls. From 1983 to the present, she has run the very popular and successful Vaishnava Academy for Girls, a school for teenaged girls, now situated in Alachua, FL.

She is also presently a member of the ISKCON GBC Ministry of Educational Development, a Child Protection Team member and child abuse prevention counselor, and a media awareness lecturer and trainer.

She has taken the Bhakti Sastri course, teacher training courses 1, 2, and 3, and communication skills and management skills seminars.

Lokanatha Swami was born in 1949 in Aravade, a village in Maharashtra, India. While attending college in 1971 he saw Srila Prabhupada and his disciples at ISKCON’s first pandal program in Bombay. Srila Prabhupada gave him harinama initiation in 1972, making him one of his first Indian disciples, and gave him sannyasa in December 1975.

In 1976, on Srila Prabhupada’s order, he organized a padayatra from Vrindavan to Mayapur. He later expanded this service worldwide in his role as Padayatra Minister, a post he continues to hold. He served as the temple president of ISKCON Delhi from 1978 through the mid-1980’s. Then he became the regional secretary for Delhi and Maharashtra. He now oversees the development of several ISKCON projects in those places.

Madhavendra Puri dasa joined in 1985 in Paris, where he served as a book distributor, sankirtana leader, and fundraiser. Towards the end of his tenure in Paris he was in charge of a preaching center in downtown Paris.

In 1995, he moved with his wife to Mauritius to look after a Vedic cultural center, where he taught Bhagavada-gita for the Bhaktivedanta college of Mauritius. In 1997, he moved to Mayapur, serving on the altar and teaching Bhagavada-gita courses.

After undergoing extensive training in Vaisnava Training and Education Teacher Training Courses, he has taught in two Bhakti-sastri Courses for the Mayapur Institute and two for the VIHE in Vrndavan. After teaching the First Canto of the Bhaktivaibhava Course in South Africa, he has agreed to develop the Bhaktivaibhava Course on a VTE standard for the Mayapur Institute.

Nanda devi dasi joined ISKCON in 1972 in Boston. She has served in many places, including New York, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain. Her services have included pujari, cook and sankirtana leader. Most recently she served for 7 years as the Temple President for New Raman Reti in Alachua, the largest ISKCON community outside of Mayapur.

For the past two years, she has been deeply studying Srila Prabhupada’s books. Last year she taught Nectar of Devotion here, at Mayapur Institute.

Narayani devi dasi joined ISKCON Boston in 1970, after trying many other spiritual processes. As a new bhaktin, her services included typesetting and transliterating Bhagavad-gita As It Is, as well as all day and night harinama. After six months in Boston, the temple authorities sent her husband and her to Florida where they assisted in the Tallahassee temple and then opened their own temple in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1972, their authorities sent them to India to help establish the new temples and especially to do Deity worship.

She worshipped Radha-Govinda for the next seven years in Calcutta. Whenever Srila Prabhupada came to Calcutta or Mayapur, she would transcribe Srila Prabhupada’s dictations of Caitanya-caritamrita and Srimad Bhagavatam.

From Calcutta, she went with her husband to Bombay. She led the women’s book distribution in the bookstall within the Juhu temple, as well as on the streets of Bombay. She also traveled throughout Maharastra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, especially Bhagavad-gita As It Is.

During these years, while engaged in all these other services, she always found time to read Srila Prabhupada’s books.

In 1993, she and her son went to Vrndavana, where she began to give impromptu classes at her house since at that time there was no women’s Bhakti-sastri course. After three years of informal teaching, she began teaching Bhakti-sastri for the VIHE in 1997. After one year, she began traveling in her summer break to Mayapur, Europe, Ireland, and the CIS giving japa workshops and seminars on the Gita. She has helped to write the VTE Bhakti-sastri course and has written one book on Srimad Bhagavatam. At present, she is completing the teaching of the Bhaktivaibhava four-year course. Future plans include teaching the remaining two courses — Bhaktivedanta and Bhakti Sarvabhauma, as well as writing more books on Bhagavad-gita, Caitanya-caritamrita, Nectar of Devotion and Srimad Bhagavatam.

She has dedicated her life to fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. In fact, Srila Prabhupada instructed her in her initiation letter to do Deity worship, preach on sankirtana, and study all his books. In Calcutta she fulfilled the instruction to do Deity worship, in Bombay she did preaching and now, in Vrndavana, she is studying and teaching Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Praneshwara dasa came in contact with ISKCON in 1995. A disciple of HH Radhanath Swami, he first joined the Bhaktivedanta Institute (BI) in the Juhu temple, Mumbai in 1997. After spending two years in the BI, he served in BBT Juhu for an year and then moved on to the ISKCON Youth Forum (IYF), the youth wing of ISKCON. Currently he is serving as the head of department of the IYF, conducting seminars on various topics in several colleges in Mumbai and motivating numerous youths to take up the path of KC. After studying Bhakti-sastri through VIHE, he has taught Bhagavad Gita & NOD in Mumbai & VIHE. Also he has taught portions of Srimad Bhagavatam in the Bhaktivaibhava course in Mayapur Institute.

Ravindra Svarupa dasa is the ISKCON’s Governing Body Commissioner for the U.S. mid-Atlantic region, ISKCON Philadelphia temple president and previous GBC Chairman, joined ISKCON in January 1971. Initiated by Srila Prabhupada in July 1971, he has served as an inspiring leader and initiating spiritual master in his guru’s mission, most noted for his insights into ISKCON’s historical development and institutional rectification. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from University of Pennsylvania, as well as a M.A. in religion and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Temple University.

Ravindra Svarupa is project director for a group of devotee scholars who are researching the Vedic literature to get greater insight into the cosmology of the Srimad-Bhagavatam’s Fifth Canto for the purpose of making a model of the universe for the Mayapur Temple of the Vedic Planetarium.

Shyamala Sakhi devi dasi, born in India and initiated by Radhanath Swami, and has been practicing Krishna consciousness since 1987 when she first visited Mayapur.

Before joining the movement, she taught for four years in an adult educational facility in Hong Kong while living with her parents, and developed such expert teaching skills that her students voted her to be the best teacher in the entire school. She holds a Bhakti-sastri degree in High Honors from the Mayapur Institute.

Her husband, Sauri dasa, who is a senior Prabhupada disciple, and she started preaching centers in Vishakhapatnam and Mangalore and are the founders of the Bhaktivedanta Eco Village in Karanataka, South India.

For the past 10 years she has been living with her family in Prabhupada Village, a farm community in North Carolina, USA, where she regularly gives Bhagavatam classes, deeply studies Prabhupada’s books, and homeschools her ten-year old son.

Srimati devi dasi lived in ISKCON Mayapur from 1984 to 2002. During that time her primary service was distribution of the Holy Name. As a servant of the Holy Name, she learned and experienced much and would now like to share it with others. She does not see herself as an accomplished master in the field, but rather a student wanting to share and learn with other serious and sincere students of the Holy Name.