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Bhurijana Dasa began chanting Hare Krsna in early 1968 while still a student at the University of Buffalo. A few months later he met his spiritual master, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, at the first Hare Krishna temple, on Second Avenue in New York City. He was initiated by Prabhupada later that year. In 1969 Prabhupada asked Bhurijana Dasa to help pioneer the Krishna consciousness movement in Japan. A year later, in December of 1970, Bhurijana Dasa married Jagattarini Devi Dasi, and together they opened ISKCON’s first Hong Kong center. During the next six years, he was fortunate to meet Srila Prabhupada in Hong Kong, Manila, Mayapur, Vrindavan, Melbourne, Auckland, Fiji, and Honolulu.

In 1976, during their last meeting, Srila Prabhupada asked Bhurijana Dasa to help develop ISKCON’s educational system. Bhurijana Dasa then worked in primary education and curriculum development and later conducted teacher-training courses in Vrindavan.

While teaching at the Gita-Nagari farm community, Bhurijana Dasa wrote curriculum for elementary and high school academics, some of which in adapted form is still used in ISKCON schools to the present. Also while at Gita-Nagari, he and Jagattarini Dasi created and performed many puppet shows, which became the basis of the Gita-Nagari Puppet Theatre video series that has provided devotional entertainment for hundreds of devotee children.

In 1987 Bhurijana Dasa helped establish the Vrindavan Institute for Higher Education (VIHE), where he taught courses in sastra, teaching, and writing. He organized ISKCON’s first Bhakti-Sastri course, covering Bhagavad-gita As It Is, The Nectar of Devotion, The Nectar of Instruction, and Sri Isopanisad.

In 2001 Bhurijana Dasa was instrumental in inaugurating the VIHE’s Govardhana retreats, which have since become a yearly event attended by devotees from around the world. In 2002 he helped organize for the VIHE the Bhakti-Vaibhava course (a study of the first part of the Bhagavata Purana) and co-taught the first six cantos of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In 2007 he co-taught the first Bhaktivedanta course, which covers cantos seven through twelve of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

Bhurijana Dasa has written several books, including The Art of Teaching, Surrender Unto Me (a study of the Bhagavad-gita), Studying Srimad-Bhagavatam, My Glorious Master (a memoir of his time with Srila Prabhupada).

Braj Mohan Das is a monk at ISKCON, a seeker, and one who loves to share his spiritual insights with the world. He is a disciple of HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj, the author of The Journey Within, a New York Times bestseller. HG Braj Mohan Das has completed his Bachelors in Technology from IIT Bombay, Masters in Quantum Physics from University of Illinois, Chicago and has worked at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India and Extenprise Corporation, Chicago. He has delivered several talks in India and the US, invited by academic institutions such as MIT, Yale, VJTI, Four times on TEDx platforms and corporate firms such as Aditya Birla Group, Intel and Wall Street, on topics such as science and spirituality, leadership, relationships and self-development. He inspires the audience to Think Deep, Ad Right and Live Full.

Gaur Gopal Das studied electrical engineering at the College of Engineering, Pune. After a brief stint with Hewlett-Packard, he decided to live life as a monk in an ashram in downtown Mumbai. He has stayed there for twenty-six years, learning the antiquity of ancient philosophy and the modernity of contemporary psychology, to become a life coach to thousands in the city. Gaur Gopal Das has been travelling the world for over two decades, sharing his wisdom with corporate executives, universities and charities, and has also spoken at the United Nations, New York. In 2016, his global popularity exploded as he took his message online. With over 1 billion views on his videos on social media, he now leads a movement to help others achieve happiness and purpose in their lives. Currently one of the most famous monks in the world, Gaur Gopal Das has been conferred with several honours, including the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Award and an honorary doctorate (DLitt) by KIIT University Bhubaneswar.

Gauranga Darshan Das, a disciple of His Holiness Radhanath Swami, is a distinguished educator and a bestselling author of over fifty two books. He holds a master’s degree in Systems Science and Automation from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. He has received the Visionary Spiritual Leader and Spiritual Scientist awards, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of education.

After a brief corporate career as a researcher at TCS Innovation Labs and Force Motors, during which he published over ten technical papers, he embraced monkhood in 2009. In his current role as the Dean of Bhaktivedanta Vidyapitha at ISKCON Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV) near Mumbai, he conducts spiritual education programs for audiences of varied age groups across the globe.

A prolific speaker and teacher, he is widely known for presenting timeless wisdom in a contemporary format. He has spoken at numerous prestigious forums, including TEDx, ISRO, DRDO, Intel, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Times, and Salesforce, among others. He has delivered over 8,500 hours of lectures and conducted more than 60 online courses, available at www.vidyapitha.in.

He has authored several study guides, storybooks, self-enrichment works, and children’s books, and also publishes a monthly zine titled Bhāgavata Pradīpikā. His dedication to disseminating spiritual wisdom has earned him wide respect across spiritual, educational, and corporate circles.

Gauranga Das is a leadership and mindfulness coach based in Mumbai. A graduate from IIT Bombay, he found his calling to become a monk. A member of the Governing Body Commission at International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), he is actively involved in enhancing leadership effectiveness and governance of temples and communities globally. He is dedicated to helping people transform their hearts, establish sustainable and spiritual communities, and drive a positive change in society. A multifaceted spiritualist on a mission to create a value-based society, he is a mindful meditation expert, strategic character educationist, sustainability and climate change warrior, and social welfare catalyst.
He is the director of ISKCON’s Govardhan Ecovillage (GEV), founded by Radhanath Swami. The GEV, representing India, has won over thirty-six national and international awards, including the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Award in 2017 for its innovative model of ‘Eco-Tourism as a Catalyst for Rural Development’. Gauranga Das has also strategized and led the execution of GEV’s synergistic solution for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for climate change and enabled GEV’s accreditation to multiple UN bodies such as UNEP, UN ECOSOC, UNCCD and UNCBD. He is the

UNEP’s Faith for Earth counsellor on behalf of ISKCON. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has recognized him as an IGBC fellow for his contribution to the green building movement.
He sits on the board of the Govardhan School of Public Leadership, an institution that prepares students for the civil services exam. He has led several youth empowerment initiatives across the world to successfully inculcate in them clarity in purpose, purity in character and compassion in relationships. He is also the administrative director of the Bhaktivedanta Research Center (BRC), an initiative of ISKCON to connect professionals, housewives and students to the academic study of philosophy, create libraries of Vedic literatures and manuscripts, and facilitate MA and PhD programmes in philosophy.

Gopinath Chandra Das did his B.Tech and M.Tech from IITB. In 2004, he joined ISKCON as a full-time monk. A life coach and motivational speaker, he helps people improve the quality of their lives with teachings from the Bhagavad Gita. With his background in science and technology, he presents the Gita in a scientific light. To contact him, you may visit www.thesacredconnect.com

Govinda das is an exponent of Indian culture through the wisdom of Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavatam. He has an experience of almost 30 years in Vedic education and counseling and travels extensively all over the world sharing his reflective knowledge and wisdom. Whether counseling children, guiding families or mentoring corporate and social leaders, his profound insights are always practical, comprehensible and relevant to all cross sections of society.

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Krishna Dhan Das completed his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 and worked in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Aircraft Manufacturing Division, for over five years. Thereafter, he devoted his time to research in Vedic scriptures.

He began as a full-time preacher of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in 2002.

He is the Founder & Director of Samruddhi School of Leadership, an encouraging training and guidance forum for teenagers, under the banner of ISKCON.

He has conducted several enlightening symposiums for corporate executives and students across industries and educational institutions.

Nityanand Charan Das, the bestselling author of Icons of Grace, Ask the Monk and Bound by Love, is a practising monk at Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple ISKCON Chowpatty, Mumbai, for the last 16 years. His mission is to help people lead a life of purpose, fulfilment and satisfaction; and to guide today’s youth, including children and teenagers, to reconnect with their roots and lead a simple yet happy life.

His defence background inspired him to be an army officer since childhood. But Krishna had other plans for him and orchestrated his life beautifully. He failed the NDA interview, despite being one of the best in the group, pursued engineering instead, and eventually became a monk when he was just twenty-four.

His divine radiance can be felt far and wide. His lectures are heard in all major cities of India and more than 50 countries across the globe.

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Pratik Desai was born in Mumbai, India in 1984, to a Gujarati Vaishnava family. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mumbai and a Masters degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the prestigious University of Florida, USA. Being raised in a Vaishnava family, he was spiritually inclined from an early age. During his college years, he watched most of the religious TV series like Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vishnu Purana, Shiva Purana to name a few. While he was not committed to any specific path, he did not miss an episode of these series. Later on, his faith in spirituality was strengthened by grave incidents in his life, which inspired him to question material existence and to seek answers about the purpose of life, karma and the Absolute Truth.

One such pivotal incident was his withdrawal from a graduate programme at ivy league university, Duke University in the USA. Struggling with homesickness and the stress of the challenging academic demands, within two months of enrolling, he withdrew from the programme and returned home. This failure challenged his sense of identity and purpose in life which led to a strong need to seek answers about the purpose of suffering and the nature of God. This led him to start reading the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is and to associate with ISKCON devotees.

In associating with the ISKCON devotees, he was inspired by their sincerity and devotion to following the teachings of Bhagavad-Gita laid down by its Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada. In studying Bhagavad-Gita, he was inspired by the experiences of Arjuna and how he was able to overcome the immense challenges that he faced. Introspecting on his own experiences, he realized that the determination and ability to do one’s duty, even in adversity comes from the depth of one’s relationship with Krishna. This realization gave him the conviction to complete his master’s studies. Returning to the USA, he studied at the University of Florida and in less than two years completed the program with excellent grades.

Many people want to experience God through miracles but Pratik experienced God through the reciprocations he had with God. To experience God through his loving reciprocations is a big miracle in itself since it is a more tangible experience where one desires to serve God and God reciprocates accordingly.

In contrast to his previous experience, he was no longer homesick. The University of Florida, one of the best universities in the USA, offered him a waiver on his fees and was close to the ISKCON temple. Here he had opportunity to serve Krishna and associate with devotees, prasadam (sanctified vegetarian. meals); he found a family away from home. This reciprocation from God was overwhelming for Pratik and felt like a personal miracle.

As months and years passed by, based on his sincere efforts to serve God, he experienced God’s reciprocation, gradually his faith and conviction in God’s personal and selfless nature became evident. He began to realize the authenticity of all the verses of the Bhagavad-Gita through his practical experiences in this world. Not only were his material needs taken care of, he was also able to focus on his personal and piritual development. Now, 15 years later he is still ardently practising Bhakti Yoga, is a family man, and a businessman. This journey all began with the Bhagavad-Gita, which opened up his heart. This book (20+ Must Know Facts About Hinduism) satisfied his burning desire to help people by sharing his experiences, so that they can also benefit from the timeless wisdom of Sanatan Dharma and so that they attain eternal happiness and experience a higher taste of bliss.

Radhanath Swami was born in Chicago in 1950. At age nineteen, he traveled overland from London to India, where he lived in Himalayan caves, learned yoga from revered masters, and eventually became a world-renowned spiritual leader in his own right. His acclaimed memoir, The Journey Home, has been translated into over twenty languages and published in over forty countries worldwide.

Radhanath Swami presently travels throughout Asia, Europe, and America teaching devotional wisdom, but can often be found in Mumbai, where he works tirelessly to help develop communities, food distribution initiatives, missionary hospitals, schools, ashrams, emergency relief programs, and eco-friendly farms.

Radhavallabha Das is an acclaimed chef, author, former monk, yoga teacher, speaker and life coach. He has over two decades of experience in sättvic and Ayurvedic vegetarian cooking, developed by reading Ayurvedic texts. He is the founder of Yogi Plate, an organization dedicated to educating people about sättvic cooking.

After completing his MTech from IIT, he decided to become a monk at ISKCON, Mumbai, to dedicate his life to the service of society. There he cooked for 250 residents of the ashram daily for more than a decade. As head chef, he led a team of highly acclaimed chefs who were featured in National Geographic Channel’s India’s Megakitchens series, serving about 10,000 plates of såttvic food every day. He was also the cook of his Gurudev, HH Radhanath Swami, for seventeen years.

But the love for Ayurveda grew from discussions with Dr Sanjay Pisharodi, a fellow ashram resident with an MBBS degree and also great knowledge of Ayurveda. Radhavallabha Das has conducted more than 200 cooking workshops across the world and has held seminars on the importance of an Ayurvedic diet, including at the headquarters of Microsoft, Amazon and Intel in the USA.

Currently he lives with his wife Hansapriya in Silicon Valley in California. He is working with a team to bring healthy food to people through cloud kitchens, live cooking workshops, seminars and one- on-one consulting.

Rasikraman Das is a monk, author and life-coach. Being a gold-medalist in engineering and an M.Tech from IIT Bombay with rich experience as a monk and life coach at ISKCON, he brings to the table a unique blend of new- age scientific temper and age-old traditional wisdom.

He is the Founder Director of InPlug Academy which aims to empower the youth with essential life skills and create successful and fulfilled individuals, communities and organisations. He is also a professor at Dr Vivek Bindra’s Bada Business. With a keen interest in the field of training and education, he has been instrumental in developing the Bhaktivedanta Vidyapitha Research Center (affiliated to Mumbai University) and has served in various capacities with the Organisational Development Committee of ISKCON GBC. He is also an associate faculty with the GBC College for Leadership Development, which imparts training in spiritual leadership.

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Shubha Vilas, PhD, is a lifestyle coach, storyteller and author. He studied patent law after completing his engineering degree but finally chose the path of a spiritual seeker. He completed his PhD in Leadership from the Valmiki Ramayana and his thesis is considered pathbreaking in the field of leadership studies from ancient texts.

Ramayana: The Game of Life is his bestselling series. He has authored more than 30 thought-provoking books including Timeless Tales to Ignite Your Mind, Open-Eyed Meditations, Mystical Tales for a Magical Life and Perfect Love: 5.5 Ways to a Lasting Relationship. The focus of his work is the application of scriptural wisdom to day-to-day life and addressing the needs of corporates and the youth through power-packed seminars.

He has delivered more than 6,000 talks, inspiring more than 6,00,000 people, across twenty countries over the last ten years. He is a popular guest speaker at prestigious universities- Stanford, Princeton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in India to name a few. He is also a visiting faculty at several premiere business management schools including the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai. He is on the advisory board of MIT Pune’s online education programme.

He has also spoken at Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Samsung at their world headquarters in the USA.

I was born in the body of Samuel Speerstra, in Salem, Oregon, in May 1942. From early childhood I thrived on adventure and risk. After graduating from Reed College in 1965, I met Bhaktivedanta Swami in San Francisco in January 1967 and became his disciple, renamed Shyamasundar das. The Swami wed me to my girlfriend, Melanie (Malati devi dasi) in a smoke-filled storefront in Haight-Ashbury we called the Radha-Krishna temple. And the adventure began.

In 1968, to please Swamiji, Malati and I trav- eled with four other devotees to London. There, we witnessed firsthand Krishna’s magic display. We befriended the Beatles and, courtesy of Apple Records, spread the Hare Krishna mantra around the world. In October 1970, the Swami-now affection- ately called “Prabhupada”- took twenty of his Western disciples to India and together, we barnstormed the country. In June 1971, Prabhupada accepted me as his personal sec- retary. For years I was by Prabhupada’s side, day and night in Europe, the US, Africa, Asia, Australia, and even behind Brezhnev’s Iron Curtain. I never saw him sleep, and I never saw him make an error of any kind. How did I get this lucky-to observe close up the life of the perfect person

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Dr Ujjvala Radhe is a teacher of Vedic sciences, having studied in the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya tradition. A dentist, German linguist and psychologist, she brings in her variegated academic experience when making timeless wisdom-texts relevant to inquisitive minds. She has been part of research on mantra meditation at AIIMS Rishikesh and is currently a PhD scholar at IIT Mandi.

For the past two decades, she has been mentoring and guiding many young girls across the country who are trying to find purpose and balance in their lives. She and her team conduct annual spiritual retreats and periodical workshops that promote competence and holistic well-being.

Her current focus is to establish ‘Kanya Gurukulas’, meant to serve as safe havens for girls’ education. While focussing on academic excellence, these Gurukulas would foster discovery of one’s innate potential and equip the girls with the capability to evolve into women of true substance.

Vraja Bihari Das (a.k.a. Venugopal Acharya) is a full- time monk, serving at Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir, ISKCON Chowpatty, since March 1999. He has an honours degree in Economics, a post-graduate degree in International Finance, and an MBA. He renders a wide range of services in ISKCON, including Deity Worship, Youth and Congregation preaching, Brahmachari Ashram seva, Writing, and teaching Vedic Scriptures.

He travels widely and is a keen learner. He has conducted seminars for devotee communities in India, the USA, the UK, Russia, Amsterdam, Zurich, Australia, and Bahrain. Besides, he has also done training sessions for corporate leaders at various organizations, including Intel in Phoenix, and Microsoft in Seattle.

He has written books titled ‘Are You Connected?”, ‘Cricket in a Monastery’, and ‘Mind Your Mind’ where he presents spiritual learnings from daily life.

His observations about life in general, and his realizations on the application of Krishna Consciousness (principles of Bhakti Yoga) in particular, make up the contents of this book. You can also read his reflections on his website: www.yogaformodernage.com