Gopiparanadhana Dasa is a scholar of Sanskrit and a practising ISKCON devotee. Born in 1950 in New York City, he received his BA in linguistics from Columbia University in 1972 and was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1973. Under Srila Prabhupada's guidance, ­Gopiparanadhana developed an expertise in Sanskrit and served as an editor for the ­Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT). After Srila Prabhupada passed away Gopiparanadhana helped complete Srimad-Bhagavatam, Mukunda-mala-stotra and Narada-bhakti-sutra. He continues to translate Gaudiya Vaisnava literature from Sanskrit, as well as training editors and translators for the BBT and working on the BBT production of Sri Brhad-bhagavatamrta. He lives in India with his wife, his five-year-old son, and two cows.
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Ravi M. Gupta (Radhika-ramana Dasa) is eighteen years old, and is currently pursuing a D.Phil. in Vaisnavism at the University of Oxford. He already holds a BA in Philosophy and a BS in Mathematics from Boise State University, as well as an MSt in the Study of ­Religion from Oxford. His research interests include the philosophical works of Jiva ­Goswami and the history of Gaudiya Vaisnavism in the Rajput kingdom. Ravi recently delivered a presentation on Hinduism in Dialogue to the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum, and has written on Hinduism for several periodicals.
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Thomas J. Hopkins is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Franklin & Marshall ­College, USA. He was also Director of Academic Affairs at the Oxford Centre for Vaisnava and Hindu Studies for the academic year 1998-9. He is the author of The Hindu Religious Tradition and has published numerous articles and encyclopaedia entries on aspects of Indian religious life ranging from the Indus Civilisation to modern Bengal Vaisnavism. His special interest in the Vaisnava devotional tradition led to his first meeting with A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in New York in 1966, which focused his attention on the newly emerging ISKCON movement and started a long-term study of ISKCON's history and theology.
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Dr István Kamaras PhD, graduated from the University of Budapest (ELTE) with degrees in Hungarian Literature, Library Science and Sociology. From 1968-85 he worked for the Hungarian National Library as head of the department of the sociology of reading. From 1985-90 he was an empirical researcher in the sociology of religion for the Institute for Cultural Studies and from 1990-5 worked in research and development for the National Institute of Education. During1996-9 he was a professor at the Janus Pannonius University of Pécs, teaching philosophy, anthropology, sociology of arts and religion. Since 1999 Dr Kamaras has been a professor at Veszprém University working on the establishment of a department of anthropology, ethics and religious study. His main research interests are the reception of art, the priest's role, Catholic rectory activities, Catholic renewal movements and new religious movements. He has published numerous books on the sociology of culture, arts and religion.
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Krsna-lila Dasi (Danka Krisztina, Ph.D.) has been a member of ISKCON since 1990. She finished her Ph.D. at the Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary, with a thesis entitled 'The Literary Work As Revelation: The Philosophy and Concept of Literature of Gaudiya Vaishnavism'. She has been the spokesperson for ISKCON in Hungary since 1995 and a teacher at the Bhaktivedanta Cultural and Scientific Institute since 1997.
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Merudevi Dasi (Marie Ann Östlund) joined ISKCON in 1983, in Stockholm, Sweden. She has performed various services within the ISKCON Communications Ministry and is presently the Deputy Director of the Vaishnava Communications Institute in Oxford, where she takes special interest in inter-faith and religious freedom issues. In 1999 she was given a scholarship by ISKCON Communications to take a Vaisnava theology course in Vrndavana.
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Mudumby Narasimhachary, Professor of Vaishnavism at the University of Madras, has more than thirty-five years' teaching experience and has guided twenty-five PhD students through their research. He taught Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy at the University of Malaya and lectured on Sanskrit and Srivaisnavism at Mercyhurst College, Pennsylvania; Drew ­University, New Jersey; Nazareth College, Rochester; and the Oxford Centre for Vaishnava and Hindu Studies, Oxford. He specialises in literary criticism, grammar, Srivaisnavism and visistadvaita philosophy. Prof. Narasimhachary has published twenty books and seventy-five articles. His books include Contribution of Yamunacharya to Visistadvaita, Critical Edition and Study of the Agamapramanya of Sri Yamunacharya, A Handbook of South Indian Gods and Goddesses and an English Translation of Sri Vedanta Desika's Padukasahasra. In March 2000 he was honoured for excellence in Sanskrit Scholarship by India's Minister for Human Resource Development.
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Urmila Devi Dasi (Edith E. Best) joined ISKCON in 1973 in Chicago. Her primary work has been in the area of education. In 1982-3, she and her husband started an ISKCON primary school in Detroit, Michigan, which gradually grew to include secondary students. She served there as Principal for eight years. She went on to found another primary and secondary school in North Carolina in 1990, where she continues to be the Principal. Urmila Devi Dasi has compiled Vaikuntha Children, a guidebook for education in ISKCON and is currently writing and coordinating the development of a Krsna conscious academic curriculum for primary and secondary students. She was the education columnist for ISKCON's Back to Godhead magazine for over eight years and is presently a feature writer and associate editor. Urmila Devi Dasi also travels to present in-service training to teachers in ISKCON related schools.
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Lyall Ward is an editor for ISKCON Communications Journal. He works full time for ISKCON Communications on web development and other projects. He lives in Belfast with his wife Syama.
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