About Us
Dedication
The Glory of India Value Education Book series for children is dedicated to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna consciousness, who generated a revival of global and native interest in the spiritual heritage of India by his intense travel, writings and teachings from 1965-1977.
Team Behind Glory of India Value Education Resources
The Glory of India series of books is the outcome of the voluntary services of the team members who are very keen to utilize their skills for the welfare of children. We proudly present a brief intro of our team members and thank them for their glorious service to the cause of children education.
Concept, Research & Primary Author
Tarini Radha Devi
Author and Children Spiritual Educationist
Tarini Radha Devi was born in Chennai, India. During her final year in college, a quest to strengthen her deep faith in Lord Krishna with scientific evidence, brought her to the ISKCON temple in 1988 with the support of her father (late) Sri A.S.Siva who had provided her with an English education, a library of books at home and a traditional cultural upbringing laced with worship, classical dance and music.
In the year 1991 she took formal initiation from His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, a senior sannyasi disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Based on his instruction and the encouragement given by HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj, she started thinking more seriously about educating children and got a degree in education (B.Ed)
Since the year 2000, she is coordinating and training spiritual teachers in ISKCON to conduct spiritual programs for children. Under her leadership, the Children’s wing of ISKCON Chennai, Bhakta Prahlad Siksha Samaj with about 60 volunteers conduct weekly classes for 700 children annually in 62 parts of the city. In the year 2014, classes began for students at schools with the permission of school authorities during the assembly and value education periods. Upto the onset of the pandemic, programs were held in 25 schools reaching upto 10,000 children every week.
Tarini Radha began research and planning for the Glory of India series in 2003. The stories from these books are presented in our Resources page as short and long courses.
Besides this series of books, she has contributed articles to Back to Godhead and has written several small story books for children based on the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Tarini Radha and Sumithra Krishna das, who serves as the Zonal supervisor for East Tamilnadu, were married in 1994. They have four children.
Tarini Radha is a member in the Bhakti Bija project ( Children Spiritual Education) of the ISKCON Ministry of Education.
Click Here for Links to Tarini Radha’s articles.
Text Team
K . Sivashankari
Dr. K. SivaShankari is an ardent Krishna devotee who has offered her services to the GoI VE project as language editor of all the books. She heads the UG Department of English in SDNB Vaishnav College For Women in Chrompet, Chennai. She is a dedicated educationist who spearheads the Sparkle English Academy, which endeavours to bring about a holistic language development among first generation learners in suburban Chennai. She is a passionate researcher who has published papers in National & International journals. Her paper titled ‘Living & Partly Living’ has bagged the Best Paper Award in an International Conference in 2015.
She has developed story boards & content for well known publishers like Pearson, Macmillan. Her current research aspiration is to explore Indigenous spiritual texts and retrace ancient wisdom to regenerate cultural ethos and foster a strong mental development and emotional quotient among children. She is a dramatist, orator and a sportswoman who has represented TamilNadu in Hockey & Kho Kho.
Hemalatha C.V
C. V. Hemalatha, with professional degrees in English and education – M.A. B.Ed. – is the chief editor of GoI and has also contributed in writing some of the lessons. Her 16 years of experience as a teacher from KG to higher secondary and her parenting skills in raising children and grand children have been greatly helpful in ensuring that the content of these GoI books are in tune with the mental development and skills of the children.
Sundari Gopika Devi
Sundari Gopika, a Physician assistant by academic certification, mother of two children and currently a home maker is associated with ISKCON since 2009. She started her services in children spiritual education as a teacher in the Sunday school in ISKCON LA temple. She has been teaching the children of BPSS, ISKCON Chennai online since 2020. She has contributed essays to the GoI books with an interest to bring children closer to God by imparting spiritual knowledge, traditional and cultural values to our children to endure the challenges of this fast paced world.
Srividya Balachander
Srividya is an educationist, who works as educational consultant and advisor to schools in the areas of Math and Science. She has been fortunate to interact with children continuously and they continue to remain the centre of her long journey in education. She is deeply committed to best practices in education. She designs curriculum, trains teachers and conducts workshops for educators on pedagogy and assessment. She has also taught the children of BPSS, ISKCON Chennai from 2019-2021. She has helped in research, editing and preparing PowerPoint presentations for the GOI books.
Varuna Kumaran
Bhagyavathi Radharani
Bhagyavathi Radharani, daughter of Sumitra Krishna Das and Tarini Radha Devi, provided immense motivation and support to complete the long pending GoI books. She also helped in simplifying the language to suit every child.
Suman Bhat
Smt. N. Suman Bhat is a home maker who loves to read from the scriptures and about saints and spiritual masters of the world. Short biographies that she wrote on Prabhupada and other saints were published by Sura Books, Chennai. Suman conducted BPSS classes for five years in Chennai. She has contributed to the GoI Value Education series as the author of Krishna, the Supreme Hero.
Art Team
Manjari Devi Dasi
Manjari Devi Dasi (a.k.a.Medha Khanna) has made several drawings and colouring for the GoI books. She is the art guide who makes art videos based on the story for children to learn. Manjari is also the creator of the fireless cooking recipes and videos.
Manjari Devi Dasi is associated with ISKCON for nearly ten years. She has been teaching arts for over 22 years in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai. She also conducts BPSS classes for children at her home. Her art students win various prizes at city, state and national level art competitions many times!! You can check her students work at: @Medha Arts, Classes for drawing and painting, https://m.facebook.com/MedhaArts/
Gopika Kumar
Having been introduced to Krishna Consciousness at a very young age, Gopika is passionate about creating Krishna-Conscious content for children and youth with special interest in child development and psychology. A certified French instructor with the Alliance Francaise Group, she also manages the institution’s extensive library at Trivandrum.
Gopika is an aspiring professional illustrator as well and the Glory of India project gave her the perfect opportunity to dovetail her talent and passion in Krishna’s service, providing a transcendental outlet for her abilities. Her art is inspired by the anime style.
Dr. Apara Bhakti
Aparabhakti Devi Dasi (Dr. Aparna Shashikumar) was initiated in 1995 by HH Jayapataka Swami. She is a pediatrician by profession. She is engaged in preaching Krishna Consciousness in Shimoga, Karnataka. Her close association with Tarini Radha inspired her to take up drawing seriously and contribute artwork to GOI.
Lakshu (GoI Logo Design and layout Consultant)
Lakshmi Narasimhan (Lakshu), the founder of Creative Zone, is one of the simple and sought-after promotional design agencies in Chennai. He has worked in leading advertising agencies pan India and also catered to clients Globally. Being a fine artist, Lakshu has been very keen on supporting and promoting artists in all fields of art.
He is also a promotional consultant for a leading Music Sabha in Chennai.
He runs an online magazine laksquare.com, an initiative for the promotion of Indian arts across the globe.
D. Ranija
D. Ranija is a Chennai based Artist and has been in this field for over two decades. After completing her Masters in Art course in ICS Learning system, Pennsylvania, USA. ( 1996 to 1998 ) She practised and learnt every medium and subject for another 2 years and started her teaching career in 2000, training both adults and kids. She worked along side with Tarini Radha on her book series ‘Avatar’ as one of the illustrator.
Archita Radharani
Archita Radharani, daughter of Tarini Radha Devi and Sumithra Krishna Das is a budding young artist. She has contributed to GoI by colouring several pictures for the books.
Material Support
Brajadevi Priya
Brajadevi Priya devi was Introduced to ISKCON in 2011 by her husband Shyam Murari das. They have two children. She served in the Vedic Cultural centre in Sammamish, USA for three years and is serving ISKCON Chennai since the past 6 years assisting in children’s spiritual enrichment program. She takes care of maintaining, posting and sharing GoI materials. She is an initiated disciple of HH Radhanath Swami.
Apoorva Ramachandran
Apoorva Ramachandran was introduced to ISKCON by her parents from the time she was born in 2001. She is grateful to be bestowed with the service since 2020 of preparing PowerPoint presentations for the teen GoI curriculum to spread the message of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada to other children.
Mani Manikonda
Mani Manikonda realised her skill in craft activities through the ISKCON programs for children. She has been serving ISKCON Chennai as craft teacher since 2018.
Smrti
Smrti is associated with ISKCON since 2011 and has been making remarkable PowerPoint presentations for the GoI courses from the time she was in high school.
Vijaya Sucitra Devi
Vijaya Sucitra Devi, one of the BPSS teachers connected to ISKCON Chennai, contributes to the GoI curriculum by making PowerPoint presentations for the Bhagavad Gita slokas. Her desire to teach moral values and Indian tradition and culture to the young minds of India found fulfillment and guidance through the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
Deepa Mylavarapu
Deepa Mylavarapu contributes to the Supporting Material Team as Shloka teacher since 2018. Her audio of Bhagavad Gita slokas can be accessed in our free resources section.
Harshal Rajesh
Harshal Rajesh is associated with ISKCON since 2004. Currently doing her M.Tech in Bangalore, she is with the GoI team since 2020 as Quiz and Activity maker.
Ashrithaa Amarlal Babu
Student, Volunteer at BPSS, ISKCON Chennai
Ashrithaa is 12 years old studying in Delhi Public School, Qatar, has keen interest in traditional Indian music. She has learnt Carnatic music for 5 years. Currently she is pursuing piano Grade 5 class accredited by Trinity college in London. By the grace of God, Ashrithaa has got a talent to play any songs in keyboard just by hearing it, without referring to any musical notes. She regularly upload her music on YouTube channel and Facebook page to entertain the people. She is also doing background music for devotional songs and rhymes for BPSS, ISKCON Chennai, as a service to Lord Krishna.
Gomathi Sathyanarayanan
Gomathi Sathyanarayanan is associated with ISKCON since 1996. She is one of the BPSS teachers, a program conducted by ISKCON Chennai, since 2013. She has been assisting in BPSS program. She has contributed to the GoI books by assisting in framing questions to Book 7. Her teenage daughter Harini has rendered her beautiful voice for promoting the summer camp promo videos.
Sugunamayi Keshavi
Sugunamayi Keshavi devi dasi is practising Krishna consciousness since 2012. She has contributed to the Glory of India project and ISKCON Chennai kids’ spiritual programs by helping with online registration for yearly program and for summer camps. She also assisted in creating online google class rooms and maintaing master record in Google drive besides creating Google forms for summer camp materials like quiz etc and posting. She has helped out with Tamil translation for few lessons and in issuing online certificates to students, teachers and volunteers.