Urmila Devi Dasi

Who is Urmila Devi Dasi?

Urmila Devi Dasi, was born in 1955 in New York City. Her father was president and later, CEO, of the Manischewitz food company, founded by his grandfather. She joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1973 in Chicago and became a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON.

Her primary work in ISKCON has been in the area of education. In 1982 in Detroit she and her husband, Pratyatosa, started an ISKCON primary school, where she served as Principal for eight years. She founded another primary and secondary school in North Carolina in 1990, where she was Principal for ten years. Urmila has compiled a guidebook for education in ISKCON and has been engaged in "writing and coordinating the development of a Krishna conscious academic curriculum for primary and secondary students". For eight years she was the education columnist for Back to Godhead magazine, where she is presently an associate editor. In 2008 Urmila wrote a paper based on Īśopaniṣad about the philosophy of education to be followed at Krishna Avanti Primary School in Harrow, England, the first state-funded Hindu school in Great Britain. Urmila has also been involved in the debates on women's place in ISKCON.