
Saunaka Rsi Dasa, director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
Saunaka Rsi Dasa has been involved in communications preaching for twenty years. He currently serves as director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
The College is very important for me, because it means that we now have a facility to nurture, through academic programmes and spiritual reflection, those who feel they have a vocation in mission and ministry. I see it as the beginning of a sanga of preachers – a priesthood. Not all will elect to follow this path, but all can appreciate and support it.
In many ways Saunaka Rsi is also a visionary. His influence is behind the annual European conventions in Radhadesh, out of which many important initiatives have been brought to life. Since 1997, Saunaka Rsi has served as executive for ISKCON’s Ministry for Educational Development, of which Bhaktivedanta College is the physical manifestation. He became the convener of the Ministry by bringing trustees and managers together, assisting in the creation of the College.
Joined ISKCON in Dublin, Ireland, in 1979, and has since acted in many capacities, such as helping to open the Belfast temple and acting as communications director for Ireland and England, and later as communications coordinator for all of Europe.