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Dr. B. R. VATSALA was born on January 1, 1961 to a Tamil Brahmin family living in Jamshedpur, an industrial township in the northern state of Bihar, India. Raised with her five siblings in an orthodox Hindu environment, Dr. Vatsala was trained in the traditional religious rites and rituals of the Brahmins, the priest caste of India. She has been familiar with Sanskrit since her youth, and is also fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, and English. As is traditional for a woman of her caste, until attending graduate school, her life revolved around her immediate family and religious obligations. She has studied and produced religious paintings both in the Tanjore style, as well as contemporary devotional paintings and secular portraiture. Early on, Vatsala earned the nickname of “Mukta” in her family, meaning one who is liberated and strong-willed. She left her native village for the rigorous life of a university student in the city of Delhi, and in 1985, she was awarded a gold medal by the president of India as the top student in a master’s degree program in microbiology. She earned her doctorate in clinical microbiology from Delhi University in 1992. After publishing her thesis, she was appointed Chief of Microbiology at the Child’s Trust Hospital in Madras, one of the largest referral hospitals for children in Southeast Asia, where she worked until her marriage to Ehud Sperling. She was invited by the Mayo Clinic to do postgraduate work, has worked extensively with the World Health Organization, has published numerous articles and papers, and was a popular lecturer throughout Tamil Nadu. Dr. Vatsala is now working on her second book about ayurvedic care for women. She lives in rural Vermont with her husband and young son, Mahar.
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Born December 6, 1949 to parents who fled Hitler’s Germany to become pioneers in the founding of Israel, EHUD SPERLING was one of the first sabras, or native-born Israelis. His father, Julius, was a member of the underground military arm of Israeli independence, and his mother was a nanny. The family moved to New York when Sperling was four years old, and he grew up in Washington Heights. He came of age in the 1960s and participated fully in the radicalism of the times. A mathematician and scientist by training, his view of the revolution was one of consciousness, not politics. This led to a deep immersion and continuing interest in all the regimens of self-development: eastern philosophies, western esoteric traditions, and psychoactive experimentation. In 1975, Sperling founded Inner Traditions International, which is today one of the largest and oldest companies worldwide publishing books on alternative health, religion and spirituality, the perennial philosophies, and indigenous culture. ITI’s books are distributed worldwide, including India. Sperling is also one of the founding members of the Social Venture Network, an organization of socially responsible entrepreneurs who have spearheaded a movement toward meshing personal, social, and spiritual values. Sperling has traveled widely, speaking in forums as varied as the presigious Hartmann Institute in Jerusalem and a tribe of headhunters deep in the Amazon jungle. His work as a photographer and videographer has been featured on numerous national network television programs and documentaries, as well as in a number of books and publications. Before his marriage to Dr. Vatsala, Sperling struggled through two conventional marriages, one in the Jewish tradition, and another in the Christian tradition. He now happily makes his home in Vermont with his wife and son. |
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