Radhika Ramana Dasa, also known as Dr. Ravi M. Gupta, is a notable Vaishnava scholar. Presently, he is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and a member of the faculty at Bhaktivedanta College. He received his doctorate from Oxford University on the topic of Jiva Goswami's Vedanta,[1] and has a Post-Doctoral Fellowship from Linacre College.[2][3][4] He grew up in Boise Idaho where his academic accomplishments were documented in the Idaho Statesman.[5][6] On April 17, 2008, he met with Pope Benedict XVI and presented a gift to him on behalf of the Hindu American community.[7][8][9][10][11] He is a disciple of Hanumatpreshaka Swami.[4]
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He was brought up by his parents Ananta-Rupa Dasa and Aruddha Dasi in Boise, Idaho. He has been home schooled together with his brother Gopal with a curriculum based on the Bhagavata Purana, and included English, comprehension skills, critical thinking, debate, and communication. He also took Sanskrit, maths and science as separate subjects.
When he enrolled in the local Boise State University at the age of 13, on the first day, the professor of the English department sent Radhika to the honors writing course because all the introductory classes were full. Radhika Raman recalls.
At first, I was so intimidated by the curriculum. Rather than contemporary novels and story books, it was full of classical literature like Shakespeare, the Iliad and the Odyssey. But everything changed when I realized how similar they were to our own epics in many ways. Homer’s Oddyssey spoke about valiant warriors and their code of ethics, just like the Mahabharata. And the conflicts Shakespeare’s Hamlet faced were very similar to those of Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.
Five years later, at the age of seventeen, he left the University with a degree in philosophy, a BS in mathematics, and the university’s highest honor, a silver medallion.[12]
He graduated from the University of Oxford at twenty-two with a doctorate in Hindu Studies and was one of the youngest students to gain a PhD from this University. He has been assisted in his studies by Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies run by Shaunaka Rishi Dasa. From there he moved to the University of Florida, Gainesville to teach for one year. In 2006, he became Assistant Professor of Religion at Centre College, Kentucky. His Oxford doctorate of 2004, The Caitanya Vaishnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami was published by Routledge press in 2007.[12]
In 2008, Ravi Gupta became Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, where he lives with his wife Amrita Keli.
He has received two teaching awards: Rookie Professor of the Year and the David Hughes Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was also chosen by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to greet Pope Benedict XVI on behalf of the Hindu American community during the Pope's first visit to the United States.
He is working on three books: two of them, written in collaboration with Kenneth Valpey, are on the Bhagavata Purana, and will be published by Columbia University Press. The third is an introduction to Chaitanya Vaishnava philosophy to be published as part of Ashgate publishing World Philosophy Series.
In ISKCON, he serves in the Ministry of Educational Development on the executive board and teaches Sanskrit at the Bhaktivedanta College.[12]