I was born in 1972 in a rural New Hampshire (USA) town. My father left me, my mother & my younger brother when I was quite young.

As a result, I was raised at what today would be considered 'poverty level', although I certainly was unaware of that then. My mother had a very strong Protestant work ethic, which was probably a good thing, given our economic fortunes. I was raised cutting wood & caring for a garden.. it wasn't until later that I realized without these things we would have frozen or starved. (ok, I'm probably being a little melodramatic)

I was raised basically areligious.. not with any given opinion one way or the other. I attended church services a literal handful of times my entire youth. I really didn't understand what a 'Catholic' was until I got to college.

I was given a Bhagavad Gita As It Is when I was in high school, and despite my best efforts, I have as of yet to complete reading it. It did, however, attract me to Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

I visited & made a few friends at the local ISKCON temple, and in the meantime got married to a wonderful Catholic wife & had children. This resulted in me feeling more distant from ISKCON, as since I could not 'renounce everything' & move into a temple, I was basically 'on the outs', a karmi.

Somewhere between high school & having kids I managed to get Bachelor Degrees in Physics and Philosophy from the University of New Hampshire.

I started looking at other GV teachers, and found some inspiration in Srila Tripurari Maharaja's books.

Around this time I found the GD website and lurked for several months. I came across a posting from Madhava about the trials of getting some books printed in India. I thought that since he worked so hard getting these printed, I owed them at least a look, so I ordered the Ananta Dasa Babaji bundle offered at loibazaar.com

Getting & reading the books was a life altering experience. Here, finally was all of the things I had been reading about, but spelled out so simply, so sweetly, and with scriptural authority. Things started to make sense. So, I have been reading these books & some other recommended books, and we will see where things go. I have to say that I am eternally grateful to Madhava & all the other devotees here on GD for the wonderful sadhu-sanga they provide!

Dave's interests

Well, since I'm filling out a profile for a site called 'Gaudiya Discussions', I'll put forth my interests outside of Gaudiya siddhanta.

I'm interested in computers, especially Linux and its emergence/philosophy in the marketplace. The 'Open Source' revolution makes for fascinating watching.

My most obsessive (amature academic) interest is ancient Egyptian religion. Obsessive to the point where the last 10 books I've read involve only this topic. Obsessive to the point where my wife and most friends just scratch their heads when something even remotely related to Egyptian religion comes up in conversation. Obsessive to the point.. well.. you get the point.