Belgian Nationality born in 1950 in a family with 8 children.

Growing up I was very active as a leader in a catholic youth organisation and became the chairman of the local village youth forum for a while.

Teacher in a technical school from 1971 until I joined ISKCON Amsterdam in July 1980. 

After the Sunday feast I was invited to stay overnight in the Amsterdam temple and the next day the Deities, Sri Sri Radha Gopinatha, Lalita&Visakha, Sri Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra Maharani ( installed in Amsterdam by Srila Prabhupada ), and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai, along with a number of devotees moved to Belgium to the new Benelux castle with 47 ha of forest and land, named Radhadesh.

The authorities arranged my marriage in 1985 with Vinode Manjari dd, we have two children Visvambara Caitanya dasa born in 1988 and Lalita Manjari dd born in 1990.

I have one grandson Govinda.

My wife collected the money to help the temple and to sustain my family, later when the children were more or less self-sufficient, she diminished her paraphernalia sales and became engaged as part time pujari. 

In 1986 I became temple president and 6 months later Bhagavan Prabhu stepped down as GBC and Guru, which resulted in a struggle for life, on all levels, especially with manpower and finances. 

Together with another devotee we initiated the visitors program with daily several guided tours, Boutique, Restaurant/Cafeteria, Bakery, Museum, Bhagavad Gita walk and later the Retreat Center started in 2002 and this was a breakthrough in the financial stability of Radhadesh.

Radhadesh required a lot of renovation and maintenance and with my technical background, I was able to help, especially in the area of construction. 

Yearly Radhadesh, a spiritual oasis, is visited by an estimated 50.000 people from which 15.000 take a guided tour. A number of  philosophical courses and seminars are organised, especially by the Bhaktivedanta College. Radhadesh Mellows organises, the last weekend of Januari, the biggest kirtan mela outside of India. Yoga groups, school groups etc..  

The community has slowly increased from 40 in 1980 to at present 150 devotees who live in and around Radhadesh. A Goshala with the capacity 16 cows was recently build  At the moment a Prasadam hall of 320 M2 is being built next to the castle and a house with 8 flats is in the Commune for building permission.

Radhadesh also has the Bhaktivedanta College, Bhaktivedanta Library Services ( BLS ) and Alfred Ford School of Management for MBA students, as neighbors.

I stopped the service as temple president in 2014 and went to Mayapur where I have spent, since that time 6 months a year as Co-GBC secretary and as Co-Director with a special focus on the Mayapur Master Plan.