Rajiv Bhalla
President

Rajiv Bhalla was born in Hardwar and completed his B. Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry from St. Stephens College, Delhi. He currently runs an IT sale and consulting business catering to many large companies in and around Haridwar.

He has been a member of The Rotary Club for the last 31 years and has been actively involved in many large social service projects for the benefit of the community.

Rajiv has been associated with Sri Ram Ashram for almost 20 years and is actively involved with the management of Sri Ram Ashram and Shri Ram Vidya Mandir. He is also a trustee of Maa Anand Mai Memorial School, is on the advisory board of several other institutions and leads motivational workshops throughout northern India.

Vishwanath Kaushik
Secretary cum Treasurer

Vishwanath Kaushik began his journey with Sri Ram Ashram in 1983 when he met Baba Hari Dass (Babaji), who had a dream to build a home for children in despair. He was involved in the search for property in Haridwar and was fortunate enough to lay the foundation stone for Sri Ram Ashram with Babaji in 1984.

Vishwanath runs a small business from Old Delhi. He and his wife have two children and three beautiful grandchildren who love to visit Sri Ram Ashram. In his words “I consider myself blessed and fortunate to be associated with my extended family at Sri Ram Ashram.”

Raman Bhatia
Vice President

Raman Bhatia is a Past District Governor and member of the Rotary since the last 45 years. He spent years working towards a “Polio Free World” and was the first in Asia to be recognized with the “International Service Award for a Polio Free World”.

Raman  currently serves as Managing Trustee of the Rtn. Naqshband Institute For Physically Challenged and is a Trustee of Anath Shishu Palan Trust of India at Sri Ram Ashram in Haridwar .

After 45 years he retired from Special Steel Manufacturing, Gas and High-Tension Power distribution. Service to the lesser privileged is now his full-time passion. He firmly believes that ‘it is in giving that you receive’ and ‘he profits most who serves best.’

Tapan Sarkar
Vice President

Born and educated in Delhi, Tapan Sarkar worked in the corporate world  for thirty-plus years before retiring to care for his mother. After her passing away, he chose to follow his first love – traveling. Over two decades back, Tapan met Babaji in Haridwar and his ‘conversation’ with Him continues.  As trustee, he is currently involved with Sri Ram Ashram and Sri Ram Vidya Mandir.

Praphul Misra
Trustee

Praphul Misra is a serial entrepreneur focussed on harnessing technology for transforming marketing processes.  He has been active in professional organizations such as the American Marketing Association, Indian Relationship Management Association and is on the Board of IIT Roorkee’s Business Incubator (TIDES).  Praphul has published articles in world class business journals and serves on the Advisory Board of Literacy India, a Gurgaon-based NGO.

Praphul earned an MBA from the SUNY at Buffalo and a B.Sc. in Electronics and Communication from the University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee).

Praphul is married and is blessed with two children.  He resides in Gurgaon and lives out of a suitcase. 

Dayanand Diffenbaugh

Dayanand has been an advisor to Sri Ram Ashram since its founding, travelling annually since 1983 to support the project. He has been especially involved in land management and development areas. Dayanand is the founding director of Mount Madonna Center in California and is the editor of Baba Hari Dass’s commentaries on the Yoga Sutras.

Sarada Diffenbaugh, PhD

Sarada serves as President of Sri Rama Foundation located in Santa Cruz, California. SRF publishes the writings of master-yogi Baba Hari Dass, the founder of Sri Ram Ashram, and raises funds to sustain the orphanage and school. Sarada has come regularly to the ashram since its inception and advises primarily in the areas of children’s well-being and education. Sarada is President of Mount Madonna School (Nursery-12th) and Provost of Mount Madonna Institute, both dedicated to transformative education. As a lifelong student of Babaji, Sarada is dedicated to yoga practices and their application to contemporary life through service, study and devotion.

Sadanand Ward Mailliard

Sadanand began studying Yoga with Baba Hari Dass in 1974. He is a Board member of Mount Madonna Center and V.P. of the Sri Rama Foundation. Sadanand has taught at Yoga at Mount Madonna Center for the past 40 years, edited Babaji’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita and created the “Values in World Thought” program at Mount Madonna Secondary School. Since 1994, Sadanand and his wife Kranti have come yearly for two months to Sri Ram Ashram to support the children and various projects. His areas of support encompass finances, development, and educational outreach. While in India he conducts workshops at schools and NGO’s to encourage better relationships in the teaching environment.

Rashmi Cole

Rashmi has lived at Sri Ram Ashram since 1988. She has participated in all phases of Sri Ram Ashram, from inception, to chasing elephants out of the fields, raising babies, supervising education, facilitating college admissions and arranging marriages for our young adults. She is director of the Yoga Diwali India program, a successful Yoga immersion program at Sri Ram Ashram and has hosted many visiting groups from around the world. Her passion is to share Sri Ram Ashram and the Haridwar area with the world and is happiest when our Sri Ram Ashram family gathers for milestone events.