![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-Ba_dvNSSrsc\/VQKGaNEEwTI\/AAAAAAAAMno\/Fqs440IWHww\/s0\/2015-03-13_07-40-30.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By Gopi Gita devi dasi<\/strong><\/p>\n Let me introduce Narayana and Laura Meyer. We wish to recognize them as the Donor Spotlight for this month and express our gratitude for their support over the past year. In addition to their regular monthly donation, they gave $1,500 to TKG Academy over the New Year holiday.<\/p>\n Narayana is the son of Kalachandji Dham\u2019s Mathuranatha Prabhu and Mother Lila. He grew up in the Dallas Hare Krishna community. Along with his brother Janardan, he attended TKG Academy throughout his entire education \u2013 from preschool to high school. Narayana and Laura have recently moved back to Dallas. Their daughters, Catherine and Laleh attend school in Highland Park and Rockwall High School, respectively, and their youngest son, Ethan, is enrolled in the Preschool class at TKG Academy.<\/p>\n In getting to know Narayana and Laura, I have grown to appreciate how gentle and relatable they are. Mathuranath Prabhu\u2019s and Mother Lila\u2019s Vaisnava qualities combined find their perfection in Narayana. My recent interview with the couple revealed even more admirable qualities, rendering the staff of TKG Academy privileged to be serving their family.<\/p>\n Narayana currently works as Director of Merchandise and Design for Sports Obermeyer, a sports company that manufactures ski clothing. He previously worked for St. Bernard Sports in Dallas and was Vice President of Merchandise. His work requires him to travel to international locations such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Germany, for more than two months out of the year.<\/p>\n Narayana proudly credits his professional success to the education he received at TKG Academy. He was a student under the tutelage of Rupanuga Prabhu and Mother Jayanti. \u201cThe main reason why the Dallas Gurukula has flourished all these years has been the Robinsons\u2019 team.\u201d When asked what he applies from his education, his first response is respect. \u201cI learned how to treat people in the world. Rupanuga Prabhu was very respectful \u2013 from his expecting students to respond, yes, sir; no, sir, to the very demeanor in which he taught us.\u201d<\/p>\n He also appreciates how the Gurukula taught him to \u201cquestion everything\u201d. This is the basis of the Krishna conscious philosophy, athato brahma jijnasa. Children aren\u2019t expected to just follow the regular norm of society \u2013 they are expected to challenge it, question it. They are expected to consider how something can be better, different, improved. \u201cThis gets you ahead in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Back to Godhead – Volume 12, Number 12 – 1977Even his expertise in sales and marketing he attributes to his Gurukula education. Narayan fondly remembers distributing Srila Prabhupada\u2019s books at Deep Ellum. \u201cPreaching taught me how to sell!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe flexibility that the Gurukula offers isn\u2019t found anywhere else. We break stereotypes. We educate differently. Creatively.\u201d Because of all of this, Narayan feels that Gurukula children have an edge. They are ready to take on any hurdle, without fear. He gives the example of how he had to learn Adobe Illustrator for his job. What would have taken others two years to learn, he tackled in less than two months. Laura nods knowingly.<\/p>\n What does Laura think about all this? Born in a devout Christian family, she too has had a remarkable journey. When asked about this, she laughs, \u201cI told him I could never marry him because he was a Hare Krishna. I was conflicted. Ultimately, my dad told me, \u2018Listen. He loves God and you love God. That\u2019s all you need.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Today her son Ethan is in a Hare Krishna school, and she loves it. \u201cIt\u2019s the best any private school can provide. It offers what people pay thousands of dollars for. His teacher, Nrtya Kishori, takes it upon herself to individualize his education. What\u2019s right for Ethan may not be right for every other student. In the previous private school, he was stuck. Here, I\u2019m seeing him make such strides. His fine motor skills have significantly improved.\u201d She loves the individual learning environment. Her favorite quote: \u201cEverybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n And though she isn\u2019t a practicing Hare Krishna, she has never felt foreign to the TKG Academy atmosphere. She comes to the playground and sees an Upper Elementary student carrying her little son. \u201cWe\u2019re part of the family,\u201d she says with a smile.<\/p>\n Yes, TKG Academy is a family because of supporters and parents like Narayana and Laura Meyer. Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let me introduce Narayana and Laura Meyer. We wish to recognize them as the Donor Spotlight for this month and express our gratitude for their support over the past year. In addition to their regular monthly donation, they gave $1,500 to TKG Academy over the New Year holiday. Narayana is the son of Kalachandji Dham\u2019s Mathuranatha Prabhu and Mother Lila. He grew up in the Dallas Hare Krishna community. Along with his brother Janardan, he attended TKG Academy throughout his entire education \u2013 from preschool to high school. Narayana and Laura have recently moved back to Dallas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16408,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16063\/revisions\/16408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-jKdndDfImAk\/VQKG5GCbCoI\/AAAAAAAAMnw\/FfWiUyGshf4\/s0\/2015-03-13_07-42-43.jpg\")
\nAbove: Mathuranath Prabhu<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Hare](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-f2mPMsd1xIc\/VQKHkVdaRmI\/AAAAAAAAMn4\/Q8IEO5c3PPI\/s0\/2015-03-13_07-45-36.jpg\")
By Gopi Gita devi dasi<\/strong><\/p>\n