Sri Yashoda Ma (1882-1944) – Ma to her pupils – was born to a Bengali family in Ghazipur, a town in northern India on the banks of the river Ganges. Her father, Rai Bahadur Gagan Chandra Roy, was a well-known figure in the town and their house regularly hosted visitors. Acquaintances

Sri Krishna Prem (1898-1965) – Gopalda to his pupils and friends – was born in Cheltenham, England, and christened Ronald Nixon. He went to Taunton School and won a scholarship to Cambridge University. When the First World War (1914-18)

Sri Madhava Ashish (1920-1997) – Ashishda to his friends and pupils – was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and christened Alexander Phipps. He went to Sherborne, a well-known English public school, and then studied aeronautical engineering at Chelsea