Champakalata dasi has been practising bhakti yoga since 1978 when her parents joined ISKCON in Durban, South Africa. 

Champakalata dasi holds multiple degrees – Bachelor of Arts, Law, and Education (qualified teacher). She has her own law firm for the past 30 years, lectures on a part-time basis for the Law Society of South Africa, and, when available, serves as an acting Magistrate in the South African judiciary and as a presiding officer for the Department of Labor in workmen’s compensation matters. She is an admitted attorney with the right of appearance in the High Court of South Africa. She also possesses the added qualifications of being a conveyancer, notary public, and trained mediator, while also serving as an examiner for the South African Legal Practice Council attorneys’ admission exams and its disciplinary committee.

In South Africa, Champakalata dasi has served as the Communications Officer, Legal Advisor, and Chairperson of the ISKCON KwaZulu-Natal Management Board, and she currently serves on ISKCON’s South African National Executive Committee. Internationally, Champakalata dasi served as the Director of ISKCON’s International Child Protection Office (CPO) from 2009 to 2016 and subsequently as the first director of ISKCON’s Prevention of Leadership Misconduct Office. She has a wealth of experience within ISKCON, having also served as a member of the CPO Review Committee, the Ministry of Education, and the Ethics Advisory Committee. She has had extensive training in child protection, including completing courses on counselling and trauma counselling.

Since her appointment as the ISKCON Justice Minister in 2022, Champakalata dasi has prepared a standardized course for the training of ISKCON members who serve as judges, adjudicators, disciplinary, or review panel members in ISKCON proceedings. She encourages, where appropriate, that alternate dispute mechanisms and restorative justice be explored prior to engaging in adjudicatory processes. Champakalata dasi strongly advocates for fair and due processes with the rules of natural justice underpinning all investigative and adjudicatory processes.

Despite all of the above commitments, Champakalata dasi finds time to spend with her family and to study Srila Prabhupada’s books and is expected to complete the Bhakti Vaibhava degree this year. She is often seen giving classes at the local temple or at festivals, participating in book distribution, and loves serving the devotees.