Dada Maheshvarananda  Dada Maheshvarananda, (born May 11, 1953 in the United States) is a yogic monk, activist, writer and the founder of the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela. Since becoming a monk, in the socio-spiritual organisation and movement Ananda Marga, Dada Maheshvarananda has dedicated his life to traveling and living around the world teaching meditation, yoga and spreading the Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT). Maheshvarananda's first book is titled "After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World" (2003); prefaced by Noam Chomsky, it has been translated into 10 languages. His second book, a follow-up, is "After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action" (2012). His most recent book is "Cooperative Games for a Cooperative World: Facilitating Trust, Communication and Spiritual Connection" (2017). Maheshvarananda was born in 1953 in Philadelphia; he pursued "Peace Studies" for two years at Earlham College and participated in protests against the Vietnam War. He began practicing meditation in 1974, as taught by the Ananda Marga yogic sect, and studying the prolific writings and books of its founder Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. In 1976 he assumed a monastic lifestyle with Ananda Marga and met Sarkar in India 2 years later. This first meeting, he writes "inspired me to become a monk, and to dedicate my life to the service of humanity." In 1983, Sarkar initiated him into the order of avadhuta, a monk or nun of an order close to the tradition of Shaeva Tantra. From 1979 to 1991 Maheshvarananda taught meditation and yoga to hundreds of people and supervised various social service projects in Indonesia and the Philippines (also known as "Maharlika"). He also helped organize relief operations with the international service organization, AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team). From 1992 to 2003 Maheshvarananda worked in Brazil, where he participated in Eco-92 and the World Social Forum and formed relationships with leaders of Liberation Theology and other popular social movements, such as Leonardo Boff, Frei Betto, Herbert de Souza, Carlos Minc and . He taught weekly meditation classes in Carandiru Penitentiary and other prisons and also took part in the protests against the World Bank and IMF in 2000. Maheshvarananda toured Europe extensively from 2003 to 2006, organizing and leading seminars and workshops about social issues, spiritual values, and Prout.