Maria Kimdal (Manah Siksa devi dasi) about herself:

I was born in the north of Sweden in 1958. Ever since my early childhood, I was attracted to Music, to Words and to God. When I was 14, I bought my first guitar, and I started to sing in choirs and play in different bands. Later I came to study music on full time for 7 years (guitar, flute, piano, composition, etc) and later I also worked as a music teacher.

When I got family and children, I started to dedicate my little spare time to language studies and to writing. By the time, I came to teach Swedish and Spanish, and I also accepted to work as the managing editor of Skrivlustan, a Swedish magazine for writers, with four issues per year. It is also in this magazine, where much of my writing is published. Besides this, I occasionally perform alone or with other writers and musicians in different events. My major music project so far, is a CD production together with the excellent musician Mikael Sjödin; eight songs based on the beautiful teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and the release of the CD was in august 2007.

As God has always been a reality in my life, I would say that there has always also been a spiritual presence in my works, and since a few years ago, the vaisnava philosophy has come to be a great inspiration for me in everything I do, whether it is about writing, playing or cooking! And I have come to realize that everything becomes a beautiful art, when there is a consciousness regarding the Origin behind all art.