Friederike Irina

Early life At the age of 20, in 1978, she arrived in India as a tourist after completing her education in Berlin, Germany. In search of life's purpose, she went to Radha Kund in Uttar Pradesh. She then became a disciple of guru Srila Tinkudi Gosvami. At a neighbour's request, she bought a cow. She also taught herself Hindi, bought books related to cows and devoted herself completely to taking care of stray animals.

Philosophy She has been staying in India for more than 25 years. Her way of life is highly influenced by the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, traditions and the temples built there. Since this knowledge was not readily available in her country, she considers Indians as lucky, where even children are taught through their tradition and mythology stories without having to search for it, it is imbibed in them.

She is a vegetarian and considers any form of activity that causes violence, fear and hatred are bad for health. She believes food has a major impact on our lives. Food follows in three categories sattva (pure and light), rajas (active and passionate) and tamas (heavy, gross and violent). Meat falls in tama and hence she has given it up.

This Gaushala (cowshed) is spread across . It takes in sick, injured, unable to walk and starved cows. Here, they receive necessary nutrition and are nursed back to health. Sudevi Mataji built the gaushala with minor detailing in mind. The gaushala is divided in such a manner where the cows needing special care have a place for themselves.

Getting funds has been one of the major challenges faced by Friederike Irina. To address this, she has been renting her native property in Berlin but all her funds get exhausted in taking care in running the Gaushala. She does not get any support from any government agencies. Also in 2019, she was facing issue about visa, which was resolved by Sushma Swaraj and Hema Malini.

Awards Padma Shri Award given by President, Ram Nath Kovind on Republic Day, 2019.

Controversy In May 2019, Bruning's visa extension was denied, which prompted her to threaten to return her Padma Shri. The extension to her student visa was denied due to a technical problem which prevented her from converting her student visa to an employment visa. She later publicly apologised and thanked Sushma Swaraj, the then External Affairs Minister, for looking into the matter.