Dr. B. R. Vatsala Sperling was born on January 1, 1961 to a Tamil Brahmin family living in Jamshedpur, an industrial township in the northern state of Bihar, India. Raised with her five siblings in an orthodox Hindu environment, Dr. Vatsala was trained in the traditional religious rites and rituals of the Brahmins, the priest caste of India. She has been familiar with Sanskrit since her youth, and is also fluent in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, and English.

As is traditional for a woman of her caste, until attending graduate school, her life revolved around her immediate family and religious obligations. She has studied and produced religious paintings both in the Tanjore style, as well as contemporary devotional paintings and secular portraiture.

Early on, Vatsala Sperling earned the nickname of "Mukta" in her family, meaning one who is liberated and strong-willed. She left her native village for the rigorous life of a university student in the city of Delhi, and in 1985, she was awarded a gold medal by the president of India as the top student in a master's degree program in microbiology. Vatsala Sperling earned her doctorate in clinical microbiology from Delhi University in 1992. After publishing her thesis, she was appointed Chief of Microbiology at the Child's Trust Hospital in Madras, one of the largest referral hospitals for children in Southeast Asia, where she worked until her marriage to Ehud Sperling.

She was invited by the Mayo Clinic to do postgraduate work, has worked extensively with the World Health Organization, has published numerous articles and papers, and was a popular lecturer throughout Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Vatsala now lives in rural Vermont with her husband and young son, Mahar. Vatsala Sperling is also co-author of the book "A Marriage Made in Heaven".