Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Shaunaka Rishi Dasa, also an ISKCON devotee, has recently been appointed Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University, the first to take on such a role in the history of the famous 900-year-old school.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sign of the times,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shaunaka Rishi, who hastens to add that the appointment was an organic process, and, in the tradition of the huge, corporation-like Oxford, rather complicated.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are no official Hindu Chaplains for the University, yet there are thirty-six college chaplains, attached to Oxford\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thirty-eight colleges,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was asked by the Hindu Students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Society of Oxford University to become their chaplain. This request was then recognized by the Student Ministry Forum, a group comprising of all the different College chaplains, who asked me to join them and gave me the title, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcHindu Chaplain to Oxford University.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shaunaka says that the appointment is simply official recognition for the pastoral care that he has been providing young Hindus of all traditions since the inception of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in 1997.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Students, usually in their first two years of university life, come with different difficulties, and I try to help them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he elaborates. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a spiritual dilemma; maybe they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just heard their first atheistic argument or met their first Evangelical Christian. At other times, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to do with the fact that Indian students tend to be very result-oriented, and are just pushing themselves too hard because of pressure from their family, which in its own way is religious to them. And then there are those that are developing interest in their own tradition and have very specific philosophical questions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shaunaka, who has been working more closely with students since his official appointment, is one of several ISKCON members serving as chaplains at major universities today, alongside others in London and Venkata Bhatta Dasa at Princeton in the USA.<\/p>\n
When asked what this means about how the broader society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perception of ISKCON devotees has improved, he suggests that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fact that he and these other devotees don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consider themselves separate from the broader society that has opened doors for them.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am a member of society, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my choice whether I want to function as a contributor or a detractor,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And I find that once I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m willing to make a contribution to society, if I declare myself fully and honestly\u00e2\u20ac\u201din other words, if I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t separate my Krishna consciousness from my everyday life\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI find that people accept me fully.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
For Shaunaka, this means bringing his Krishna conscious principles and philosophy of life\u00e2\u20ac\u201dall part of himself\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto the table as he does his job.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As devotees we have to confidently, boldly go into society and be willing to work with society, rather than trying to force society to work with us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our method of respiritualizing the world, taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita and Sri Chaitanya in the Chaitanya Charitamrita, is to teach by example, not just by precept. We have to actually stand beside people and let them see an example of someone who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trying to make a difference from a spiritual perspective.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153And we treat them with respect, which allows them to treat us with respect, and allows trust to develop. Once that trust is there, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the solid bond of a relationship, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Vaishnavism is all about. Then all the barriers, all the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcdifferences\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 that we may have seen, just fall away before our eyes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this philosophy which drove Shaunaka to establish The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in 1997.<\/p>\n
While working as a Communications Director in ISKCON, it become obvious to him that many of the problems ISKCON faced were due to a lack of education, thoughtfulness, and culture.<\/p>\n
As a result, Shaunaka and other \u00e2\u20ac\u0153concerned citizens\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in ISKCON banded together to start various educational initiatives. He met many scholars, including Keith Ward, the Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University, who suggested having a Centre for Hindu Studies. After consulting others, the idea began to seem feasible, and the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies was born.<\/p>\n
Its mission\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe academic study of Hindu culture in all its varieities.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One might ask the question, why would a Hare Krishna devotee be interested in such a project?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Shaunaka Rishi says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, the fact that is that there has been very little work done in the academic field of Hindu studies, and many people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know much about it, what to speak of ISKCON or Vaishnavism. So it was clear when I began working in education that we first had to develop the field of Hindu studies. Establishing a centre where anyone could come and study the subject would bring it academic credibility, allowing Vaishnavas to then come and study their own tradition.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
And the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies did indeed gain academic credibility. It has gained official recognition from Oxford University, started its own Journal with Oxford Univeristy Press and a book series with Rutledge, and has graduated many Master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Degree and Undergraduate students.<\/p>\n
It provides online education through its continuing education department, delivers hundreds of lectures, has worked with the BBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website to rewrite its
\nHinduism section, and gives back to society with projects such as the environmental Bhumi Project, supported by the UN and the Alliance of Religion and Conservation (ARC).<\/p>\n
The Centre is also, of course, an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153intellectual hothouse\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for not only Hindu, but also Vaishnava scholars. Many practicing Vaishnavas are getting degrees in their
\nown tradition for the first time, and doing it in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sanga\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153association\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of fellow devotees.<\/p>\n
Upon graduating from Oxford, many of these devotees return to establish research projects with the Centre for Hindu Studies.<\/p>\n
This year, for instance, two major Vaishnava research projects have been launched: the Bhagavat Purana project, headed up by Krishna Ksetra Dasa and Radhika Ramana Dasa, and the Modern Bengal Vaishnavism project, headed up by Pranava Dasa, Abhisekh, and Lalita Madhava.<\/p>\n
The Modern Bengal Vaishnavas project will include studies of previous Vaishnava preceptors Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Bhaktivinode Thakura, while
\nthe Bhagavat Purana project is the first concentrated effort to develop an academic program to study the Srimad-Bhagavatam in a multi-disciplinary way.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Both projects will help to engage Vaishnava scholars, and to promote Vaishnava scholarship to a wider audience,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Shaunaka Rishi says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They will also include book releases. There are two books due from the Bhagavat Purana project in 2012; one a Bhagavatam reader, and the other an edited volume of scholars discussing the Bhagavat Purana from different perspectives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, three books are being developed by the Modern Bengal Vaishnavas project\u00e2\u20ac\u201done which will look at Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura as a personalist theologian, another which will present excerpts from his diary, and a third which will present Bhaktivinode Thakura\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s autobiography.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hope that by facilitating academic excellence amongst young Vaishnava scholars, they will graduate and go on to contribute to ISKCON through research projects like this as well as through our organization the ISKCON Studies Institute\u00e2\u20ac\u201din which they organize conferences, publish a journal, and do archival work,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shaunaka.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This will give ISKCON a pool of Oxford graduate scholars, who will positively contribute to ISKCON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mature and thoughtful development in the future.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Shaunaka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term vision is that in fifty years time, every gurukula headmaster in ISKCON will be an Oxford graduate; every educational initiative will have a curriculum developed by Oxford graduates; and ISKCON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Governing Body Commission will regularly consult with Oxford graduates.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We envision ISKCON as a place of learning, thoughtfulness, and spiritual culture that is respected as such around the world not only spiritually, but also materially,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he concludes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies Shaunaka Rishi Dasa, also an ISKCON devotee, has recently been appointed Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University, the first to take on such a role in the history of the famous 900-year-old school. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a sign of the times,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Shaunaka Rishi, who hastens to add that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"views":5881,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iskconuk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}