Yoga in Jainism Conference Speakers April 20, 2024

Christopher Jain Miller Vice President of Academic Affairs, Professor of Engaged Jainism & Modern Yoga

Christopher Jain Miller is the co-founder, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Professor of Jain and Yoga Studies at Arihanta Institute. He completed his PhD in the study of Religion at the University of California, Davis and is also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Zürich's Asien-Orient-Institut and Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology where he co-developed and co-runs a remotely available Masters Degree Program focusing on Engaged Jain Studies. His current research focuses on Engaged Jainism and Modern Yoga, and he is the author of a number of articles and book chapters concerned with Jainism and the practice of modern yoga. Christopher is the author of Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge 2024), as well as co-editor of the volumes Engaged Jainism: Critical and Constructive Approaches to the Study of Jain Social Engagement (SUNY 2025) and Beacons of Dharma: Spiritual Exemplars for the Modern Age (Lexington 2020).

Cogen Bohanec Assistant Professor at Arihanta Institute

Cogen Bohanec is an Assistant Professor in Sanskrit and Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute where he teaches Sanskrit language, and Jain philosophy and its applications, and Sanskrit and other languages. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Claremont School of Theology (CST), and he has taught numerous classes on South Asian Religions and Sanskrit at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. Dr. Bohanec specializes in comparative dharma traditions, philosophy of religion, and Sanskrit language and literature, and has numerous publications in those areas. He has a PhD in “Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion” with an emphasis in Hindu Studies from GTU, and he also holds an MA in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies at GTU.

Tine Vekemans Professor Ghent University

Tine Vekemans holds the Ācārya Mahāprajña Chair for Jain Studies which was established at Ghent University in 2022. Additionally, she is a senior postdoctoral research fellow funded by Ghent University’s Special Research Fund (BOF). Over the past decade, Tine’s research touched upon diverse aspects of modern and contemporary Jainism, including Jain migration history, changing lay-mendicant relations, Jainism in the digital age, and processes of knowledge transfer in the Jain diaspora. Broader recurring themes in her work include religious, cultural, and societal change, diversity and cosmopolitanism, the impact of migration as well as digital media on religion, culture, and learning. Her research approach often combines ethnography with textual study and/or media analysis, but always starts from practices and experiences of Jains. In addition to specialist courses on Jainism and research methodologies, she teaches introductory level courses on South Asian History and Current Affairs.

Venu Mehta Assistant Professor Claremont School of Theology

Venu Mehta is Assistant Professor of Jainism and Comparative Spiritualities at Claremont School of Theology. Her present research focuses on the devotional practices, literature, and iconography of the Jaina Goddess Padmāvatī, with special attention to vernacular and regional forms of devotion and goddesses in Jainism. Her areas of scholarship in Jain Studies include Jain practice of Aparigraha, Sustainability, and Gandhian Model of Economy, Jain religious diaspora and sectarian negotiations in the USA, Jainism and ecology, Jain bhakti literature and practices in Gujarat, Jaina theory of Anekāntavāda, and Jaina notion of forgiveness. Mehta was a Fulbright Fellow (FLTA) at Indiana University, Bloomington, in 2010-11 and taught Gujarati as a foreign language. She also conducts research on folk culture, performing arts and literature of western India.

Samani Pratibha Pragya Visiting Research Fellow SOAS University

Samani Pratibha Pragya is a scholar of Jain Studies and her specialisms include Jain Yoga, Comparative Religion, Comparative Philosophy, Meditation & Spirituality, Nonviolence, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi Languages, and Jain Terapanth lineage, to which she belongs as a Samani (saint). She is a senior disciple of Acharya Mahashraman. Her current research centers on the history and methods of modern Jain meditation and yoga. She received her Ph.D. in “Prekṣā Meditation: History and Methods” from SOAS. At present, she is working as a Visiting Research Fellow at SOAS with Dr. Flügel on Terapanth data pertaining to the Jaina-Prosopography project. She had established JVB Jain World Peace Centre, London. At present, she is the spiritual head of it and is an authorized Prekṣā yoga and meditation teacher. She initiated a rural development project at Tamkore, Rajasthan, and established Mahapragya International School there. She worked for underprivileged girls’ education in Jhunjhunu district.

Jeffery D. Long Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Asian Studies Elizabethtown College

Jeffery D. Long is Professor of Religion, Philosophy, and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College, in Pennsylvania, where he has taught since receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School in the year 2000. He has authored many articles and several books, including Hinduism in America: A Convergence of Worlds (2020), the Historical Dictionary of Hinduism (first and second editions, 2011 and 2020), Jainism: An Introduction (2009), and, with Michael Long, Nonviolence in the World’s Religions: A Concise Introduction (2021). In 2021, he received the Ranck Award for Research Excellence from Elizabethtown College, and in 2022, he received an Ahimsa Award from the International Ahimsa Foundation, for his work to promote nonviolence through his scholarship. He has spoken at a variety of prestigious venues, including three talks at the United Nations. He is the editor of the Lexington Books series Explorations in Indic Traditions: Ethical, Philosophical, and Theological.

Samani Rohini Pragya Associate Professor

Rohini Pragya, Samani is an Associate Professor in the Department of Non-Violence and Peace Studies at Jain Vishwa Bharti Institute (JVBI). She has been lecturer at Ācharya Kālu Kanya Mahavidyalya, Professor of Jainology and Comparative Philosophy and Religion at JVBI since 2004. She has also been Visiting Instructor in the Department of Religious Studies at Florida International University (FIU). She is also an initiate Jain Samani (nun) from last twenty-two years and is a disciple of Jain Śvetāmbara Terāpanth Guru H.H. Ācārya Śree Mahāśamaṇa Ji. She has authored many research articles, including books: “Jain View of Reality: A Hermeneutic Interpretation” (2020) JVBI, “Doctrine of Karma: A Jain Perspective,” “Translation of ‘Karmavāda’ by Ācārya Mahāprajña,” (2022) JVB, “Notion of Soul in Jainism,” Monograph (2024) JVBI. Her current research work focuses on Jain studies and comparative philosophy and religion, non-violence and peace studies, structural violence, and training in non-violence, Jain Yoga and Prekṣā Meditation. Other than many international forums, she has been attending and presenting at the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and South Asian Studies Association (SASA) since 2016.

Parveen Jain President and CEO Arihanta Institute

Parveen Jain, PhD, the founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Arihanta Institute and a resident of the Silicon Valley, enjoys life after an exciting corporate career of over thirty years as a founder and chief executive of multiple technology companies, including a senior executive role at McAfee, the cyber security company. Parveen has always cherished philanthropy and has held leadership roles in various non-profit organizations. He has been a long-time trustee of the International Mahavira Jain Mission, where he has been deeply involved with the growth of Siddhachalam, the first Jain tīrtha outside of India, from its founding. He led the team to build Jain Temple in the San Francisco Bay Area, has served as chairman and president of Jain Center of Northern California, and continues to be an active advisor. Previously, he was a founding director of the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple, served as a trustee of the American Foundation for the Blind and was a founding team member of the South Asian Heart Center. Currently, besides other non-profits, Parveen serves as a founding director of Stanford Center for Asian Health Research and Education (Stanford-CARE). In addition, he enjoys mentoring bright entrepreneurs and serves on the boards of several technology companies. Besides the philanthropic and mentoring activities, Parveen joyously spends time with his grandkids, self-studies, and writing. He is the author of the book An Introduction to Jain Philosophy. Parveen is most passionate about furthering the initiatives inspired by Ācārya Sushil Kumar in the service of Jain tradition: promoting the message of nonviolence, creating Jain educational platforms, and applying Jain principles to everyday life among the growing global Jain community, for current and future generations.

Andrew Bridges Bhagwan Shantinath Lectureship California State University, Fullerton

Andrew Bridges holds the Bhagwan Shantinath Lectureship and California State University, Fullerton, where he teaches the course “Non-Violence, Animal Rights and Diet in Jainism,” and helps to organize the triennial Peace and Religion Symposium. He teaches in both the Religious Studies Department and Philosophy Department at Cal State Fullerton. His research interests include comparative epistemology, contemporary applications of anekāntavāda, utopian studies, and ethics.

Veena R. Howard Professor, Endowed Chair in Jain & Hindu Dharma California State University, Fresno

Veena R. Howard, Ph.D., is Professor of Asian Religious Traditions in the Department of Philosophy at California State University, Fresno. She also holds the Endowed Chair in Jain and Hindu Dharma. She also serves as the director of the newly endowed M.K. Gandhi Center: Inner Peace and Sarvodaya. Her publications include the books, Gandhi’s Global Legacy: Moral Methods and Moral Challenges (Lexington, 2023); The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Philosophy and Gender (ed.) (Bloomsbury, 2019); Dharma, Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh Traditions of India (ed.) (IB Tauris, 2017); and Gandhi’s Ascetic Activism: Renunciation and Social Action (SUNY Press, 2013). She has also authored numerous peer-reviewed articles including, “The Nonviolence Conundrum: Political Peace and Personal Karma in Jain and Hindu Traditions” (Religions, 2023); “Oxford Bibliography Article: Mohandas K. Gandhi” (Oxford University Press, 2019); “Divine Light and Melodies Lead the Way: The Santmat Tradition of Bihar”(Religions, 2019); “The modern monastic Santmat movement of Bihar: building bridges between Sanātana Dharma and Sant-Mat (International Journal of Dharma Studies, 2017); “Lessons from ‘The Hawk and the Dove’: Reflections on the Mahabharata’s Animal Parables and Ethical Predicaments” (Sophia International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions, 2016), “Rethinking Gandhi's Celibacy: Ascetic Power and the Empowerment of Women” (The Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2013), She has also translated three books from the modern Sant tradition from Hindi into English. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Corinna May Lhoir PhD student Universität Hamburg

Corinna Lhoir, M.A., is a PhD student of classical Indology and a contract lecturer for Beginner’s Sanskrit and Origins of Yoga at Universität Hamburg as well as an entrepreneur with her own online learning platform with focus on studies of yoga and Sanskrit (yogastudien.de). She holds a B.A. in Languages and Cultures of India and Tibet with focus on classical Indology from Universität Hamburg, a M.A. in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation from SOAS, University of London, and a M.A. in Oriental Languages and Cultures (India) with a focus on Jainism from Ghent University in Belgium. Her research primarily focuses on yoga in Jainism. She is currently preparing a critical edition of the Yogapradīpa, a Jain medieval text on yoga and meditation.

Christopher Chapple Doshi Professor Loyola Marymount University

Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology and Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He has published more than two dozen books, including Reconciling Yogas: Haribhadra's Array of Views on Yoga(SUNY 2003) and Yoga in Jainism (Routledge 2016).

Pragya Jain Research Associate International School for Jain Studies

Pragya Jain is a research scholar at Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, where she is pursuing her PhD on “Dhyāna: a Jain view with special reference to Śubhacandrācārya’s Jñānārṇava.” She holds two master’s degrees, one in Jainology from Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun, and another in English Literature from the University of Pune. She also has an MPhil in “Aestheticism in Oscar Wilde’s short stories.” She has a rich and diverse experience in teaching, journalism, and research. She worked as an English Teacher and an Assistant Professor of Communication Skills for eight years in Mumbai, and then as a sub-editor and senior digital content producer for three years at leading media houses. She has been a student of Jainism since her childhood, having completed Siddhānt Viśārad, a five-year course from Todarmal Smarak. She has authored several papers and a book titled “Sant Vilas” in 2022. She is currently working as a research associate at the International School for Jain Studies, Pune, and is the assistant editor of ISJS-Transactions, an online journal.

Eileen Goddard Religious Studies PhD student University of California, Santa Barbara

Eileen Goddard is a Religious Studies PhD student at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her current research centers around the 16th century Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava understanding of the siddha-deha in conversation with other South Asian Sanskrit sources and ideas centering around perfected minds and bodies. Eileen’s broader research interests include Indian philosophy, Hindu traditions, Sanskrit poetics, bhakti, and gender and sexuality. Eileen is also the Program Director of the Winter Hinduism in India Study Abroad Program at Rutgers University that takes place in Vrindavan, India. She completed her M.A. in Religion at Rutgers University and B.A. in Philosophy at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a former yoga teacher, jewelry designer and theatrical lighting designer from New York City.

Alba Rodríguez PhD Student University of California, Riverside

Alba Rodríguez is completing her PhD at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). She graduated in psychology at the University of Valencia, Spain, and completed a master’s degree in yoga studies at Loyola Marymount University with the support of the Fulbright program. Alba has worked as a mentor, counselor, and yoga teacher in different settings, from hospitals to retreat centers. She currently works as a Teacher Assistant at the Department for the Study of Religion of her home university. She is also the International Student Affairs Officer of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), where she serves as an advocate for international graduate students. Through her life, Alba has engaged in several international projects concerning human rights, combining academic and social work. She has volunteered in different organizations, such us Psychologists Without Barriers, Venice Family Clinic, Friends of the Saharawi People, and Bona Gent, Friends with People with Intellectual Disabilities. Her current research focuses on South Asian philosophical and religious traditions, with a focus on the continuities and discontinuities between traditional and contemporary forms of Jain ethical and meditation practices.

Tillo Detige Center for Religious Studies (CERES), Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany)

Tillo Detige’s primary research project of the past years investigates the Digambara Jaina ascetic lineages of early modern Western and Central India. He works with original manuscript and epigraphic materials which he collected during several months of field work, surveying ascetics’ memorials and visiting Digambara temples and manuscript collections throughout the region. His work has been published in a number of journal articles and chapters in edited volumes, including Brill’s Encyclopedia of Jainism (2020). He obtained Masters in Fine Arts (Royal Academy of Fine Arts Ghent, 2003) and Indian Languages & Cultures (Ghent University, 2009), and worked as a PhD researcher and lecturer at Ghent University (Belgium) from 2012 to 2018. In fall 2018, he taught ‘History of South Asian Buddhism’ at the Carleton-Antioch Buddhist Studies in India program at Bodhgaya (India). He currently works at the Center for Religious Studies (CERES), Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany), where he is finalising his doctoral dissertation and teaches Sanskrit and Hindi. Also at CERES in 2022, he worked on the DFG-funded collaborative research project (CRC, SFB) ‘Metaphors of Religion’, subproject ‘The Human Body as Metaphor of the Divine: Anthropomorphism in South Asian Religious Traditions’.

Steven M. Vose Bhagwan Suparshvanatha Professor University of Colorado-Denver

Steven M. Vose (PhD, South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and holder of the Bhagwan Suparshvanatha Professorship in Jain Studies at the University of Colorado-Denver. A historian of Jain communities in western India from the early Islamicate period to the present, his work focuses on community formation and interactions with political powers. His first book, Reimagining Jainism in Islamic India: Jain Intellectual Culture in the Delhi Sultanate (Routledge, forthcoming), is the recipient of the Edward C. Dimock, Jr. Book Prize in the Indian Humanities, awarded by the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS). His current research examines the effects of neoliberalism and globalization on transnational Jain communities.