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Shaunaka Rishi Das

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Shaunaka Rishi Das
Board of Governor's Dinner 2010
Born
Timothy Kiernan

(1961-02-18) 18 February 1961 (age 63)
NationalityIrish
Alma materSt Peter's College, Wexford
TitleDirector, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
Term1997–present
SpouseKeshava Kiernan 1958-2013
Relatives

Shaunaka Rishi Das (IAST: Śaunaka Ṛṣi Dāsa; born 18 February 1961 as Timothy Kiernan) is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS), a position he has held since the centre's foundation in 1997.[1] He is a lecturer,[2] a broadcaster, and Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University.[3] His interests include education, comparative theology, communication, and leadership.[4] He is a member of The Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, convened in 2013 by the Woolf Institute, Cambridge.[5] In 2013 the Indian government appointed him to sit on the International Advisory Council of the Auroville Foundation.[6] Keshava, Rishi Das's wife of 27 years, died in December 2013.[7]

Oxford

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As Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies he maintains the vision and ethos of the OCHS and encourages the centre's continued growth and development in all spheres.[8] In this role he oversaw the formal recognition of the OCHS by Oxford University in 2006,[9] and developed the centre's publishing partnerships with Oxford University Press, Journal of Hindu Studies, and with the Routledge Hindu Studies Series.[10][11] He has also been responsible for forging formal relationships between the OCHS and Universities in the US, Europe, India, and China.[12] He is the first Hindu Chaplain to Oxford University in its 800-year history.[13]

Media and broadcasting

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He is a regular broadcaster, making the Hindu contribution to 'Prayer for the Day' on BBC Radio 4 since 2007.[14] He was also a participant in the popular History of the World in 100 Objects series broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and published by Allen Lane.[15][16] He has acted as a consultant for a number of documentaries on Hindu culture and traditions.[17][18] He has written articles for The Guardian[19] and The Independent newspapers, Business India,[20] and has written the Hindu entry for the Annual Register since 2004.[citation needed]

Interfaith and theological dialogue

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Shaunaka Rishi Das, by way of an invitation to the International Colloquium of Christians and Jews, was introduced to the world of inter-religious dialogue, in 1985, by the then Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi David Rosen.[21] From that time he developed a personal interest, and played an active part in such dialogue. He was an early member of the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum, acting as its chairman from 1998 to 2002.[22][23] From 2002 -2004 he was a trustee and executive member of The Interfaith Network UK,[24] and from 1998 to 2004 acted as a consultant to the International Interfaith Centre, Oxford.[25]

Rishi Das has been a pioneer in promoting interfaith and comparative theological dialogue in his own community. As the first Convenor of the ISKCON Interfaith Commission (1997–2010)[26] he led the consultation which resulted in the publication of ISKCON's Statement on Relating with People of Faith in God,[27][28] which has been translated into six languages, and forms part of the course curriculum at Bhaktivedanta College, Belgium.

This Interfaith statement was a significant step for ISKCON, addressing issues of integration in a global society, as well as laying out a clear theological basis for dialogue. It has also been recognised as a pioneering statement from any Hindu tradition, advocating informed engagement with others over presenting a position of policy to others.[29] Responses to the document noted its importance in addressing modern issues while keeping with the integrity of the ancient tradition.[30][31]

But we Christians may also recognise a new factor, namely that ISKCON is the first global Vaisnava movement that is just now coming to understand its vocation to enable Westerners to understand Indian philosophy and spirituality.[32] – Rev. Kenneth Cracknell

He has also been responsible for facilitating various conferences, seminars, and symposia promoting Vaishnava-Christian dialogue at different levels.[33][34] He was instrumental, along with his colleagues, Anuttama Das, and Rukmini Devi Dasi in launching the annual Vaishnava-Christian conferences, held in Washington, D.C., since 1997.[35]

Personal faith

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Born an Irish Catholic, and expressing an early interest in the priesthood,[36] Rishi Das joined a Hare Krishna ashram, in Dublin, in 1979. In 1982 he was given Brahmanical initiation – ordained as a priest – in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.[37][21]

Inspired by biblical and philosophical reading, which began when he was fourteen, Rishi Das developed a broad interest in spirituality.[21] He said of this early period:

...to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our words and all our deeds, and love our neighbour as ourselves struck me as an instruction, as a plea, and actually, as a necessity. Considering how to do to that, how to forsake all and follow God out of love has provided me my greatest challenge in life.[38]

Joining a Hindu movement in the Ireland of his time did not feel like a courageous act for Rishi Das. Of his first encounters with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) he said:

They were speaking Christianity but not calling it that. I knew I had met the people I was to practice with. My desire was to be a Christian. I had to struggle with the fact that I found it being practised to the highest standard by non-Christians.[39]

To sample his spiritual thought in the form of prayer we can refer to one of his BBC Broadcasts:

Dear Lord, my desire is to serve you, and I offer what I think is best. Please let me know what You desire, and bless me with the grace to accept what you think is best.[40]

And for a touch of his well-known humour:

Over the next few years as I tried the 'lose-weight-without-any-change' method, as I wore ever tighter clothes, and weighed myself to depression, I felt doomed. My lowest point was the day I weighed myself after a haircut.[41]

ISKCON

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Shaunaka Rishi Das was editor-in-chief of the ISKCON Communications Journal, from 1993 until 2006, and was Chairman of ISKCON Communications Europe from 1991 to 2003.[42][43] He served as an executive member of ISKCON's Ministry of Educational Development from 1996 to 2010,[44] was a founding member of the ISKCON Studies Institute, is a trustee of Bhaktivedanta College in Belgium, and is Editor-in-Chief of the ISKCON Studies Journal.[45]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Banerjee, Akanksha (13 August 2006). "Oxford gets a Hindu flavour". CNN-IBN. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  2. ^ "Lectures in Radical Christian Faith". Carrs Lane Church and Conference Centre.
  3. ^ "ISKCON Member Appointed Chaplain to Oxford University". Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Pagina niet gevonden". Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  5. ^ Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, National Consultation, Cambridge, June 2014
  6. ^ News & Notes, a weekly bulletin for the residents of Auroville, No. 521, 2 November 2013
  7. ^ "Staff declared woman dead prematurely". Oxford Mail. 15 November 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Staff page – Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies".
  9. ^ http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories2006/060626.html[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ "Publications – Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies".
  11. ^ "Oxford Journals – Arts & Humanities – Journal of Hindu Studies". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012.
  12. ^ OCHS, Brochure, 2008, Oxford
  13. ^ White, Malini (23 August 2013). "An Unusual Spokesman". The Hindu. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  14. ^ "The Guru of Suburbia". 12 March 2007.
  15. ^ A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor, Allen Lane, 2010, London
  16. ^ "A History of the World – About: Transcripts – Episode 68 – Shiva and Parvati sculpture". BBC.
  17. ^ Eat, Pray, Light, Tuesday 2 November 2010, 11.20-11.55pm BBC ONE
  18. ^ The Hidden Story of Jesus, Broadcast UK – Channel 4 – 2007
  19. ^ "Thinking Anglicans: July 2006 Archives".
  20. ^ Das, S. R. (2009). "The Rig Veda and credit crunch". Business India, 826 (15 Nov), 110-111.
  21. ^ a b c "Memories of a life less ordinary". Wexford People. 8 April 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  22. ^ Dwyer, Graham; Cole, Richard J. (2007). The Hare Krishna movement: forty years of chant and change. I. B.Tauris. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-84511-407-7.
  23. ^ "Exhibition celebrates NI's religious diversity". 4ni.co.uk. 11 October 2001. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
  24. ^ Retrieved 2 February 2010 Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ "International Interfaith Centre – People (text only)". 4 March 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2007.
  26. ^ "ISKCON – The Hare Krishna Movement". Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
  27. ^ Rishi Das, ISKCON Communications Journal, ISKCON in Relation to People of Faith in God, Vol.7, No.1, 1999, Oxford
  28. ^ Edwin F Bryant & Maria Ekstrand The Hare Krishna movement: the postcharismatic fate of a religious transplant, 2004 Columbia university press p409
  29. ^ Burkett, Delbert, ed. (2011). "The Blackwell Companion to Jesus". Blackwell Publishing. p. 261. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  30. ^ "ISKCON – The Hare Krishna Movement". Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
  31. ^ "ISKCON – The Hare Krishna Movement". Archived from the original on 10 July 2012.
  32. ^ Cracknell Kenneth, ISKCON and Interfaith Dialogue,ISKCON Communications Journal, Vol 8, No 1 June 2000
  33. ^ Cracknell Kenneth The Nature of the Self a Vaishnava-Christian Conference, Conference Report, World faiths encounter: Issues 13-18, World Congress of Faiths, 1996
  34. ^ "ISKCON – The Hare Krishna Movement". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012.
  35. ^ "USCCB – (Office of Media Relations) – Vaishnava (Hindu)-Christian Dialogue Discusses Relationship Between God And Suffering". 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  36. ^ Coleman, Simon; Collins, Peter Jeffrey (2004). Religion, identity and change: perspectives on global transformations. Ashgate Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 0-7546-0450-0.
  37. ^ "About". 8 March 2009.
  38. ^ "Hinduism: Jesus in Hinduism". BBC.
  39. ^ "Memories of a life less ordinary". The Independent. London. 8 April 2009.
  40. ^ Rishi Das, BBC Radio 4, Prayer for the Day, broadcast, 22 October 2009
  41. ^ Rishi Das, BBC Radio 4, Prayer for the Day, broadcast on 23 October 2009
  42. ^ Rothstein, Mikael (1994). "TM og ISKCON i historisk perspektiv". Indiske Religioner I Danmark. 21. Museum Tusculanum Press: 136. ISBN 9788772892504. ISSN 0108-4453.
  43. ^ Bergeron, Richard; Bertrand Ouellet (1998). Croyances et sociétés: communications présentées au dixième colloque international sur les nouveaux mouvements religieux, Montréal, août 1996. Les Editions Fides. p. 331. ISBN 2-7621-1990-1.
  44. ^ "MED".
  45. ^ "Windsor 2009 – Delegate Biographies: Shaunaka Rishi Das" (PDF). Windsor 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2010.

Further reading

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  • Maurice Ryan, Another Ireland, Stranmillis College, Belfast, 1996.
  • Memories of a life less ordinary. The Wexford People, Wexford, 8 April 2009.
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