Session 7

Prof. Sachchidanand Mishra

Member Secretary, ICPR, Professor, Philosophy & Religion, Banaras Hindu University, India

Sachchidananda Mishra is a Varanasi-based Sanskrit scholar. He is a professor of Philosophy and Religion at the Banaras Hindu University. He was awarded the Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Award for Sanskrit for the year 2009 by Pratibha Patil, the then President of India.

He specializes in Indian philosophy and Sanskrit grammar. Prof. Mishra has edited and authored seven books, which include:
Vedāntasāra of Sadānanda with the Bālabodhinī commentary of Āpadeva and the Bālavyutpattivardhinī Hindi commentary
Mānasollāsa with the Mānasollāsavardhinī commentary by Ānanda Kṛṣṇa Śāstrī
Nyāyadarśana Meṃ Anumāna
Tattvacintāmaṇiprabhā
Vyutpattivāda with a detailed introductory commentary in Hindi

Prof. Balaganapathi Devarakonda

Prof. & Head, Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, India

Prof. Balaganapathi Devarakonda teaches Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi. His interests are Philosophical Counseling, Early Buddhism, and Historiography of Indian Philosophy. Along with teaching and research, he is also a certified Philosophical Practitioner by American Philosophy Practitioners Association, New York.

His present concern is to popularise Philosophical Practice in its various forms in India by digging them out from the Classical Indian tradition and simultaneously borrowing them from the Western and other eastern traditions.

He has published widely on various aspects of Indian philosophy, Social and Political Philosophy and Buddhism. His publications include, Buddhist Sects of Andhra (2020, Springer Briefs in Religious Studies series), Revisiting Dana: A response to Eurocentric Approaches (2020), and Hinduism in Thailand.

Prof. Balaganapathi Devarakonda

Prof. Sachchidanand Mishra

Mr.Siddhant Rishi Prabhakar

Mr. Siddhant Rishi Prabhakar

Founder & Director Prabhakar’s organization, Mumbai

“A “natural” successor to Guruji’s knowledge and wisdom, Siddhant attempts to motivate the youth by bringing in change in their consciousness through his inherent spiritual cognition and RPIF’s oﬀering. A well-educated entrepreneur and a modern day skilled practitioner, Siddhant is an aspiring World Leader, who wishes to connect to the future of our nation – today’s youth.

Through RPIF he endeavours to promote the awakening of human potential along with a holistic development of life in particular.

Siddhant continues to widen the cherished family legacy through RPIF, as he aims to promote human potential along with a celebration of treasured spiritual values.

Dr. Preeti Kohli

Founding Members & Director at The Aha Movement, Mumbai

Dr. Preeti Kohli, B.H.M.S has been a consulting Homoeopathic Physician for over 20 years and a Transformational Coach for over 11 years. She currently serves as one of the Founding Members & Director at The Aha Movement. Through her work, she has touched thousands of lives and has successfully conducted over 200 workshops in alternative healing therapies. She was introduced to meditation and mindfulness at the age of 15.

Her keen interest to understand the body-mind-soul connect and help people grow holistically led her towards learning and practicing other root cause therapies like Past Life Regression, Inner Child Healing, Re-birthing Breathwork, and Family Constellation. One of her passions is to work with parents and kids. She also volunteers to teach meditation for children at schools through the Soul Science Foundation.

Dr Preeti Kohli

Karen Henken

Dr. Ritu Gairola Khanduri

Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology

University of Texas at Arlington, USA

Dr. Ritu Gairola Khanduri is a cultural anthropologist, historian and educator who specializes in media, politics, digital pedagogy, globalization, diversity, gender and Asian studies. She is a Fulbright 2020-2021 Research Scholar and Educause Scholar (2021) and has a strong interest in higher-ed leadership, management and JEDI.

Her research, publications and teaching focus on media, Gandhi, science education, globalization and South Asia, specifically in the contexts of colonial and contemporary India, and the Indian Diaspora. She is the author of Caricaturing culture in India: Cartoons and history in the modern world (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Dr. Khanduri has contributed to community school events, World Affairs Councils the Portrait of India program, and Dr. Seriffs NEH funded project on immigration in Texas. She believes public engagement with anthropology can enrich the discipline as well as enhance public awareness of cultural issues.

Dr. Ritu Gairola Khanduri is a cultural anthropologist and educator who specializes in media, politics, digital pedagogy, globalization, diversity, gender and Asian studies. She is a Fulbright 2020-2021 Research Scholar and Educause Scholar (2021) and has a strong interest in higher-ed leadership, management and JEDI. Dr. Khanduri is a cultural anthropologist and historian. She is the author of Caricaturing culture in India: Cartoons and history in the modern world (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Her research, publications and teaching focus on media, Gandhi, science education, globalization and South Asia, specifically in the contexts of colonial and contemporary India, and the Indian Diaspora. Over the past few years, her research has advanced in three inter-related directions. The politics of shared media spaces is a central thread that runs through her current research on visual culture, which includes newspaper cartoons, comic books and Hindu images. The material cultural surrounding public perception of Gandhis politics and philosophy forms the next strand of Khanduris research. The final direction of her ongoing research interests includes a focus on gender and science. These projects are at varying stages of completion and have been published as journal articles and book chapters, and presented in conferences and invited talks. Trained as an anthropologist (University of Texas-Austin) and historian (Jawaharlal Nehru University), her publications address an interdisciplinary audience. Writing and research fellowships from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, Social Science Research Council and the Institute of Historical Research (University of London)-Mellon Foundation have supported various phases of Dr. Khanduris research. She is writing a short book on Gandhi and material culture titled, "Branding Gandhi" (under contract, Routledge), which is also a prelude to a larger book project on Gandhi. Her current long-term research project is an ethnography of wo men in science, which was recently awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Scholar Serial Grant (2013 and 2014). An associate professor in the Anthropology Program, Dr. Khanduri integrates her research with teaching. Her five-course roster for the Fall and Spring semesters explores anthropological theory, visual culture, globalization and South Asia. In her undergraduate courses, Dr. Khanduri emphasizes collaborative team-based active learning and respectful peer relationships. Her graduate courses are designed to encourage students to develop their projects for publication and conference presentations. She is happy to advise and chair committees in cultural anthropology, and welcomes students queries to serve on MA and PhD committees in Fine Arts, Social Work and related disciplines in Social Science and Humanities. At UTA she has served on the Womens and Gender Studies Advisory Board and is faculty advisor to the Lambda Alpha, the UTA students chapter of the Anthropology Honors Society. Dr. Khanduris service to the profession, UTA and the anthropology program, as well as her public outreach draws on her research and teaching expertise. She has contributed to community school events, World Affairs Councils the Portrait of India program, and Dr. Seriffs NEH funded project on immigration in Texas. She believes public engagement with anthropology can enrich the discipline as well as enhance public awareness of cultural issues.