Meet Our Speakers

AUSTRALIA

Shishirendu Jha
Shishirendu Kumar Jha is a devotee of the Sanatan Tradition, a yogi by practice, a statistician by education, an AI expert by profession, a conscious being, and an Author. He is certified in Hypnotherapy, NLP, and other modalities of healing. But actual transformation came to him when he explored and practiced a powerful technique called “Cosmic Intelligence”. He has authored …
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CANADA

Swamini VishwaPratibha
Swamini VishwaPratibha Maa was initiated into the Sri Sampradaya of Paramahamsa Vishwananda as one of His Swamis at His ashram in Germany in 2018. This was the culmination of over thirty years of training in Sanatana Dharma. Born and raised in Canada, Swamini was raised as a Christian. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from University of Calgary before …
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INDIA

Deepali Kulkarni
Deepali is an Indian Hindu American writer, entrepreneur, and public speaker currently based in India. She is available to speak globally over video conferencing and is always looking for opportunities to speak to school children, interfaith groups, and university students about Hindu history, cultural and religious practices, human rights issues affecting Hindu communities, and lived Hindu values such as ahimsa …
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Vandana Mishra
Vandana was born in Ayodhya, Bharat (India) and raised in Mumbai. She studied at Mumbai University. She believes the Sanskaras start to develop from the womb of mother itself hence inculcating moral values in children from the early ages makes them tough physically and soft emotionally. Later on Vandana worked in Bal Gokulam (Sunday school, branch of Hindu Swayam Sewak), …
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MIDDLE EAST

Dushyant Gautam
Dushyant is born and raised in Mathura (Birthplace of Krishna), has a degree in Civil Engineering and a post-graduate degree in Project Management. He is a certified as Project Management Professional (PMP). He is working as Senior Planning Engineer in Oman. His childhood was fully surrounded with Hindu religious social activities in the city. He learned and currently practicing astrology …
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SOUTH AFRICA

Angajan MK
For the past 30 years, M.K. Angajan has been deeply involved in the assimilation of Vedanta, Hindu Shastras (Scriptures), Management and Leadership Philosophy, spiritual literatures from the East and West and psychology. He continue to inspire thousands of large and distinguished audiences globally on Leadership, Management, Self-development, Life Management, and Self-fulfillment. He is a prolific and accomplished speaker on Vedanta, …
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UNITED KINGDOM

Satish K. Sharma
A “Scholar, a “Pundit” of Dharmic Traditions, an InterFaith Speaker at many gatherings including Schools, University’s, Temples, Cathedrals and general gatherings where seekers of Truth, Wisdom, Reality and Harmony congregate. He is a teacher of Jnana Yoga, the purification of awareness, and of Vishaad Yoga, the Yoga of Despair and am blessed to be able to work with people who …
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USA

AUSTIN, TX
Swami Nikhilanand
Swami Nikhilanand was born in a small village in Canada. Since childhood, he was curious about God and felt inspired to seek a deep connection with the Divine. This desire led him to explore many traditions, philosophies and types of meditation in early adulthood. Eventually, he was fortunate to study in India in the ashrams of Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji …
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Illinois
Avatans Kumar
Avatans Kumar is a columnist and linguist.Originally from Patna, Bihar, Avatans is a Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign alumnus, where he taught Linguistics and Hindi as a foreign language, respectively. Several of his Hindi poems have also been published.As a trustee, Avatans leads the US operations of Indic Academy, incorporated as INDICA, Inc., a 501(c)(3) …
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DALLAS, TX
Swati Sugandhi
Born and raised in India, Swati is an engineering graduate and, also has an MBA from Texas A&M University. She has worked for multiple Fortune500 financial companies in the US and in India for over 10 years. The issues concerning empowerment of communities in need, mental-health and equality, are of utmost interest to her. She has been involved in Bhutanese …
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FLORIDA
Naresh Pathak, MD
Dr. Naresh Pathak is a physician by training specializing in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He is an associate Professor in Medicine for 20+ years and a teacher of Science of Spirituality at South Florida Hindu Temple for 30 years. He teaches in “Bal Vihar” classes at the Sunday School of South Florida Hindu Temple for …
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GEORGIA
Sudarshan
Sudarshan is a Tamil Brahmin born and brought up in the values of the Iyengar tradition of South India. He has been a lifelong student of the Ubhaya Vedanta framework unique to the Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya of Sri Ramanujacharya. He was initiated in the sampradaya by HH Sri Ranga Ramanaja Jeeyar swamy of the famous Tirumala-Tirupati temple in 2008. Sudarshan …
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HOUSTON
Paramita Sarkar, Ph. D.
Paramita (Paro) Sarkar is from Kolkata, Bengal, India. She is very proud of our beautiful Hindu traditions and festivals that she saw growing up. Her faith has been seeded in Maa Durga’s ‘aanchal’. She has practiced Islam. She is a pharmaceutical scientist by profession and obtained her Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. She lives in the Houston area.Her recent presentations: …
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Geetha Ravula
Geetha Ravula has an MBA from University of Houston. She worked as an IT programmer at NASA, Oracle and Accenture before starting her own IT consulting firm. She is the co-founder of Frontier Consulting, Inc and served as a CEO/President for 16 years. She founded a non-profit organization Ashirwad A Blessing Temple where she coaches Vedic Values. Geetha is a …
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LOS ANGELES, CA
Lakshmi Subramanian
Lakshmi is an independent scholar and professional vocalist who brings bhakti (Hindu devotional) singing, scholarship and storytelling onto one platform. She holds an M.A. in Religious Studies from Stanford University and undergraduate degrees in Business and Middle Eastern & South Asian Studies from Emory University. Lakshmi is a longtime member of the Chinmaya Mission, and has consulted for Syracuse University, …
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Sanmay Mukhopadhyay
Sanmay is an ex-CIO of the second largest public healthcare system in the USA, but traditional living and knowledge based on yoga , ayurveda and hindu spiritual scriptures are his passion. For past 30 years, he has studied Vedanta and Shad darsanas and various yoga lineages and have been speaking and teaching internationally for the last 15 years. In USA, …
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Ankur Patel
Ankur Patel graduated from LAUSD, UCLA (B.S. 2007), and CSUN (M.S. 2014). He taught English in South Korea and China and worked as a public-school teacher in Los Angeles. He ran for LA City Controller in 2013, LA School Board in 2015, and most recently for California State Assembly in 2018. Combining his strong belief in the power of education …
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MICHIGAN
Divya Jain
Divya Jain is a science graduate and a mother of a toddler. She is actively involved in promoting Sanatan Dharma. She wrote articles and blogs and made several presentations based on her recent life experiences. Her hobbies include Bhartiya classical music and folk dance. She lives in Troy, Michigan. Her recent presentations: Hinduism in brief, Caste system, End of time, …
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Padmaja Rao
Padmaja Rao holds a master’s degree in Community Agency Counseling, post-master’s certificates (Peace & International Security Studies and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace), and is certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator. Padmaja has also actively volunteered to educate the local community-at-large about the tenets and contributions of Hinduism and more specifically, its connection to Yoga, having presented …
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Fred Stella
Fred Stella is an accomplished lecturer on many aspects of Hinduism, and has presented at conferences across the United States, and internationally. He has completed extensive lecture tours in India and Guyana. Mr. Stella is a product of 16 years (including college) of Roman Catholic education. He is uniquely qualified to explain the Dharma to those in Abrahamic traditions in …
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Vishal Agarwal
Vishal moved from India to the United States as a student in 1993, subsequently earning graduate degrees in Engineering (University of Florida at Gainesville, 2006) and Business Administration (University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, 2006). Vishal is a private scholar with several publications in topics related to India and Hinduism, a community volunteer and leader in his region, and leans towards …
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SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CA
Ashis Khan
Ashis Khan is a certified Counselor of Hindu Tradition (completed the CHT Scholarship program at Hindu Community Institute (HCI) and volunteers for HCI to serve the community at large. Ashis is currently a Faculty Associate (FA) at HCI and is the Director of Accreditation. Ashis grew up in Kolkata, India and did his B. Tech from IIT Kharagpur and MS …
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Raman Khanna, MD
Dr. Raman Khanna was born and raised in Springfield, OH. He is a graduate of Northwestern University for undergraduate and medical school. He learned about Hinduism at home and from renowned religious teachers like Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Tadatmananda. Now he teaches BalVihar at his local Chinmaya Mission. He has been a part of the Hindu American Foundation since …
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Gaurav Rastogi
Gaurav Rastogi is an entrepreneur with twenty+ years of executive experience in Infosys and AI startups. He is an interfaith Hindu leader, a Dhyana meditation and yoga teacher (ERYT 200), and Founder of Living Deeply Foundation, as well as Dean and Board Member at Hindu Community Institute. He is the author of two business books, one eBook on meditation, and …
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Pushpita Prasad
Pushpita Prasad is a storyteller and communications professional with a background in working with media, technology and history. She is passionate about topics related to India, Hinduism, its festivals and traditions, caste and Human Rights and has published articles relating to the same.Pushpita is part of the national Steering Committee at CoHNA and involved with organizations focused on advocating for …
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Jyoti Lulla, MD
Jyothi Lulla is a retired Kaiser Physician, specializing in allergy, immunology, and pediatric lung diseases. She has Clinical pastoral education, is a certified Dharma Ambassador by Hindu American Foundation and is a certified speaker at Islamic Network Group. She has attended extended classes in Hindu scriptures at the Vedanta society and the Chinmaya Mission and has been a coordinator of …
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Dilip Amin, Ph. D.
Dr. Dilip Amin worked as a researcher in the medical field for 42 years. He is a Director of the Peninsula Multifaith Coalition of the San Francisco Bay area, a certified speaker at Islamic Networks Group, and a Dharma Ambassador of Hindu American Foundation. He has co-authored the book Hindu Vivaha Samskara. He founded the web forum InterfaithShaadi.org and guided …
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Dharmi Sarkar
Dharmi is an engineer by profession. He has a keen interest in understanding the scriptures from various Sanskrit scholars and decode its inner meaning in an attempt to simplify it for today’s youth. It initially started to teach his curious daughter, which later turned out to a larger goal. He is also code contributing to few Sanskrit based projects. He …
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Madhu Kopalle
I was born and brought up in Hyderabad, India. I grew up in a family where devotion was prominent. After studying Engineering there, I came to the US for higher studies, full of curiosity. After my graduation, it took me a while to land a job. The turning point in my life was when I heard Swami Chinmayanda speaking on …
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Somanjana Chatterjee
Somanjana Chatterjee was born and raised in a secular environment in a hugely cosmopolitan city. From early childhood she was introduced to Christian education, Western thoughts and communist regime. While learning about Greco-Roman civilization she tumbled upon Eastern philosophies. Some of the Western books that deeply inspired her are The Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy, The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham, …
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Rajeev Singh
Born and raised in India, Rajeev studied at Aligarh Muslim University and Arizona State University. Issues such as global disparity in wealth, lack of access to resources, socio-political divisions and international regimes are an area of interest to him. Rajeev is excited about cultivating engagement in society and building a vibrant and respectful environment for people of all backgrounds. He …
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Mona Rawal
Mona Rawal is an instructor for Philosophy and Humanities at the Foothill College in California. She has served as a professor for philosophy at the D.G.Ruparel College of Arts in Mumbai, India for seven years as well. Mona Rawal has a special experience in teaching World Religions of the East as well as Comparative World Religion courses which are her …
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WASHINGTON, DC
Dr. Divya Selvakumar
Dr. Divya L. Selvakumar is a program manager, registered dietitian and nutrition professor. Born and raised in California, Divya grew up in a secular and cultured environment. She is particularly interested in Hinduism’s emphasis on the importance of service and charity. Divya has engaged in the promotion of interfaith harmony and has educated audiences through her NGO, American Hindu World …
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Sudha Bhat
Sudha Bhat is a religious practitioner who follows Hinduism. She is a member and volunteer at Chinmaya Mission Washington Regional Center, a Hindu spiritual education center. She believes in religious harmony and coexistence and is committed to working across faiths and religious beliefs to find coherence to enhance lives in the community through dialogue and service. She has been invited …
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WISCONSIN
Purnima Nath
Purnima Nath is an entrepreneur, author, Hindu, activist, community builder and former candidate for Milwaukee County Executive (State of Wisconsin, USA). She writes/speaks in topics spanning religion, politics and philosophy. She is an engineer and graduate, earned her MBA from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Business. Purnima is the founder of Spindle India, Inc., a nonprofit strengthening India-US relation …
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