On Tuesday, February 16, 2021, Govinda Nandini, ...rns@gmail wrote:
very dear Maharaj,
please accept my most humble obeisances
all glories to Srila Prabhupada
Hare Krishna
dear beloved Maharaj,
I has been quite long time since we met or spoke last.
I do hope you are well and I always follow your trace on Earth to get the wonderful inspiration and knowledge you offer to this world.
I write to you now thinking mostly about your connections with the vaishnava academia.
I have been promoted at the university and now, I am the Head of Undergraduate Communication Program. and for that post, it is a requirement to hold a Phd., therefore i have been requested to register in one as soon as possible.
In order to do so, I am in search of a good phd. program on vaishnavism. specifically on Women voice in Srimad Bhagavatam. I have been thinking about this topic for many years, bcs vaishnavism is probably the only monotheistic spiritual tradition that gives so much voice to female persons. I compare it with christianity, for example, where we don´t know what any of the women that are mentioned in Sacred literature, thought or did, except from the voice of another person. wherears in Srimad Bhagavatam,
all of the characters present (regardless of the gender) show great culture and capacity/space to express themselves as individuals.
I found a couple of vaishnava programs in the west, and i did like what they offer, but there is no way to contact the responsible persons (https://fvc.edu/art_doctorate.htm) and that is a little bit suspicious to be honest.
I wonder if you know about some postgraduate program whether in India or outside which offers such a degree.
As I know you are a very busy person, I dont have much expectations regarding you answering me but I had to try.
I wish I could talk with you personally one day, not only because I deeply miss your association but also because I feel the need to have everything clear with you, a person that I respect, admire and love very much from the first day I met.
Thank you so much for your time.
ys
Govindanandini d.
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Hare Krsna. AGTSP.... Paoho.... We cannot remember your Form, Character or Pastimes!! Nor the Vaisnava Academy. 🤔 Please enlighten us. At 73-years old we are packing our luggage for a long journey and a lot of the stuff we are leaving behind are memories.
🙂 Arjuna advanced in civil life as a Prince of the Kurus and then Krsna enlightened him how to use it for Him, no?
May you become even more well situated in your University.
Women's voice in Srimad Bhagavatam is a great topic. Can we call it Daivi-stri-dharma? I guess you could get two big volumes out of the SB, CC et al. You could organize the information, stories, related modern information and perspectives so that it would be very interesting.
I don't know of any university that would offer a PhD in that topic, but it seems there might be several that would promote that as a topic within Political Science, Sociology, Religious Studies, Sanskrit etc.
Are you in USA? Radhika-ramana Das, Garuda Das, Hrdayananda Goswami have posts and would know favorable institutions better than we. We know that Sugopi-radha Devi Dasi just started a PhD program in Yale with a Sanskrit emphasis and seems some interest by the faculty.
That's all we know.
Please send letters here to this Blog. We don't do much e-mail!
I think if you continue with this you will find many others who want to develop this theme. Maybe you will become like Devahuti in your next life???
H. P. Swami
ASA
