MAKING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
Saturday, September 10th Dr. Holly Hillgardner of Bethany College (Bethany, WV) met briefly with visiting devotee scholars and leaders who were at New Vrindaban for the Man-tra Retreat. Hillgardner has authored both a book and several comparative religion articles on Vaishnavism and Christianity. She will be bringing her students back to New Vrindaban in October and planning future trips to India for them. This gathering took place on the auspicious day of Bhadra Purnima, so Dr. Hillgardner was also gifted a set of Srila Prabhupada’s Srimad Bhagavatam.
We look forward to future dialogues and interactions with Holly and other college/university professors in our area.
Pictured from left to right: Jaya Krishna Das, NV Temple President; Anuttama Das, Global Minister of Communications for ISKCON, NV Board Member, GBC member, and long-time leader in interfaith initiatives; Dr. Holly Hillgardner, Assoc. Professor of Religious Studies at Bethany College; Vineet Chander (Venkata Bhatta Das), Assistant Dean in the Office of Religious Life and Hindu chaplain at Princeton University; Dr. Ravi Gupta (Radhika Raman Das), Head of the History Department at Utah State University; and Thomas Haribol from NV’s Communications Office.