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Krishna Kshetra Swami

Krishna Kshetra Swami (IAST: Kṛṣṇa-kṣetra Svāmī) is a Vaishnava Swami (sannyasi), a Gaudiya Vaishnava guru and one of the religious leader for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as the Hare Krishnas or ISKCON).

Biography

Krishna Kshetra Swami was born on the 18^th of December 1950 in New York as Kenneth Russel Valpey. In 1969, he became an Architecture student at the University of California in Berkeley.

He joined ISKCON in 1972, immediately after meeting the Hare Krishna devotees in Stuttgart, Germany. Less than a month later, in July 1972, he went with the German devotees to Paris to meet Śrīla Prabhupāda, from whom he then received initiation with the name Krishna Kshetra Das.

From 1973 to 1975, he distributed Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, and he became a pūjārī in Amsterdam and Schloss Rettershof.

In 1977, he traveled with Ghanaśyāma Prabhu (later Bhakti Tīrtha Svāmī), taking orders for books in libraries and universities and East Germany and Austria. That year, he saw Śrīla Prabhupāda at Bhaktivedānta Manor in London for the last time.

From 1976 to 1979 he visited Poland, the USSR, Hungary, former Yugoslavia, former Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, preaching together with Harikeśa Svāmī, Dhīra Kṛṣṇa Prabhu (now Bhakti Sudhīra Gosvāmī), Dvārakeśa Prabhu, Guru-Gaurāṅga Prabhu and Devāmṛta Svāmī.

In August 1980, he settled in Siṁhācalam, Germany, where the Deity of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva was installed in 1982. He took care of His worship until 1985. In 1984 and 1985, he preached together with Śacīnandana Svāmī, traveling through Europe and encouraging many Nāma-haṭṭa centers in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

In 1987, the Governing Body Commission of ISKCON appointed him as an initiating guru, and he humbly accepted this service. From 1991 to 1994, he was appointed as the GBC monitor for the Deity worship department in ISKCON. Throughout these years, he traveled around Europe, preaching and inspiring devotees in different temples and their contingent congregations. Highlights of this time were the concerts performed by the Gauranga Bhajan Band, in which he participated as a musician and singer. In 1994, he chaired a committee to compile a handbook for Deity worship, Pañcarātra-pradīpa, in order to establish a standard of worship in ISKCON temples. From 1991 to 1995, he helped to develop the Vaiṣṇava Library at the gurukula in Māyāpur.

He also passed the bhakti-śāstrī exam in Vṛndāvana. With the encouragement of Hṛdayānanda Dāsa Gosvāmī and Tamāla Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī, aiming to help develop ISKCON as an educational institution, he took up studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

There, he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Religious Studies. In the meantime, in the Prabhupāda Centennial year (1996) memorial celebrations, he promoted the idea of raising spiritual standards in ISKCON. From January 1997 until December 1998, he lived at the Berkeley temple, continuing studies at the Graduate Theological Union near the University of California at Berkeley, California.

At the Graduate Theological Union, he successfully completed his Master of Arts degree with a thesis on Vaiṣṇava Deity worship theology, now available as a book, Kṛṣṇa-Sevā: The Theology of Image Worship in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism (Zagreb: Gayatri Books, 2005).

From 1999 to 2000, he took up studies at the University of Oxford and became involved in the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies while completing a Master of Studies degree in the Study of Religion.

In 2003, he completed his doctoral study in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology at the University of Oxford. Based on his doctoral dissertation, he then published Attending Kṛṣṇa’s Image: Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Mūrti-sevā as Devotional Truth (Routledge 2006; paperback reprint, Recensia Press, 2013).[1]

In 2006, he taught courses in the Religion Department at the University of Florida, and he has continued (since 2002) to teach at the Bhaktivedanta College in Radhadesh, Belgium. From 2007 to 2011, he also taught courses at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as a visiting scholar.

In 2014, he requested the GBC for permission to enter the renounced order of life (the sannyāsa-āśrama) and received unanimous approval. He formally received sannyāsa initiation from his godbrother and friend, His Holiness Śacīnandana Svāmī, at Goloka Dhāma in Germany, on Janmāṣṭamī 2014.

He continues to share the timeless wisdom of bhakti-yoga with fellow practitioners and newcomers, as well as in academic circles, through his teaching, writing, and (when conditions allow) traveling.

His Academic Achievements

Main areas of research

Primary: Chaitanya Vaishnavism and other Vaishnavite Hindu traditions; Vaishnava temple ritual and image theology; Sanskrit Epic and Puranic literature; Bhāgavata Purāṇa; Indic animal and environmental ethics.

Secondary: Indic thought systems (esp. Vedanta and Yoga), ethics; Developments in modern/contemporary Indic religious thought and practice (e.g. the “Dharma Paradigm”); Western representations of Asian culture and religion; Methodology in the study of religion; Hindu-Christian & Hindu-Buddhist dialogue; ‘New Age’ thought and cultures.

Studies PURSUED and Degrees Earned

1972 ― (B.A. course, incomplete; 2 years) in Architecture – University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design.

1996 ― B.A. (honors) in Religious Studies – University of California, Santa Barbara. (Resumed formal study in autumn 1995)

1998 ― M.A. (honors) in The Cultural and Historical Study of Religion – Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA.

1999 ― Tutored informally in Bengali language: University of Halle, Germany.

2000 ― M.St. (Master of Studies) in The Study of Religion – University of Oxford (UK). (with ‘Distinction’ in two out of the three papers, ‘Christianity’ and ‘Hinduism’).

2004 ― D.Phil. (Ph.D.) – University of Oxford (UK). Thesis title: “The Grammar and Poetics of Mūrti-sevā: Chaitanya Vaishnava Image Worship as Discourse, Ritual, and Narrative.” Thesis supervisors: Dr. Sanjukta Gupta-Gombrich (Oriental Institute) & Prof. Francis X. Clooney S.J. (Theology Faculty; now Parkman Prof. of Divinity, Harvard University).

2005 ― Post-doctoral Research Fellowship – Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford University, U.K. (prepared thesis for publication).

Present and Former Positions Held

Research Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (2006--present). As such, co-director (with Prof. Dr. Ravi M. Gupta), the Bhāgavata Purāṇa Research Project.

Dean of Studies and Instructor, Bhaktivedanta College (Septon, Belgium) (as such, Associate Lecturer, University of Chester, U.K., Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, 2012-2016) (2002 to present; since September 2012 Dean of Studies).

Fellow, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics (2014—) (and Consultant Editor, Journal of Animal Ethics).

Adjunct Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville (2006)

Visiting Scholar / Professor of Culture and Religions of India, Chinese University of Hong Kong (2007-2011, six semesters);

Visiting Scholar, Department of Humanities, University of Pula, Croatia; (three semesters, 2009-2011)

Academic Societies Membership

American Academy of Religion (AAR); International Association for Sanskrit Studies (IASS); Society for Hindu-Christian Studies; Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics (OCAE)

Other Memberships and Advisory position

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) – since 1972; entered order of sannyasa in 2014 (with the name Krishna Kshetra Swami).

Research Fellow, Beijing Sanchi Cultural Institute, Beijing (2014—)

Academic Advisor, Sanskrit Department, Beijing Longquan Buddha Temple, Beijing (2017—).

Member, Advisory Board, Hinduism and Ecology Society (based in OCHS) (2019—)  

Publications

1998 ― Kṛṣṇa-Sevā: Theology of Image Worship in Gaudiya Vaisnavism – Croatian translation of M.A. thesis, Graduate Theological Union. Zagreb: Gayatri. (2008, Spanish translation).

1999 ― “Reform in Tradition: Bhaktivinoda’s Apologetic for the Bhagavata Purana,” in ISKCON Communications Journal 7/1, June 1999.

2001 ― “The Hare Krishna Movement.” In The Concise Encyclopedia of Language and Religion. Amsterdam/Oxford: Elsevier.

2002 ― Book Review: Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta, BBT. In ISKCON Communications Journal 9/1.

2003 ― “A Tremendous Connection: Reflections on Tamal Krishna

Goswami’s Final Visit to Bhaktivedanta Manor.” Journal of Vaisnava Studies, Spring 2003.

2004 ― “Krishna in Mleccha-desha: ISKCON Temple Worship in Historical Perspective,” In The Hare Krishna Movement: The Post-Charismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant, eds. Edwin Bryant and Maria Ekstrand. New York: Columbia University Press. In the same volume, co-authored with Thomas Herzig: “Re-Visioning ISKCON: Constructive Theologizing for Reform and Renewal.”  

2004 ― “Thinking Across Religious Boundaries, Or, Are Vaishnavas Idolators?” Journal of Vaisnava Studies, Fall 2004.

2004 ― “Animal ‘Rights’ and Ahimsa: An Ancient Discourse on Humans, Animals, and the Earth.” Nidhan—Journal for the Study of Hinduism, vol. 16. KwaZulu-Natal University, S. Africa: December 2004, pp. 53-69.

2006 ― Book Review: Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age. By Olav Hammer. Brill, 2004. In Religion and Culture (Routledge).

2006 ― Attending Krishna’s Image: Caitanya Vaishnava Mūrti-sevā as Devotional Truth.  Routledge (Routledge Hindu Studies Series, vol. 4). Also, same, in Polish language, 2009: Kult wizerunku Kryszny: Murtisewa w wisznuizmie Cajtanji jako prawda oddania. Wroclaw: Purana. English paperback reprint 2014, Stockholm: Recensia Press.

2008 ― “The Experience of Authority and the Authority of Experience: the Bhagavad-gita in dialogue with modern ‘religious experience’ discourse.” Beide Journal of Philosophy (Peking University, Beijing, China).

2009 ― “The Bhāgavata Purāṇa as a Mahābhārata Reflection.” In P. Koskikallio (Ed.), Parallels and Comparisons: Proceedings of the Fourth Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Puranas, September 2005 (pp. 257-278). Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2009.  

2010 ― “Nature Deadly and Nature Divine: The Bhāgavata Purāṇa’s Lessons on Human Relationships to the Environment,” Journal of Vaishnava Studies. Vol. 18 no. 2, Spring 2010.

2010 ― “Puja and Darsana.” In The Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism (vol.2; 10,000 words). Amsterdam: E.J. Brill.

2010 ― “Found in Translation: Revisiting the Bhagavad-gītā in the Twenty-first Century” (review essay). Journal of Hindu Studies vol. 3 no. 2, 2010: 258-269. Oxford University Press.

2011 ― “Hindu Iconology and Worship.” In Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies. Jessica Frazier, editor. Continuum Press.

2011 ― (Book Review) Gupta, Ravi M., The Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Vedānta of Jīva Gosvāmī: When Knowledge Meets Devotion (Routledge, 2007). In Indo-Iranian Journal, vol. 54, no. 1.

2011 ― (Book Review) Packert, Cynthia, The Art of Loving Krishna: Ornamentation and Devotion. (Indiana University Press, 2010). In Journal of Hindu Studies 0:1-3 (doi:10.1093/jhs/hir029) (September 10, 2011).

2011 ― “Gaudiya Vaisnavism.” In The Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism (vol. 3; 10,000 words). Amsterdam: E.J. Brill.

2012 ― (Book Review) Jacobsen, Knut A., ed. South Asian Religions on Display: Religious processions in South Asia and in the diaspora. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. In Journal of Hindu Studies (September 2012).

2012 ― “Caitanya.” In The Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism (vol. 4; 5,000 words). Amsterdam: E.J. Brill.

2012 ― “Viewpoint: Reflections on Ludic Dimensions in Hindu-Christian Scholarship.” Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies, vol. 25 (2012), pp. 51-54.

2013 ― The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Sacred Text and Living Tradition. Co-edited, with Ravi M. Gupta. New York: Columbia University Press.

2013 ― “Trekking Along the Path of the Bhāgavatas.” In The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Sacred Text and Living Tradition. Edited by Ravi M. Gupta and Kenneth R. Valpey. New York: Columbia University Press.

2013 ― “ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness).” Oxford Bibliographies in "Hinduism". Ed. Alf Hiltebeital. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0130.xml?rskey=wlgVTr&result=28&q=.

2014 ― “Circling in on the Subject: Discourses of Ultimacy in Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism.” In  Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Philosophy: Tradition, Devotion, and Reason, Ravi M. Gupta, ed., Franham, Surrey, U.K.: Ashgate, pp. 1-34.

2014 ― (Book Review) Gupta, Bina, An Introduction to Indian Philosophy: Perspectives on Reality, Knowledge, and Freedom. London and New York: Routledge, 2012. In Journal of Hindu Studies.

2014 ― “The ‘Song of God’ as a Journey of Discipleship: A Reflection on the Bhagavad-gītā and Christian Perspectives.” „Božja pjesma“ kao put učeništva: refleksije o Bhagavad-gīti i kršćanskim gledištima. Klara Buršić-Matijašić (ed.) Tabula, Journal of the Department of Humanities, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Croatia, 2014, pp. 257-263. (Croatian language).

2015 ― “Imaging Devotional Theologies: Seeing as Expanding the Depth of Believing.” In Sushma K. Bahl, Forms of Devotion: The Spiritual in Indian Art. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Niyogi Books & MOSA. pp. 57-73.

2016 ― “Vaishnava Tantra As Outlined in the Bhāgavata.” Prabuddha Bharati 121/1, January, pp. 178-190.

2016 ― “Igniting Hanuman’s Tail: Hindu Indian and secular views on animal experimentation.” Journal of Animal Ethics Vol 6 no. 2, Fall, pp 213-222.

2016 ― “Precept, Practice, and Persuasion: Truth and heresy in the Visnupurana.” In On the Growth and Composition of the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas: Relationship to Kāvya, Social and Economic Context. Proceedings of the fifth Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Puranas, August 2008. Ivan Andrijanić and Sven Sellmer, editors. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

2016 ― The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Selected Readings. Co-authored, with Ravi M. Gupta. New York: Columbia University Press. The book was reviewed by Aleksandar Uskokov, Yale University, USA.

2017 ― (Book Review) Voss Roberts, Michelle, Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014. In Journal of Hindu Studies 10/3, November 2017, pp. 360-362.

2019 ― “Animating Samadhi: Rethinking Animal-Human Relationships Through Yoga.” In The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics. Routledge.

2019 ― “From Devouring to Honoring: A Vaishnava-Hindu Therapeutic Perspective on Human Culinary Choice.” In Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism. Routledge, pp. 222-231.  

2019 ― Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics. Palgrave Macmillan (Animal Ethics book series).

2020 ― “Claiming High Ground: Gauḍīya missionizing rhetoric on the adhikāra of worship.” In The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal, Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong, eds. London: Routledge, pp. 99-111.

2020 ― Advancing Across the Great River: Reflections on Yoga Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Comparisons. Kunming (China): Yunnan University Press, 2021. (Dual language publication – Mandarin and English).

2022 ― “Whither Bovinity? Hindu Dharma, the Indian State, and Conflicting Moral Perspectives over Cow Protection.” In Animal Ethics and Animal Law, Andrew Linzey and Clair Linzey, eds. Lexington Press.

2023 ― “In the Service of All that Lives: Gandhi’s Vision of Engaged Nonviolent Animal Care.” In Animal Theologians. Andrew Lindzey, editor. Oxford University Press.

2023 ― “ISKCON and Diaspora Hindus in a Shared Cultural Atmosphere.” (In The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Diasporas, Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2024 ― “Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics”. In Religion and Animals, David Aftandilian et al, eds. Routledge.

2024 ― “The God of Yoga: Divine Pedagogy Addressing Divine Hiddenness”. In God in Vaishnavism. London: Routledge.

2024 ― “Reform in Bhakti Tradition: Bhaktivinoda’s Apologetic for the Bhāgavata Purāṇa”. In Shakuntala Gawde and Ferdinando Sardella, eds. Bhakti in Vaiṣṇava Traditions. Kolkata and Mumbai: Bhaktivedanta Research Center and University of Mumbai, 2024, pp. 25-45.

Forthcoming ― “Yoga as Therapeutic Animal Ethics”. In Routledge Handbook of Indian Ethics: Gender, Justice, Ecology. Edited by Purushottama Bilimoria, Renuka Sharma, and Amy Rhyner. Routledge.

Papers Delivered

1997 ― “East Meets West in ISKCON: Changes in the Los Angeles Krishna Temple,” at the regional American Academy of Religion conference at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

1997 ― “Some General Features of Image Worship in Vaishnavism” Symposium at Abentheuer, Germany.

2001 ― “Porous Boundaries and Asymmetries: Doing Reconstructive Theology in ISKCON,” with Tamal Krishna Goswami (Thomas Herzig). At AAR national meeting, Denver.

2004 (12.2.04) ― “Violence and Peacemaking in Hindu Traditions” at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University, as part of a lecture series, “Relating to the 'Other': Hindu and Christian Perspectives,” Presented by the Centre for Hindu Studies & the Centre for Christianity & Culture. (Presenting and discussing with Revd. Dr. Stephen Finamore).

2004 (8, 10.3.04) ― “The Semiotics of Food in Hinduism.” Indology Department, Philosophy Faculty, Charles University, Prague.

2004 (14.9.04) ― “Idea, Image, and Religious Truth: An Experiment in Intra-Religious Comparison.” Work-in-progress report at the British Association for the Study of Religions, Oxford.

2005 (7.9.05) ― “Dicing and Dancing: Remembrance as Ritual in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana.” At the Fourth Dubrovnik Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Puranas, Dubrovnik, Croatia, September 5-10, 2005.

2006 (8.3.06) ― “And Whom Did You Eat Today? Or, What can Ahimsa-talk Do for an Aching Ecosystem?” At “Exploring Religion, Nature, and Culture,” Inaugural Conference of the Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture, University of Florida, Gainesville, April 6-9, 2006.

2006 (13.7.06) ― “Bodies Monstrous, Bodies Divine: Corporal Transformation and Humor in the Bhāgavatapurāṇa.” At the 13th World Sanskrit Conference, Edinburgh, U.K.

2007 (15.12.07) ― “The Experience of Authority and the Authority of Experience: the Bhagavad-gītā in dialogue with modern ‘religious experience’ discourse.” At the interdepartmental conference, “Religious Experience and Interreligious Dialogue,” Peking University, Department of Philosophy and Religion.

2008 (15.8.08) ― “Precept, Practice, and Persuasion: Truth and heresy in the Visnu Purana.” At the 5th Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas (Dubrovnik, Croatia).

2013 (7.8.13) ― “Personhood as Multivalent Reality in Premodern Indian Theography.” At the 12th International Conference on Persons, University of Lund, Sweden.

2014 (21.7.14) ― “Animating Samādhi: Rethinking Animal-Human Relationships Through Yoga.” Annual Summer School conference: Religion and Animal Protection. Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.

2015 (28.3.15) ― “Claiming High Ground: Gauḍīya missionizing rhetoric on the adhikāra of worship.” Workshop on Modern Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, 28-29 March 2015.  

2017 (13.12.17) ― “Tending Krishna’s Cows: Toward a Devotional Ecological Engagement with Bovinity”. Paper delivered at the Hinduism and Ecology Conference, Govardhan Eco Village, Wardha, Maharashtra, India.

2018 (25.7.18) ― “Whither Bovinity? Hindu Dharma, the Indian State, and Conflicting Moral Perspectives over Cow Protection.” Paper delivered at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics Summer School, “Animal Ethics and Law: Creating Positive Change for Animals.”

2018 (9.8.18) ― “Cosmopolitan Bovinity: Care for Cows in Indic Memory and Anticipatory Communities.” Paper delivered at (Un)Common Worlds—Human-Animal Studies conference, Türku, Finland.

2020 (3.7.20) ― “Reinscribing Vraja: A Krishna-centered pilgrimage replication in southwest Hungary.” Presentation delivered at the Sacred Journeys Online Global Conference (Indiana University and Purdue University, Indianapolis, USA, with University of Primorska, Slovenia).

2021 (2.7.21) ― “Reinscribing Vraja II: A Krishna-centered pilgrimage replication in northeast India.” Presentation delivered at the Sacred Journeys Online Global Conference (Indiana University and Purdue University, Indianapolis, USA, with University of Primorska, Slovenia).

2022 (22.3.22) ― “To Take Place: Marking Sacred Territory in Vaisnava Hagiography”. International Conference on Bhakti in Vaisnava Traditions (online). University of Mumbai, Department of Sanskrit.

2022 (25.5.22) ― “God as the Supreme Teacher: Swami Prabhupada’s Modern Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Mission to Reveal ‘The Supreme Personality of Godhead’” (online). “God and Vaishnavism” 23-26 May, 2022. Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies & University of Birmingham.

2022 (28.5.22) ― "Ambedkar and Gandhi on Untouchability: Two Modern Indian Efforts to Re-cast Caste” (online). Past, Present, Future 2022: The Other—Stereotype and Prejudice in History. University of Pula.   

2022 (7.7.22) ― “Pilgrimage Hagiography as Re-enchantment: the case of Śrī Chaitanya’s Journey to Vrindavan, India.” Sacred Journeys 9th Global Conference, 5-8 July 2022. University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies, Turistica Piran and Portoroz, Slovenia.

Lectures, Panels, and Talks

2002 (5.11.02) ― “Practice Makes Perfect: Serving and Sensing the Divine,” and “Vrindavana, Land of Krishna.” University of Oxford Continuing Education. Day course on “World Religions: Hinduism,” with Prof. Friedhelm Hardy.

2002 (5.16.02) ― Panel Discussion participant: “Western Categories, Indian Intellectual Traditions.” Oxford Centre for Vaishnava and Hindu Studies, Comparative Theology Seminar. Oxford.

2003 (12.2.03) ― Panel Discussion participant: “Faith and Reason in the Scholarship of Tamal Krishna Goswami.” With Francis X. Clooney. Oxford Centre for Vaishnava and Hindu Studies, Wednesday Seminar. Oxford.

2004 (9.7.04) ― Panel Discussion participant: “The Ethics of Speaking and Listening: An Interfaith Forum on Communication as Spiritual Practice.” At the Parliament for the World’s Religions, Barcelona.

2004 (11.10.04) ― “Mingling With Modernity: Vaishnava reflections on Scripture, Caste, and ‘Idolatry’.” At the University of Lancaster, Religious Studies Faculty.

2004 (20, 21, 22.12.04) ― “Stealing Hearts: Hindu Lessons in the Art of Theft;” “Icon, Murti, and Revelation: Toward a Comparison of Christian Icon Veneration and Vaishnava Murti-seva;” “Deception and Destiny in the Mahabharata Dice Games.” At the Indology Department, Philosophy Faculty, and the Husite Theology Faculty, Charles University, Prague.

2005 (28.9.05) ― “Teacher and Educator: Ancient Indian Perspectives.” At the Centre of Teacher Development (Miejski Ośrodek Doskonalenia Nauczycieli), Opole, Poland.

2007 ― (Hilary Term) “The Mūrti and the Icon: Comparisons in two worlds of divine image.” A four-part seminar at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. With Dr. Matthew Steenberg, University of Oxford Theology Faculty.

2007 (21, 22.3.07) ― “The Bhāgavata Purāṇa as Mahābhārata Commentary;” “Sacred Biography and the Bhakti Movement in India: The Case of Shri Krishna Chaitanya.” At the Indology Department, Philosophy Faculty, and the Husite Theology Faculty, Charles University, Prague.

2007 ( 30.3.07) ― “The Bhāgavata Purāṇa as Vedanta Commentary.” Filologie Faculty, University of Wroclaw, Poland.

2007 (11.6.07) ― “Sacred Biography as a Literary Genre in India.” (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Pula, Croatia).

2007 (25.7.07) ― “Some philosophical reflections on Mūrti-sevā and Icon veneration.” (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Skopje, Macedonia).

2007 (20.12.07) ― “The Bhagavad-gītā as brahmanical response to Buddhism.” (College of Buddhism, Foguangshan, Kauhsiunga, Taiwan).

2009 (24.5.09) ― “Thinking ‘Vedic’: Reflections on Western reception of traditional Indian thought.” Internationales Institut fuer Vedische Studien, Berlin, Germany.

2009 (26.5.09) ― “Globalization and Eastern Religions.” (University of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw, Poland).

2009 (28.5.09) ― “The Almighty Protected: Hindu Mūrti Adoration.” (Department of Religion, University of Crakow, Crakow, Poland).

2009 (30.5.09) ― “Thirty-three Million Gods in Monotheistic Hindu Traditions.” (University of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw, Poland).

2009 (2.6.09) ― “The Almighty Protected: Hindu Mūrti Adoration.” (Department of Philology, University of Wroclaw, Poland).

2009 (5.6.09) ― “Human and Divine Childhood in Vaishnava Bhakti Traditions” (student conference, “Children in Asia and the Middle East,” University of Wroclaw, Poland).

2010 (8.1.10) ― “The Bhāgavata Purāṇa in the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects.” Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai (Chowpatti).

2010 (7.4.10) ― “Sylvan Semiotics in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.” (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb, Croatia).

2012 (15-17.10.12) ― “Indian Religious Thought in Transition” (2 lectures), and “The Comparative Study of Religion as a Story within History.” (Department of Religious Studies, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China).

2014 (29.10.14) ― “Indian Technologies for Self-Discovery.” (General Education program, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China).

2014 (6, 7, 10.11.14) ― “Entering the World of Classical Indian Philosophy: Features of Vedānta.” (Department of Religious Studies, School of Philosophy, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China).

2014 (14.11.14) ― “From Eden to Vraja: Biblical and Vedic Visions of Divine Perfection and Human Imperfection.” (Institute of Christianity and Cross-cultural Studies at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China).

2014 (20.11.14) ― “From Eden to Vraja: Biblical and Vedic Visions of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.” (Beijing Sanzhi Culture Institute, Beijing, China).

2015 (17.03.15) ― Keynote Address, 1st Coloquium on the Study of Hinduism and Vaishnavism, Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil.

2015 & 2016 ― Several lectures in universities in Beijing, China.   

2018 (8-3-18) ― “Cow Care in Indian Tradition”. Institute of Global Ethnology and Anthropology, Minzu University, Beijing.

2018 (23.7.18) ― Presentation on Indian animal law issues, in Roundtable Discussion “Reports from Around the Globe.” Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics Summer School conference, “Animal Ethics and Law: Creating Positive Change for Animals,” Oxford, U.K., 22-25 July 2018.

2018 (17.10.18) ― “Contemporary Hindu Animal Ethics”. Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

2019 ― Several lectures in China, including Yunnan University (Kunming), Foreign Studies University (Beijing), Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Chinese Conservatory of Music (Beijing), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing), and University of Shandong (Jinan).

2019 (23.5.19) ― "Mantra, Yoga, Music--Their Meaning in Ancient and Modern India." Department of Musicology, Chinese Conservatory of Music, Beijing.

2019 (29.5.19) ― "Grammar and Poetics of 'Action' (karma) and 'Agency': Highlights from a 3000-year long discourse in Sanskrit." Department of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing.

2020 (22.09.20) ― “Between William Blake and the Bhagavad-gita: Rebooting the Imagination for Troubled Times”. Presentation in the online conference: Spiritual Well-being and Stress Management: Religio-Psychological Perspectives. BRC (Bhaktivedanta Research Centre) & KSAS (Kolkata Society for Asian Studies)

2020 (24.11.20) ― "Comparison as a Way of Knowing in the Study of Religion." 'Research Methods in Social Sciences with Focus on Cultural Studies', Department of History, St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata Faculty Development Program – 5-day online conference

2021 (08.09.21) ― “The Pursuit of ‘Spiritual Truth’ through ‘Communities of Practice’.” In Conscious Sustainable Social Development online conference, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil, 6-10 September.

2021 (08.11.21) ― “A World of Difference and the Logic of Nondifference: Toward applications of ‘therapeutic nonduality’ in four social contexts of alterity.” In Logic and Society online conference, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil, 8-12 November.

Teaching Experience

1972-1995 ― Conducted numerous (almost daily) classes, lectures, and discussions on Vaishnava Hindu theology and practice within Vaishnava communities throughout Europe, U.S.A., Argentina, India, and China.

1995-2009 ― Conducted several seminars on image worship in the Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition, given within the Vaishnava communities. Conducted seminars on self-development, based on Hindu and Buddhist principles.

2002 ― Oxford University Continuing Education. “What is Hinduism,” a one-day presentation with Prof. Friedhelm Hardy.

2003-04 ― Occasional lecturer for the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies’ adult education Certificate courses in Hinduism (in cooperation with University of Wales, Lampeter).

2003 and ongoing ― Undergraduate course teaching:

“Vaishnava Vedanta,”

“Introduction to the Study of Religion,” 

“Readings from the Vaishnava Acharyas,”

“Caitanya-caritamrita as Vaishnava Sacred Biography,”

“Six Classical Indian Philosophies,”

“Sacred Texts: The Bhāgavata Purāṇa” – six modules, at the Bhaktivedanta College, Radhadesh, Chateau du Petit Somme, Belgium (initially in cooperation with University of Wales, Lampeter; thereafter, accredited by the University of Chester, U.K.).

2006 ― Undergraduate course teaching, “Religions of India” and “Religions of Asia” at University of Florida, Gainesville, as Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Religion.

2007-11 ― Undergraduate course teaching, “Self and Identity in Indian Religions,” “Tradition and Modernity in India” (x3), “Religions and Cultures of India,” “Sacred Geography in India” (x2), “Love in Indian Culture,” and “Indian Culture Through Biographies,” at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies.

2011 ― M. A. course teaching, “Hindu Traditions in Dialogue,” at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies.

2009 & 2010 ― (Spring semester) – Undergraduate course teaching, “Minding the East: The Reception of Asian Thought and Culture in the West,” at University of Pula (Pula, Croatia, EU).

2011 ― (Spring semester) – Undergraduate course teaching, “Envisioning Truth: Indian Philosophy in the Modern World.” University of Pula (Pula, Croatia, EU).

2016 ― “Indian Culture Through Biographies,” Summer Session, Universidade Lusiade, Lisbon (Portugal).

Fellowships and Honors

1996 ― University of California, Pell Grant scholarship for undergraduates.

2001 ― Max Müller Memorial Fund, for doctoral research in India.

2006 ― Outstanding Faculty Member, Spring Semester, University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

2014 ― Received initiation into the order of Sannyasa in ISKCON (Int. Society for Krishna Consciousness).

Miscellaneous

Since 2005 ― Provided unofficial guidance for a number of postgraduate students, helping in focusing their research projects, providing letters of recommendation, and assorted research advice and encouragement.

Since 2005 ― Peer reviewed two articles for the Journal of Hindu Studies; one article for the journal Religion; three articles for the Journal of Dharma Studies; three articles for MDPI Religion (2022); an article for Sophia International Journal of Philosophy and Religions; a book for Routledge; a book proposal for Oxford University Press; he has written a Foreword for a book published by Lexington Books (2022);

2021 ― Completion and publishing of the documentary film "India's Book of Wisdom: The Bhāgavata Purāṇa"

Bibliography

In English:

Pañcarātra-pradīpa, Volume One

Pañcarātra-pradīpa, Volume Two

Kṛṣṇa-sevā: Theology of Image Worship in Caitanya Vaiṣṇavism 

Attending Kṛṣṇa’s Image: Caitanya Vaiṣṇava Mūrti-sevā as Devotional Truth

In Praise of My Preceptor

From All Angles of Vision (Selected Essays 1996 - 2004)

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Sacred Text and Living Tradition (Edited by Kenneth R. Valpey and Ravi M. Gupta)

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Selected Readings (Kenneth R. Valpey and Ravi M. Gupta)

Kṛṣṇa Smaraṇam―Devotees’ Creative Monologues Elaborating Kṛṣṇa’s Pastimes (Edited by Krishna Kshetra Swami)

Rāma Smaraṇam―Devotees’ Creative Reflections on Divine Pastimes (Edited by Krishna Kshetra Swami)

Gaura Smaraṇam―Devotees’ Creative Reflections on Divine Pastimes (Edited by Krishna Kshetra Swami)

Bhāgavata Smaraṇam―Devotees’ Reflections on the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One (Edited by Krishna Kshetra Swami)

Cow Care in Hindu Animal Ethics

Paravidyā-mālā―Higher Knowledge Series, Volume One

Paravidyā-mālā―Higher Knowledge Series, Volume Two

Yama and Niyama―Essential Steps in Classical Yoga Applied to the Culture of Bhakti

Kṛṣṇa’s Wonderful Form: A Guide for the Perplexed

Field Notes, Volume One

Voyaging Through the Bhāgavatam, Volume One

Voyaging Through the Bhāgavatam, Volume Two

Kṛṣṇa and His Opponents / Kṛṣṇa and His Cows (Edited by Krishna Kshetra Swami)

Mountain of Love―Devotees’ Reflections on Govardhana (Edited by Krishna Kshetra Swami)

In Mandarin:

Advancing Across the Great River: Reflections on Yoga Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Comparisons (Dual-language publication, Mandarin and English)

Kṛṣṇa Sevā: Traditional Ritual in the Practice of Bhakti Yoga (Dual-language publication, Mandarin and English) 

In Croatian:

Krišna-sevā: Teologija obožavanja božanstva u Caitanya-vaišnavizmu

Osamnaest joga Bhagavad-gīte

In Polish:

Kult wizerunku Kryszny: Murtisewa w wisznuizmie Cajtanji jako prawda oddania 

Wykłady wybrane, cz.1 

Wykłady wybrane, cz.2 

Samopoznanie jako świadoma praktyka. Początkowe etapy jogi

References

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[1] See the author’s website for further titles: https://krks.name/books