World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 12

first time, he immediately set about connecting with the NRI community in Los Angeles, most notably Navin and Pratima Doshi and their circle of friends. For many years, Navin Doshi, en engineer, had hosted a study group in his home, exploring the connections between Vedanta and science. Dr. Shastri helped re-energize the group, which met weekly with him to discuss the Upanisads, Vedanta, and Indian philosophy. Shastri introduced me and my wife to the Doshis, who live quite close to LMU. Through the energy and good will of Dr.Shastri, the Doshis felt welcomed into our university scholarly endeavors. Eventually, the Doshis established the Doshi Chair for the study of India at UCLA and the Doshi Professorship in Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University. Each year LMU presents the Doshi Bridgebuilder Award at LMU through this professorship, honoring individuals who have helped foster cross-cultural and interdisciplinary understanding. Awardees have included Dr. Deepak Chopra, Maestro Zubin Mehta, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, educator and author Greg Mortenson, and Professor Huston Smith. The community started by the Shastris and Doshis has now developed a worldwide network!
One of the great pleasures of welcoming Yajneshwar and Sunanda and on occasion Yogeshwar to California has been introducing them to some of the historical sites that relate to Hinduism. In addition to the Vedanta Center in Hollywood, we have experienced two memorable excursions. The first, several years ago, was to Ojai. The Ojai Valley was featured in a classic 1930s movie about the allure of the East: Lost Horizons. Many years ago, Annie Besant discovered Ojai and purchased several thousand acres in both the upper and lower valleys. Krishnamurti lived and taught there for many years. Both the Theosophical Society and the Krishnamurti Foundation maintain schools there. We also visited the Ojai Foundation, a retreat center on Theosophical land renowned for its cutting edge work in group dynamics known as Council inspired by Native American traditions. As we wended our way through the oak-studded valleys and citrus groves between the Topa Topa Mountains and the Sulphur Mountain Ridge, where Meher Baba frequently taught, Professor Shastri delighted in how similar the landscape seemed to his native Karnataka.
Another journey took us to Mount Madonna Retreat Center, a compound of over 320 acres established more than 30 years ago by Baba Hari Dass, a silent Muni and author who established this Ashram in the Santa Cruz mountains, replete with a temple in honor of Hanuman. The Shastris were featured speakers at the second Yoga and Ecology Conference, co-sponsored by Loyola Marymount University and the Green Yoga Association. More than 100 American practitioners of Yoga gathered on the mountain to learn more about how our conections with the earth and our treatment of the earth can be enhanced through the practice of Yoga. Sunanda spoke about and demonstrated the Gandhian spinning wheel as an emblem of Yogic dis