Ferdinando Sardella | |
|---|---|
 Ferdinando Sardella, 2013 | |
| Born | 1960 |
| Awards | Donner Institute award |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Gothenburg |
| Academic work | |
| Main interests | history of religion,religious studies,Hinduism |
Ferdinando Sardella,born 1960,is a Swedish scholar of the history of religions,Hinduism,and religious studies,the former director and coordinator of the Forum for South Asia Studies at Uppsala University. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Sardella studied at the University of Gothenburg,and graduated with BA and B.Th. degrees. Following his MA in theology with the history of religions as his major subject, [2] [3] Sardella obtained a PhD degree in 2010 at his alma mater on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati,a prominent Bengali proponent of the bhakti tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the 20th century and founder of a movement called the Gaudiya Math. [5]
Exploring the Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti school along with its philosophy and practice as taught by Bhaktisiddhanta,Sardella showed it to be a personalistic current that challenged the predominantly monistic perception of Hinduism in the West. Hitherto relatively unknown,this strand of Chaitanya bhakti later on gained global spread in the form of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness,or the Hare Krishna movement,inspired by Bhaktisiddhanta's teachings. [5] In 2010 the Donner Institute,attached to Abo Akademi University,gave Sardella's dissertation their first newly established award for "outstanding research into religion". [5] [6] [7] In 2013 the dissertation was published by Oxford University Press as a monograph that Gavin Flood in his review called "a significant contribution to scholarship not only of the modern Gaudiya Vaishnava movement but also of the religious history of Bengal within the last half of the colonial period". [8]
Sardella currently serves as a postdoctorate researcher in the History of religions at the Department of Theology,and until February 1,2014 was the director and coordinator of the Forum for South Asia Studies for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University. [1] [2] [3] [4] He is a research fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in Great Britain,heading the Bengali Vaishnavism in the Modern Period research project. [9] [10] Sardella also serves as a senior lecturer on the History of Religions at the University of Gothenburg. [5] He is an external expert for the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society at the Department of Sociology,Jadavpur University in Kolkata,in collaboration with Ruby Sain. [5]
Sardella is a deputy member representing Sweden in the Nordic Centre in India,an association of leading universities and research institutions of Denmark,Finland,Iceland,Norway,and Sweden established in 2001 for facilitating cooperation in research and higher education between the Nordic countries and India. [11]
Sardella's areas of interest and specialization are:modern Hinduism,Buddhism,religions in South Asia (from both a local and a global perspective),new religious movements,religion and science,medieval bhakti movements,Bengali and Sanskrit studies,the history and sociology of religion,interreligious dialogue,comparative religion,globalization and postcolonial theory. [5] His current research plans include projects that explore the globalization of Vaishnavism,covering the postcolonial period up to the turn of the 21st century. [4] [5]
Sardella has authored a number of academic books,papers and chapters. [3] [5] [12]
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Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON,commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a representative and messenger of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a 15th-century Indian saint who is considered to be the combined avatar of Radha and Krishna by his disciples and various scriptures. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna with ecstatic song and dance had a profound effect on Vaishnavism in Bengal. He was also the chief proponent of the Vedantic philosophy of Achintya Bheda Abheda Tattva. Mahaprabhu founded Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He expounded Bhakti yoga and popularized the chanting of the Hare Krishna Maha-mantra. He composed the Shikshashtakam.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati,born Bimala Prasad Datt,was a Gaudīya Vaisnava Hindu guru,ācārya,and revivalist in early 20th century India. To his followers,he was known as Srila Prabhupāda.
Gaudiya Vaishnavism,also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism,the Bengali,Chaitanya or Gaudiya Sampradaya,Chaitanyaism,and Gaura Dharma.</ref>is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal,with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu". Specifically,it is part of Krishnaism—Krishna-centric Vaishnavite traditions.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur,born Kedarnath Datta,was a Hindu philosopher,guru and spiritual reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism who effected its resurgence in India in late 19th and early 20th century and was hailed by contemporary scholars as the most influential Gaudiya Vaishnava leader of his time. He is also credited,along with his son Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati,with pioneering the propagation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the West and its eventual global spread.
The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies,founded in 1997,is a Recognised Independent Centre of the University of Oxford,England. It develops academic programmes of education,research and publishing in Hindu studies. It aims to encourage the Hindu community in the academic study of their own traditions and cultures.
The Chaitanya Charitamrita,composed by Krishnadasa Kaviraja in c. 1557,is written in Bengali with a great number of Sanskrit verses in its devotional,poetic construction,including Shikshashtakam. It is one of the primary biographies detailing the life and teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu,the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The stories of Chaitanya's life are mixed with philosophical conversations detailing the process of Bhakti yoga,with special attention given to congregational chanting of Krishna's names and the Hare Krishna mantra.
The Gaudiya Math is a Gaudiya Vaishnava matha formed on 6 September 1920,about 30 months after Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati took sannyasa,the renounced order of life. On 7 March 1918,the same day he took sannyasa, he established the Sri Chaitanya Math in Mayapura in West Bengal,later recognised as the parent body of all the Gaudiya Math branches. Its purpose was to spread Gaudiya Vaishnavism,the philosophy of the medieval Vaisnava saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,through preaching and publishing.
Swami Sadananda Das was born as Ernst-Georg Schulze in Germany. He met Swami Bhakti Hridaya Bon,a disciple of Hindu spiritual reformer Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Sadananda received diksa or formal initiation into the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition through Swami Bon from Sarasvati,and later received the name Sadananda Das by Sarasvati directly after he had joined the Gaudiya Mission in Calcutta,India. He was one of the first known individuals who was not of Asian origin to embrace the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.
The concept of God in Hinduism varies in its diverse traditions. Hinduism spans a wide range of beliefs such as henotheism,monotheism,polytheism,panentheism,pantheism,pandeism,monism,agnosticism,atheism,and nontheism.
Vaishnavism is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism,Shaktism,and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole supreme being leading all other Hindu deities,i.e. Mahavishnu. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or Vaishnavas,and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism,which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively.
Bhakti Hridaya Bon,also known as Swami Bon,was a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and a guru in the Gaudiya Math following the philosophy of the Bhakti marg,specifically of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Gaudiya Vaishnava theology. At the time of his death,he left behind thousands of Bengali disciples in India.
Krishnaism is a large group of independent Hindu traditions—sampradayas related to Vaishnavism—that center on the devotion to Krishna as Svayam Bhagavan,Ishvara,Para Brahman,the source of all reality,who is not an avatar of Vishnu. This is its difference from such Vaishnavite groupings as Sri Vaishnavism,Sadh Vaishnavism,Ramaism,Radhaism,Sitaism etc. There is also a personal Krishnaism,that is devotion to Krishna outside of any tradition and community,as in the case of the saint-poet Meera Bai. Leading scholars do not define Krishnaism as a suborder or offshoot of Vaishnavism,considering it a parallel and no less ancient current of Hinduism.
Bhakti Prajnan Keshava,addressed by the honorific Mahārāja,was a Gaudiya Vaishnava guru,disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and the founder-acharya of the religious organisation "Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti",formed in Calcutta in 1940,and its geadquarters,monastery Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math in Nabadwip.
Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math is situated at Teghori Pada in Nabadwip dham of district Nadia in the West Bengal state of India,and is a matha and prominent holy place of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas,as well the headquarters of the Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti. It is located in the middle of the place earlier known as Koladvipa. The Math has been continuing as a famous religious spot thronged by thousands of devotees every year.
Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji is a well-known acharya from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism,and is regarded as a Mahatma or saint by followers of his lineage. During his lifetime Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji became famous for his teachings on the process of Bhakti Yoga and for his unorthodox avadhuta like behaviour as a sadhu,or babaji in Vrindavan.
Ronald Henry Nixon,later known as Sri Krishna Prem or Sri Krishnaprem,was a British spiritual aspirant who went to India in the early 20th century. Together with his spiritual teacher Sri Yashoda Mai,he founded an ashram at Mirtola,near Almora,India. He was one of the first Europeans to pursue Vaishnavite Hinduism,and was highly regarded,with many Indian disciples. Later,according to the account of his foremost disciple Sri Madhava Ashish,Krishna Prem transcended the dogmas and practices of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition into which he had been initiated and affirmed a universal spiritual path shorn of "orthodoxy" and blind traditionalism.
The Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History is a private institute in Finland maintained by the Åbo Akademi University. The Institute was founded in 1959 with an extensive donation by Uno and Olly Donner. It hosts the largest special library on Comparative Religion in the Nordic countries,supports research in the area of the Institute through grants,and organizes conferences and seminars.
The Gaudiya Mission is a Gaudiya Vaishnava monastic and missionary organization whose founder acharya is Srila Prabhupad alias Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja. The organisation has been registered since March 1940 in Calcutta,British India under the supervision of the then Acharya Srila Acharyadev alias Srimad Bhakti Prasad Puri Goswami Maharaj after accepting sannyasa in 1939/1941.
Swami in Hinduism is an honorific title given to a male or female ascetic who has chosen the path of renunciation (sannyāsa),or has been initiated into a religious monastic order of Vaishnavas. It is used either before or after the subject's name.
Ferdinando Sardella is a postdoctoral researcher and the Director for the Forum for South Asia Studies for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University. He is a fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.
Dr. Ferdinando Sardella from the Department of Theology was appointed Coordinator for the Forum.
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