Professor Jeffery D. Long

The English session will be conducted by Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College, in Pennsylvania. Prof. Long received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School in the year 2000. His Discipline was Philosophy of Religion with concentrations in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. His Phd thesis was on Plurality and Relativity – the Jain Principle of Anekantavad.

Prof. Long is the author of one of the top selling books on Jainism on Amazon.com - Jainism: An Introduction. He is also the author of these other books – A Vision for Hinduism (2007) and The Historical Dictionary of Hinduism (2011). He is currently working on a two-volume introduction to Indian philosophy, including a textbook and a reader of primary sources. His other publications include over four dozen articles and reviews in various edited volumes and scholarly journals, including Prabuddha Bharata, the Journal of Vaishnava Studies, the Journal of Religion, and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

Most recently, he delivered the inaugural Virchand Gandhi Lecture in Jain Studies at the Claremont School of Theology in California.

Pandit Mahesh Kumar Jain

Pandit Mahesh Kumar Jain is a renowned scholar who has studied various religious scriptures including: Tatvartha Sutra, Sarvarth Sidhi, Karma Kand, Ratnakarand Shravakachar, Samayasaar, etc. He has studied and done in-depth analysis of Karnanuyoga.

He was the head Lecturer in the Shri Jain Shraman Sanskriti Sansthan in Jaipur, India. Pt. Mahesh Kumar Ji has over thirteen years of teaching experience. He has taught in various colleges including ones in Jaipur and Madhya Pradesh. He has given lectures in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Surat, Jhansi, Jabalpur, Shivpuri, Lalitpur, etc.

His foreign trips include Bangok, Thailand in 2006, and the United States in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. He has been the visiting scholar for Paryushans/Das Lakshans in New York and San Francisco and the JAINA Convention in Detroit in 2013. He was heavily involved with various religious camps held throughout India including camps in Jaipur, Bhopal, Udaipur, etc. He has been an active leader of many Vidhans and religious functions. His publications include: Hindi translation of Jain Prayers and other philosophical matters published in Jinbhashit & many other magazines.

He will be the visiting scholar for Paryushans/Das Lakshans in Atlanta Jain Center in 2014.