Can Jainism be radical? In this special live-recorded episode of the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast, Arihanta Institute professor and lead organizer of the Vegan Studies Initiative, Jonathan Dickstein, PhD sits down with three emerging voices in the Jain community—Anjli Shah, Sahana Mehta, and Mohit Mookim—for an honest and thought-provoking dialogue about the intersections of Jain identity, social justice, and civic engagement.

Together, they explore questions: What does it mean to be a young Indian American Jain in the U.S. today? How are Jain values like non-violence, non-possession, and pluralism applied—or challenged—when confronting systemic inequality, racism, gender oppression, and climate collapse? Can Jainism, a tradition rooted in spiritual restraint, inspire the kind of structural change radical politics demands?

Tune in for a bold conversation on the future of Jain ethics, the role of intergenerational dialogue, and what it means to imagine a Jainism responsive to the moral urgencies of the 21st century.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & LINKS

• Arihanta Institute | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living
• Vegan Studies Initiative @ Arihanta Institute | Courses, Speaker Series, Research & More!

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ABOUT OUR PODCAST GUESTS

Anjli Shah (she/her) is Relationships & Grants Manager at One Project, a nonprofit committed to nurturing a just transition to an regenerative democratic economy, where she helps develop grantee cohort programming and organize donors interested in shifting wealth and power to communities. Her work at the International Rescue Committee, Prevention Research Center, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have shaped her commitment to philanthropy that is accountable to social movements, and to a world beyond philanthropy. Grounded in the Jain axiom “Parasparopagraho jivanam” (“All life is bound together by mutual support & interdependence”), Anjli co-founded and led Jains for Justice, an informal collective that organized the Jain community around racial justice, gender justice, and civic engagement between 2019-2020. She is a former board member of the South Asian American Digital Archive. Anjli holds a BA in Neurobiology from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Nutrition from Case Western Reserve University, and is currently based in Los Angeles.

Sahana Mehta (she/her) is a South Asian organizer living in NYC. She is the High Net Wealth Program Manager at Resource Generation, a network of young people with wealth & class privilege working towards the equitable redistribution of land, wealth, and power. Politicized in 2013 through racial justice movements in the US and educational equity initiatives in India, Sahana has engaged with a number of intersecting social justice movements. Her work in South Asian communities has focused on challenging the rise of Hindu Nationalism, advocating for caste equity, and supporting diasporic gender justice infrastructure like South Asian SOAR. Sahana has worked with transnational gender justice organizations including MADRE, Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism, and Grassroots Global Justice Alliance to resource movements and challenge dominant philanthropic paradigms. Sahana is one of the creators of the archives for Andolan Organizing South Asian Workers, a domestic worker-led organization in NYC.

Mohit Mookim (they/them) is a land and housing justice lawyer at the Sustainable Economies Law Center, a nonprofit collective based in Oakland, California. Moh is also a member-leader with Resource Generation, organizing with other young people with class privilege redistributing wealth and power to social...

In this episode of the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast, Professor Christopher Jain Miller interviews Dr. Nitin Shah about his humanitarian work grounded in Jain principles of ahimsa (non-violence), anekantavad (multiplicity of views), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). Learn how Dr. Shah's early life experiences shaped his current work in compassionate humanitarianism through which he provides medical missions, natural disaster relief, and food service to the poor both in his local setting in Southern California and globally. Listen to how Dr. Shah explains the unique contributions other dharma traditions (Buddhism, Sikhism, and Hinduism) and world religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) to the practice of compassion. Finally, learn how to put compassion into action in your own life as Dr. Shah walks you through his upcoming Compassion Studies Initiative course, 2019 | Interreligious Approaches to Compassion in Action.

👉🏽✨ Pre-register now and unlock unlimited access to 50+ courses with a 14-day free trial to Arihanta's Institute's Course Membership! Join a global community of lifelong learners dedicated to positive change and a more compassionate, purposeful life.

Start your free trial!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & LINKS

• 2019 | Interreligious Approaches to Compassion in Action
• The Compassion Studies Initiative is supported by a grant from the Uberoi Foundation.
• Course Membership - Start Your 14-Day Free Trial
• Arihanta Institute | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Living

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ABOUT OUR PODCAST GUEST

Dr. Nitin Shah is Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at Loma Linda University Health and a prominent leader of the Jain community. Dr. Shah has devoted his life to serving the underprivileged worldwide. Over the past 32 years, he has organized and led hundreds of humanitarian missions across 27 countries, personally traveling to 19 of them. His work has focused on providing essential medical care to underserved populations, driven by a deep commitment to global health equity.

ABOUT OUR PODCAST HOST

Christopher Jain Miller is the co-founder, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Professor of Jain and Yoga Studies at Arihanta Institute. He completed his PhD in the study of Religion at the University of California, Davis and is also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Zürich's Asien-Orient-Institut and Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology where he co-developed and co-runs a remotely available Masters Degree Program focusing on Engaged Jain Studies. His current research focuses on Engaged Jainism and Modern Yoga, and he is the author of a number of articles and book chapters concerned with Jainism and the practice of modern yoga. Christopher is the author of

In this episode of the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast, Professor Christopher Jain Miller interviews Dr. Melanie Barbato, Senior Lecturer in History of Christianity at the Pacifika Communities University, Suva, Fiji. Listen in as Dr. Barbato explains Jain approaches to human security including the topics of Personal Security, Health Security, Food Security, Environmental Security, Economic Security, Political Security, and Community Security. Appreciate the particular Jain responses to these global challenges, and leave inspired to contribute to making the world a more secure place for all.

🎧 Don’t forget to subscribe to the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast for more insightful discussions on Jain philosophy, ethics, and engaged spirituality!

Course Announcement

📖 This EJS podcast episode offers a preview of Professor Barbato's upcoming course for the 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 2018 | Human Security as Compassion: Jain Perspectives on Global Challenges.

In this course you will learn how Jain thought and practice can speak to each of the seven areas of human security: 1) Personal Security, 2) Health Security, 3) Food Security, 4) Environmental Security, 5) Economic Security, 6) Political Security, 7) Community Security. Human security is not merely a matter of technology and logistics and a task for states and big organizations. It can also be approached as value-based: helping others to feel and be safe as an act of compassion. Underlying the concept of human security is the desire to understand what each individual human being needs to be able to flourish and live a meaningful life. In the course we will discuss different ways of answering this question, from the United Nations sustainable development goals to the wisdom of the Jain scriptures, and how they can inform each other to address today’s global challenges.

👉🏽✨ Pre-register for Human Security as Compassion and unlock access to 50+ courses with Arihanta's Institute's Course Membership! Along with this course, gain access to courses covering engaged Jain studies, Yoga philosophy, compassion studies, vegan studies, and more.

Start your 14-day Course Membership free trial today and join a global community of lifelong learners dedicated to positive change. Embrace knowledge for a more compassionate, purposeful life.

The 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 is supported by a grant from the Uberoi Foundation.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & LINKS

• Course Membership - Start Your 14-Day Free Trial
• 2018 | Human Security as Compassion: Jain Perspectives on Global Challenges
• Compassion Studies Initiative @Arihanta Institute

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ABOUT OUR PODCAST GUEST

Melanie Barbato is the author of Jain Approaches to Plurality: Identity as Dialogue (Brill) and the editor of Interreligious Dialogue and Diplomacy, a special issue of Cross Currents (UNC Press). She is a Senior Lecturer in History of Christianity at the Pacifika Communities University in Suva, Fiji, and coordinates the Network of Hinduism in Dialogue at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK.

ABOUT OUR PODCAST HOST

Christopher Jain Miller is the co-founder, Vice President of Academic...