SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, May 14, 2014 (India Journal): The southern California-based Dharma Civilization Foundation (DCF) and the Berkeley-based Graduate Theological Union (GTU) have agreed to establish a Center for Dharma Studies within the GTU, as well as the first Graduate School of Hindu Dharma Studies in higher education. The first two courses in Dharma studies will be offered in the fall semester of 2014.
Initial course offerings will include a course on the classical sacred texts of Hinduism, with emphasis on commentaries of Adi Shankara, taught by Dr. Ann Berliner, Professor Emerita at Cal State Fresno; and a course on comparative Indian ethics taught by Dr. Purushottama Bilimoria, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Studies at Deakin University, Australia and former Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley. In the near future are moves to enhance GTUs common M.A. and Ph.D. programs with Hindu and Dharma centered concentrations.
The Dharma Civilization Foundation, founded in Los Angeles two years ago, is an organization of academic, professional, and spiritual leaders from the Indian-American community aiming to establish the systematic study of Dharma, its interpretation and contemporary application, through the creation of academic and intellectual infrastructure in the U.S. Swami Dayananda Saraswati, founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in the U.S. and India initially recommended the GTU for a meaningful collaboration with DCF. He expressed the view that the GTU’s uniqueness lies in its way of teaching – where each professor is also a practitioner of the religion.