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Hindu University of America (HUA) [1] [2] is an unaccredited U.S. higher education institution based in Orlando, Florida.
The Hindu University of America was established in 1989. It was authorized by the State of Florida in 1993. [3]
In 1993, Deen Dayal Khandelwal and his associates were described as founding in Florida a "'Hindu University of America' at which each student will be required to take several courses on the principles and practices of Hinduism and Sanskrit language to build a base upon which the student can design the spiritual input in his/her life." [4] : 11
In 2002, the university was described by India Abroad as having been "up-and-running since 1993, teaching students in Hindu philosophy at a graduate level by correspondence," [5] with their course work "reviewed and accepted by Florida's State Board of Independent Colleges." [5] The school was reported as "split into eight departments," religious studies and practices, yoga and meditation, languages, ayurvedic sciences, jyotish sciences, divine music, and Hindu philosophies. The Hindu philosophies department reportedly included courses on "Sufism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and a study of the Indian Diaspora," because, according to the university's then-president, Bhudev Sharma, "Sikhism, Islam, archaeology, comparative religion and Indian history... It is all Indian studies". [5] At that time, the university's operating costs hovered "just under $300,000 a year". [5] In 2002, the Orlando Sentinel also profiled the emerging university, quoting one of the university's directors as attributing inspiration for the university to the late Hindu Swami Tilak, who "suggested an institution of higher learning". [6]
The university held its first convocation in 2004, awarding two degrees. [7] At that time, the university was housed on a 10-acre site, with a neighbor in 2002 having donated an adjoining 2.5 acres, had a full- and part-time student body of 15 students in Orlando and "more than 45 others throughout the United States and India", with the university offering "both credit and non-credit courses, as well as online courses". [7]
In 2007, the Hindu University of America was reported as having "about 120 students across the world", [8] an "emphasis on distance education," [8] and offering degrees that included yoga, meditation, ayurveda, vedic philosophy, and music. The president of HUA from 2003 to 2006 was Kuldip Chandra Gupta, who was followed as president by T. R. Narasimha Rao. [8]
In 2007, the sociologist Prema Ann Kurien described the university as a "milestone" [9] : 51 in the "institutionalization of Hinduism" [9] : 50 in the United States. She explained that work began
on the Hindu University of America in 1985, and the university was incorporated in Florida in 1989. Teaching activity began in 1993. By 2000 the university had acquired a permanent campus in Orlando, Florida, and most of the courses offered at the Orlando campus were also available by distance education. At a meeting in 2003, the board members decided to start a course to train priests to run Hindu temples in the United States. [9] : 51
As of 2020, the university was headed by Prof Kalyan Vishwanathan, a former global practice director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) [10]
In 2023, the university received a $1 million dollar donation, the largest in its history, from an Indian American businessman. [3]
As of academic year 2019–2020, the university is not accredited. [11]
Indian religions, sometimes also termed Dharmic religions or Indic religions, are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions, which include Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are also classified as Eastern religions. Although Indian religions are connected through the history of India, they constitute a wide range of religious communities, and are not confined to the Indian subcontinent.
A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions. The feminine form, sometimes used in English, is yogini.
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Sādhanā is an ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.
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The history of Hinduism covers a wide variety of related religious traditions native to the Indian subcontinent. It overlaps or coincides with the development of religion in the Indian subcontinent since the Iron Age, with some of its traditions tracing back to prehistoric religions such as those of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation. Hinduism has been called the "oldest religion" in the world, but scholars regard Hinduism as a relatively recent synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no single founder, which emerged around the beginning of the Common Era.
The Hindu American Foundation is an American Hindu non-profit advocacy group founded in 2003. The organisation has its roots in the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad America and its student wing Hindu Students Council.
Navaratna Srinivasa Rajaram was an Indian academic.He is notable for propounding the "Indigenous Aryans" hypothesis, asserting that the Vedic period was extremely advanced from a scientific view-point, and claiming of having deciphered the Indus script. Academics find his scholarship to be composed of dishonest polemics in service of a communal agenda.
Hinduism is the fourth-largest religion in the United States, comprising 1% of the population, the same as Buddhism and Islam. The majority of American Hindus are immigrants, mainly from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Caribbean, with a minority from Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Canada, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and other countries.
Dhyāna in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga practices, and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge.
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