ISKCON Studies Conference 3.0

The Third ISKCON Studies Conference is on July 16 - 19 in Italy. I won't be going, because I'll be rocking it with Amala Kirtan on his Australian visit at that time.

However, I will be sure to tune in to the mp3 recordings afterwards.

This year's theme is "Education, Preaching, and Conversion"

It's billed as "a forum for presentations of research and open discussion among the participants", which sounds pretty cool to me.

Here are some of the presentations that will be going on:

• Meditation as a Devotional Practice in Jiva Gosvami’s Philosophy of Education (Barbara Holdrege)
• Preaching in ISKCON: An Analysis (Ravindra Svarupa Dasa)
• Scholarship and Spiritual Life (Gopinathacarya Dasa)
• Conversion, Preaching, and Western Cultural Identity (Jan Olof Bengtsson)
• The Meaning and Form of Conversion in Gaudiya Vaisnava Tradition (Kumaripriya Dasi)
• Conversion, Experience, and Narrative: Examples from the Hare Krishnas
  (Hrvoje Cargonja)
• Education (Urmila Dasi)
• Preaching Conversion or Education? The Case of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (Pranava Dasa)
• The Future of Education in ISKCON (Shaunaka Rishi Das)
• Panel Discussion: Joining Worlds of Knowledge: Secular and Vaisnava Academies

Check out the ISKCON Studies website for more deets.

Now, what would be really cool is if they could live stream video via UStream, or at least a live audio feed of the event. I'd stay up all night for that.