About Us

Arihanta Institute, an IRC 501(c)(3) nonprofit California Corporation founded in February 2022, is a world-class online educational institution for deeper learning of Jain philosophy, history, culture, and the engaged application of Jain principles in daily life for personal and societal well-being. The Institute was initially founded as Arihanta Academy in April 2021.

Arihanta Institute has crafted a top-tier academic platform, featuring an exceptional faculty of world-renowned scholars of the Jain tradition and other Jain community leaders with experience in teaching applications of Jain philosophy, all of whom cultivate scholastic richness for any level of studying and research in Jain philosophy, history, and anthropology and related dharmic, yogic, and linguistic subjects.

The founding of Arihanta Institute is an inspiring story. The thought of creating a world-class educational institute for Jain studies in America had been in the works for over twenty-five years before the start as Arihanta Academy in April 2021. Parveen Jain, PhD, the founder and a technology entrepreneur and leader; Christopher Jain Miller, PhD, a professor of Jain and Yoga studies; and Dhanesh Kothari, also a technology entrepreneur, met in April 2021 in what felt like a karmically and divinely orchestrated plan to create an online teaching institution to advance Jain studies and practice throughout the world.

Prior to that, Parveen, under the guidance of his guru, Acharya Sushil Kumar, had already started developing the concept of advanced Jain education in 1992/93 to build a Jain university. The project was put on hold when Acharya Sushil Kumar left his body in 1994.

Jain teachings have inspired renowned social and political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others. Furthermore, the tradition has always been at the forefront of promoting harmonious and interdependent living, as expressed in the precept “parasparopagraho jīvānām,” meaning that all life is bound together by mutual support and interdependence, for better or for worse. This precept and the broader Jain way of life have directly and indirectly served as thematic motivation for movements like veganism, animal rights, social justice, and sustainability both within and outside the Jain tradition worldwide.

As an institution we seek to demonstrate how Jain principles such as non-violence (ahiṃsā), non-possession (aparigraha), non-one-sidedness of views (anekāntavāda), charity (dayā),compassion (karuṇā), and many more can be put into practice within the context of globalized society's complex, manifold challenges including climate change, environmental degradation, social injustice, speciesism, and much more.

In order to bring this vision to reality, our course offerings present Jain philosophical and ethical principles in the context of these everyday concerns, in both introductory and advanced formats. Our instructors introduce students to allied fields of inquiry such as animal studies, environmental studies, social justice studies, food studies, psychology, and professional ethics.