38. Narendra Kumar Jain | The Seven Stages of Enlightenment
In this episode of the Engaged Jain Studies Podcast, Christopher Jain Miller, PhD, co-founder and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Arihanta Institute, speaks with Narendra Kumar Jain, PhD, an Indian artist and yoga teacher who has lived in Berlin for more than five decades, about a remarkable life shaped by Jainism, yoga, art, and the political transformations of twentieth-century India and Germany. Originally conducted in German and presented in video with English translation, their conversation traces Dr. Jain's early religious upbringing, his childhood encounters with Mahatma Gandhi, and the experiences that eventually led him to create his celebrated mural The Seven Stages of Enlightenment at the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall.
Dr. Jain recalls his Jain upbringing and an extraordinary childhood encounter with Mahatma Gandhi, who introduced him to the lotus posture and told him that yoga and painting would shape his future. Decades later, those two paths converged in The Seven Stages of Enlightenment, which Dr. Jain began painting in March 1989, months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He explains why he deliberately chose a Jain-inflected yoga theme at a time when yoga was officially forbidden in the Eastern Bloc and reflects on the mural's enduring message of self-knowledge, nonviolence, and peace amid war and social division.
Inspired by this conversation? Continue exploring Dr. Narendra Kumar Jain's art and its place within contemporary expressions of Jain thought in Engaged Jainism: Critical and Constructive Studies of Jain Social Engagement. In the newly released volume, Professor Miller contributes a chapter examining Dr. Jain's artistic work and The Seven Stages of Enlightenment, situating the Berlin Wall mural within broader conversations about Jainism, yoga, nonviolence, and social engagement.
About the Guest
Narendra Kumar Jain, PhD is an Indian artist and yoga teacher who has lived in Berlin since 1967. Raised in a Jain family, he was introduced to Jain religious practice from an early age and encountered prominent Jain munis through his family. Before moving to Germany, he served as a professor of painting and art history at Agra University. He came to Berlin through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), where he continued a life and career bringing together art, yoga, and Jain thought.
Dr. Jain is best known for The Seven Stages of Enlightenment, his mural at the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall, which he began painting in March 1989. Drawing together imagery associated with Mahāvīra, Jain spirituality, and the yogic chakras, the work expresses a message of spiritual transformation and peace. His other monumental works in Berlin include Berliner Melodie, a 700-square-meter mural about Mahāvīra created in 1978, and World Tree, painted in 1974.
About the Host
Christopher Jain Miller, PhD is the co-founder, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Professor of Jain and Yoga Studies at Arihanta Institute. He earned his PhD in the Study of Religion from the University of California, Davis, and serves as 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-directs the world's first fully online Master of Arts in Engaged Jain Studies.
His research focuses on Engaged Jainism, Modern Yoga, and South Asian philosophy. He is the author of Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge, 2024) and co-editor of Engaged Jainism: Critical and Constructive Approaches to the Study of Jain Social Engagement (SUNY Press, 2025) and Beacons of Dharma: Spiritual Exemplars for the Modern Age (Lexington Books, 2020).
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Topics: Narendra Kumar Jain, Mahatma Gandhi, Berlin Wall, East Side Gallery, The Seven Stages of Enlightenment, Mahāvīra, Jainism, yoga, ahiṃsā, nonviolence, Jain art, modern yoga, East Germany, Engaged Jainism, peace.