Our Team
Dr. Kiran Singh
Director, SAILC
Dr. Kiran Singh is the Director of the Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center, AURO University, Surat, India. She is an educator, researcher, and translator with a special focus on comparative literature, critical theory, translation studies, and integral education for higher education. Dr. Singh has authored several books, articles, and translations, and is currently the Editor of Critical Discourse in South Asia and the translator of People’s Linguistic Survey of India – Hindi. Dr. Singh is also an ardent educationist, having designed several courses and curricula on higher education for school education, aiming to transform the current fabric of education into learner based integral education.
Dr. Nimesh Joshi
Academic Coordinator
Dr. Nimesh Joshi, the Academic Coordinator of SAIL Center and a Professor at the School of Business, AURO University. He has an impressive career spanning 27 years of teaching experience and 2 years of industry experience. He is also associated with Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Sri Aurobindo Society in Pondicherry, and Sri Arvind Sadhana Kendra in Vallabh Viddyanagar, Gujarat. Dr. Joshi’s areas of interest include Spirituality and Management, Integral Psychology, Integral Health, and youth activities. He has delivered various lectures on topics such as “Leadership Lessons from Lord Krishna” and “Management Lessons from Bhagvad Gita.”
Ms. Veena Vaishy
Counselling Psychologist
Ms. Veena Vaishy is an eminent Counselling Psychologist with 16 years of experience in psychological counselling, coaching, psychometric assessments, and corporate training programs in educational domains, private and public sectors. She has coached and counselled thousands of individuals pan India. Her life is dedicated to work for the mental wellbeing of the society.
Mr. Sushant Singh
Yogacharya
Mr. Sushant Singh is an Assistant Professor of Yoga & Science of Living at the School of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, AURO University, Surat. He has been teaching Yoga since 2010 and has also trained around 1400 Yoga teachers from more than 30 countries. His researach area is Yoga Therapy: Well-being through Yoga. He is a certified Level 3 Yoga Teacher & Evaluator from the Yoga Certification Board, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt of India.
Mr. Murali Jayaraman
Administrative Coordinator
Mr. Murali Jayaraman aka Satya, is an Administrative Coordinator of SAIL Centre, AURO University, Surat. He has over 20 years of experience in administrative roles. His work life started at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry and Auroville and he continued to work in many prestigious educational institutions like The Galaxy Education Institution, Rajkot. Mr. Satya is the ardent devotee of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Our Advisors
Dr. Alok Pandey
Physician, Renowned Scholar of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother
Dr. Alok Pandey is a psychiatrist by profession and renowned authority on Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s writings, especially on the subject of Integral Yoga, Psychology, Education and Health. He has written extensively on spiritual and psychological topics, such as ”The Psychology of Yoga” and “A Practical Guide to Integral Yoga”. He is also a regular contributor to the Aurobindo Ashram’s publications, including “Mother India” and “The Advent.” He has given talks and workshops on Integral Yoga both in India and abroad. He has authored many books ‘Death, Dying and Beyond: The Science and Spirituality of Death, The Glory of The Divine Mother as revealed in Savitri, Talks on Savitri, Patient at the crossroads, and Veda of the Body.
He is presently associated with the Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Integral Health and Research, Pondicherry, – an institute dedicated to the work and vision of Sri Aurobindo in the field of health.
Prof. Sharad Joshi
Retd. Pro-Vice-Chancellor,
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Prof. Sharad Joshi is the Chairman of Sri Aurobindo Society, Baroda. He has held several prestigious positions, a few of them being – ProVice Chancellor, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Advisor-Public Services Examinations, and Expert Member-AICTE -National Board of Accreditation. Having a teaching experience spanning thirty years, Prof. Joshi has contributed equally in the academic milieu by authoring several articles, and guided four Ph.D students in Electronics as well. Prof. Joshi is gifted with a multifaceted personality. In spite of belonging to the techno-scientific world, he is also inclined towards spirituality. He is well versed in Sanskrit and he is deeply influenced by Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy and delivers talks and lectures on Sri Aurobindo’s literature including Veda, Upanishads and Gita.
Dr. Anirban Ganguly
Honorary Director, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation
Dr. Anirban Ganguly is the Honorary Director of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation (SPMRF), a think-tank, New Delhi and is a scholar of civilisation, politics, history and culture.
Dr. Ganguly had his early education at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Puducherry and successfully defended his Doctoral Thesis from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He has been assoiciated with several academic and research institutions like the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), New Delhi, University of Calcutta, the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences.
He has authored numerous papers, chapters, monograms and books – ‘Debating Culture’—(New Delhi, 2013), ‘Swami Vivekananda— Buddha and Buddhism: a Mystic Link’ (Kolkata, 2014), ‘Education: Philosophy and Practice’ (New Delhi, 2011) and ‘Syama Prasad Mookerjee: His Vision on Education’.
Dr. Jyotiben Thanki
Renounwed Author & Educationist
Dr. Jyotiben Thanki is a renowned Author, educationist, former advisor to The Children’s University and senior sadhak of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. She has authored more than 76 books and over 200 articles in Gujarati which has been translated in Hindi and English. Her work consists of biographical, educational and inspiritonal essays, stories along with the books namely Mahayogi Sri Arvind, Shri Divya Shakti Mataji, Purnayoga na prakash Man, Swatantrya Sangram na Sarjak Sri Arvind, Sri Arvind ni Jivandhara. She is also the Director of AURO Navjeevan Sanskar Shikshan Kendra (Prenatal Education), SAIL Center, AURO University. She has received many prizes and accolades.
Dr. Matthijs Cornelissen
Director at Indian Psychology Institute Puducherry, India
Dr. Matthijs Cornelissen is the Director at Indian Psychology Institute, Pondicherry. He was born in The Netherlands and studied Medicine and Psychology in Amsterdam. He is deeply interested in the work of Sri Aurobindo, and when he was 27, he moved to India, where he has lived ever since. In the Delhi Branch of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, he helped set up the Institute for Integral Education, Mirambika. At present, he teaches the psychological aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s work at SAICE in Pondicherry. He assisted with the publication of Sri Aurobindo’s Complete Works and wrote a few articles and book chapters on Sri Aurobindo’s contributions to Consciousness Studies and Psychology. He also organised conferences, gave workshops and lectures, and edited books on the same subject. In addition, he founded and maintains the websites of the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Consciousness Studies, the Indian Psychology Institute and Infinity in a Drop.
Shri Manoj Pavitran
Founder of the Swadharma course, Auroville
Shri Manoj Pavitran grew up in Kerala and graduated as a production engineer in 1988. However, a deeper quest led him to Sri Aurobindo and he started following the path of Integral Yoga in 1989. He did post- graduate studies in Product Design from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, in 1993. After a short period of working as a professional design consultant, he quit the profession and joined Auroville in 1995 to explore Integral Yoga and collective evolution. In Auroville, he is actively involved in higher education, software development and film making.
Shri Srinivas Mulugu
Chairman, Sri Aurobindo Society, Andhra Pradesh & Telengana
Shri Srinivas Mulugu is Chairman, Sri Aurobindo Society, for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He is also National Director for AuroYouth. In his corporate career, he worked for twenty years with several MNCs, including Nokia Siemens and Cisco Systems. He has been associated with the Mother and Sri Aurobindo for 35 years.
Shri Radhe Pfau
Executive Director of La Grace, USA
Shri. Radhe Pfau is the Executive Director of the La Grace Center, a spiritual retreat in Fountain Inn, S.C., USA. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and has spent over 25 years in the financial services industry in senior management positions. Radhe is also professionally trained in Ayurveda and Vedic Astrology. She is also the author of The Divine Forces of the Lunar Nakshatras and The Integration of Ayurveda and Vedic Astrology.
Dr. Anju Chezot
Co-founder, Mahatma Gandhi International School, Ahmedabad
Anju Chezot founded the Mahatma Gandhi International School (1998), a K-12 International Baccalaureate school in Ahmedabad. She is an educator with vast experience of teaching, conducting parenting workshops and training teachers and policy makers. She has scripted and presented nearly 20 films on education including one for the United Nations. She has been a columnist with Asian Age and Ahmedabad Mirror.
Dr. Anju Khanna
Educationist, Sri Aurobindo Philosopher
A former professor of English literature and mentor for early years education through the Circle, in 2003 she transited to live and offer her work for Madhuban Sri Aurobindo Ashram- Delhi Branch and now leads the team for building an Integral village model around areas of education, livelihood and sustainable ecology guided by Sri Aurobindo’s Three Principles of True Teaching. She continues to write for children, and publications that document the work of creating communities that build a more equitable world