Road Scholars Speakers Bureau

Umesh C. Gulati , Ph.D.

Educator, author

Durham, NC

H: (919) 361-1217

umeshgulati@aol.com

Travel regions: 3–11                 

About Umesh Gulati:

Umesh Gulati holds an MA degree from the University of Delhi, India and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He taught Economics, International Business, and cross-cultural courses at East Carolina University for 32 years. Gulati has published numerous articles on religion and philosophy internationally. Two recently published articles are “The Art of Loving and Living in Relationship,” and “The Hindu Ethos, Democratic and Environment Concerns.” For the last two years he has taught courses on Hindu Philosophy and Religion for the Osher Learning for Life Institute at Duke University. Dr. Gulati believes that one of the important underlying causes for interpersonal and international conflict is ignorance of others’ culture and religion. He has set for himself a mission to create understanding among the different cultures and religions found in North Carolina.

Democratic Reconstruction of Religions and World Peace

International terrorism has been noted as the greatest danger to world peace in the present century. The single most important reason for this danger is the failing of many religious traditions to accept religions other than their own as true and valid and to teach their followers to respect people of a different tradition. Some of the same religious traditions fail to accord women the same status in society as they do men. This program highlights many parallels between the Hindu, Christian, and Islamic traditions. The nonessentials, such as the caste system among the Hindus in India, the Hijab among the Muslim women, and single motherhood everywhere, are cultural. Failure to understand the difference between the essentials and nonessentials of religion causes not only feelings of guilt in people within a particular religion but also leads to much of the inter-religious conflict in our society.

Mahatma Gandhi—The Man and the Message

Mahatma Gandhi was a man of peace who helped bring about India’s independence through non-violent means, creating the basis for the world’s largest democracy. This program reflects on Gandhi’s early childhood experiences in India and his youth in England and South Africa that helped transform an ambitious young man to become a Mahatma, or great soul. Mahatma Gandhi greatly influenced the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s in America. But the meaning of Gandhi’s non-violence has not been well understood in all the English speaking countries. Gandhi was a deeply religious man who loved and respected all religions as he did his own. He was truly an apostle of inter-religious harmony and understanding who furthered the cause of women and the poor.