Koenraad Elst obtained his doctorate in Oriental Philology & History from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1998. This was based on his MA degrees in Sinology, Indo-Iranian Studies and Philosophy, and a research stays at Banaras Hindu University. He worked mostly as a foreign desk journalist, both freelance and in employment, and served as a foreign policy assistant in the Belgian Senate. Dr. Elst is presently affiliated to the Sanchi University of Buddhist and Indic Studies (SUBIS) and occasionally teaches at the Indus University Ahmedabad and the private Indology Academy in Houston; and is Chairman of the Ram Swarup & Sita Ram Goel Memorial Fund, Delhi, dependent on the Indic Academy, Hyderabad. He has authored a dozen peer-reviewed papers, co-authored several books, contributed to a dozen more, and authored 18 English and 8 Dutch books of his own.
He has participated in numerous academic and other conferences and organized one. His publications mainly concern divergent aspects of the Subcontinent’s interreligious situation, Indo-European studies, the fundamental questions of religious thought, democracy, and language policy in both the European Union and India. He has also studied aspects of Daoism and taken part in many short retreats of Zen, Vipassana, Himalaya Yoga (Rishikesh/Holland), Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (Coimbatore/Saylorsburg PA), Yoga Niketan (Rishikesh/Mechelen BE), Brahmrshi Ashram (Chandigarh), the European Union of Yoga (Zinal CH), and is a board member of the Dutch-language Belgian Yoga Federation.
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