Dada Maheshvarananda (born May 11, 1953) is a

yogic Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

, activist, writer and the founder of the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela. Since becoming a monk in Ananda Marga, Maheshvarananda has taught

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...

and the Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) globally.

Early life

Southeast Asia

From 1979 to 1991 Maheshvarananda taught meditation and yoga in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(also known as "

Maharlika The ''Maharlika'' (meaning freeman or freedman) were the feudal warrior class in ancient Tagalog society in Luzon, the Philippines. They belonged to the lower nobility class similar to the ''Timawa'' of the Visayan people. In modern Filipino ...

").

Brazil

From 1992 to 2003 Maheshvarananda worked in Brazil, where he participated in Eco-92 and the

World Social Forum The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...

Venezuela

Maheshvarananda and José Albarrán founded the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela in Caracas, an independent, not-for-profit foundation.The economy of solidarity bolsters popular power

Publications

*“Go with the Flow” (1985) *"A Personal Remembrance and Conversation with Paulo Freire, Educator of the Oppressed" in ''Neohumanist Educational Futures: Liberating the Pedagogical Intellect'', edited by

Sohail Inayatullah Sohail Inayatullah is a Pakistani-born Australian academic, futures studies researcher and a professor at the Graduate Institute of Futures Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwan. Biography Born in 1958 in Lahore, Pakistan, to a fath ...

, Marcus Bussey and Ivana Milojević, Tapei, Tamkang University Press, 2006. *“Revolutionary Consciousness: Development as transformation” in ''Development'' 46, (1 December 2003). *“Will Organized Religions Survive in the New Millennium?” in ''New Renaissance'', Vol. 9, Number 3. *“Ideal Leadership” *"Spirituality and Social Change" *"The Human Costs of Economic Meltdown and its Alternative" *"A New Social Paradigm Based On Spiritual Values" on

Znet Z Communications is a left-wing activist-oriented media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent.Max Elbaum''Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che'' London, England, UK; New York, New York, US: Vers ...

. *Published with Mariah Branch, ''The Progressive Utilization Theory (Prout): Alternative Economic and Social Model for the Welfare of All” (2010) in '' WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society''. *''After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New World'' (2003, Proutist Universal Publications) (paperback), published in 10 languages. *'' After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action'' (2012, Innerworld Publications) (paperback) *''Cooperative Games for a Cooperative World: Facilitating Trust, Communication and Spiritual Connection'' (2017, InnerWorld Publications) (paperback), published in three languages.

References

External links

Prout Research Institute of Venezuela
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maheshvarananda, Dada 1953 births Living people American pacifists American monks Activists from Philadelphia