Ferdinando Sardella from Gothenburg, Sweden, successfully defended his Doctoral Thesis titled “Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati – The Context and Significance of a Modern Hindu Personalist” on Saturday the 6th of February, appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur according to the solar calendar. Thus he received the title Ph.D.
Opponent in the disputation was Professor Julius Lipner, who has earlier been working with Sripad Tamal Krishna Goswami in researching Krishnology.
For six years Sardella has done a great deal of research for his thesis, including interviews with Gaudiya Math members, and collected a lot of material.
One of Lipner’s questions was how it can be justified that Bhaktisiddhanta did not focus on social welfare activities such as building hospitals, as other prominent contemporary spiritual leaders did. To this Sardella answered that Bhaktisiddhanta’s teachings sought to change society from inside and out rather than the opposite way.
Scholars and devotees gathered to congratulate Sardella.
For contact, if you would like to buy a copy of the work, or you have any questions, the e-mail of Ferdinando Sardella is: ferdinando.sardella@gmail.com