Why Faiths Collide: A Conversation with Gadadhara Pandit Dasa and Marcella Runell Hall

Urban Monk Gadadhara Pandit Dasa and the Director of Spiritual Life at NYU Dr. Marcella Runell Hall debate and celebrate the launch of Dasa’s new book Urban Monk: Exploring Karma, Consciousness, and the Divine.
From the perspective of two very different journeys of faith, Hindu and Christian, Dasa and Hall discuss why people of faith have difficulty respecting other traditions, why they feel like they “have the only way,” and how individuals and faith communities navigate social change.


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About the Speakers

Gadadhara Pandit Dasa is a monk, lecturer and the first-ever Hindu chaplain for Columbia University and New York University and the Interfaith chaplain at Union Theological Seminary.
Pandit teaches courses on Hindu scriptures. He has spoken at a recent TEDx conference and was featured in the NPR piece “Long Days and Short Nights of a Hindu Monk.” He appeared in the PBS Documentary on the Bhagavad Gita, as well as The New York Times. He is also a regular contributor for the Huffington Post. His life is chronicled in his autobiography: Urban Monk: Exploring Karma, Consciousness, and the Divine.
Dr. Marcella Runell Hall (Director, Internal Relations, Of Many Institute & Center for Spiritual Life, NYU) is also a Clinical Instructor at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work. Dr. Runell Hall is a social justice scholar and author who has co-edited three award-winning books: The Hip-Hop Education Guidebook; Conscious Women Rock the Page; and Love, Race & Liberation. Hall has also written for Scholastic Books, The New York Times Learning Network, VIBE, and various academic journals. She is also a former fellow for the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. Hall has been recognized through the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office as a community leader with a formal citation. And, based on over 10 years of scholarship and activism, Hall has been profiled, or featured in various media outlets. Hall also appears in the JFK Presidential Library Gallery (JFK50.org) in recognition of her work as a leader in the area of intergroup dialogue.