Dr. Graham M. Schweig is a scholar of Comparative Religion who focuses on the Religions of India. He is a specialist in love mysticism, concentrating on religions of the heart, especially the northern Indian traditions of Vaishnavism. Graham's ultimate interest is to find religious truths from within Indic traditions that contribute powerful symbols that speak beyond their religious boundaries, moving religion toward world peace.
The component of Graham's work that makes his lectures, workshops and philosophical treatises so appealing to the heart and the head, is that he is BOTH a professor in the study of religion AND a long-time practitioner of meditational and devotional yoga under the guidance of traditional teachers since 1967. The secrets of yoga are made accessible because he himself has entered into the mystery through his own spiritual practices, and with his wit and open heart, allows us to enter in and be a part of the secret loving exchanges between Divinity and humanity.
Graham is an internationally renowned and sought out scholar who earned his doctorate in comparative religion from Harvard University, who was a former Resident Fellow of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard. Graham was a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies of Oxford University, and recently has been invited to be a Visiting Fellow of Clare Hall at Cambridge University. His research has taken him to India many times, including the directing of a one-year project funded by the Smithsonian Institution involving the preservation of rare Vaishnava manuscripts.
Graham's teaching began as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard, and Lecturer at the University of North Carolina as well as Duke University. He is regularly consulted by and participates in dissertation committees as a reader or advisor for doctoral candidates in Europe as well as here in America. He is presently Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Indic Studies Program at Christopher Newport University, and Visiting Associate Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Virginia.
Graham has lectured and continues to lecture widely here in the United States and in Europe at universities and in public arenas, and has presented numerous papers at professional international conferences. He has been nominated twice for Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award (the Provost's document for this nomination is available upon request), has consistently received high praise for his teaching by students and colleagues, and has received numerous research grants from his home institution.
Graham has contributed numerous pieces to encyclopedia volumes, journals, and books. He is also Senior Editor of the international periodical, Journal of Vaishnava Studies. His book, DANCE OF DIVINE LOVE: India's Classic Sacred Love Story: The Rasa Lila of Krishna from the Bhagavata Purana, was published by Princeton University Press (2005). Recently released is his book entitled, BHAGAVAD GITA: The Beloved Lord's Secret Love Song, published by Harper San Francisco, a division of Harper Collins Publishers (April 2007). Soon to come are THE BHAKTI SUTRA: Concise Teachings of Narada on Sacred Love and BHAGAVAD GITA CONCORDANCE: Comprehensive Word Reference with Sanskrit and English Indexes, both to be published by Columbia University Press. Currently, Harper San Francisco is requesting new books from Graham.
Ph.D., Comparative Religion, Harvard University
Th.M., Comparative Religion, Harvard University
M.T.S., History of Religions, Harvard University
M.A., South Asian Studies, University of Chicago
B.A., Interdisciplinary Studies, American University
For more about Graham,
visit Christopher Newport University
for Graham's faculty profile
Please visit Dance of Divine
Love