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Neal
Delmonico (aka Nitai Das)
has received both his
master's and doctoral
degrees in South Asian
Languages and Civilizations
from the University of
Chicago (1985,1990). He
has spent years living
and studying in India,
learning many of its classical
and modern languages and
through them studying
aspects of India's great
cultural, religious, philosophical,
and literary traditions.
Trained in the discipline
of the History of Religions,
University of Chicago
style (featuring the lines
of approach to the study
of religion of luminaries
like Mircea Eliade, Joachim
Wach and others), he specializes
in the religious movements
and literature of medieval
North India, especially
in the bhakti movements
focused on the worship
of the lover-gods, Krsna
and Radha. Dr. Delmonico
taught courses on World
Religions and Hinduism/Buddhism
at Iowa State University
and Truman State University
for years.
He is working
on numerous translations,
studies, and editions
of several important works
belonging to that religious
milieu and to facilitate
the publication of those
works and the works of
others on the same or
similar subjects he has
founded a small press
called Blazing Sapphire
Press. Several of his
completed works, published
by Blazing Sapphire Press,
are available here in
the bookstore.
He received
the name Nitai Das in
1969 from A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami, the founder and
acharya of the International
Society for Krishna Consciousness,
and after he left the
company of the Swami,
his name was reconfirmed
by Baba Tinkudi Goswami
when Nitai Das was initiated
into Caitanya Vaisnavism
(1976) by that great holy
man. As an initiated member
of the Caitanya Vaisnava
tradition, he is interested
in creating the conditions
necessary for a solid
understanding of the Caitanya
tradition on the basis
of objective, critical
scholarship into the textual,
practical, historical,
and social foundations
of the tradition.
His
motto is: "Don't believe
everything you read."
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![Nitai Das [Neal Delmonico]](images/neal01.jpg)
