For the Spring 2024 session, Arihanta Institute launches four new and exciting self-paced online courses for students to learn and enjoy starting, February 1, 2024! 

These four courses provide students from diverse backgrounds with valuable insights and practical applications for both their personal and professional lives. Furthermore, by adopting these teachings students have the potential to play a part in building a society that is just, harmonious, and sustainable. 

Select any of the courses below for a more detailed description and the opportunity to enroll!

Reimagining Sustainability: Jain Environmental Advocacy

[Course 106]

The Jain Vegan Initiative brings this course designed to introduce the connection between Jain Philosophy and Environmentalism. It introduces a unique lens for looking at the environment by understanding how various communities are affected differently, and how measurements of environmental impact that take into global average impacts dilute a sense of urgency. The stress-free transition from being part of the problem to being a part of the solution in a busy and rapidly urbanizing life will be discussed. The course will entail action oriented self-assessment and discussion regarding effective ways of spreading environmental awareness.

For more details & enrollment in Course 106, click here.

Animal-Centered Design

[Course 111]

Non-human animals are routinely used for profit or product, and as a result, suffer greatly in our society. Animal sanctuaries provide a glimpse of a different world; one in which animals are provided with protected spaces and treated as equals. A new initiative is taking shape that can aid sanctuaries, and individuals, in their goal of bettering animals' lives: Animal-Centered Design (ACD). In this course you will learn the basic principles of ACD, study examples of it in action within sanctuary settings, and consider how ACD can be applied to companion animals and beyond. This course will also touch on passive solar design, focusing on how proper orientation to the natural elements can benefit both animals and our environment. Readings and assignments are provided throughout the course to engage you directly in the animal sanctuary design process and to inspire you to make a positive change for animals.

For more details & enrollment in Course 111, click here.

Introductory Sanskrit: Level 1 

[Course 2010]

Competency with Sanskrit translation is a key skill for academics in the field of South Asian Studies. It is one of the most important research skills that give scholars access to resources that are the object of their research, and it is also a skill that, when demonstrated with translations in one’s publications, gives a great deal of much needed credibility to the academic work of scholars.

Sanskrit can also be very helpful to strengthen and deepen one’s connection to one’s own spiritual tradition. For most Dharma traditions (Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism), Sanskrit is often the medium of liturgical practices, and Sanskrit texts also tend to form the doctrinal, philosophical, and practical foundation for individual and collective spiritual practices in those traditions. Dharma traditions are deep reservoirs of spiritual wisdom that have the power to transform us personally and collectively in profound ways, and Sanskrit is on one of the most important keys to unlocking that great reservoir of ancient spiritual wisdom that is much needed in our own personal lives, and in our collective society at large.

In this course, students will gain the important research skills necessary to translate Sanskrit texts by actually translating modified excerpts from Sanskrit literature. These research skills include basic philology such as etymology, the ability to identify inflexions and grammatical forms, and syntactical analyses.

For more details & enrollment in Course 2010, click here.

Dashlakshan Dharm to follow as a Jain

[Course 109]

This course incorporates Ten Virtues that characterize Jain Faith as derived from the Tattvartha Sutras and shares basic Jain principles and practices with participants. My goal is to help people learn to be a Jain in Daily Life by possessing these characteristics that will make them peaceful and equanimous. The sessions will bring forth the explanation of these Ten Jain Virtues as propagated by the Arihantas to stop the influx of Karma and release previously accumulated Karmas peacefully by their own efforts. The explanations given will be simple, using everyday language and understanding. By understanding the principles outlined in the class, participants will become aware of Virtuous living.

For more details & enrollment in Course 109, click here.

Arihanta Institute, an IRC 501(c)(3) nonprofit California Corporation, is a world-class online institution for deeper learning of the Jain tradition and how it applies to daily life for the benefit and well-being of individuals and society in light of today’s most pressing issues.

Together our team of world-class educators and executives from the academic, tech, and Jain communities, have crafted a top-tier academic platform and growing catalogue of life-changing courses across six primary learning areas: 

• Jain Philosophy, History and Anthropology
• Climate Change and Environment
• Animal Advocacy and Biodiversity
• Yoga, Self-care, and Spirituality
• Professional Ethics
• Social Justice.

To view the entire Arihanta Institute course catalogue, click here.