Tilak Parekh is a PhD student in the Faculty of Divinity. His doctoral thesis focuses on the purpose, creation and impact of the Neasden Temple in northwest London—the first traditional Hindu temple built in the western world. Tilak’s research interests span sacred space, religious leadership, youth religiosity, and digital religion.
Biography
PhD Candidate in Divinity, University of Cambridge
MSc Social and Cultural Anthropology, University College London
MPhil Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion, University of Cambridge
PG Diploma Sanskrit & Hindu Studies, Shree Somnath Sanskrit University
BA Theology and Religion, University of Oxford
Research
- Religious Leadership
- Gurus
- Youth Religiosity
- Digital Religion
- Hindu Theology
Publications
2023 – Report: Visiting sacred space, Cambridge Interfaith Programme
2022 – Reviewer, BBC Bitesize
- Reviewed all revision guides, quizzes, and infographics for the Hinduism BBC Bitesize materials.
2021 – Hinduism: Religious Literacy, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
- Authored an introductory booklet on Hinduism for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in conjunction with the Edward Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion.
2020 – ‘Yajñapuruṣa Pravartita Siddhāntaṃ: Shastriji Maharaj and the Akṣara-Puruṣottama Darśana’
- Vyāsaśrīḥ Journal: Volume 20.
2020 – ‘Hinduism & Coronavirus: How the Digital becomes Sacred’
- Article as part of a series on ‘Coronavirus and the Social Sciences’
- Medical Anthropology Department, University College London
2020 – ‘God’s Daily Briefings: Religious Leadership in a Global Pandemic’
- Article as part of a series on ‘Coronavirus and the Social Sciences’
- Medical Anthropology Department, University College London
2019 – ‘The Ontological Status of the Natural Domain (Prakṛti) in Sāṅkhya-Yoga’
- Noesis Review
- Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
2019 – ‘The Akṣarabrahman Satpuruṣa: The Means and the End’
- Journal of the Oriental Institute
- The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India
2018 – ‘Living Liberation in Opposing Theologies: The End Shapes the Means’
- UCLA Journal of Religion
- University of California, Los Angeles
Teaching and Supervisions
2023– Guest Lecture, ‘Swaminarayan Hinduism’, University of Gloucestershire
- Invited to deliver a lecture for an undergraduate course on Hinduism and Buddhism.
2023– Guest Lecturer, ‘Living Religions: Hinduism & Buddhism’, University of Winchester
- Taught undergraduates for the module RT1508: Living Religions: Hinduism and Buddhism.
2022– ‘Bhakti towards the Guru’, MPhil Seminar, University of Cambridge
- Taught during ‘The Varieties of Hindu Devotional Experience’ seminars for MPhil students at the Faculty of Divinity.
2021– Guest Lecture, ‘British Hinduism’, University of Winchester
- Invited to deliver a lecture for an undergraduate course on Hinduism and Buddhism.
2021– Guest Lecture, ‘Sacred Spaces, Religious Leadership, and a Global Pandemic’, University of Groningen
- University of Groningen Summer School on ‘Religion in the Public Domain’.
2020 – Guest Lecture, ‘Religious Leadership in a Global Pandemic’, University of Groningen
- University of Groningen Summer School on ‘Religion in the Public Domain’.
