Dr. Jasvant Modi Backs Partnership: Jain Vishwa Bharati Institute, Florida International University
Dr. Jasvant Modi's philanthropic support helps expand global Jain education through an immersive summer program
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Dr. Jasvant Modi’s philanthropic support helps expand global Jain education through an immersive summer program promoting peace and nonviolence.
Long Beach, CA (PRUnderground) August 18th, 2026
Jain Vishwa Bharati Institute (JVBI), Ladnun, in collaboration with Florida International University (FIU), is hosting a landmark 3-week immersive program that brings together nearly 40 students, scholars, and professors from over 12 countries to experience the Jain Way of Life.
Conceived as a Think Tank modeled on the United Nations, the program is working towards Ahimsa to bring peace by learning and living the world’s least carbon-imprint lifestyle. Participants are engaging in deep study and practice of Ahimsa Paramo Dharma and its core values of Anekantvad (multiplicity of viewpoints) and Aparigraha (non-possession). This vision was brought to life by Prof. Samniji Dr. Pratibha Pragyaji with the blessings and inspiration of Acharya Mahashramanji, and executed through the dedicated academic planning of Dr. Sasha Restifo of FIU and Dr. Shivani Bothra of California State University, Long Beach.
This enormous undertaking has been made possible through the collective funding support of Florida International University, generous donors, and Jain Vishwa Bharati. The Jain Education & Research Foundation ( JERF) cosponsored the initiative, with Grand Sponsor Dr. Jasvant Modi of the Vardhamana Charitable Foundation, without whose generous support this project would not have gathered steam. Dr. Jasvant Modi’s mission in life has become to spread peace through Jain Educational Values.
The program is hosted on Jain Vishwa Bharati’s sprawling 125-acre campus in Ladnun, where its natural flora and fauna have left visitors in awe. The campus is home to over 500 Sadhus and Sadhvis, over 200 Saman, Samanijis, several Mumukshus, vibrant summer student camps, National Mahila Mandal meetings, and daily religious discourses with Yoga and Preksha Dhyan Meditation, runs smoothly like a ship.
“What makes this program distinctive is that it refuses to separate the classroom from the community,” said Dr. Nirmal Baid, co-chair of the Jain Education and Research Foundation and Program Director of the Immersive Jain Summer School. “A scholar can study the Prakrit grammar of a text in the morning and sit in the presence of hundreds of monastics by evening. That combination is very hard to find anywhere else, and it changes how people understand what they are studying.”
Beyond the classroom, the program offers something rarer: sustained daily proximity to Acharya Mahasramanji and a community of 500 Jain monks/nuns in residence at JVBI, along with opportunities to observe monastic life firsthand. Participants also engage directly with Jain social and civic organizations, connecting classroom study to the institutions that carry Jain values into public life.
More than a campus, JVBI is a Pandora for learning ancient wisdom — offering deep dives into Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Manuscriptology. With waking alarms from real birds and peacocks twirling around the campus, Jain Vishwa Bharati is creating a new breed of peace ambassadors for the world.
The program will close with an international conference, “Acharya Bhiksu: Literature and Legacy“, held August 3 to 5 at JVBI, marking the 300th birth centenary of the founder of the Jain Swetamber Terapanth tradition.
For more news and information, please visit http://www.jvbi.ac.in.
To learn more about Dr. Jasvant Modi, please visit his website https://jasvantmodi.com/.
