Wall of Honors

Abhijit Dam, MD, PhD

Karma Yoga Honoree

For his pioneering work in Hindu palliative/hospice care and related nursing training in rural eastern India. Dr. Dam is the author of The Quantum Connection in Kutumba Volume 6.

Payal Sawhney, LCSW

Community-Building Sevika · Karma Yoga Honoree

Executive Director, Saahas for Cause, Southern California. Honored for providing trauma-informed lifelines to South Asian immigrants.

Chinmay Pandya, MD

Karma Yoga Honoree

Vice Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, and philosophical guide to the Gayatri Parivar — a community of more than a hundred million across eighty countries, distinguished by its refusal of renunciation: family and community life carried alongside spiritual goals, and spirituality approached on a scientific basis. A medical doctor by training who served in the UK, specialising in geriatrics and mental health, and who gives pro bono care in both. A distinguished lecturer in HSCI's own programs. Presented by Kailash Joshi.

Dilip Amin, PhD

Karma Yoga Honoree

A pharmacologist with twenty-two scientific papers, six patents and forty-two years in the pharmaceutical industry, now an ambassador of Hinduism and a chaplain in jails. Founder of interfaithshadi.org and hinduspeakers.org, director at the Peninsula Multifaith Coalition, and on the advisory committee of the Hindu American Foundation. Over nineteen years he has guided some 1,300 young adults in interfaith relationships, across five books including Interfaith Marriage: Share & Respect with Equality. Visiting faculty at HSCI, where he has advised nearly every CHT scholar on interfaith marriage. Presented by Punit Mahendru.

Mukund Acharya, PhD

Karma Yoga Honoree · Community Service & Author

In recognition of his pioneering initiatives to care for the elderly and people dealing with serious illness, by helping build Sukham, HSCI and Sandhya's Touch as novel community service organizations.

Mihir Meghani, MD

Karma Yoga Honoree · Physician & Community Leader

In recognition of his long-standing support of Hindu values and tradition by way of the founding and growth of the Hindu American Foundation (HAF).

Naras Bhat, MD

Karma Yoga Honoree · Physician and Distinguished Teacher

A gold medallist from Banaras Hindu University who pursued advanced medical education in the US, board certified in internal medicine, obesity medicine, sleep medicine, metabolic cardiology, allergy and immunology. He practises and teaches at Jiva Health in the Bay Area, has written internationally on heart disease, cancer, stress and burnout, and has guided many into medicine. His presenter quoted his motto: "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give that away."

Sulochina (Jyoti) Lulla, MD

Karma Yoga Honoree · Physician and Interfaith Leader

Retired from Kaiser after forty-five years as a physician, with clinical pastoral education. A certified Dharma Ambassador of the Hindu American Foundation and a certified speaker with the Hindu Speakers Bureau and the Islamic Networks Group. She has run the Gandhi Youth Camp for more than three decades, training hundreds of young people in Gandhian values of peace and non-violence, and serves on the board of the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council. A pioneer of Sukham, which addresses aging and community needs.

Padma Shri M. R. Rajagopal, MD

Karma Yoga Honoree · Lifetime Achievement · Palliative Care Visionary

Awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2018, and widely known as the father of palliative care in India. Founder and chairman of Pallium India in Thiruvananthapuram. He fought almost single-handedly for government authorisation of a regulated supply of pain medication for patients in desperate need — "a David versus Goliath-like struggle", in his presenter's words — and won. He has personally cared for thousands across India, almost all of them free of charge, and helped establish palliative care centres and train doctors, nurses and social workers. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Presented by Mukund Acharya.

Madan Arora

Karma Yoga Honoree · Hindu Samskara Guide & Leader

In the Bay Area since 1968 and in diaspora service ever since. He helped set up the first temple in San Francisco with Dr. Ramamurthy, and later turned to spiritual care alongside Shastri-ji at the Fremont temple. His knowledge of temples, priests and funeral homes underpins HSCI's last-rites work, and he helped negotiate its MOUs. At the time of the award he had spent eighteen months answering last-rites calls as a volunteer — at seven in the morning or half past ten at night, in the same calm voice.

Prof. Rita D. Sherma, PhD

Karma Yoga Honoree

Graduate Theological Union, for pioneering Hindu academic studies.

Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares

Karma Yoga Honoree

For promoting global spiritual care. He moved from global corporate leadership at Microsoft to work as a social entrepreneur, philanthropist, ordained Zen monk and global spiritual leader, defying the assumption that spirituality and entrepreneurship do not mix. Leading Spiritual Directors International, he enables the exchange of knowledge across faiths, traditions and cultures. Presented by Punit Mahendru.

Mahesh Bhavana

Karma Yoga Honoree

A software engineer working across networking, healthcare and food. "But we learned that over the last 20 odd years he had a second occupation, which is a volunteer — self-appointed, not part of any organization," Kailash Joshi said in presenting the award. "He's been doing it for 20 years plus at Stanford University. Regularly he goes there, visits people where he can be of service to them in their circumstances." Involved with several other community organizations. Presented by Kailash Joshi.

Chaplain Bruce D. Feldstein, MD, BCC

Karma Yoga Honoree

Director of Jewish Chaplaincy Services at Jewish Family and Children's Services, and Adjunct Clinical Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. One of two individuals the HCI board judged to be role models who "embody the spirit of karma yoga through the essential service, selfless service to the community", and to commemorate it the board voted to bestow a special certificate of recognition on each. Or, as Mukund Acharya put it in presenting the award, "Bruce-ji, as he is now affectionately known to all of his HCI friends." Chaplain Feldstein is co-author, with Gaurav Rastogi, of The Anatomy of a Spiritual Care Visit: An Architecture in Time.

Sharad Patel

CHT 2025 · Alumni Who Inspire, 2026

Author of What They Taught Me… in Kutumba Volume 6, and an advisor to the HSCI board.

Rajinder Gandhi, MD

CHT 2025 · Alumni Who Inspire, 2026

Author of The Joy of Serving in Kutumba Volume 6. After 50 years of medical practice, including 44 in Pediatric Surgery, he gave his retirement to spiritual care at the hospital where he had practiced.