Author

Akhil Gupta

Akhil Gupta

Akhil Gupta is the founder and director of Universal Enlightenment Forum

Akhil Gupta is the founder and director of Universal Enlightenment Forum, a 501(c)3 corporation. He has been associated with Harvard University since 2015, first as a fellow at Advanced Leadership Initiative and later as an Impact Leader in residence in 2023. Akhil currently serves on The Dean’s Leadership Council at Harvard Divinity School, on the Advisory Board of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, and on the Advisory Board of Harvard’s Chan Initiative on Health and Homelessness.

He is the author of two books “Bridges Across Humanity” published in 2023 and “To Flourish is To Love Learn Play” published in December 2025.He was inspired to write these books while studying at Harvard University.
Prior to Harvard, he was the founder Chairman of Blackstone India & Senior Managing Director of The Blackstone Group. He also served in senior positions at Reliance Industries Limited and Hindustan Unilever
Akhil has a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA from Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He served on the Advisory Council of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University from 2014 to 2021.

216 pieces

Lesson

The Bhagavad Gita and Christian Lent

In this course we cover the parallels between Christian Lent and Hindu teaching. Both traditions offer a 40-day period of spiritual transformation: Christians through fasting and prayer following Jesus' desert ordeal, Hindus through Krishna's teachings to Arjuna on duty and divine wisdom. We draw on the Bhagavad Gita, the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Father Francis Clooney's comparative theology, and the shared theme of overcoming human limitation through spiritual practice.