International Conference on Contribution of Advaita Vedanta to Humanity
An International Conference on Contribution of Advaita Vedanta to Humanity was held from 18th to 21st November, 2015 at at Chinmaya Vibhooti, Pune, Maharashtra, India. This conference also marked the completion of 25 years of Chinmaya International Foundation – a Sanskrit and Indic Research Center at the maternal birth home of Sri Adi Shankaracharya in Veliyanad, Kerala.
The sublime philosophy of Advaita Vedanta enshrined in Indian scriptures is what transformed the atheist journalist Balakrishnan Menon into a visionary monk Swami Chinmayananda, who dedicated over 4 decades of dynamic service to the cultural rejuvenation of India and the spiritual upliftment of the world. This year, 2015-2016, Chinmaya Mission celebrates the birth centenary of Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji. What better time to hold a conference exclusively on the edifice on which all the works of Chinmaya Mission stands today! The purpose of this conference was to review the core elements of Advaita Vedanta philosophy, identify its influence on humanity, recognize various discourses in the modern context, and bridge our understanding on its implications for comprehensive sustainable unity. Chinmaya Mission itself, as a globally respected international movement, has been studying and propagating Advaita Vedanta for over six decades. The leads on the various facets of Advaita Vedanta and its implications for humanity and mankind at large are available from the life-long work of Pujya Swami Chinmayananda, Founder of the Chinmaya Mission.
This Advaita conference saw over 400 Participants and Speakers from India and other parts of the world. The 3 days of the conference were divided under umbrellas of Jiva, Jagat and Ishwara. The conference was inaugurated on the 18th of November in the esteemed presence of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda (Global Head of Chinmaya Mission), Prof. Parameshwara Narayan Shastry (Vice Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan) and Dr. Sanjay V. Deshmukh (Vice Chancellor, Mumbai University). An interesting message by Dr. Deshmukh at this function was his analogy of comparing the honeybee with us humans. He said that the “Philosophy of honeybee teaches a lot to humans. One bee collects 1 gm of honey only after visiting 350 flowers – all this for the betterment of others and not a drop is for itself. What is each human doing for humanity, is to think about!”
This was followed by a soulful rendition of devotional songs by the Director of Chinmaya Naada Bindu (Gurukul for Indian Performing Arts) Smt. Pramodini Rao, who is also the Faculty for Hindustani Vocal music. Pramodiniji had a well-selected list of songs, which were in sync with the theme of Advaita. Some of the compositions she sang were Nirvana Shatakam by Sri Adi Shankaracharya, Sarvam Brahmamayam and Tvam he Tvam Sarveshuvai, Yestu Saala etc. The 19th was the first day of the conference. The theme for the day was Jiva, to introduce which, a succinct keynote address was given by Guruji Swami Tejomayananda. The talks for the day included: The Ideal Individual According to Advaita Vedanta by Dr. V. Kutumba Sastry, Hyderabad; A panel discussion on the Role of Vedanta in Sustaining Social Harmony and Human Relationships with sharings by Dr. Anita Raina Thapan, Delhi and Dr. Geetha Mohan, Mumbai; Exponents of Advaita Vedanta and their contribution–East and West by Dr. Annette Wilke, Germany with Dr. Dharm Bhawuk, Hawaii as Chairperson. The day ended with a beautiful cultural program of the traditional Kuddiyatam performance by Kapila Venu and Group who are a talented group of artists from Kerala. This mesmerising performance is an art of doing Sanskrit theatre and is about 2000 years old.
The second day had the theme of Jagat. Swami Advayananda, the Acharya and President of Chinmaya International Foundation delivered the keynote address. Other engaging topics for the day included Reorienting Education by Swamini Vimalananda, Chinmaya Mission; Nation building & Nourishing leaders through Advaita by Dr. B. Mahadevan, Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru; A panel discussion on Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The entire world as one family which had sharings from Shri Alexander Jacob, Retd. IPS officer from Kannur, Swami Nikhilananda, Delhi; Advaita Vedanta and Philosophy of Science by Dr. K. Ramasubramanian, Mumbai. These sessions were followed by the screening of a full-length feature film – 'On a Quest' which captures the journey of Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda from a freedom fighter, atheist, journalist to a monk. A fully packed auditorium had a gripped audience, mostly new to Gurudev, awestruck!
The third day had topics related to Ishwara. The keynote address to that day on Jiva-Brahmaikya was delivered by noted scholar Dr. Mani Dravid Shastri from Chennai in Sanskrit. The other topics for the day were Saguna and Nirguna Brahma by Dr. Srinivasan Krishnamurthy, Chennai; Concept of Jivabrahmaikya (Supreme Oneness) by Dr. Godabarisha Misra, Head of the Dept. of Philosophy, Madras University with Swami Haribrahmendrananda, Adi Shankara Brahmavidyapeeth, Uttarkasi as the Chairperson. Swami Swaroopananda, Regional Head of Chinmaya Mission UK, Australia and Far East and is Director of the prestigious Chinmaya Mission International Residential School (CIRS) in Coimbatore, India, shared heartfelt and personal encounters with Gurudev to outline Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, the sage of Advaita and his contribution to humanity. Director of India Foundation, Shri. Ram Madhav rendered a powerful message in the valedictory, urging Indians to wear their culture on their sleeve. He also spoke of how Swami Chinmayananda took Indians back to their own culture in the most appealing way to the modern man. Apart from the scholarly sessions, each day new publications were released including the Brahmasutra Catuhsutri Sankarabhasyam in two volumes and the Advaitamritam, the Commemorative Volume of the Advaita Conference. There was also presentation and release of the much-awaited Anusaaraka – language accessing software. Each day of the Advaita Conference saw the philosophy of Advaita being taken up at not only the academic session but also through the evening cultural programs! Audiences made it to the conference from far and wide and certainly had a lot more to take back this time. The most outstanding part of the conference can arguably be the commitment of Chinmaya Mission towards the Advaita Philosophy of Oneness – be it participant or organizer, each was encouraged to ‘live’ the philosophy in all actions.
