The conference got off to a great start with an inaugural function graced by the presence of the Union Minister for Law and Justice and Information Technology, Sri. Ravi Shankar Prasad and Rajya Sabha MP and BJP stalwart Sri. Subramanian Swamy. 

This edition of the Conference series was much larger in scope than the first one and had three parallel tracks. Continuing on the theme of critiquing the Neo-Orientalist School of thought led by Prof. Sheldon Pollock, this edition saw 10 theses put forward by Pollock countered.

Member of Parliament, Ravishankar Prasad speaking on Global Perceptions of Indian Heritage

There were 35 paper presentations on topics ranging from Rasa, Mimamsa, Chronology, Desacralisation with the maximum number of presentations being made on the topic of Rasa.

Apart from these paper presentations, there was the robust refutation from the traditional scholars. The format is called Vakyartha Sadas and it was something that used to be conducted amongst traditional scholars in their own groupings but has now gone out of the larger public discourse. We were able to bring back this ancient tradition centre stage with a huge success. The continuous engagement with these scholars will enable to make their voice heard in the larger mainstream discourse. Vakyartha Sadas, the traditional form of Purvapaksha and Uttarapaksha debate is slowly but gradually being revived and restored to its rightful position as a scientific and rigorous form of debate that has been the cornerstone of our intellectual tradition.

The conference signed off with a valedictory function in which, awards for the best papers and two monographs (the outcome from SI-1). These were sponsored and given away by FICS (Foundation for Indian Civilisation Studies) run by Sri. Mohandas Pai.

The papers which won prizes were:

1. Prof. K Gopinath for his paper on Rasa titled “A computational Theory for Rasa”
2. Megh Kalyanasundaram and Manogna Sastry for their paper on Chronology titled “Purvapaksha of Sheldon Pollock’s use of Chronology”
3. Nilesh Oak for his paper on Chronology titled “A cririque of Pollock’s “self-evident claims” for the chronology of Mahabharata and Ramayana AND Assertion for the dating of Mahabharata and Ramayana events based on the internal astronomy evidence”
4. Dr. Shrinivas Tilak for his paper on Mimamsa titled “Professor Sheldon Pollock on History in India: A critique from the perspective of Mimamsa”
5. Sowmya Krishnapur for her paper in Sanskrit titled “Sheldon Pollock Pratipaditasya Vyakarana Sastra – Prabhutvayoha Sambandhasya Yuktiyuktatva Pariksha”
6. Subhodeep Mukhopadhyay for his paper on Sastra titled “Practice versus Theory: Ganita Sastra and Western Mathematics”
7. Sudarshan Therani for his paper on Philology titled “The Science of Meaning”

Swadeshi Indology Scholars

In addition to the above papers, awards were also given for the two papers from the first edition of the conference series that were turned into monographs. These monographs were released at the conference in their draft form. It is a moment of pride for the movement that  it has created a significant body of work in such a short span of time. A draft version of the selected papers from SI-1 was also released at the conference. 

The monograph details are as follows:

1. Manjushree Hegde is the author of the monograph titled “Politics of Sanskrit Studies: A Critical Appraisal of Sheldon Pollock’s Ramayana”
2. T M Narendran is the author of the monograph titled “A Pariksa of Sheldon Pollock’s Three Dimensional Philology”

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The post Press Release: False case against Paramahamsa Nithyananda quashed appeared first on Dharma Today.

In a major victory for Swami Nithyananda, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India on 6 February 2017 stayed the start of trial proceedings in the false case filed by Lenin Karuppan in 2010 against Swami Nithyananda.

Delivering the judgment in a packed Court hall, the Hon’ble Court said that it arrived at this extreme step noting that a number of significant documents favouring Swami Nithyananda had been wantonly suppressed by the investigating authorities and that proceeding with the trial without these critical evidences would be unjust.

As a part of a major conspiracy against Swami Nithyananda, Lenin Karuppan abetted by his associates had filed the false case against Swami Nithyananda in 2010.

This ruling marks a series of judgments in favour of Swami Nithyananda by various Courts of India. The Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka had earlier quashed the cases filed against Swami Nithyananda in 2012 by some vested elements. A few weeks ago, the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka further ordered the investigating authorities to submit all the evidences found favoring Swami Nithyananda in their investigations.

These evidences include the medical reports of the alleged rape victim Ms. Arathi Rao from 2004 to 2009 showing she has had 4 highly contagious and incurable STDs some of which are transmitted by mere touch, her own email admission in mid-2009 six months after her last alleged instance of rape that she never had any kind of sexual relationship with Swami Nithyananda, multiple proofs of discrepancies in the dates and locations of the alleged rape incidents, Swami Nithyananda’s medical reports showing he has never had any STDs and has a yogic body and not capable of a sexual act.

Lenin Karuppan and Arathi Rao are currently facing prosecution for the blackmail, extortion and criminal conspiracy by them against Swami Nithyananda in the trial Court in Chennai.

Original: http://nithyananda.org/news/supreme-court-stays-start-trial-proceedings-against-swami-nithyananda#gsc.tab=0

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Let’s consider the patent scenario between two religions.  What if religion A adopts the appearance and practices of religion B with the ill intention of deceiving the people of religion B?  What if those practices are deliberate means to convert unsuspecting and ignorant folks of religion B into religion A? One religion can blatantly copy and appropriate characteristics of other without any repercussion. Regrettably between religions, there is no preventive mechanism or laws to discourage such malpractices. And this is what happening in India today. Certain Christian evangelists are unethically and superficially copying many of the practices of Sanatan Dharma to facilitate conversion.

These are not simply isolated events. This is a well established and articulated policy adopted by various branches of Christianity and by the Roman Catholic Church called inculturation where Church teachings are adapted and changed to make them more palatable to non-Christian cultures. The precise definition of this term as listed at Vatican site is following:

The process of inculturation may be defined as the Church’s efforts to make the message of Christ penetrate a given sociocultural milieu, calling on the latter to grow according to all its particular values, as long as these are compatible with the Gospel. The term inculturation includes the notion of growth, of the mutual enrichment of persons and groups, rendered possible by the encounter of the Gospel with a social milieu. ‘Inculturation [is]the incarnation of the Gospel in native cultures and also the introduction of these cultures into the life of the Church.’

Further Vatican site also describes specific efforts required on the part of evangelists to achieve inculturation:

The inculturation of the Gospel in eye modern societies will demand a methodical effort of concerted research and action. This effort will assure on the part of those responsible for evangelization: (1) an attitude of openness and a critical; (2) the capacity to perceive the spiritual expectations and human aspirations of the new cultures; (3) the aptitude for cultural analysis, having in mind an effective encounter with the modern world.

If the purpose of inculturation is not avidly clear from the above references, then following statement from John Paul II describes its purpose without leaving any confusion:

The Church must make itself all things for all men, bringing today’s cultures together with sympathy. There still are milieus and mentalities, as there are entire countries and regions, to evangelize, which supposes a long and courageous process of inculturation so that the Gospel may penetrate the soul of living cultures, respond to their highest expectations and make them grow in the dimension of Christian faith, hope and charity. Sometimes cultures have only been touched superficially and in any case, to continuously transform themselves, they demand a renewed approach. In addition, new areas of culture appear, with diverse objectives, methods and languages.

Herein the Vatican is quite explicit in that the ultimate purpose of the inculturation process is to bring non-Christians who are residing in other cultures into the Christian fold.  There are many such inculturation practices adopted by missionaries in India. 

Christian missionaries in Hindu saint dress

1. Christian Evangelists masquerading as Brahmins, Purohits or Sanyasis adopt Hindu names while wearing saffron outfits.
2. The Christ presented as a yogi is combined with an entire range of missionary subterfuges.
3. Missionaries sing bhajans to Jesus instead of Hindu deities like Rama, Krishna or Shiva by substituting their names with Jesus.
4. Idols of Jesus and Mary are placed side by side with murtis of Hindu deities.
5. A Christian form of Bharat Natyam has been invented leveraging traditional Hindu dance forms as offerings to Jesus.
6. Hindu pillars or stambhas are placed in front of churches in South India to look like Hindu temples.
7. Churches perform arati to Jesus rather than performing the usual Christian rituals.
8. Churches describe their crowd gathering event as satsang which is a Hindu term.
9. Mother Mary is made to resemble Hindu Goddesses in her depictions.
10. Yoga and meditation techniques are copied and presented in desankritized Christian forms.
11. Deliberately misquoting, mistranslating and misinterpreting Hindu scriptures and puranas in an attempt to prove that Jesus was both an avatar of and a Hindu God.

Infant Lord Ganesha with Mary and Jesus depicted in form of Lord Vishnu

One may wonder why evangelists need to operate using such fraud and deceptive practices in the first place. The answer is simple.  If Hindus were aware of their true practices and beliefs beforehand, then they would not entertain their hidden conversion efforts. Hence evangelists temporarily shield Christian practices and beliefs from Hindus until the missionaries are convinced that the unsuspecting conversion targets are ready to accept Jesus as their ‘only savior’.

It is critical to understand the ethicality of such practices by missionaries from the lens of Christianity itself.  For example, Christianity largely opposes idolatry and even considered such ‘pagan’ practices as a ‘radical sin’.  But during the process of inculturation, no such tenets are adhered to by evangelists.  Does this mean that idolatry is now acceptable by followers of Christ the world over?  Christian authorities will certainly not permit this for their flock as these manipulative practices are intended only for luring the unsuspecting locals.

Furthermore, there are major issues with the use of native Hindu practices by missionaries in the first place. This usage constitutes nothing less than appropriation and, in many cases, fraud and cheating. 

Finally, there is the issue of the subversion of original practices of Hinduism.  Many of these practices lose their inherent meaning and value when they are distorted. For instance, the chanting of bhajans without Sanskrit words do not produce the same effect as they do in their original form.

Rajiv Malhotra, prominent Hindu intellectual, elaborates on the long-term impact of the inculturation process on native cultures:

By assuming the mantle of the originators and bearers of universal truths – both sacred and secular – the West has often embarked on and justified programs, missions and schemes to bring the rest of mankind around to its own worldview. I use the metaphors of “tiger” and “deer” to illustrate the process of what I call the “digestion” of one culture by another, carried out under the guise of a desire to assimilate, reduce differences and assert sameness. The key point being made is that the digested culture disappears. This digestion is analogous to the food consumed by a host, in that what is useful gets reformulated into the host’s body, while that which doesn’t quite fit the host’s structure is eliminated as waste.

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Organized by the Hindu Students Council and supported by over 35 organizations, the conference featured luminaries such as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of Art of Living, Swami Paripoornananda, the head of Sreepeetham in India, Dr. HR Nagendra, Chairman of the Indian Government’s Experts Committee for the International Day of Yoga, Fields Medalist Dr. Manjul Bhargava and many others. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar provided insights on how the principles of Dharma can help develop a conflict free society, while Dr. Nagendra discussed Indian Government’s efforts in making yoga available to millions of Indian people in order to appreciate its roots and medical benefits.

The Council also recognized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be visiting the US this month, along with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Dr. HR Nagendra, with the “Light of Yoga Award” for their pioneering contributions in making the International Day of Yoga a major success.

“The fact that some of the most renowned saints, a former NASA scientist, a Fields Medalist and 40 others came together on HSC’s platform is testament to the organization’s 25 year history and brand value,” added HSC Chairman and Conference Chair Nikunj Trivedi. “This conference is therefore a celebration of HSC’s legacy and an opportunity to map out the course for decades to come.”

The conference opened with HSC students chanting the sacred symbol “Om”, which was followed by a moment of silence for the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Dr. Bhargava, along with physicist Dr. GNR Tripathi, computer scientist Dr. Subhash Kak and Professor Alok Kumar, discussed the need to recognize the significant contributions of ancient Hindus in the field of science and mathematics. For example, Dr. Bhargava argued that the number system used today should be called “the Hindu Number System” rather than Arabic Number System and the Fibonacci Sequence (of integers) outlined in the 12th century, should be renamed “Hemchandra Numbers” after Jain scholar Acharya Hemchandra who developed them 900 years earlier.

In his keynote speech at the opening plenary session, Dr. David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri), founder of the American Institute of Vedic Studies and the winner of the prestigious Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India, said that yoga was a gift of the ancient Hindu sages and should be not cut-off from its roots and holistic benefits.

On a panel on women’s empowerment, female monk Swamini Svatmavidyananda, female yogi Shambhavi Chopra, and Dr. Indrani Rampersad challenged western feminism, which often does not take into account transnational and spiritual concerns, and proposed ways in which females can find strength in understandings of gender found within the Indic traditions. Another panel on Human Rights featured noted human rights activist Tapan Ghosh of Hindu Samhati and Dr. Ali Alyami, Executive Director and founder of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia. Both spoke passionately about the persecution of Hindus around the world and implored the global community to take action to protect the rights of Hindus where they are minorities and are denied religious freedom.

An inter-faith panel, moderated by noted public intellectual and writer Rajiv Malhotra, discussed a framework for a pluralistic world order. It featured Rabbi Justus N. Baird, Dean of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, Pastor David Davis of the Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, Buddhist Monk Venerable Bhante Kondanna, Jain Monk Venerable Amrinder Muni, noted Sikh speaker Ratanjit Sondhe and Hindu leader Dr. Mahesh Mehta.

“What you see here is youth taking charge of Dharma and moving it forward in a bold and holistic way”, remarked Ravindra Jaishankar, HSC President and Conference Program Chair. “The conference, while epic in its scale, also marks a new beginning for the American Hindu youth and their engagement with the community and the greater society.”

Along with a weekend of intellectual and spiritual rejuvenation, the conference included an international concert emceed by former Miss America Nina Davuluri. It featured thrilling classical Indian

dances, a dramatic Balinese theatrical act based on the Hindu epic Ramayana as well as a mesmerizing musical performance by renowned Flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, Mandolin player U Rajesh, Ghatam (Indian clay pot) player Giridhar Udupa and Percussionist Rajeev Mahavir.

Allegra Lovejoy, a recent graduate of Princeton University, noted: “I was deeply inspired to see so many people – both presenters and attendees – who exhibited a humble and dedicated seva [selfless service]attitude. Many traditions and backgrounds were represented, and I learned something from each person I interacted with. Participating in this conference has motivated me to learn and practice dharmic spirituality much more seriously than before.”

As the conference came to a close, attendees appreciated the multiple applications of Dharma beyond religion as well as the need to preserve the holistic nature of yoga beyond exercises. The Council hopes that future conferences produce an even greater impact regarding Dharma’s potential to guide and support sustainable society throughout the world.

About HSC: Hindu Students Council (HSC) is an international forum providing opportunities to learn about Hindu heritage and culture. It is the largest Hindu youth organization in North America, with over 50 chapters across university campuses. Over 130,000 students and youth have participated in HSC activities since its inception in 1990. For more information, please visit www.hindustudentscouncil.org or email us at info@hindustudentscouncil.org. For more information about the conference, please visit www.dharmaconference.com.

(reposted from http://www.dharmaconference.com/index.php/news/202-saints-scientists-yogis-experts?showall=1&limitstart=)

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