darshana and it's relevance to Indian Culture We have been conducting seminars on different facets of Indian culture for last 23 years. This will be the 30th seminar since 1982. darshana has been a 'veritable forte' of India, the ancient land. In this country there have been honest attempts to answer the two important questions namely whencce and whither. Philosophy is essentially the enquiry of the begining and the end of human existance. This was enunciated in the Upanishads. The frankness of the thinkers of these works is indeed commendable. It is from these thoughts about the unity if the diverse world there eveolved different cut and dry systems fo philosophy. Here emphasis has been on realising i.e. seeing or experiencing truth and not merely on intellectually appreciating or explaining, giving rise rightly to the term darshana. As Upanishads chrolologically form the concluding portions of Vedic Literature they are known as vedaanta-s. No wonder that all vedaanta thinks of reality underlying the variously wonderful world known as brahman; the person who carries on this search that is aatman and the nature if the world in which he lives and moves, i.e. jagat. These systems accepting the veda-s are known as Orthodox and two systems namely bauddha and jaina not believing in the veda-s are called Heterodox. These include Dualism of saamkhya, the theism and moralism of the yoga, the absolute monism of vedaanta-s and the ritualistic polytheism and, partial pragmatism of the miimaamsaa. vedaanta branched off into monism of shankaraacaarya, qualified monism of raamaanuja, pure monism of vallabha, bhedaabedha of nimbaarka and the conclusively separate existence of reality as well as the world advocated by madhva. moksha i.e. Liberation is the ultimate foal, although it has different connotations. Among the three heterodox systems the caaracaaka, the jaina and the bauddha, caaravaaka is supreme in denying the existence of anything beyond the actual experience and believes in enjoyment to be the aim of human life. jaina-s divided into two sects vix shvetaabmara-s and digambara-s are known fro the metaphysical theory of anekaanta vaada resulting into the logical doctrine as syaadavaada. Right faith, right knowledge and right conduct are three gems of jainism. gautama buddha, the founder of buddhism enunciated Four Noble truths and teaches the noble eight -fold path more known as the middle path, where shiila panna and samaadhi become necessary. Followers of all these schools have considerably enriched the philosophical writings not only in Sanskrit but in all modern Indian Languages in this country. Really speaking, these schools of philosophy have given a filip to writings on different performing arts in this land. vallabhaacaarya's Pure Monism i.e. pushhTi maarga introduced the mode of Devine service for God-Realisation. Three forms of service namely (1) tanujaa (rendered by body) (2) vittijaa i.e. by wealth and materials and (3) maanasi i.e. by mind. The necessity of vittijaa bhakti spoke of the wealth of material such as flowers, beautiful decorations, perfumes etc. for presentation to image of the Lord and has evidently encouraged different arts including even the modern beauty parlours of today. The highest fruit of Divine service according to vallabhaacaarya is not mukti but participation of the divine bliss. i.e. raasa-liila. This resulted into verieties of the art of dancing. Jainism in fact shared common Hindu Culture in all important fields such as state administration, civil and and criminal law, astrology, medicine, science of rhetorics adn poetics. Buddhism today is present in India in the form of the relics of their splendid decorative art, architectural monuments, cave sculptures and paintings. This darshana-s of this country have been responsible in unfolding all facets of Indian culture. I am sure scholars would contribute their findings and help us understand Civilisation better With warm regards Dr. Vijay V. Bedekar

 

Seminar Details

Venue : Thorale Bajirao Peshwe Sabhagruha,
Thane College Campus, "Jnanadweepa',
Chendani, Bunder Road, Thane (W) 400 601. Maharashtra
Date : Saturday, the 30th December 2006
Time : 09.00 am onwards

Last Date of receiving Abstract : 31st August, 2006
Last Date of receiving Papers : 30th November, 2006

All Abstracts should be accompanied with Registration fee.
All drafts should be drawn in favour of Institute for Oriental Study, Thane.

(a) Papers for the Seminar should strictly adhere to the subject of the Seminar.
(b) Kindly specify the topic you have chosen for your presentation.
(c) Restrict yourself to the topic avoiding all generalisations.
(d) Refer to the primary sources from Sanskrit and Prakrit.
(e) Send your paper neatly typed on one side of paper. Handwritten papers won't be accepted.
(f) Use dialectical marks appropriately.
(g) Along with the Roman Script rendition supply the Devanagari Version.
(i) The abstract should be epitomised version of the whole paper comprising of 300 words atleast. Avoid generalities. The abstract should reach us not later than 31st August 2005
(j) Organising seminars has become a very expensive affair bound by limitation of time. To gain maximum dividend out of this exercise the scholar should examine critically the available Sanskrit literature and the paper should be an original contribution rather than a repetition of facts already known. The paper may be short or elaborate but it should reach us not later than 30th November 2005. Electronic versions and e-mail attachments would be preferred.

If you need any more information write to us without any hesitation.
Your co-operation is the only means of reaching towards the success of the forthcoming Seminar.