The kalakosa division of Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) in collaboration with the Art of Living held a 2 day Regional Traditional Scholar’s Meet in the Art of Living International Center, Bangalore, on the 17th and 18th of February 2013. The purpose was to bring together eminent scholars from selected disciplines and deliberate upon selecting, translating and editing the texts in local and English language of the fields selected by IGNCA. The conference was presided over by Ms. Dipali Khanna from IGNCA, Swamini Brahmaprakasananda Saraswathi from Nagpur and Sri Sundaramurthy ji from Veda Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth. Dr. V. AbhiramaSundaram welcomed everybody and Swamini Brahmaprakasananda Saraswathi inaugurated the session and said a few words upon the need of bringing the knowledge from the Shastra and the Vedic Texts to the use of common man. She highlighted the importance of the Scriptural knowledge in daily life.
IGNCA prepared a list of 108 texts drawn from various disciplines. Many of these texts have already been published by IGNCA under the editorship of various eminent scholars. Traditional Scholars specialized in various fields then deliberated upon translating and editing the texts pertaining to the selected ten fields which are ‘Vedas’, ‘Dharma Shastras’, ‘Kannada’, ‘Agamas’, ‘Sangita’, ‘Nrtya’, ‘Shilpa’, ‘Vastu’, ‘Yoga’ and ‘Jyotisha’. 3 Senior Scholars were assisted by 2 Junior Scholars to deliberate upon each of the disciplines. The scholars submitted their reports to the IGNCA at the end of the conference.
The Scholars and IGNCA Officials appreciated the students of Veda-Agma Pathshala, run by Ved Vignyan Maha Vidya Peeth, who presented before them a play upon ‘Yoga’ and chanted hymns form the Vedic Scriptures. All the scholars later shared their views upon spreading the knowledge present in Vedic Scriptures and highlighted the importance of scriptures in daily lifestyle. They also stressed upon making the ancient knowledge more reachable, popular and applicable to our present life style by presenting them in a rational and scientific way. They highlighted the importance of going beyond the concepts and imbibing the scriptural knowledge in our lives.
H H Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar presided over the valedictory function of the conference. He appreciated the efforts put in by the IGNCA in reviving the Scriptural Knowledge and congratulated the Scholars to become a part of the noble event. He told that one such conference happened 40 years back where the scholars from various regions communicated with each other in Sanskrit Language. He stressed upon developing Sanskrit as a common language of communication and said that such kind of conferences must happen every year.
Writer: Nikhil Gupta
