Veda As Global Heritage Scientific Perspectives (वैश्विक धरोहर वेद : वैज्ञानिक आयाम)

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वैश्विक धरोहर वेद : वैज्ञानिक आयाम (Veda As Global Heritage Scientific Perspectives) Vedas present a 10,000 years of continuous intellectual tradition and a virtual goldmine of research material for serious scholars of Indic tradition. In today’s context where ‘modern’ scientific research seems have hit a dead end, Vedas need a comprehensive relook and packaging in the contemporary lingo for larger benefit. The younger generation today needs Vedas much more now than it did earlier. How is the relevance of something we consider good to be established for a sceptical new world is the big question ancient civilizations like India have to answer. Since the new world takes pride in scepticism, argumentation, science and technology, we may perhaps think of offering Veda in a new platter to our younger generation. It is this idea that the organizers of the International Veda Conference agreed to take up as a challenge.

The International Veda Conference IVC-2016 was organized at the School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in collaboration Central Institute of Indian languages, Mysore during 15-18 Dec. 2016 under the chairmanship of Prof. Girish Nath Jha, Chairperson of then host centre. The event had a huge response in terms of submission of full papers out of which we selected a few for presentation in the conference and publication in the post-conference proceedings.

The inaugural session was held in the auditorium II, Convention Centre, JNU. The session was started with the Vedic Mangalacarana & Lighting of Lamp and welcome speech & conference theme by Prof. Girish Nath Jha. The inaugural address was presented by Prof. Joydeep Bagchee, Freie University Berlin, Germany. The inaugural keynote speaker Prof. Vishwa Adluri, Professor 4 Religion at Hunter College, New York, USA delivered the lecture on the Indian Vedic traditions and its important to the global world. Guest of Honor of the conference D Krishnamurthi Ramasubramanian, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Mumbai, presented the scientific perspective of the Veda. Presidential remark was given 1 Prof. Satish Chandra Garkoti, Rector-II, JNU and the vote thanks was given by Prof. Shashiprabha Kumar, JNU.

There was a key plenary talk by Prof. Om Prakash Pande (former Scientist NASA) immediately after the inaugural session. The evening session had four plenary speakers – Pre Shashiprabha Kumar GNU), Prof. S. R. Bhatt (Chairperson ICPR), Prof. Piyushkant Dixit (VC. Uttarakhand Sanskrit University) and Dr. Ellora Sen (National Brain Research Centre, Manesar).

The first day had two parallel sessions. First session was on “scientific aspects of vedic knowledge” in whic the plenary talk was delivered by Prof. Shankar ji Jha Chairperson, Punjab University, Punjab and chaired by Pre Ramnath Jha, JNU The session had four presentations – “Understanding Consciousness In Yoga Darsana & Model Science” by Dr. Anita Swami; “Significance of the Yajurvec in Mathematical Study: Modern Perspective” by Dr. Day S. Tiwary; “Speed of Expansion of the Universe” by M Parameswaran Murthiyedath. The session was coordinate by Dr. Sushma Kumari, JNU.

The parallel session was based on the theme “Veda an Interfaith Dialogue”. The plenary talk was presented by D R. N. Sharma, Dept. of Sanskrit, Guwahati University, Assai and the participants were Mr. Vedanshu; Dr. Ramnarayan Shastri; Dr. Madhvi Sharma; Mr. Krishnan Sugavanam and the session was chair by Dr. Archana Bhatia, Dean and HoD Commerce Dept., DAV Centenary College, Faridabad. The session coordinator was Dr. Ramanuj Upadhyay, SLBRSV. The day closed with a cultural event “Bhajan Sandhya” coordinated by Prof. Sudhir Kumar Arya, JNU.

Day 2 started with Veda Chanting (Gurukul Paddhati) & Vedic Shiksha Sastra. Swami Pranavananda Saraswati, Acharya, Gurukul Gautam Nagar, New Delhi gave the blessings to the vedic scholars and the keynote speaker was Dr. Varun Veer, Yoga Expert, New Delhi in distinguished presence of Dr. H.P. Upadhyaya, Acharya, Gurkul Tatesar (Haryana) with Dr. Annapurana, Acharya, Kanya Gurukul Dronasthali, Dehradun (Uttarakhand) as Guest of Honour. The session was chaired by Dr. Anand Kumar, New Delhi and coordinated by Prof. Sudhir Kumar Arya.