The need for Human Unity is the deepest spiritual needs which makes it almost a future necessity and yet the way to it is fraught by many dangers given the complexity of the present nature of humanity, said Sri Aurobindo. And with these words Dr Diya Vandana Sharma begun this week’s session of an International webinar on the topic of Sri Aurobindo on the idea of human unity.
‘The webinar was hosted by the well known Buddhist scholar from the Banaras Hindu University Dr.Kaushalendra Singh’ .
Association of India philosopher’s international (AIPI) and Sri Aurobindo for advanced research came together for this special event, which witnessed many luminaries sharing their thoughts on the subject.
The first Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Karan Singh, who looked after the affairs of the state from 1952 to 1965, was the chief guest of the vent.
Professor SR Bhatt chairman of AIPI along with keynote speaker and BJP leader Ram Madhav, expressed their views during the webinar.
Speaking during the conference, Prof. B R Bhatt said, “This year, August 15 marked the 150th birth anniversary of Rishi Aurobindo and this conference is part of celebrating that milestone. We find that his messages are of great relevance and significance in contemporary time. They become all the more important when the human kind is facing a global crisis or in Aurobindo terminology we can call it an evolutionary crisis.”
‘We believe that goal of all human enterprises is to realise divinity within us and around us and be created as a new human,’ said prof.BR Bhatt
Following his exemplary note, Dr. Karan Singh took the centre stage to share his thoughts. He said, “Sri Aurobindo spelled out his five dreams on the Independence Day eve, on Aug 14th 1947. These five dreams also meant five phases of his life. First phase of his life is janmabhoomi in Kolkata between 1970 to 1979. Second is Shiksha Bhumi in England for 14 years. Then there is Sadhana Bhumi where prepared himself for the future and then Karmabhoomi, which is also the most important part of his life.”
“An inspirational leader, Aurobindo Ghose was also a poet, and philosopher. The biggest contribution of Aurobindo is the theory of Indian nationalism. He has given the philosophy of freedom, the idea of human unity,” Singh added.
The next speaker on the panel was Ram Madhav, who talked about nationalism, enlightenment and influence of Aurbindo’s philosophy over people.
“India is a mystic land which has produced many Nobel laureates and philosophers.
Shri Ram Madhav said that, “India has always been the land of ideas. We have not produced ideology in our country but produced philosophers. India’s rich history is a testimony to it. Right from the vedic period to the time of Buddha, Mahavira, Adi Shankaracharya and may other eminent individuals have blessed the land with their thoughts and wisdom. Similarly, Aurbindo’s ideas are not just for the benefit of people of any particular region or religion but for the benefit of entire humanity.”
Concluding the seminar, RC Pradhan outlined how Sri Aurobindo’s indebtedness to the Indian tradition becomes obvious through his placing a large number of quotations from the Rig Veda, the Upanishads and Shashtras.
“Sri Aurobindo realized Cosmic consciousness and the Divine as all beings and explored the richness of the Vedas, the truth of the Gita, the truth of the Hindu religion. Aurobindo envisages a cosmic salvation via an endlessly open-ended path with unity at its core,” he said.
(Courtesy – Tennews)
