Remembering Friends

Paramjit Singh, Manu Parekh and Amitav Das

Moderator: Ashok Vajpeyi

 

Amazon Expedition – III (Brazil)

Source of the Amazon I & II

(60 mins; 2009; dvd; English subtitles)

Produced for Brazilian TV 

 

Third in the series of films on the Amazon, presented by journalist, Paula Saldanha and biologist, Roberto Werneck who led the first television crew to reach the source of the Amazon river. In 2007 Paula Saldanha and a team of researchers and documentary filmmakers examined, recorded and marked out on top of the 5597 meters Nevado Mismi in southern Peru, the place considered the most remote point of the Amazon river. The film records the nearly seven thousand kilometers of the Amazon’s course, from the true source in the southern Peruvian Andes to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean

 

Piano recital by Karl Lutchmayer, Steinway artist

 

Works by Chopin, Scriabin, Liszt and Ravel

An exhibition of black and white photographs

By Sumit Basu from Kolkata

 

Inauguration by Shri Rajiv Lochan, Director, National Gallery of Modern Art on Wednesday 22  April 2015 at 18:30

 

Balancing the States of Mind

Speakers: Prof. Ramesh Bijlani, Sri Aurobindo Ashram; Prof. Ishawar Basavaraddi, Director, Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga

 

Moderator: Dr. S. K. Khandelwal

 

Despite rapid and exponential advances in the field of neurosciences to understand mental symptoms and disorders, we are still far away in understanding the cause of various mental phenomena causing distress in the society. Drug industry has been dishing out new drugs at a very rapid rate, yet the limitation of efficacy of psychotropic is now being seriously debated in scientific literature. These drugs have very limited role in life style disorders, and have practically no role in preventive and promotive aspects of mental health. It is now being increasingly validated scientifically that stress can be tackled through simple, practical, and traditional and spiritual techniques to integrate biological, psychosocial and spiritual health to enhance mental health

 

The First King and the First Ascetic: A Poetic Retelling of Acharya Mahapragya’s Rishabhayan

Readings and discussion around the recently published translation of Acharya Mahapragya’s book of verses by Sudhamahi Reghunathan (New Delhi 2014: Harper Element, HarperCollins)

 

Introduction to the book by Sudhamahi Reghunathan, author and translator

 

Readings in English and Hindi by Smt Shailaja Chandra, former Chief Secretary Delhi; and Samani Charitrapragya, Vice-Chancellor, Jain Vishva Bharati Institute (Deemed University)

 

Chair: Prof. G.C. Tripathy, Director, Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology

 

Rishabhayan – The Story of the First King is about the first king in a society of beginning-less time, according to Jaina mythology. It tells of the evolution of human civilisation as it grew from a society based on need to one attached to material possessions. The epic depicts the search for truth and the role of renunciation and sacrifice

Dara Shikoh: An Aphorism for Truth (90 min; 2015; dvd; English)

Director: Surendra Verma who will introduce the film

 

Screening will be followed by a discussion

 

Dara Shikoh was the central figure of a great religious and literary movement for the adaptation of Islam to the spiritual traditions of India. He stood unique among the modern thinkers of India. The film focuses on Dara Shikoh’s life and his road-map for love and the doctrine of humanity his exploration of interfaith harmony

 

Speaker: Prof. Juhyung Rhi, Department of Archaeology & Art History, Seoul National University, Korea

 

Evidently the Buddha was the focus of worship in Gandharan Buddhist monasteries. In addition to a major Buddhist stupa, which most probably contained the Buddha's relics, numerous Buddha images were dedicated in monasteries. Despite their central importance in Gandharan statuary, a number of aspects concerning their production as material objects and significance as religious images still remain obscure.  This lecture will explore the practice of making and dedicating Buddha images in Gandharan monasteries

 

Speaker: Prof Pia Brancaccio, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

 

The lecture will examine the dynamics that led to the renaissance of Buddhist rock-cut architecture in Western Deccan between the 5th and 6th century. This was a transformative period in India as political, economic and religious traditions underwent important changes; from a global perspective, this was also a time of tremendous international engagement both across the Indian Ocean and the north western regions of the Subcontinent. The artistic and architectural evidence from caves like Ajanta and Aurangabad will be examined in a global perspective, connecting these sites to Buddhist networks leading to Gandhara and Central Asia, and to renewed Indian Ocean trade