SRI SRI UNIVERSITY

One day Seminar, jointly organized by Department of Sanskrit, Sri Sri University, Cuttack and Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Indian Culture (SAFIC), Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry.

Sanskrit, a language ‘sculpted to perfection’, is the very soul of India. It is through this language that India has been expressing herself abundantly and incessantly for centuries, and the future of India rests much on this most dynamic language. But in the recent past, we have been cut off from this voluminous body of the highest wisdom, knowledge and genius through the alienation of Sanskrit from the mainstream curriculum of our schools and universities. Furthermore, our education (world-wide) has alienated us from methods of training the consciousness and faculties which were well-known to the seers and sages of the ancient India. It gives immense pleasure to see that this trend is only now beginning to change, and the resurgence of Sanskrit in all the fields of life would also mean a revival of the true spirit of India and its soul-force. A revival of Sanskrit in a modern light can once again put us in touch with the methods of training various faculties of consciousness. It is through Sanskrit that we would be able to connect ourselves with all the puissance and the creative thrust which propelled our forefathers to form one of the greatest civilisations in the past. Above all, it is through its power of elevating the human consciousness that Sanskrit can help most in resolving the contemporary crisis.

No matter, how great a language may be, interest in it can be sustained most powerfully if it helps us in our daily lives and helps us in giving expression to the new age experiences. The aim in reviving Sanskrit must not bet to sing the glories of the past but to make use of the past as a spring board to leap towards a bright future. Sri Aurobindo writes –

“A language, Sanskrit or another, should be acquired by whatever method is most natural, efficient and stimulating to the mind and we need not cling there to any past or present manner of teaching: but the vital question is how we are to learn and make use of Sanskrit and the indigenous languages so as to get to the heart and intimate sense of our own culture and establish a vivid continuity between the still living power of our past and the yet uncreated power of our future…”

We now have to recover first all that was best and ennobling in the past, and the recovery of Sanskrit as the language of the soul of India is an important step towards this. It is not enough to discover that Sanskrit is the most appropriate language for the most sophisticated computers; we must go forward and find its imperative utility in all spheres of life.

We all have a tremendous amount of work to do in the field of Sanskrit and we all need to come together to discuss the issues related to bringing about a wider and deeper understanding and acceptance of the Sanskrit language. Keeping the above thought in the mind the Sanskrit department of Sri Sri University, Cuttack and Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Indian Culture (SAFIC), Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry are jointly organizing a one day seminar on “Future of Sanskrit” on 17th November, 2017 at Sri Sri University, Cuttack (Odisha).

In this seminar the following speakers will be addressing various topics related to the main theme of the seminar.

1. Prof. Bijoy Mishra, Harvard University
2. Prof. Harekrushna Shatapathy, Vice-chancellor, KISS, Bhubaneswar
3. Dr. Krushna Keshaba Sarangi, Sanskrit Scholar & Poet, Bhubaneswar
4. Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Director, SAFIC, Pondicherry

Please come and join us. For registration please reply to this email before 15^th November 2017.