Sponsored By: Infinity Foundation

Inner Sciences Projects

INNER SCIENCES
Projects

IF and SRI are hosting a 10-year series of roundtables, colloquia, and conferences on inner science. In July of 2002 we will host our inaugural colloquium at Columbia University, to be comprised of our core group of 40 to 50 scholars. Future conferences will be increasingly open to other scholars and to the public. In parallel with this series, we will also be sponsoring scholars (as individuals and as teams) to participate in related conferences hosted by other groups. As an example of this type of support, we are pleased to announce that a select subgroup of our scholars has been invited to participate in a world conference on “mind science” at the Indian Institute of Technology, IIT-Kharagpur, in January 2002. We are pleased that our team will be able to provide a contribution of Indic inner science perspectives to this important and prestigious conference.

Other past and ongoing inner science initiatives sponsored by IF are included under IF’s “Wisdom Grants.” Examples of these grants include:

  • 13th International Congress of Vedanta
    The 13th Congress will be held in the Marcum Conference Center of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, between September 12 and 15, 2002. International Congress of Vedanta, founded in 1986 at Miami University , Oxford, Ohio, is the focal point for meeting of North American scholars specializing in all aspects of Indian philosophy and religion. In the past, the Congress has also celebrated the birth centennial of S. Radhakrishnan 1988), the 1200th anniversary of Sri Sankaracharya (1990), the centennial of Swami Vivekananda’s sojourn to America and his participation in the World Parliament of Religions (1992), birth centennial of J. Krishnamurti (1995), and the 700th anniversary of sanjeewan samadhi of Sri Jnaneswara (1996). International Congress of Vedanta also held its meetings in Madras, Rishikesh and Hyderabad, India, and in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, in order to facilitate better interaction between scholars in India and the West.
  • 12th International Congress of Vedanta
    A five-day forum held in September, 2000, at Miami University in Ohio. This was one of the largest academic conferences of its kind in the western hemisphere, attended by more than one hundred distinguished Indian and Western scholars. The next congress is slated for September 2002 at Miami University.
  • Global Renaissance Institute(GRI)
    IF has offered a two year grant to facilitate the development of the Second Renaissance Institute (SRI), whose mission is “to cross-fertilize between the modern sciences and professions and the insights and methodologies of the classical inner sciences (Sanskrit adhyatmavidya), as developed within the spiritual institutions of the world’s religions, so as to generate a second, global Renaissance.
  • Rutgers Conference: “Quantum Physics and Indian Philosophy”
    This grant was used for a conference on “The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics” (April 17-18, 1998) and for a series of over 15 seminars including the following: Arindam Chakrabarti (Professor of Philosophy, University of Hawaii) on “Prologemena to a Metaphysics of the Future;” Stephen Phillips (Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin) on “The Inferential Vitiator and Additional Condition in Classical Indian ‘New Logic.'” Other guest lecturers included Alan Wallace (Professor of Religion, UCSB), and Arthur Zjionc (Professor of Physics, Amherst College).
  • IONS Fellowship to do Research on Consciousness
    This grant funded a science research project at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). The name of the project was “Science within Consciousness.” It was based on the idea that consciousness, not matter, is the ground of all being. Research approaches included biology, psychology, health and healing, and new work in the area of self-referential computers. The project lasted four years and dissemination consisted of research preprints, workshops, and lecture series.
  • Indic Translation Projects: Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies 
    Columbia University’s Center for Buddhist Studies was offered a grant to translate and publish key Indian and Tibetan works, including Maitreyanatha’s Mahayanasutra-alamkara, along with commentary and essays on how these teachings might contribute to contemporary discourses. The objective is to provide primary educational and reference material to scholars, students, and lay persons in the Western world that would enable them to understand and benefit from the findings of the Indic inner sciences.
  • Columbia University Courses on Nonduality
    The Non-Duality grant was used to support advanced courses specially dedicated to the issue of non-dualism. A seminar entitled “Nonduality in Indian and Tibetan Thought” was taught in the Fall of 1998 by Prof.s Gary Tubb and Robert Thurman with the assistance of two graduate students, Tom Yarnall and Joe Loizzo. Also offered were two advanced Sanskrit courses involving reading Advaita Vedanta and other primary texts on non-duality. This course was a great success and was repeated in the Spring of 2000.
  • University of Hawaii Projects on Non-Duality
    Grants were offered to support four years (1997-2000) of research and teaching in non-dualism philosophies at the University of Hawaii. The project coordinator was Professor Arindam Chakrabarti, professor of philosophy, University of Hawaii.
  • UCSB Curriculum of Science & Religion
    This grant was used in two ways. First, the UCSB Department of Religious Studies organized a lecture series which included three major lectures relating to science and religion, including a two-day conference on ” Nothing in Common: Scientific and contemplative views on nothing.” Second, they developed new courses in Religion and Science Programs in the Department of Religious Studies. This included a course entitled “Consciousness:  Eastern and Western Perspectives” taught by B. Alan Wallace.
  • UCSB Conference on “The Influence of Mind on Healing & Dying”
    IF partially sponsored the 3rd Annual University of California at Santa Barbara Conference on Global Medicine, entitled “The Influence of Mind on Healing & Dying,” held May 19th – 20th, 2000. Presenters included Sogyal Rinpoche, David Simon, Glenn D. Wollman, Jo Ann Tall, B. Alan Wallace, and Anita Cignolini.
  • Book on the “Major Meditation Systems of the World”
    This edited volume on “Major Meditation Systems of the World,” to be edited by Dr. Jonathan Shear of Virginia Commonwealth University, will contain essays by over ten leading authors. The contents and structure of this edited volume will enable it to serve as a readily accessible, cross-traditional textbook for a wide variety of college courses (e.g., religion, psychology, philosophy, multicultural studies, etc.), and as an authoritative reference for scholars. In addition, the book should be of interest to the many people who practice various forms of meditation and would like to know something about procedures other than their own, as well as those who are simply curious about the topic.
  • Book on “The Logic of the Infinite: Experiencing the Soul of Psychology”
    Dr. Don Salmon is writing this book in order to bring out aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy which he believes have not yet been sufficiently acknowledged as having a potentially profound impact on the development of the science and practice of psychology. As Sri Aurobindo represents a unique East-West synthesis, Dr. Salmon will argue that Sri Aurobindo’s work can provide a powerful means of bringing a spiritual perspective to psychology which would be in harmony with the best of modern science. It is hoped that by providing an overview of the psychological implications of Sri Aurobindo’s work, a new initiative in the field of the original “Integral Psychology” might develop, and that a truly global understanding of science, of humanity, and indeed, of life can be fostered.
  • Research Trip on Yogic Sciences in India at the Kumbha Mela Festival
    Dr. William Bushell conducted a brief trip to India in Jan.-Feb., 2001, for the Kumbha Mela festival for the purposes of surveying, subject recruitment, interviewing, observation, and institutional networking in preparation for a future research project on the Indic science of yoga.
  • Lindisfarne Association — “Inner and Outer” Relationship
    This grant was used to fund a Kira research project in 1998-99. Five members of the Kira Institute engaged in research individually and jointly, focused on the question of the relationship between “Inner and Outer” or the role that physical and mental phenomena play in our experience of the world and of ourselves.

For a complete listing of all of IF’s past and ongoing grants, included under the categories of “Wisdom” and “Compassion,” see:

https://www.infinityfoundation.com