Thirteenth International Congress of Vedanta

Thirteenth International Congress of Vedanta
September 12-15, 2002
Marcum Conference Center
Miami University, Oxford, OH

Sponsored by The Infinity Foundation

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.

Location: The 13th Congress will be held in the Marcum Conference Center of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, between September 12 and 15, 2002. Oxford, Ohio, is situated near Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, a 30-45 minute drive from each. The Cincinnati and Dayton airports are an hour’s drive from Oxford. The Marcum Conference Center offers excellent modern conference facilities with conference, seminar, presentation, dining and guest rooms. The Congress includes in its program plenary presentations, panel sessions, symposium discussions and individual papers on (a) Yoga, (b) Meditation and (c) Ayurveda (d) and general topics in Indian philosophy and religions.

Program

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

From 2:00 p.m.

CHECK IN (Marcum Conference Center/Hotels)
Conference Reception Desk Open
On-site Registration

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Early Risers:	Jogging/Walking – plenty of beautiful trails
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.	Invocation
9:30 – 9:40 a.m.	Welcome: John Skillings, Dean, College of Arts & Science, Miami University
9:45 -10:00 a.m.	“2002 Vedanta Congress” S. S. Rama Rao Pappu, Founder-Director, International Congress of Vedanta
10:00 – 10:30 a.m.	Inaugural Lecture: Arindam Chakrabarti, University of Hawaii “Logic, Morality, Meditation : Tarka, Dharma and Yoga“
10:30 – 11:00 a.m.	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30 p.m.	Inaugural Plenary – I (East Wing) Chair: Karl H. Potter, University of Washington Stuart Sovatsky, Assoc. for Transpersonal Psychology “Kundalini, Consciousness and Bodily Development” Jonathan Shear, Virginia Commonwealth University “Meditative Experiences and Western Philosophy” T. S. Rukmani, Concordia University “Dharmameghasamadhi : A Critique based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali“
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.	Lunch Break
1:45 – 3:45 p.m.	Plenary Session – II (East Wing) Chair: Eliot Deutsch, University of HawaiiRajiv Malhotra, Infinity Foundation “Native Informants Talk Back : Cross-Cultural Interactive Hermeneutics” Deen Chatterjee, University of Utah “Is Karma a good justification for Rebirth?” Carl Olson, Allegheny College “The Disappearing Self : The Postmodern Vision of Mark C. Taylor and the Vedantic Vision of Sankara” Mandakranta Bose, University of British Columbia “The Body as Paintbrush: The Idiom of Classical Indian Dance (based on Visnudharmottara Purana).”
3:45 – 4: 00 p.m.	Coffee Break
4:00 – 5:30 p.m.	Panel Session – I I.1 Gita and Gandhi Chair: Sandhya Chakrabarati Export, PA Room 186 Hope Fitz, Eastern Connecticut State Univ. “Importance of Ahimsa in Yoga Sutra, Gandhi and the Modern World” Sitansu Chakrabarti, Univ. of Toronto “Amartya Sen on the Gita” Kathy Tiege, Monmouth University “Interpretations of Gita : Gandhi and Oppenheimer“
	I.2 Studies in Hinduism – I Chair: Sushil Mittal Millikin University Room 112 Shive Chaturvedi, Ohio State University “Meditation on Human Nature : Vedic vs. Western Rational and Existential Traditions.” D. R. Sharma, Little India Foundation, Chicago “Zero, Infinity and God : A Vedantic Perspective” Gopala Rao, John Hopkins University “Why Hinduism in an Age of Monotheism?“
	I.3 Yoga – I Chair: Michael Brannigan LaRoche College Room 184 Veena Howard, University of Oregon “Hesychasam : A Christian Yoga?” Mahesh Mehta, University of Windsor “Consciousness and Intentionality : Yoga and Vedanta” Ira Schepetin, Woodstock, NY “Yoga and Advaita Vedanta“
	I.4 Science and Spirituality Chair: B.D.N. Rao Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. Room 180 P. Venugopala Rao, Emory University “Dialog between Science and Religion : Indian Perspectives” Mark McDowell, Lourdes College “Duality and Cosmology” Adarsh Deepak, Science & Technology Institute “Dharma as Harmony in Diversity, in terms of scientific Bhasya“
5:30 – 6:30 p.m.	Reception: Marcum Conference Center
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.	Dinner (Cuisine of India at: St. Mary’s Church, High Street, Oxford)

Friday, September 13, 2002

7:00 – 8:00 a.m.	Meditation Session (conducted by Stephen Parker) Marcum Conference Center
8:15 – 10:45 a.m.	Plenary Session – III Chair: Stephen H. Phillips, University of Texas-Austin Sangeetha Menon, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore “Being and BEING : Current discussions on ‘consciousness’ and the Yoga Traditions” R. Puligandla, University of Toledo “What is it to scientifically study Consciousness” Walter Benesch, University of Alaska “Advaita Vedanta : The Possibility ‘of’ and Possibilities ‘for’ consciouness in a non-linear world” Anand Rangarajan, University of Florida “Pan-Awareness : Building a bridge between Panpsychism and Vedanta” Nick Gier, University of Idaho “Gandhi as a Postmodern Thinker“
10:45 – 11:00 a.m.	Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30 p.m.	Panel Session – II II.1 Meditation – I Chair: Nalini Bhushan Smith College Room 180 Stephen Smith, Krishnamurti Foundation of America “Krishnamurti’s Meditation : A Quantum View of Mind” Satish Telegar, Towson State University “Krishnamurti on Meditation” Bart Gruzalski, Center for Pacific Living “Through the Eyes of a Butterfly“
	II.2 Ayurveda Chair: Alex C. Alexander, MD Baltimore Room 102 Gregory Fields, Southern Illinois Univ.-Edwardsville “Buddhsit Psychotherapeutics : Ayurvedic roots and Modern Applications” Arvind Khetia, Overland Park, Kansas “Essentials of Ayurveda” K. N. Dileepan, University of Kansas Medical Center “Science and Philosophy of Ayurveda“
	II.3 Indian Aesthetics Chair: G. Bhamati University of Texas-Austin Room 184 John Quinn, Univ. of Dayton & Joseph Petrick, Wright State University “Aesthetic Theory and the Interpretation of Indian Art” S. V. Rama Rao, Artist, Palos Hills, IL “Yogic Mind and Art” William W. Higgins “The Idea Game : Religious and Symbolic Game Theory“
	II.4 Tantra Chair: Michael Myers Washington State University Room 186 James Robinson, University of Northern Iowa “Is There a Distinctive “Tantric Spirituality?” Robert Gordon, University of Oregon “Tantra and Transcendentalism : The Philosophies of Emerson and Aurobindo” Don Salmon, Greensville, SC Sri Aurobindo and the Future of Consciousness Studies“
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.	Lunch Break
1:45 – 3:45 p.m.	Panel Session – III III.1 Bhattacharya, Buber and Quest for Self-Knowledge Chair: Eliot Deutsch University of Hawaii Room 184 Stephen Kaplan, Manhattan College “Revising Krishnachandra Bhattacharya’s Absolute And its alternative forms : A Holographic model for Simultaneous illumination” Michael Meyers, Washington State University “Non-Duality: A commentary on Buber’s I and Thou : Part III” Sandhya Chakrabarti, Export, PA “Krishna Yoga – A form of Psychotherapy” Ramon Sewnath, Southern Connecticut State University “Quest for Self Knowledge“
	III.2 Indology, Radhakrishnan & Sri Satya Sai Baba Chair: S. K. Singh Savage, MD Room 180 Arvind Sharma, McGill University “Indology: An Epistemological Approach” David Rodier, American University “Presenting Vedanta to the West : The Example of Radhakrishnan’s Commentaries” Boyd H. Wilson and Donald L. VanSlyke, Hope College “Radhakrishnan, Rauschenbusch and a New Christianity: Eternal Religion and Social Ethics” Witz, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagn “Sri Satya Sai Baba on Mind and Atman“
	III.3 Yoga – II Chair: Stuart Sovatsky Assoc.for Transpersonal Psy. Room 186 Stephen Parker, St. Thomas University “The Spiral Path Continua Versus Linear stages in Patanjali Yoga” Nalini Bhushan, Smith College “The Logic of Mourning : Mental Discipline and Liberationin the Yoga Sutra and Freud” Ed Barton, Michigan State University “Reinterpreting Mythopoetic men’s work And Kundalini Yoga” Ashok Malhotra, S.U.N.Y. at Oneonta “Yoga and Yoda : Star Wars Connection“
	III.4 Vedanta in the West and the Problem of Evil Chair: Wallace Martin University of Toledo Room 112 Joseph Thompson, Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks “Postanalytic Affinities : Indian and German philosophy in America” K. Sundaram, Lake Michigan College “The Vedas and the Vedanta in Pre-Revolutionary France” Joseph Bracken, S.J., Xavier University “Evil: Reality or Illusion?” Uday Rao, Pittsburgh “Evil and its Elimination in Molla Ramayanamu“
3:45 – 4:00 p.m.	Coffee Break
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.	Plenary Session – III (East Wing) Chair: P. Venugopala Rao, Emory University E. C. G. Sudarshan, University of Texas-Austin “Language, Computing and Creativity” Jagdish Srivastava, Colorado State University “Derivation : Beyond philosophcial speculation of Basic Tenets” :Subhash Kak, Louisiana State University “Inner and Outer Cosmologies in India” D.V.L.N. Rao, University of Massachusetts-Boston & A.N. Murty, Grambling State University “Reflections of Reality“
7:00 – 8:00 p.m.	Dinner Heritage Room, Shriver Center
8:00 – 10:00 p.m.	Spiritual Discourse and Bhajans by Prof. Prema Pandurang and group “Kshetropasna” Madras, India

Saturday, September 14, 2002

7:00 – 8:00 a.m.	Meditation (Conducted by Stephen Parker) Marcum Conference Center
	Plenary Session – IV Chair: Jitendra Shah, L. D. Institute of Indology’ Ahmedabad, India
8:30 – 9:15 a.m.	Deborah A. Davis & Sarady Sonty, Telugu University “Introduction to the Harmonic Structure of the Veda“
9:15 – 9:45 a.m.	S. Yegnasubramanian, Sringeri Vidyabharati Foundation, Pennsylvania “Vedic Chanting: A Perfectly formulated Oral Tradition“
9:45 – 10:00 a.m.	Coffee Break
10:00 – 12:00 p.m.	Panel Session – IV IV.1 Swadhyaya & Environmetnal Ethics Chair: Bart Gruzalski Center for Pacific Living Room 102 Bindu Madhok & Selva J. Raj, Albion College “The “Cafeteria“ approach on environmental scholarship: Problems and Possibilities” George James, University of North Texas “Religious and Spiritual Dimensions of Environmental Movements in India” Betty Unterberger, Texas A&M University “Swadhyaya : Personal and Communal Transformation Through Self-Study” Film on Pandurang Shastri Athavale
	IV.2 Vedanta, Sufism, Buddhism Chair: K.L. Seshagiri Rao University of South Carolina Room: 184 K. R. Sundararajan, St. Bonaventure University “Embodiment : A Vedantic Perspective” Judy Saltzman, California Polytechnic State Univ. “Vedanta, Sufism and Spiritual Ecology” Omar S. Alattas & James W. Kidd, Univ. of San Francisco “The Metaphysics of Divine Love” Frank Hoffman, West Chester University “Buddhism and Non-Violence“
	IV.3 Studies in Hinduism Chair: Avinash Sathaye University of Kentucky Room 180 Fred Dallmayr, University of Notre Dame “Nectar of Wisdom : Jnaneswara‘s Amritanubhava” William Jackson, Indiana Univ-Purdue University “The philosophical symbolism of H indu Temple Designs – especially fractal-like recursive shapes” Pasquale J. Simonelli, Monmouth University “The eschatological role of the ‘son‘ in the Vedanta philosophy” G. Mishra, University of Madras “From Ramanuja to Ramaraya : The Dialectical journey of Maya-Avidya in the history of Vedanta“
	IV.4 Yoga and Meditation: Physiological Perspectives Chair: A. R. Srikantiah, M.D. Cambridge, OH Room 186 Tom Egenes & Robert Oates, Maharishi University of Management “Consciousness, Physics and World Peace : How to stop terrorism throught he Field Effect of Consciousness” Patricia Reynaud, Miami University “Meditation as a Spiritual Discipline” Narayan Reddy, M.D., Pulmonologist, Dayton, OH “Being and Breathing” Gopala Rao, Johns Hopkins University “Yoga: Physiological Perspectives“
12:00 – 1:15 p.m.	Lunch Break
1:15 – 3:15 p.m.	Special Plenary – IV (East Wing) Eliot Deutsch’s Contributions to Indian Thought Chair: John G. Arapura, McMaster UniversityFred Dallmayr, Indiana University “Eliot Deutsch’s Cross-cultural Meditations” Stephen Phillips, University of Texas “Creative Emotion : Rasa* in the Philosophy of Eliot Deutsch” Kisor Chakrabarti, Duke University Students of Eliot Deutsch:* Michael Myers, Washington State University Ashok Malhotra, S.U.N.Y., Oneonta Response: Eliot Deutsch, University of Hawaii
3:15 : 3:30 p.m.	Coffee Break
3:30 – 6:00 p.m.	Special Plenary of Philosophical presentations And discussions in Sanskrit “Brahmodya” Chair: Arindam Chakrabarty, Univ. of Hawaii Ashok Aklujkar, Univ. of British Columbia/Harvard Univ. “bharatiiya samaaja vijnaanam: vilhelm haalbafaasa-mata-samiiksaa” (Indian Social Theory: A Critique of the view of Wilhelm Halbfass)” M. Narasimhachari, Universityof Madras “The commentary ‘Bhushana’ by Sri Govindaraja on Sri Ramayana” Arvind Sharma, McGill University Sanatana-dharmasya caturmukhatvam Vidyut Aklujkar, Univ. of British Columbia “Who am I?: A Riddle of Identity in Mahipati’s Bhakta-vijaya” Mahesh Mehta, University of Windsor “Role of Jnana and Karma : Two Advaitic Views” Kisor Chakrabarti, Duke University “Vyaptigrahopayavimarsah” ( the problem of Induction). Ramesh Patel, Antioch University “Nasadiye Dasa Vadas-tesam Paramesthi-Prajapati-krtah Samanvayas-ca” (Ten Cosmogonies In the Nasadiya and their reconciliation by Pramesthi )Prajapati
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.	Reception
7:00 – 8:00 p.m.	Banquet Marcum Conference Center
8:00 – 8:30 p.m.	Remembering departed Vedantins Current and future projects of Infinity Foundation
8:30 – 9:00 p.m.	Keynote Address and Second Infinity Distingusihed Lecture Marzenna Jakubczak, Silesian University, Poland “Aspects of Subjectivity in Patanjali’s Yoga“

Sunday, September 15, 2002

7:30 – 8:30 a.m.

Meditation (Conducted by Stephen Parker)

9:00 – 11:00 a.m.

“Business” meeting
“Open Forum”
Room 186

Discussion Facilitators:
Rama Rao Pappu, Adarsh Deepak, Arvind Sharma, Rajiv Malhotra, Etc.

Among the one hundred participants who will attend the conference are:

Ashok Aklujkar (Univ. of British Columbia)
J.G. Arapura (McMaster University)
Anindita Balslev (Univ. of Copenhagen)
Mandakranta Bose (Univ. of British Columbia)
Arindam Chakrabarti (Univ. of Hawaii)
Fred Dallmayr (Univ. of Notre Dame)
Tom Egenes (Maharishi University)
Marzenna Jakubczak (Silesian Univ., Poland)
Subhash Kak (Lousiana State Univ)
R. L. Kashyap (Purdue Univ.)
Ashok Malhotra (SUNY-Oneonta)
Michael Myers (Washington State Univ)
M. Narasimhachari (Univ. of Madras)
Stephen Phillips (Univ. of Texas)
Olle Qvarnstrom (Univ. of Lund-Sweden)
Anand Rangarajan (Univ. of Florida)
K. L. Seshagiri Rao (Univ. of South Carolina)
T.S. Rukmani (Concordia Univ)
Judy Saltzman (California Poly. St.Univ)
Arvind Sharma (McGill Univ)
Stuart Sovatsky
Ian Whichler (Univ. of Manitoba)
Boyd Wilson (Hope College)
Klaus Witz (Univ. of Illinois)

Further details of the conference may be obtained from:

Professor S. S Rama Rao Pappu
Department of Philosophy
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio, 45056
Phone: 513-529-2439
E-Mail: PAPPUSS@MUOHIO.EDU

To read about last years conference, please click here.