Academic Conference Held In New Vrindaban
The Second Annual Conference of the ISKCON Academy of Arts and Sciences was held this past weekend in New Vrindaban. The theme of the conference was “ISKCON Scholarship and the World: Academic and Cultural Contributions.”
About 30 devotee scholars attended including well known devotees like Ravindra Svarupa das, Hridayananda das Goswami, Sadaputa das, and Garuda das. Emerging devotee scholars included Dvijamani dasa, Amritananda devi dasi, and Janaki Rama dasa. Attendees were from the fields of Indology, Religion, Science, and Philosophy.
The weekend opened with a roundtable discussion in which attendees had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the group and to update everyone on what he or she has been working on.
The keynote address given by Ravindra Svarupa das was entitled “The Function of Buddhi in the Foundation of Knowledge: Toward a Vaisnava Epistemology.”
The panel format was used for the other sessions. Four scholars would each give in turn a presentation for twenty minutes followed by 10 minutes for questions. When all four presentations were done, there was an overall question and answer period.
Panel topics were: ISKCON’s Academic Achievements, Vaisnava and Western Philosophies, Science and Religion, and Research.
The attendees seemed focused and enthusiastic so the conference must have been a success. When it was over, Ravindra Svarupa das remarked that it was the first time he had ever been to an academic conference where every presentation was interesting.
