Program

International Conference on Vedanta

May 19-21

On Works of Svāmī Saccidānandendra Sarasvatī (SSS)

and Comparative Philosophy, Practical Life, AI and Texts

General Chair: Prof. Sthaneshwar Timalsina

Program Chair: Dr. Manjushree Hegde

May 19 Tuesday 8:30 am - 5:15 pm.

8:30-9 am Registration

Morning Session: 9am-12:30pm

9:00 - 9:30 Conference Inauguration

9:30-12:30 Invited Talks

Prof. Anantanand Rambachan
Saint Olaf College — Professor Emeritus of Religion
Title: TBD

Dr. Ivan Andrijanić
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences — Chair of Indology

Title:  Distinguishing Śaṅkara from Post-Śaṅkara Tradition (Tentative)

Dr. Ankur Barua
University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity — Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies
Title: The Serpent Which Never Existed: Two Twentieth-Century Presentations of Advaita in Svāmī Satchidānandendra Sarasvatī and G.R. Malkani.

Dr. Gianni Pellegrini
Università degli Studi di Torino — Associate Professor, Dept. of Humanities

Title: SSS Critique of Bhāmatī (Tentative)

Sri. Ira Schepetin (Musta Ram / Ātma Chaitanya)
Independent scholar; first Western disciple of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati.
Title: TBD

Discussion on morning talks

12:30-02:00pm  Lunch

Afternoon Session: 2:00 - 5:00pm

Prof. Dilip Loundo
Center for Study of Religions and Philosophies of India. Federal University of Juiz de Fora (Brazil)

Title: TBD

Dr. Manjushree Hegde
IIT Madras (Ph.D. completed); Assistant Professor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita Darshanam); also, Mythik Inc.
Title: On the question of two Brahmans: SSS

Sri. Michael Chandra Cohen
Retd. Faculty City University of New York

Title: Dṛṣṭi-Sṛṣṭi-Vāda: A Departure from Śaṅkara

Panel Discussion: 

Moderators 

Prof. Aleksandar Uskokov
Yale University — Graduate School of Religious Studies and 

Prof. Sthaneshwar Timalsina
Nirmal K. and Augustina Mattoo Endowed Chair in Classical Indic Humanities; Director, Center for Asian and Comparative Philosophy

Topic: Day-1 content

5-5:15pm Closing Remarks

International Conference on Vedanta

May 19-21

On Works of Svāmī Saccidānandendra Sarasvatī (SSS)

and Comparative Philosophy, Practical Life, AI for Texts

May 20 Tuesday 8:30 am - 5:15 pm.

8:30-9 am Registration

Morning Session: 9am-12:30pm

9:00 - 9:15 Opening Remarks

9:15-11:00 Invited Talks

Keynote Addresses: Vedanta and Comparative Philosophies

Sri. Swami Sarvapriyananda
Vedanta Society of New York — Resident Minister, Monk Ramakrishna Order. Author, Teacher. 

Title; TBD

Padmashree Prof. Robert Thurman
Columbia University (USA) — Emeritus Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies; co-founder Tibet-House US

Title: Vedanta and Buddhism- convergence and divergence

Discussion and Q/A: Moderator - TBA

Invited Talks 11am-12:30

Dr. Greg Goode
New York (USA) -- Author, Teacher, Independent Scholar.
Title: (tentative) Non-duality, Direct Path, Vedanta, Buddhism, Western Philosophy.

Sri. Subhanu Saxena
Chair, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan UK. Director Life Sciences at Gates Foundation.
Title: Sureśvara’s influence on SSS. 

_____________

Lunch

_____________

Afternoon Session 2:00 - 4:30pm 

Practical Applications: Vedanta and Mindfulness 

Prof. Satinder Dhiman
Woodbury University (USA) — Associate Dean & Professor, School of Business
Title: (tentative) Vedanta and mindfulness in workplace, management and leadership. 

Dr. Lee Hartwell

Arizona State University (USA) -- Nobel Laureate in Physiology/Medicine (2001). Professor ASU Sustainability Science. Faculty Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

Title: Education and Mindfulness.

Discussion and Q/A:

Panel discussion: AI for texts - multilingual translation and interpretation

Panelists:

Prof. Shikaripur N. Sridhar

SUNY Distinguished Service Professor, Professor of Linguistics and India Studies and founding Director of the Mattoo Center for India Studies at Stony Brook.

Prof. Niranjan Balasubramanian 

CS Dept, SUNY Stony Brook.

Dr. Partha Talukdar (invited, to be confirmed) Google.

Scholars from Day 1 (Dr. Hegde, Dr. Andrejić, Prof. Pelligrini and others)

Microsoft (Invited TBA)

Sri. Thomas Felber (Invited, Author SanGPT)

4:30 Closing Remarks

International Conference on Vedanta

May 19-21

On Works of Svāmī Saccidānandendra Sarasvatī (SSS)

and Comparative Philosophy, Practical Life, AI for Texts

May 21 Tuesday 8:30am - 12noon

9- 11am 

RESEARCH PAPERS: SSS Works

Śrī Davide Persechini
Università degli Studi di Torino — Doctoral Researcher (Dottorando), Dept. of Humanities. 

Title: SSS's Pañcapādikāprasthāna: A Critical Analysis

Śrī Purushottam Pant Independent Researcher. 

Title: Akaṇḍākāravr̥tti in Advaita Vedānta: A Critique

Dr. Pijus Kanti Pal Asst Coordinator Indian Knowledge Systems Divn., Ministry of Education, New Delhi India. 

Title: SSS on Gītā Chapter 16

Śrī Raghu Nandan Independent researcher. 

Title: SSS on Vivekacūḍāmaṇi

Śrī R S Vaidyanathan  Brahma Vidya Kutir, Hyderabad and Ph.D student Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. 

Title: On the Nārada Bhakti Sūtras: An Analysis of Bhakti Candrikā Vyākhyā through its Sanskrit Translation.

11am-12 noon Closing Ceremony 

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