REPORT ON THE NATIONAL SEMINAR, I.C.P.R.ON '' DOING PHILOSOPHY IN INDIA''

FROM 29TH MARCH-31ST MARCH 2016VENUE: HOTEL LANDMARK, HARIDWAR

The Indian Council of Philosophical Research ,Darshan Bhawan,New Delhi .organised a three days' national seminar on the topic ''Doing Philosophy In India'' from 29th-31st March ,2016.

This seminar was to be held at I.I.C.New Delhi, but only 10 single occupancy rooms were being made available by the I.I.C., which were not sufficient for a seminar.

The co-ordinator of the seminar Prof. U.S.Bist,therefore was assigned this task of arranging a suitable venue. He then arranged this seminar at 'Hotel Landmark', Haridwar,Uttarakhand. All necessary arrangements such as for boarding, lodging and conference were available in this hotel. All the arrangements made were liked by each and every participant. The Boarding and Lodging were excellent.

As was desired by the Hon'ble Chairman, I.C.P.R. the inaugural and the valedictory sessions were also devoted to the theme of the seminar only. There were no pomp and show . It is evident from the fact that the address of the Chief Guest Prof.S.R. Bhatt, the Hon'ble Chairman , I. C.P.R. was looked by the scholars as the guide-lines for 'Doing Philosophy in India’. The Chairman told the participants that 'The exposure of the Indian Thoughts so far have been piece -meal type and not complete and all-round. He stressed on the need to re-visit Indian Thoughts without being pre-juiced.

Swami Padamaprakasha Jnana Thapaswi reminded the scholars of India's glorious past. He opined that sincere efforts should be made to study and understand the teachings of our traditional thinkers. He praised the efforts of the Hon'ble Chairman for selecting this topic for the seminar and for working in this direction.

The key-note address delivered by Dr.Premsukh Mangla was scholarly and devoted to the theme of the seminar.

It was interesting to note and report that unlike many other seminars, the address of the presiding scholar Prof. Bhola Jha Hon'ble Principal of Shri Bagwandas, Sanskrit Maha Vidyalaya was purely academic and pertaining to the theme. He is a known scholar of Sanskrit grammar.

In other words, all the four addresses mentioned above were in the form of scholarly paper presentation.

The seminar had eight sessions in all. In each session two papers were presented and discussed. Every scholar was given forty minutes for presenting the paper followed by another forty

minutes for discussion on it. Research scholars who wanted to present their papers on the theme other than the seminar's theme were not allowed. They however participated in the discussions.

This is to be noted that the Chairpersons of eight sessions viz. (i)Swami Padmaprakasha jnana Thapaswi (ii) Prof. Xavier Mao (iii)Dr. Premsukh Mangla(iv)Prof. Balaganpathi Devakonda (v)Prof. M.A.Jalihal (vi) Prof. N.K. Amabastha (vii)Prof. R.P.Srivastava and (viii) Prof. A.P.Dubey all presented their scholarly papers.

Apart from the above the papers were presented by the following scholars: (i) Prof. Asha Maudgil, P.U. Chandigarh(ii) Prof. K.V. Juktimath, H.O.D.Philosophy, K.U.Dharwad.(iii) Dr. Indoo Pandey Khanduri, HNB G.U.(iv) Dr. Achinta Yajnik, Ahmedabad (v) Dr. Seema Srivastava, Kothadwar, Pauri (vi) Dr. Anamika Girdhar, Kurukshetra University(vii) Dr. Chandrarekha, Kurukshetra University The participants from different Universities who took active part on the discussions but did not present the papers include mainly: Prof. Jaidev Vedalankar , Dr. Tandon, Dr. M.K. Singh, Dr. Babita Sharma, Dr. Bablu Vedalankar,Dr. Akhil Rathi , Dr. Prashant Kumar , Dr. Karuna Sharma, Dr. Mukesh Kumar,Dr. Nivedita Bisen, Dr. Jarnail Singh , Dr. Heera , Dr. Vipul Bhatt,Dr. Jitender Kumar and Dr. Siddharth.

The research scholars from Dev Sankriti University, The Sanskrit University, Haridwar and Gurukul Kangri University , Haridwar also took part in the seminar. The students of Sri Bhagwandas Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya performed Saraswati Vandana & Welcome Song.

This report will remain incomplete if the presentation of Prof. Sunil Joshi a known Ayurvedic Surgeon is not mentioned . His presentation was on ''Doing Pilosophy in Ayurveda'' with specific reference to Marm-Vidya - Upchar. Each and every participant present on day two appreciated the meaningful presentation by- Prof. Joshi. This is evident from the fact that participants on day two took their lunches at 3:15pm. Dr. Joshi praised the I.C.P.R. for selecting such an important topic for the seminar.

To sum up, the I.C.P.R. sponsored seminar was a great success. The scholars who graced this seminar were of the opinion that apart from the academic deliberations the board and lodging arrangements during the Seminar were also up to the mark. They all had praises for the ICPR, the organizers particularly for Prof. U.S. Bist.

Dr. Prashant Kumar

Yogdham , Haridwar

1/4/16