BY A STAFF REPORTER
CHATSWORTH,CA- The Dharma Civilization Foundation Awareness and fundraiser event held on Oct 4 at the home of Dr. Ushakant Thakkar, Chairman DCF, was headlined by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s keynote address with over 500 in attendance. The evening commenced with the traditional lighting of the lamp by...
CHATSWORTH,CA- The Dharma Civilization Foundation Awareness and fundraiser event held on Oct 4 at the home of Dr. Ushakant Thakkar, Chairman DCF, was headlined by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s keynote address with over 500 in attendance. The evening commenced with the traditional lighting of the lamp by...
 |  |
Sadhguru, followed by the invocation. Focusing on the topic “Spirit of Eastern Wisdom”, Sadhguru came out strongly in support of the efforts of DCF in establishing academic infrastructure for the systematic study of this Eastern wisdom embodied in the term Dharma, which he said was often mistakenly identified with the word religion.
Speaking from the authority of his own personal experience, he said the central idea that best embodies the spirit of Eastern wisdom, more specifically the spirit of India’s wisdom, is the idea that ultimately a human being’s experience of his or her life, their joy, sorrow and ecstasy is a function of their own self-understanding.
Using the Sanskrit words, Buddhi, Manas, Ahankara and Chitta, he said that in ordinary everyday life, we barely experience any distinction between them. Buddhi, he said is the intellect, the analytical faculty that has given rise to the enormous advance in science and technology. Manas, is the memory bank that remembers both the individual and collective experience of the individual and the community. Ahankara gives us identity – both as an individual and the collective. But real joy and happiness lies in going beyond our memories, our intellect and even breaking down all identities and arriving at the substratum – the Chitta. Knowing this the spirit of Eastern wisdom invited human beings to cultivate an inwardness that enables us to look within to find the springs of eternal joy. Yet, he said, all our sensory instruments are organized to look outward, and human life is spent predominantly seeking comforts and conveniences which merely scratch the surface. The systematic and conscious cultivation of such interiority or inwardness is what distinguishes the spirit of Eastern wisdom. People generally come back to themselves, but only after exhausting all possibilities of arranging and re-arranging their outer circumstances.
Dr. Manohar Shinde, the founder Chairman of DCF, gave an overview of the initiatives of DCF in general, and the 90-day fund raising campaign through community-wide participation for establishment of the Swami Vivekananda Endowed Chair in Modern India & Indian Diaspora Studies, at the University of California, Irvine, in particular. He concluded with an appeal to contribute generously for the establishment of the chair. Present at the event were Prof. Shiva Bajpai, President DCF; Kalyan Viswanathan, Executive Vice President, DCF; Dr. Vinod Ambastha, Senior Vice President, DCF; along with prominent members of the Dharma Heritage Community, as well as Sadhguru’s devotees.
Speaking from the authority of his own personal experience, he said the central idea that best embodies the spirit of Eastern wisdom, more specifically the spirit of India’s wisdom, is the idea that ultimately a human being’s experience of his or her life, their joy, sorrow and ecstasy is a function of their own self-understanding.
Using the Sanskrit words, Buddhi, Manas, Ahankara and Chitta, he said that in ordinary everyday life, we barely experience any distinction between them. Buddhi, he said is the intellect, the analytical faculty that has given rise to the enormous advance in science and technology. Manas, is the memory bank that remembers both the individual and collective experience of the individual and the community. Ahankara gives us identity – both as an individual and the collective. But real joy and happiness lies in going beyond our memories, our intellect and even breaking down all identities and arriving at the substratum – the Chitta. Knowing this the spirit of Eastern wisdom invited human beings to cultivate an inwardness that enables us to look within to find the springs of eternal joy. Yet, he said, all our sensory instruments are organized to look outward, and human life is spent predominantly seeking comforts and conveniences which merely scratch the surface. The systematic and conscious cultivation of such interiority or inwardness is what distinguishes the spirit of Eastern wisdom. People generally come back to themselves, but only after exhausting all possibilities of arranging and re-arranging their outer circumstances.
Dr. Manohar Shinde, the founder Chairman of DCF, gave an overview of the initiatives of DCF in general, and the 90-day fund raising campaign through community-wide participation for establishment of the Swami Vivekananda Endowed Chair in Modern India & Indian Diaspora Studies, at the University of California, Irvine, in particular. He concluded with an appeal to contribute generously for the establishment of the chair. Present at the event were Prof. Shiva Bajpai, President DCF; Kalyan Viswanathan, Executive Vice President, DCF; Dr. Vinod Ambastha, Senior Vice President, DCF; along with prominent members of the Dharma Heritage Community, as well as Sadhguru’s devotees.
RSS Feed
