All India Students Conferences on Science and Spiritual Quest, 2005

onwards, organised by the Bhaktivedanta Institute

First AISSQ Conference, 2005

http://www.allconferences.com/conferences

Venue: Bhaktivedanta Institute RC/8, Manasi Manjil Building, Raghunathpur, VIP Road, Kolkata

Event Date/Time: Dec 06, 2005 End Date/Time: Dec 06, 2005

Registration Date: Nov 20, 2005

Early Registration Date: Nov 15, 2005

Abstract Submission Date: Nov 10, 2005

Paper Submission Date: Nov 20, 2005

Description

Science and spirituality are the two most dominant forces in our quest for the ultimate reality. An

integrated approach of these two ventures could help us in deeper understanding of life and the

universe. With this foundation, this one day national conference aims to inspiring the students and

young scholars to inquire about the nature of ultimate reality, including the science of God using

scientific and spiritual perspectives. The topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Cosmology

• Consciousness

• Life and its Origin

• Ethics

• Epistemology

• Science of God

• Rationality and Beyond

Advisory Committee: Prof. Bijoy Boruah, IIT Kanpur; Prof. Kanchan Choudhury, IIT Kharagpur; Prof.

A. Mitra, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. Subhash Mishra, IIT Guwahati; Dr. Prasun K. Roy, National Brain

Research Centre, Gurgaon; Prof. P. B. Sharma, Principal, Delhi College of Engineering.

Organizing Committee: Dr. T. D. Singh (H. H. Sripada Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami),

Bhaktivedanta Institute, Chairman; Dr. Sudipto Gosh, IIT Kharagpur; Manoranjan Sinha, IIT

Kharagpur; Dr. Ramgopal Upparuli, IIT Guwahati; Bhaskar Kumar, (Ph. D.), IIT Kanpur; Dr. P. K.

Singh, IT BHU; Mr. Prabhakar, Scientist, Central Research Laboratories, BEL, Bangalore; Ajeet K. Mall,

Analog Devices, Bangalore; Sushant Sharma, TCS Mumbai; S. Millindar, Indian Airlines, Mumbai;

Shyam Chandra, Mumbai ; Anula Millindar, Aeronautical Engg., Indian Airlines; Jayanti Chavan, Subal

Shyam, Arun Uday, Phalguni Banerjee, IIT Kharagpur; Debasis Khan, IIT Kharagpur; P. Suresh Kumar,

IIT Kharagpur; Varun Agarwal, Secretary K. Vasudev Rao, Secretary Abhishek Kumar, Bhaktivedanta

Institute, Kolkata.

Second AISSQ Conference, 2006

http://www.allconferences.com/conferences

Venue: The conference will be held in Town Hall, Jagannath Puri, Orissa, India.

Event Date/Time: Dec 09, 2006 End Date/Time: Dec 10, 2006

Paper Submission Date: Nov 01, 2006

Objective of the Conference

The priceless wealth of knowledge provided by the self-realized scholars of Vedanta in

the form of revealed scriptures could provide many vital insights in expanding the

scientific knowledge of life and origin of the universe. A synthetic approach between

modern science and the vedantic knowledge could help the sincere seekers of truth to

deeply investigate and bring breakthroughs in resolving the deeper reality. The 2nd All

India Student’s Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest (AISSQ-2006) is a humble

attempt by the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata to bring together the intellectual minds

from various scientific and philosophical backgrounds to discuss the topics related to

some of the most fundamental aspects of science such as life and the universe and their

origin, and the nature of ultimate reality.

THE ORGANIZERS

Science and Spiritual Quest 2006 is organized by Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata.

Advisory Committee

Shishir Kumar Dube, Director, IIT Kharagpur

Jagadish. N. Srivastava, Prof. Emeritus, Colorado State Univ.

P. B. Sharma, Principal, Delhi College of Engineering

R. V. Raja Kumar, Dean (Academic), IIT Kharagpur

Organizing Committee

H.H.Bhaktiswarupa Damodara Swami (Dr. T. D. Singh), International Director

Bhaktivedanta Institute

Chairman

Varun Agarwal, Research Scholar, Bhaktivedanta Institute

Phalguni Banerjee, Research Scholar, IIT Kharagpur

Dr. Kanchan Chowdhury, Professor, Head of Cryogenic Centre, IIT Kharagpur

Dr. Sudipto Ghosh, Assistant Professor IIT Kharagpur

Dr. P.K.Giri, Associate Professor IIT Guwahati

Debashish Khan, Research Scholar, IIT Kharagpur

Bhaskar Kumar, Research Scholar, IIT Kanpur

P. Suresh Kumar, Research Scholar, IIT Kharagpur

Dr. Subhash C. Mishra, Professor, Dean of Academic Affairs, IIT Guwahati

Dr. Hare Krishna Mohanta, Assistant Professor, BITS PIlani

G. Tirupati Rao, Tata Technologies Ltd., Jamsedpur

K. Vasudeva Rao, Research Scholar, Bhaktivedanta Institute

Ramjee Repaka, Research Scholar, IIT Kharagpur

Gaurav Silwal, B.Tech., IIT Kharagpur

Dr. P. K. Singh, Reader, IT-BHU

Dr. Manoranjan Sinha, Assistant Professor, IIT Kharagpur

Abinash Kumar Swain, Research Scholar, IISc, Bangalore

Abhishek Tewari, Research Scholar, Univ. of Illinois, USA

Dr. Ram Gopal Uppaluri, Assistant Professor, IIT Guwahati

Sponsorship

This conference is partly funded by the Metanexus Institute, USA under its Local Societies

Initiative (LSI) program.

Third AISSQ Conference, 2007

From the ISKCON dandavats.com website

Letter to devotees from Prof. Subhash C. Mishra, Dean of Academic Affairs, IIT Gauhati

(profile at http://www.iitg.ac.in/scm/ )

http://www.dandavats.com/?p=4355

Jaganmohini Devi dasi: Dear devotees, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila

Prabhupada This is to inform you that Bhaktivedanta Institute(Kolkata) is organizing the 3rd All India

Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual quest(AISSQ-2007) at Tirupati(India) in the month of

December.

What follows below is a letter from the chairman of AISSQ-2007 H.G. Suvrata das (Dean of Academic

affairs IIT-Guwahati) giving brief details about the conference.

Dear well-wishers of Srila Sripada (His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodar Swami)- Hare Krishna!

Please accept my humble obeisances. All Glories to Srila Sripada! All Glories to Srila Prabhupada! I

hope all of you know that before leaving for Goloka Vrndavan(Sri Radha Kunda) abode, Srila Sripada

had fixed Tirupati, as the venue for the 3rd All India Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual

Quest (AISSQ).

In line with his guidelines and vision, I am pleased to inform you that work towards the successful

organization of the 3rd All India Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest has begun in

full swing. I have been given the responsibility to be the Chairman of the AISSQ-2007 and

accordingly, coordination of most of the activities of the AISSQ-2007, will be done from IIT Guwahati.

For details, I request all of you to visit the conference website: http://www.binstitute.org/aissq2007/

or http://www.binstitute.net/aissq2007/ or http://www.iitg.ernet.in/scm/Aissq07/aissq2007.htm

It is expected that in AISSQ-2007, we will have a total of 1000 participants including 750 students

and the remaining 250 participants will comprise of Religious leaders and Directors, Principals, Vice-

Chancellors, Professors and Scientists from select premier academic and R&D institutions from India

and abroad. We are also planning to get two science Nobel Laureates for the Conference. To

motivate interest of the participants in the conference, we will also have about 200 contributed

paper presentations in the form of poster sessions. These papers will be selected after review.

Please visit the conference website for details. Participation in the AISSQ-2007 is only by invitation /

application. All interested participants have to send duly-filled registration to regional registration

coordinators well in advance. On-spot registration is not possible. Registration form is available on

the conference website. Please download it and print yourself. I request all of your to give wide

publicity to the conference and through this Email, I on behalf of the Conference Organizing

Committee, solicit your help for the success of the conference.

Srila Sripada, Srila Prabhupada and Lord Sri Krishna will be pleased with whatever help and support

you desire to render for the conference. AISSQ-2007 is a big opportunity for all of Srila Sripada’s

well-wishers to take his grand BI vision to the Academic world. Any queries related to AISSQ-2007

either to me or to any members listed on the website, please use their Email ids given on the

conference website only. Please do not send me any Email to my institute address.

Hari Bol,

Yours in the Service of Srila Sripada, Suvrata (Prof. Subhash C. Mishra) Chairman: AISSQ-2007

Fourth AISSQ Conference, 2008

From the ISKCON dandavats.com website

Letter to devotees from Dr. Ramgopal Uppaluri, IIT Guwahati (profile at

http://www.iitg.ac.in/chemeng/RGU%20pro.html)

http://www.dandavats.com/?p=6677

Blessings & Support for BI Conference on Science & Spiritual Quest

Ramvijay das: Dear Maharajas, Prabhujis and Matajis

Hare Krsna. Please accept our humble obesiances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

With the mercy of the Vaishnava Acharyas’, we the members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata

are organizing a students’ conference on Science and Spirituality. With this email I wish to brief you

about the conference and request your blessings for the success of the conference.

The 4th All India Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest is scheduled this year from 27

to 29 December 2008 at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli. The conference is jointly

organized by Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata and NIT Tiruchirapalli. One of the major objectives of

the conference is to bring forward academic and research perspectives on the ever growing fields of

science-spirituality interface. Kindly visit our conference website http://www.binstitute.org/aissq for

further details.

The conference visionary is none other than His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami Sripada

(popularly known as Srila Sripada Maharaja in ISKCON and Dr. T. D. Singh in academic circles), a

pioneer in the synthesis of science and spirituality. The organization of the conference is according

to the legacy and vision of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Sripada through the mission of Bhaktivedanta

Institute, Kolkata. The last year’s conference was organized along with TTD, Tirupati and has

received applause from audience, media and the Indian academic community.

In continuation with the inherent ability to foster academic and research emphasis on all major

areas of science and spirituality, the conference attempts to identify competent platforms for driving

synergy between science and spirituality and promote harmony amongst the society through the

synthesis of science and spirituality.

Almost all areas of science and spirituality would be covered during the conference, which are

synopsized as follows:

Scientific and Spiritual Paths to the Ultimate Reality; Mathematics and the Ultimate Reality; Scientific

Exploration for the God; Machines, Mind and Consciousness; Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience and

Beyond; Biotechnology: Scientific and Spiritual Perspectives; Mathematical Perspectives to Life and

its Origin; Cosmology of Life and the Universe; Space and Time Dimensions; Spirituality and Health;

Science, Ethics and Spirituality; Spirituality, Ecology and Economics; Vedanta and Science; Role of

Science in Inter-faith Dialogue; Role of Spirituality to Imbibe Values in Education

The anticipated outcomes of the conference are as follows:

a) To fulfill the legacy of Srila Prabhupada, through the mission of Bhaktivedanta Institute. b)

Motivate academic circles to accept spirituality as a genuine case to establish peace and ethics in the

society. c) Encourage students as well as professionals to embrace the sankirtana mission through

the medium of science. d) Visualize the science of spirituality and the spirituality of science. e) To

envision the common principles of different major religions of the world (Vedanta, Christianity and

Islam)

Some of the devotee speakers who have confirmed to deliver talks are as follows:

1. His Holiness Subhag Maharaja, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada.

2. His Grace Visuddha Sattva Das (Prof. Carlos Rocha), Trustee member, Bhaktivedanta Institute

3. His Grace Drutakarma Prabhu (Dr. Michel A. Cremo) who has authored a book on forbidden

archaeology

4. His Grace Mukunda Madhava Das (Dr. T. T. Malai), Vice-President, ISKCON Juhu, Mumbai.

5. His Grace Isvara Krsna Das (Tasi István), Vedic Science Research Centre, Hungary

6. His Grace Suvrata Das (Prof. Subash Chandra Mishra), IIT Guwahati

7. His Grace Sitanath Das (Prof. Sudipto Ghosh), IIT Kharagpur

8. His Grace Atmaram Das (Dr. Hector Rosario), University of Puerto Rico

9. His Grace Priyatam Das (Prof. P. K. Singh), Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University,

Varanasi

10. Myself Ramvijay das, (Dr. Ramgopal Uppaluri), IIT Guwahati)

11. His Grace Paramakaruna Das (Mr. B. Prabhakar), Agere Systems, Bangalore

12. His Grace Vrajapati Das (Mr. K. Vasudeva Rao), President Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata

13. His Grace Dharmaraj Das (Dr. Debasish Khan), Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University,

Varanasi

14. His Grace Rangeshwar Das (Mr. Ramjee Repaka), National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.

Other dignitaries who have agreed to be speakers for the conference are:

1. Prof. J. N. Srivastava , Emeritus Professor, Colorado State University, USA

2. Prof. Amit Goswami, Emeritus Professor, University of Oregon, USA

3. Prof. M. Chidambaram, Director, NIT Tiruchirapalli

4. Prof. A. B. Samaddar, Director, MNNIT Allahabad

5. Dr. T. Hanuman Chowdhary, Director, CTMS, Andhra Pradesh

6. Dr. B. M. Hedge, Retired Vice-Chancellor, Manipal University

7. Prof. P. B. Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, RGT University, Bhopal

8. Prof. J. C. Misra, IIT Kharagpur

9. Prof. Bijoy Baruah, IIT Kanpur

10. Prof. Narasimhan, IIT Bombay

11. Prof. A. K. Mukhopadhyay, AIIMS, New Delhi

12. Prof. Ramnath Narayanaswamy, IIM Bangalore

13. Shri N. Gopalakrishnan, Director, Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage, Trivandrum

14. Dr. Rama Jayasundara, AIIMS, New Delhi

15. Dr. V. Gopalakrishnan, Visiting Faculty, NIT Trichy

16. Mr. Ayush Goyal, Oxford University, U. K.

17. Prof. K. Smiles Mascrenhas, Coimbatore Institute of Engineering & Information Technology,

Coimbatore.

18. Shri S. M. Amanullah, General Manager (Engg), Engineers India Limited, Delhi

Kindly bestow your mercy on us so that we can execute the mission of Srila Sripada to his

satisfaction and thereby please him, Srila Prabhupada and all the Vaishnava Acharays.

We also have an appeal: The conference is executed entirely on the basis of the voluntary donations

received from various donors. We request you to donate some amount towards the organization of

the conference. Donation of any amount from any individual is welcome.

Please feel free to contact me (ru.aissq@gmail.com) for further details.

Yours servant Ramvijay das Secretary – AISSQ2008

(Dr. Ramgopal Uppaluri) Associate Professor, IIT Guwahati

Newspaper report: proceedings of the 4th

AISSQ Conference

January 5, 2009, The Hindu

Focus on synergy between science, spirituality

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/focus-on-synergy-between-

science-spirituality/article368110.ece

TIRUCHI: The societal harmony resulting from the synergy between science and spirituality was explored during the fourth All India Students’ Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest(AISSQ), at the National Institute of Technology- Tiruchi (NIT-T), recently. A vision of T.D Singh, Founding Director of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, the three-day conference witnessed the congregation of a brilliant array of scientists, scholars, spiritual leaders and monks; all bound by the conviction that the understanding science and spirituality in proper perspectives is essential for harmonising the society. Speakers drawn from different parts of the world specialising in multifarious disciplines like science, mathematics, quantum physics, artificial intelligence, cardiology, ayurveda, corporate management, vedic cosmology, genetic engineering, sustainable development and meditations lectured on the possibilities for synthesis to guide the students to integrate the spiritual elements in their educational pursuits. Amit Goswami, Professor Emeritus with the University of Oregon, while providing a quantum physicist’s perspective on ‘The coming paradigm shift in science’ emphasised that integration of quantum physics with vedantic consciousness holds promise for a finer understanding of the secrets of the nature. Wisdom in Gita, Vedanta Jagdish N. Srivastava, a professor from Antioch and a former Research Professor with the Colorado State University, attempted to provide a mathematical method of working out the pathways to the consciousness of the void, favouring the wisdom in the Gita and the Vedanta. B.M. Hegde, a cardiologist trained under Nobel laureate Bernard Lown, explained the synergy of spirituality and science in human healing outcomes, and Subash Mishra –Prof IIT-Guwahati, in his talk on ‘ Science & Spirituality-A Message to Humanity’, said science and spirituality complement each other for harmonious self and society. Amanullah –General Manager from EIL, explored the realm of nature in the world with a rationality behind spiritualism & the necessity to integrate it with Science to achieve unlimited progress & eternal bliss, in his presentation on ‘Integration of Finite with the Infinite’. Ramnath Narayanaswamy of IIM Bangalore delivered a talk on ‘ Spiritual Capital, Gandhi and Inter-Faith Harmony: Nation-Building, Education and Social Peace’; Rama Jayasundar, an Associate Professor with the Department of NMR, AIIMS, New Delhi, on ‘The relationship among quantum physics, spirituality and ayurveda’; V. Gopalakrishnan, former Executive Director, BHEL, Tiruchi, and a visiting faculty with the Department of Computer Science, NIT-T, on ‘Artificial intelligence, neuroscience and beyond’; Prabhakar, Team Leader LSI Research , Bangalore, on ‘Effects of prayer on human body and mind’, C.R. Seshadri, General Manager, ThermoFisher Scientific-India, on ‘Complete-person paradigm: A new win-win model for promoting holistic growth in corporate management’, and Prabhat K. Singh from IT BHU, Varanasi, on ‘Sustainable development in vedantic perspective’. An interactive panel session on ‘Need for spirituality to imbibe values in education’ was chaired by P.B Sharma, Vice Chancellor , RGTU , Bhopal. The panel team consisted of M Chidambaram, Director NIT-T, K. Narasimhan of IIT - Mumbai, Jayanti Chavan, President, Institute of Science and Religion, Mumbai, and Nityashree a student from NIT-T.

Fifth AISSQ Conference, 2010

Sixth AISSQ Conference, 2011

Newspaper report: President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, inaugurates the 6th

AISSQ Conference

President Patil to inaugurate 6th All India Students’ Conference on ‘Science & Spiritual Quest’

http://www.indiaeducationreview.com/industry-updates/president-patil-inaugurate-6th-all-india-

students%E2%80%99-conference-%E2%80%98science-spiritual-qu

09 Mar 2011, The India Education Review

The Bhaktivedanta Institute in association with Delhi Technological University (DTU) is organizing the

6th All India Students' Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest (AISSQ-2011) from March 12-14,

2011. The theme of this year’s conference is “Integrating Capabilities with Values”.

The three-day conference will be inaugurated by H.E. Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of

India on March 12, 2011 at Vigyan Bhawan in the presence of Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister, NCT

of Delhi and Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member Planning Commission, GOI, among others. The next two

days of AISSQ-11 will be held at DTU campus.

AISSQ-2011 is likely to bring together a number of leading experts from all over the world on a

common platform to present and outline their vision for the benefit of the humanity in search for

deeper questions of the life and cosmos. More than 400 social, scientific and spiritual thinkers and

students from leading academic and R&D institutions from India and abroad will participate in the

conference. Keynote lectures covering major areas of science and spirituality will be delivered by

eminent speakers including Dr. Werner Arber (Nobel Laureate in Physiology for Medicine 1978),

University of Basel, Switzerland on “Scientific Notions and Traditional Wisdom on the Evolution of

the Universe and of Life”, “Paintal Memorial Lecture” by Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch, Secretary to

Govt. of India, Department of Health Research & Director General, ICMR, and a special address by

Padma Shri Dr. Vijay Saraswat, Director General, DRDO & Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister,

among others.

Also, students' participation at the conference will be through Paper Presentation, Posters and Essay

Competition on “What is Life? Scientific and Indian Spiritual Perspectives on the Nature, Purpose,

Meaning and Origin of Life”. Further details: www.binstitute.org/aissq

Seventh AISSQ Conference, 2012

Eighth AISSQ Conference, 2014

Newspaper report: 8th

AISSQ Conference

2 February 2014, Times of India

Discussion on spirituality at IIT-BHU

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/Discussion-on-spirituality-at-IIT-

BHU/articleshow/29763876.cms

VARANASI: The two-day 8th All India Students' Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest

(AISSQ-2014) organised by Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata and hosted by the Indian

Institute of Technology (BHU) began at Swatantrata Bhavan on Saturday.

The inaugural function was attended by Swami Nirmalanandanatha of Sri Adichunchanagiri

Math, Karnataka, RP Singh, chairman, board of governors, IIT Guwahati, prof Rajeev

Sangal, director, IIT (BHU) and others.

The conference was also attended by the eminent scholars including Michael Cremo

(archeologist) from Los Angeles and Hectar Rosario (mathematician) from the University of

Puerto Rico along with 60 other eminent speakers from different institutes like IITs, NITs,

AIIMS, IISc and other academic and research institutes of repute.

Prof Rajeev Sangal, director, IIT (BHU) welcomed the guests and shared his view

particularly for the students to develop high character along with science and technology,

humanities by the knowledge of spirituality. President, Bhaktivedanta Institute, Kolkata,

Vashu Dev Rao explained the task of Bhakti Vedanta and objectives of the institute. RP

Singh, chairman, board of governors, IIT Guwahati highlighted the importance of science and

spirituality.