December 1, 2018
An international conference on ‘Birthing the New Humanity’ (BTNH) was organized at the Hotel Chancery Pavilion, Bengaluru, from November 30 to December 2, 2018, where Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Director—SAFIC, participated as a contributor and also delivered his research news. BTNH (https://www.birthingthenewhumanity.com/) is supported by the Noble Institution for Environmental Peace which is accredited in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Dr. Sampadananda Mishra and Dr. Kalyani (Founder Director—Dhyanbaby Prenatal Education and a resource person of SAFIC) talked about a combined programme on prenatal education, titled ‘Supraja—Creating a Conscious Humanity’. Supraja is a 12-hour course designed and delivered by Dr. Sampadananda Mishra and Dr. Kalyani for those who would like to be a part of the spiritual movement of creating a conscious humanity (supraja-janana). In this two-day-long workshop, the participants got an opportunity to understand and bring about a conscious change in the major aspects of human birthing (reproduction), including conception and development of a child, role of maternity and parenting in spiritual light. Participants were also reintroduced to the deeper concepts of marriage, man and woman relationship, prenatal education—ancient and modern insights, planned and willed conception, physical and psychological aspects of prenatal care and pregnancy, postnatal care and parenting.
The research on prenatal education that is taking place at SAFIC was shared with the participants. It was inspiring to meet and interact with numerous childbirth educators, psychologists, educationists and therapists working on prenatal and postnatal care and counselling. It was also enlightening to meet Dr. Julie Gerland and Dr. Francois Gerland, co-founders of ‘Birthing the New Humanity’ organization.
December 5
Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Director–SAFIC, was invited to deliver the M. L. Mehta Memorial Lecture organized by the Vigyan Samiti, Udaipur, Rajasthan on December 5, 2018. The talk was on ‘Adhyatmik Jeevan Drishti’ and was delivered in Hindi. In order to be truly happy man must aspire to grow in consciousness. It’s in the vastness of consciousness there is happiness—‘यो वै भूमा तत् सुखम्…’ The limited human consciousness is the source of all unhappiness—‘नाल्पे सुखमस्ति...’ This was the main focus of the talk.
Dr. Mishra explained in a simple language how to live a spiritual life by following certain inner disciplines. Sri Aurobindo’s famous statement ‘All Life is Yoga’ was elaborated in the talk. This talk was attended by many dignitaries and elites connected with Vigyan Samiti, Udaipur, and members of the Sri Aurobindo Society, Udaipur.
December 6
On December 6, 2018, Dr. Mishra delivered a lecture on the ‘Principles of Integral Education’ for the students and faculty of Nimbark Teachers’ Training College, Udaipur. Dr. Mishra explained about the greatness of ancient Indian education system, the principles of Integral Education, how Integral Education experiment is taking place at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education in Puducherry. The examples and stories Dr. Mishra shared with the participants to make them clear about various facets of Integral Education were highly appreciated by the participants.
At a Satsang (spiritual congregation) organized at the Sri Aurobindo Society, Jaipur Branch on December 9, Dr. Sampadananda Mishra spoke on the ‘Practical Aspects of Integral Yoga’. Living one life in the midst of many lives, constant remembrance of the Divine, performing all actions with the right attitude, purity and intensity in aspiration, surrender, opening oneself to the Divine, these were few major points that Dr. Mishra elucidated on for the members present.
December 15
On December 15, an interactive session on ‘Sanskrit and Its Importance’ was conducted by Dr. Mishra for a group of students and faculty of the University of Oregon (UO), Eugene, United States. The focus was on the systematic and scientific nature of Sanskrit language, the alphabet of Sanskrit and the transparent system of root sounds of Sanskrit. The whole group was overwhelmed by the magic and logic of Sanskrit and Dr. Surendra Subramani, Professor from the UO, wrote in a message that the some of the participants who attended the program are now deeply inspired by the Sanskrit and would like to learn the language from SAFIC.
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As part of the ‘Living Within’ series of seminars organized by NAMAH and SACAR every year, a 4-day seminar was organized at SACAR from December 20 to 24, 2018. On December 22, Dr. Mishra was invited to speak on the topic ‘My Destiny Is in My Hand’. By being more and more conscious of one’s own ‘svabhava’ and by being guided constantly by the soul one can not only change one’s destiny but also be the master of one’s own fate. This can be effectuated by the ‘purushartha’ (the human effort) for liberating oneself from all limitations and the taking the support of the ‘Bhagavat Kripa’ (the Supreme Grace).
December 25–30
Dr. Sampadananda Mishra conducted a six-day Sanskrit intensive course for some of the active members of Vision India Foundation from December 25 and 30, 2018. The course venue was at the Keshav Srushti campus, Thane. In this beautiful campus of 300 acres, it was a delight to be immersed in the dissemination of the divine language Sanskrit. The participants were mostly brilliant young minds aspiring to be the future leaders, bureaucrats, policymakers and change makers. In these six days, they were exposed to various facets of Sanskrit such as its creative power, magic and logic, chandas, scriptures, stories, rhyming songs, mantras, conversational Sanskrit, etc. Most of the participants felt happy to get a holistic understanding of the Sanskrit and Indian culture through this workshop.
