“Under the Vedavyas Restructuring Sanskrit Scheme”, Depts Of Sanskrit, Music (Ins & Voc), Hindi, History, NCC, Sanskrit Sahity Parishad & SDHDR&T CENTRE, are organizing a three days short term course (each day from 12.20 to 02.00) on “Science of Mythology (Part 1)” in the dept of Sanskrit from 7th March to 9th March, 2019.
Following Topics will be covered- 7th March. 2019 – Science of Mythology, 8th March, 2019 – Mythology and Leadership, 9th March, 2019 – Mythology & Management Sutras
Why this short term course – 1. Somewhere in the 19th century, knowledge was divided into scientific knowledge and non-scientific knowledge, and the former was placed on a higher pedestal, as ‘real’ knowledge & many people stick to this silly idea even today. Yes, science is a process of thinking based on observation, measurement, experimentation and reproducibility. This works very well when dealing with material things but not so well when the mind comes into the picture. Uncertainty and complexity seems to increase when one move from the realm of physics and chemistry to the realm of biology to the realm of psychology. Not that physics is an exact science; scientific knowledge is always provisional, based on current state of measurement and data available. New data can upset the current understanding of the world. So all knowledge remains uncertain, restricted by assumed standard conditions and contexts. Few people understand this provisional nature of science and assume science to be absolute, objective, ontological, a replacement for religion. That is the root cause of the tension between scientific and non-scientific knowledge in society. 2. No society can exist without myth as it creates notions of right and wrong, good and bad, heaven and hell, rights and duties. It tells people how they should see the world… Different people will have their own mythology, reframing old ones or creating new ones. Myth is a sacred idea expressed in narratives, symbols and rituals. Since the idea of sacredness, and by extension ‘divine’, cannot be explained rationally, it is often dismissed as ‘myth’ in the sense of absurd and fantastic. It communicates a worldview to an individual and a community. In this worldview it generates ideas of perfection (perfect age, perfect man) and of possibility (liberation, salvation, heaven, hell). Mythology has given every community a worldview and hence identity. The Hindu is different from the Christian because each one’s narratives imagery and customs construct a different worldview. Considering the difference in approach to life, differences in behavior are bound to crop up. If we don’t appreciate the worldview, there is tension and confrontation. 3.* European politicians of the 19th century insisted that Christianity is based on history, but Hinduism is based on mythology. Many 21st century Hindu still fall for the century-old bait and argue that Hinduism is also historical, when in fact, the question they should ask is: how can God be a historical fact? If God is not a historical fact, then how can the Son of God, or God’s last messenger, or God’s commandments, be historical facts? No faith is based on historical fact. They are all based on myth. Indians are not conventionally historical because Indian thought – Hindu, Buddhist and Jain – sees the world as having no beginning (anadi) and no end (ananta) and time as cyclical. By contrast Abrahamic faiths see time in linear terms; the world with a beginning (Genesis) and end (Apocalypse) and so history is important. Hinduism sees the past as invalid, and prefers the timeless (sanatan) doctrine (dharma). Judaism, Christianity and Islam need the past of ‘Original Sin’ as that marks the beginning of their time. But no historian will call Original Sin an historical event, or Eden a geographical location.
You are welcome to join us.
(सभी को ज्ञापित हो कि आयोजक उपर्युक्त विचार, भाषा -सामग्री के लिए डा० देवदत्त पट्टनायक के प्रति बिना हिचक अपनी कृतज्ञता ज्ञापित करते हैं और घोषित करते हैं कि इससे किसी भी प्रकार का आर्थिक या व्यापारिक लाभ की अपेक्षा नहीं है। यह सामग्री केवल अकादमिक कार्य में रुचि उत्पन्न करने के लिए है।)
Regards
Ashutosh Angiras,
Dr. Rajinder Singh, Principal cum Patron