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Mon 12 Feb 2024
-
Tue 13 Feb 2024

12:00 AM - 11:59 PM (UTC+5.5)

The Episteme And Experience Of Bhakti

Contemporary Hinduism is shaped and moulded by Bhakti. From a Hindu perspective, the bhakti saints are enlightened masters who walked with deities and composed authentic spontaneous verses or even music, considered to be the equivalent to Vedic revelations or the fifth/ Panchama Veda. Bhakti saints have led instructive and exemplary lives, responded to all the key texts of Hinduism (from the Vedas, Vedanta and brahmasutras to the Gita), single-handedly established mathams that have lasted till date and convinced large populations to adopt new methods to quickly access moksha. Bhakti saints have led instructive and exemplary lives, responded to all the key texts of Hinduism (from the Vedas, Vedanta and brahmasutras to the Gita), single-handedly established mathams that have lasted till date and convinced large populations to adopt new methods to quickly access moksha. Their commentaries on a common corpus of texts show a continuity in Hinduism among other things. What is also fascinating from the perspective of shraddha is that the bhakti emerging from diverse Indian regions still resembled each other in spirit while being philosophically different, in a pre-internet era. The multiplicity of philosophical positions in bhakti offers seekers a wide array of concepts and methods to choose from.

At its heart, bhakti aids self-transformation by instilling an attitude of gratitude–something that modern psychology is only now discovering. Bhakti is an effective tool in opposing an unthinking endorsement of materialism.

The modern narratives and theorizations of Bhakti have created many misunderstandings around Bhakti. , it has been quickly secularized by various camps before its inherent potential for modern living in its original form has been fully explored.

Indica is organizing a conference along with a tirtha yatra for the scholars, on Episteme and Experience of Bhakti at Bharachalam , the famous khetra of Sri Rama where a great Bhakti saint Ramadasa built the temple on the banks of Godavari. Scholars will critically engage with both the narratives and theorize Bhakti considering its origins in the Veda articulated through a the massive corpus of bhakti compositions produced by both men and women of all castes and classes, unmistakably and abundantly present in every region of India, spanning only a thousand years.

##SCHEDULE##

Day 1, 12 Feb 2024
Inaugural Session – 2.00-3.45PM
1 Dr. Nagaraj Paturi
Dean, INDICA
Welcome Address
2 Smt. Madhavi Lata Kompella
Orator, Artist, Philanthropist, Entrepreneur & Chairperson, Virinchi Hospitals
Bhakti In Hindu Arts, Life And Culture
3 Dr. Sushumna Kannan
Scholar-in-Residence, INDICA & Co-curator
Mapping The Field Of Bhakti Studies-An Indic Perspective
Tea Break – 3.45-4.00PM
Distinguished Lecture 1 – 4.00 to 4.45 PM
Vidwan Gudimella Murali Krishnamacharyulu
Aasthana Purohit & Vaidic Committee Member, Sree Sitaramachandra Swamy Vaari Devasthanam, Bhadrachalam
Significance And Forms Of Bhakti In Valmiki Ramayana
Episteme of Bhakti – Session 1 – 4.45-6.45PM
1 Sri Arvind V Iyer Locating Bhakti In Vedānta Texts Via The Daśopaniṣad Commentaries Of Upaniṣadbrahmayogin
2 Prakriti Goswami
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University-Bloomington
Paradoxes Of The Arya Samaj: Rejection Of Bhakti Against The Backdrop Of Missionary Movement And Its Ramifications
3 Tirtha
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, India
Acintyabhedābheda Darśana: The Oxymoronic Theosophy Of Bhakti
4 Yogeendra Ranganathan
Indic Film Maker
Philosophy Of Nija Bhakuti, Unfiltered Bhakthi Of Haridasas
Day 2, 13 Feb 2024
Distinguished Lecture 2 – 9.00 to 9.45 AM
Nithin Sridhar
Director & Chief Curator, Indica Moksha
When Action Becomes Devotion: Svakarmānuṣṭhāna As Devotional Offering To Bhagavān
Experience of Bhakti – Session 2 – 9.45-11.15AM
1 Arjun K V  
Research Scholar, University of Kerala
Theyyam: The Dancing Gods Of North Kerala
2 Anita Korde
Director- Heritage Foundation, Mumbai Chapter
Pandharpur Vari- The Sangam of Faith and Faithfuls
3 Smt. Nandita Banerjee
Dancer & Choreographer
Dance As Divinity: Exploring Bhakti Through Performance
Tea Break – 11.15-11.30AM
Distinguished Lecture 3 – 11.30 to 12.15 AM
Sri Rallabandi Srirama Chakradhar
Director, Eduact Innovation Labs & Thavaasmi Academy, Author, Thavaasmi & Alumnus BITS Pilani
The True Essence Of Bhakti: From The Lens Of Ramayana!
Bhakti in Space & Time – Session 3 – 12.15AM-1.15PM
1 Smt.Vaijayanthi Chakravarthy
Freelance Writer
King As A Devotee: Kulasekara, The Ruler And The Renunciate
2 Dr. Bijoya Baruah, D. Lit.
Professor, Dept. of Assamese, Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva University, Nagoan, Assam
The Treatment of Bhakti in the Madhavadeva’s ‘Nam-Ghosha’
Lunch Break – 1.15-2.00PM
Bhakti in Space & Time – Session 3 Continued – 2.00-2.30PM
4 Swastik Banerjee
University Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy, University of Calcutta
Beyond Forms: Trancendental Bhakti In Kālī Kula
Distinguished Lecture 4 – 2.30 to 3.15 AM
Dr. Srinivasa Acharya Bellamkonda
Founder Gauranga Vedanta Arts and Life Academy
Rasopasana As Raganuga Bhakti Sadhana
A Musical Lecture Demonstration – Session 4 – 3.15-4.45PM
Smt. Anuradha & Sri Srinivas Udumudi
Trisha and Isha Udumudi
Glory Of Bhadrachala Kshetra And Ramadasa’s Bhajana Sampradaya Keertanas
Tea Break – 4.45-5.00PM
Valedictory Session – 5.00-6.30PM
1 Dr. A V Nagasampige  
Director, Poorna Prajna Vidyapeeth, Bangalore
Valedictory Speech – Bhakti, A Sastric Perspective
2 Dr. Nagaraj Paturi
Dean, INDICA
Closing Remarks
3 Dr. Sushumna Kannan
Scholar-in-Residence, INDICA & Co-curator
Vote of Thanks