national seminar 3rd December, 2011 Saturday

SANATAN DHARMA COLLEGE (Lahore), AMABALA CANTT.

(Under the Restructuring Sanskrit Scheme)

ONE DAY NATIONAL SEMINAR

ON

प्राश्निक तकनीक (विधि) के सन्दर्भ में भारतीय तथा पाश्चात्य परम्परा में जिज्ञासा का परिभाषिकीकरण

Defining Indian & Western Traditions of Enquiry – with reference to questioning techniques

Organized by – Department of Sanskrit, S. D. College (Lahore), Ambala Cantt

Academic Collaboration – Department of Philosophy, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

Academic Support - Haryana Sanskrit Academy, Panchkula

S D Adarsh Sanskrit College, Ambala Cantt.

Sponsored by - Indian Council of Philosophical Research, New Delhi.

Date – 3rd December, 2011, Saturday Time – 9.00 am to 5.30 pm

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Under the Restructuring Sanskrit Scheme of department of Sanskrit, we cordially invite teachers, Scholars/ academicians from Arts/ Humanities Science/ Commerce/ law to share their views on the above mentioned subject.

In India, man has been trying to comprehend the reality of life pertaining to his personal problems and the challenges that disturbed him form external environment / circumstances. These processes of life understanding lead him to develop his world view also. The curiosity to solve his anxieties and worries took its shape / form of spontaneous questioning. The questions used to be very innocent but very deep in the ancient Vedic texts or Upanishads we find questions of two types – one is what is the nature of this phenomenal reality around him and the second was what am I? The Upanishads enunciate that the latter question is the real question so the aspirant must examine the nature of the phenomenal surroundings and then come to the concluding question what is the nature of his own existence – for this type of questioning, it is recommended that one must posses a degree of mental clarity and disinterested quiescence so that the question may culminate in to complete fulfillment – परीक्ष्य लोकान् कर्मचितान् ब्राह्मणो निर्वेदमायान्नास्त्यकृतः कृतेन तमेवार्थं गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत् समित्पाणिं श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम्। Therefore we find two types of questioning techniques – one is spontaneous & other intellectual in Sanskrit Literature. कठोपनिषद् applies a very significant term i.e. विचिकित्सा that means knowing reality for the treatment of day to day problems of humanity.

The आगमिक Tradition of the ancient आचार्य too emphatically proclaims that the true knowledge dawns only after the rise of sincere and meaningful questions and the replies of the truthful teachers. They proclaim that the तान्त्रिक Knowledge could take its creative form out of the questions and answer of the disciples and receptors and gurus – प्रश्नोत्तरपदैर्वाक्यैस्तन्त्रं समवतारयत्।

In the later periods along with the complexities of changing patterns of life the intellectual technique of question became dominant and an analytical approach to life and thoughtful reasoning techniques gave birth to a systematic and scientific teaching and learning methodology in the Indian social order.

On the other hand we find a lot of restless minds of the Greek tradition that was trying to build a bridge between the two types of enquiry namely – the philosophy and science. If Socratic & Platonic tradition was contributing its best to the trends of philosophical idealism simultaneously on the other hand thinkers like Aristotle and his predecessors were putting their whole energy to explore the material energy and present some material to the solution of day today problems of human beings. Aristotle’s academies are known for their contributions in the field of modern sciences. He converted philosophy in science as a form of organized body knowledge and more useful in the practical behaviour of human beings. Since then western mind did not stop enquiring in to the material world of facts that ultimately culminated into the modern Newtonian era.

Since India is a democratic country with traditional mindset so right to question becomes a fundamental right of everybody to bring in the directed changes in society. There is no doubt that everyone has the right to raise questions. Does everyone know how put questions with a positive sense of doubt and enquiry? What should be the standard format for making an enquiry and putting a good or a bad question? What makes a meaningful / useful or a meaningless / useless attempt to understand issues and problems? If we as human beings or Indians wish to keep alive the tradition of knowledge, we must know and learn the art of questioning and communication.

It is the sheer the dynamics of the spirit of Sanskrit language & literature that has provided with us the much needed momentum to know more, learn more and to share more and more. This particular seminar is to invite the attention of the philosophers to open up an interactive dialogue with active imagination of Sanskritists, thinkers and scientists. Since the tradition of Sanskrit has taught us in very clear and bold terms to accept the facts of life uncritically and then to investigate critically, that makes Indian tradition of knowledge an exponent of techniques of educating the people. The questioning technique was analyzed in the following forms.

1) एकाँशव्याकरणीय प्रश्न – Questions which ought to be explained categorically. So accordingly let us put forward the first query - “Does the term Indian Questioning Technique make any sense?” This type of question can be answered either in yes or no since the question is clear in respect of both syntax and semantics.

2) Second types of questions which ought to be answered are with a counter question. These are called प्रतिपृच्छाव्याकरणीय. Accordingly, let us put forward the second query for our evaluation- “Is question and enquiry (प्रश्न एवम् जिज्ञासा) one and the same?”

3) Then there are third type of questions which can be set aside and which are called स्थापनीय प्रश्न. Accordingly let us have the third kind of query made to Buddha- “Is there Ataman after death or Does God exist?”

4) And the last but not the least type of questions are those which ought to be explained analytically and then answered- these are called विभज्यव्याकरणीय. Accordingly we invite you to deliberate on the query i.e.-“What is the working model of Indian or western questioning techniques?” For this we need adequate specifications, clarifications and analysis from various angles.

But a general belief of the so called modern minds, because of their preconceived notions and predilections, doubt the validity of traditional approach to knowledge and they allege that -

1) Traditionalist mindset has failed to explore the scientific fundamentals of human understanding.

2) Traditional mindset followed no experimental approach to practical problems of life.

3) Traditional mindset is dominated by superstition.

The effect of this corrupt and vitiated understanding or mental outlook proved a very negative in the field of present era. To understand a subject properly, especially when the subject is of an intricate and extremely delicate nature, it is necessary that our mind should be dispossessed of all preconceived notions and vices.

It is not true that Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy are against the Greek way of scientific query i.e. principles, axioms, proof and experimentation. It is just to open the dialogue and to explore the oriental way of scientific questioning i.e. relating one thing to another. It is this oriental scientific questioning technique where department of Sanskrit and department of Philosophy find explanations about the relations between gross and the subtle, and the process of creativity. Time and again the spirit of Indian tradition has proclaimed denied acceptance of any theory without experimentation- “अविदितसर्वस्य परीक्षकस्य सर्वं ज्ञातं भवति” i.e. only experiments can yield knowledge of the unknown or in the discourse of Buddhist words of –“परीक्ष्य भिक्षवो ग्राह्यं मद्वचनं न तु गौरवात्” i.e. after examination accept my words not because of my status.

The department of Sanskrit and department of Philosophy pursue to find out a unified theory of query which should be all inclusive. We know and realize that it is very difficult to construct a complete unified query of everything all at one go. We have made progress by finding partial queries that describe a limited range of happenings and neglect other effects. We hope to find a complete, comprehensive, consistent, unified query that would include all the partial queries. The quest for such a creative understanding and query is known as ‘The Unification of Occidental and Western query.’ But the great challenge remains whether a unified query of everything in Philosophy is possible or not? Or are we just chasing shadows in a mirage? Seemingly there are three possibilities available -

1) A dialogue between the two different schools must generate something spontaneously.

2) Although query is never ultimate yet sequence of sensible queries can create a healthy environment for the suffering minds.

3) An aptitude of self conscious receptivity may appear in the modern education system. Because there is no fixed or predetermined theory of human query as events can not be anticipated beyond a certain extent but occur in a random and arbitrary manner.

Large amount of questions are available in Indian tradition right from Vedic age to the modern era. Questions have kept changing their nature in accordance with the circumstances and the context. May it be the questioning technique of Rishis like Narada, Arjuna, Manu, etc. Indian tradition is full of philosophical, social, scientific, spiritual questions and those queries need to be addressed in a novel fashion so that they become useful to the upcoming generations. This seminar basically aims at to learn the art of raising questions or making a sensible query and to know the constituents of questioning.

It is expected that to meet the present crisis occurring in the latest living order of humanity the burning questions regarding the problems disturbing our socio-political–legal-economical and spiritual, be raised whether can we think of some scientific or philosophical theory of solving the problems is possible to thrash out or not. These questions can be presented in three fold form of enquiry – why- how and what.

Suggested Topics-

वैदिक प्रश्न परम्परा का स्वरूप औपनिषदिक प्रश्न परम्परा

पौराणिक/तान्त्रिक प्रश्न परम्परा दार्शनिक प्रश्न परम्परा (न्याय-वैशेषिक, सांख्य-योग, मीमांसा-वेदान्त)

जैन-बौद्ध प्रश्न परम्परा धर्मशास्त्रीय प्रश्न परम्परा

धार्मिक सन्त/साधुओं/गुरुओं के प्रश्नों का स्वरूप संस्कृत/ हिन्दी/ पञ्जाबी/ अंग्रेजी साहित्य में प्रश्न की अन्तर्धाराएं

लौकिक एवम् शास्त्रीय प्रश्नों का स्वरूप भारतीय तथा पाश्चात्य प्राश्निक शब्दावली

अरविन्द, विवेकानन्द, कृष्णांमूर्ति, महर्षि रमण के प्रश्नों का प्रारूप

वैज्ञानिक-साहित्यिक-आध्यात्मिक प्रश्नों का स्वरूप और तकनीक

पाश्चात्य प्रश्न परम्परा ( अरस्तू, सुकरात, प्लेटो, काण्ट, हिगेल, फ़्रायड, मार्क्स, सार्त्र आदि)

पूंजीवादी – मार्क्सवादी प्रश्न एवम् जिज्ञासा क्रिश्चियन तथा मुस्लिम प्रश्न परम्परा

विशेष – १. अपनी प्रतिभागिता एवम् पत्र प्रस्तुति की पूर्वसूचना आवश्यक रूप से २५ नवम्बर, २०११ तक

दीजिए।

२. प्रायोजित धन परिसीमित होने से यात्रा भत्ता की देने की व्यवस्था नहीं है।

३. आई सी पी आर, नई दिल्ली को शोध पत्र जमा करवाने के लिए की लिखित/ टंकित/

साफ़्टकापी अनिवार्य है।

४. आयोजन की सफ़लता तथा अधिकतम ज्ञान चर्चा के लिए कृपया समय का सम्मान करें।

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विशिष्ट सहयोग

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कार्यक्रम

पंजीकरण - ०९.०० से ०९.३० तक

आद्युन्मेष – ९.३० से ११.०० तक

चाय-पान- ११.०० से ११.१५ तक

प्रथम विमर्श - ११.१५ से १.३० तक

भोजनावकाश –१.३० से २.१५ तक

द्वितीय विमर्श -२.१५ से ४.०० तक

चाय-पान - ४.०० से ४.१५ तक

निमेष –४.१५ से ५.३० तक