Indic Book Club and Friends of India Society Launch “Inside Chanakya’s Mind”
HOUSTON: Indic Book Club, a global, multi city, horizontal network of Academics, Authors, Artists & Activists made its American debut with its first event in Houston on Sunday, February 19 and buoyed by its success, did the International book launch of “Inside Chanakya’s Mind” the following Thursday, February 23.
The first event was a talk by Dr. Pankaj Jain on “Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities” and was attended by over 30 folks. Dr. Jain began his talk with the history of the Bishnoi Community in South Asia and the genesis of the “Swadhyaya Movement”. Dr. Jain engaged the audience with a distinct sense of humor, peppered his talk with many North Indian colloquial terms related to Nature Worship and mentioned the history of socio-cultural movements such as Chipko. He also talked about Krutibhakti and how it is deeply embedded in Indic traditions. He beautifully explained “We need to move from Upbhog (consumption) to Upasana (worship) for the long term sustenance of ecology, as demonstrated by Swadhyaya movement”.
The second event was the Book Launch of Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai’s “Inside Chanakya’s Mind” and was attended by over 80 Houstonians from all walks of life. Vice Chancellor of Mumbai University, Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh delivered the keynote speech and later Deputy Consul General of India, Surendra Adhana invited Dr. Deshmukh and Dr. Pollai to launch the book.
Prof Sarath Menon from UFH introduced Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai as the Deputy Director at University of Mumbai’s “Chanakya International Institute of Leadership studies (CII LS)”. It was mentioned that Dr. Pillai’s had done extensive research on “Kautilya‟s Arthashastra”, from Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) under the guidance of Dr. Gangadharan Nair, the dean of Adi Shankara Sanskrit University. In his riveting address, Dr. Pillai talked about the convergence of apparently distinct areas like warfare and Ayurveda.
Both the talks were moderated by Sunanda Vashisht, Co-Founder of “MyIndMakers” (www.myind.net). The talks began with an introduction to FISI by its USA National Coordinator Achalesh Amar, who spoke about the need for Intellectual Renaissance rooted in Indic traditions. Achalesh exhorted the audience “Let us all re-ignite our passion in defense of the motherland as its glory is even higher than the Heavens – Janani Janmbhumisch Swargaatapi Gariyasi”. This was followed by a brief introduction of Indic Book Club by Pramod Kumar Buravalli, Founder of MyIndMakers and Global Coordinator for IBC.
About Friends of India Society International (FISI)
The Friends of India Society of International (FISI) brings together friends of India worldwide to safeguard the interests of India and people of Indian origin. FISI was founded in 1975 to safeguard Indian democratic institutions and ideals in the aftermath of “emergency rule.” The FISI is now an international association of the friends of India – drawn from among the Indian diaspora and the public in which the Indian diaspora resides. FISI under the leadership of Rajiv Varma as International Coordinator, seeks to help India to meet all challenges by advancing an accurate picture of India and the Indian diaspora, their achievements and contributions to world civilization and the global family.
About Indic Book Club (IBC)
Indic Book Club is a global, multi city, horizontal network of Academics, Authors, Artists & Activists nurtured by Indic Academy. Indic Academy, a Not for Profit Trust established in 2016 in Hyderabad, India is partnering with Friends of India Society (FISI) to launch Indic Book Clubs across cities in the Americas.
More details about Dr. Pillai’s concluded talk, Dr. Jain’s talk and other upcoming talks in Houston and other cities can be found at (https://www.facebook.com/Indicbookclub/). For further details on IBC and FISI Talks, please feel free to contact Achalesh Amar @ 713 357 8216 and Pramod Kumar Buravalli @ 832 795 9495.