Aryan Invasion/migration Theories & Debates -2

[acharya]

ITP’s World Wide Learning Exchange (WWLE) & the Stanford Hindu Council Presents:

Vedic Psychology: Reviving the Vedic Aryan
A Seminar with Dr. Anuradha Choudry, PhD
5:00pm to 6:30pm on Monday, November 3, 2008
Gaia Room at ITP


From the time of India’s colonization by the British till date there has been a lot of debate about the concept of ‘Aryan’ that has its origin in the RigVeda. The interpretation that gained most popularity among the Western scholars and that has been blindly accepted as a fact by the average Bharatiya is that the Aryans were a certain race with characteristic features resembling those of the tall, fair-skinned Europeans. During World War II, Hitler used the term for his own benefit and gave it such a negative connotation that it is almost impossible to talk about being an ‘Aryan’ without being considered a radical. In his book The Secret of the Veda Sri Aurobindo goes back to the etymology of the word which is ‘ar’, meaning to cultivate. According the his psycho-spiritual interpretation of the Veda, Sri Aurobindo shows that the concept of Aryan in the Vedas originally signified an individual who constantly strove to cultivate his/her inner-being in quest of an integral perfection of his/ her being. Moreover the fact that the term Arya never signified a race has been scientifically substantiated by Michel Danino in his book The Invasion That Never Was. Today, in an age overshadowed by materialism, where technology has made the world into a global village and people everywhere are seeking to establish their cultural identity, it is worth restoring the true sense of the term ‘Arya’ so that the young generations of Bharatiyas can look up once more to their ancients forefathers as role models and aspire for a better and higher life in the pursuit of Truth which is the essence of Aryahood.

Dr. Anuradha Choudry is a graduate from Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Puducherry. She completed her PhD in Sanskrit on Vedic Psychology under Dr. K.E Dharaneedharan from Pondicherry University attempting to show the practical application of this new kind of psychology in our daily lives. As a volunteer with Samskrita Bharati, she is an active advocate of Spoken Sanskrit and has conducted many 10 day Spoken Sanskrit camps in Bharatam and abroad. She has also participated in several workshops that encourage peace and harmony within various international youth groups. Presently she is a recipient of the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship of the European Union and is doing her MLitt in ‘Crossways in European Humanities’ from the University of St-Andrews in Scotland, and the UniversityofBergamoinItaly.


A FREE Event; All are welcome.

For more information contact: Lauren Bracciodieta, wwle@itp.edu (wwle AT itp DOT edu)
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
1069 East Meadow Circle
Palo Alto, CA 94303
www.itp.edu