Press Release (28 Nov 03)

Contact: DANAM-Dr. Adarsh Deepak, a.deepak@stcnet.com, phone 757-868-9647

The 1st DANAM Conference, 21 November 03: A Tremendous Success

Nearly 80 scholars of religion, specializing in various aspects of the Study of Hinduism and related traditions, from USA, Canada, UK, Egypt, Europe, and India, attended the 1st DANAM Conference held at the site of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) annual meeting at Atlanta. The conference, organized in the format of a Symposium-cum-Roundtable with the overall theme “Contemporary Issues in Constructive Dharma,” was sponsored by Dharma Association of North America (DANAM), and co-chaired by Dr. Adarsh Deepak and Prof. Rita Dasgupta Sherma. Dr. Deepak, a former Professor and currently CEO of an advanced research company, is the President of DANAM, and the publisher of the peer-reviewed Journal of Vaishnava Studies. Prof. Rita DasGupta Sherma (Binghamton Univ., and Berghoffer Institute, NY), a scholar of Religious Studies with a specialization in Hindu theology and ethics, is the Chair of DANAM’s advisory board of visiting scholars (BDVS), and General Editor of the new Journal of Dharma Studies.

Formed in May 2002, DANAM represents both practitioners and scholars of Dharma traditions including Sanatana Vedic Dharma, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The purpose of the conference was to provide a forum where scholars of dharma traditions and interested members of dharma communities can engage in the examination of, and constructive approaches to, contemporary issues in the study of dharma traditions. While there are multiple scholarly arenas for presentation of new textual, sociological, anthropological and historic approaches to the study of Indian cultural and religious traditions, there are no dedicated venues for discourse on, and the presentation of, constructive new approaches to pedagogy, epistemology, theology, or philosophy in these systems. It is hoped that such meetings can explore the possibility that the academic study of these traditions is now mature enough to include and move beyond the limitations of phenomenological methodologies in order to engage the conceptual depth and intellectual applicability of these traditions in an inclusive forum.

The Symposium consisted of the following sessions: 1) “Science and Vedanta,” presided by Dr. P. V. Rao, Emory Univ.; 2) “Contemporary Issues in Vaishnavism,” presided by Dr. Tracy Coleman, Colorado College; 3) “The Teaching of Hindu Dharma Traditions in the US Educational System,” presided by Dr. K. C. Gupta, Hindu Univ. of America, followed by 4) the DANAM Roundtable, a panel on “Building Bridges: Dharma Traditions and the Academy,” chaired by Dr. Rita D. Sherma, Binghamton Univ. The conference was opened by Dr. Deepak, with introductions of DANAM trustees, volunteers, and other key individuals present, followed by welcome addresses by Dr. Rajinder Gandhi, MD, Board Chair of DANAM, and Prof. Rita Sherma, Chair of BDVS. Dr. Deepak stated that DANAM’s mission was to empower, enable and facilitate the generation, management and dissemination of authentic representation of Sanatana Vedic Dharma and other dharma traditions to Diaspora and other communities, and to develop bridges between, and among, the Dharma academic scholars and the dharma community in the North America for exchange of information on issues and solutions pertaining to Dharma traditions. Prof. Rita Sherma noted the need for more pronounced reflective-constructive academic engagement with Hindu Traditions in conjunction with the critical issues of our time.

In the Symposium session on Science and Vedanta, Nobel nominee Prof. E.C.G. Sudarshan, UT Austin, spoke on the physical being as an embodiment of Dharma, and Prof. Subhash Kak, Louisiana State Univ., showed examples of complex mathematics that underlie ritual methodology in the vedic texts. In the session on Contemporary Issues in Vaishnavism, Tracy Coleman discussed viraha-bhakti and stridharma in the Bhagavata Purana; Prof. Graham Schweig, Christopher Newport Univ., talked on boundless love and ethical boundaries with reflections on bhakti and dharma; and Prof. EH Rick Jarow, Vassar College, spoke on the feminine concept of surrender in Vaishanava literature. In the session on Dharma in the US Education System, Prof. Rama Rao Pappu, Miami Univ., Ohio, argued whether Dharma can be taught or must be learned through practice; and Mrs. Mona Vijaykar, founder of the Network of Parents in Classrooms in the SF Bay area, gave an entertaining visual presentation of dharma concepts tailored to sixth graders. The discussions following the papers were taped, and after editing will be published in the conference proceedings.

Participants at the Roundtable panel, chaired by Prof. Rita Sherma, included Professors Gerald Larson, Indiana Univ., Laurie Patton, Emory Univ., Graham Schweig, CNU, Vasudha Narayanan, Univ. of Florida (past President of AAR), Swami Tyagananda, Vedanta Society, S. N. Balagangadhar (Balu), Gent University, Belgium, and Rajiv Malhotra, Infinity Foundation, who was absent due to family emergency, but sent his remarks which were read by the chair. The Roundtable was initially conceived before the outbreak of the intense controversy caused by Prof. Paul Courtright’s book on “Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings", published originally by Oxford University Press (1985) and in 1999 by MotiLal BanarsiDas, Delhi. It was envisioned as a way to help diffuse bitterness and hostility between engaged North American Hindus and scholarship on Hinduism--a situation that is not helpful for the future growth of Hindu Studies. It was Rajiv Malhotra’s critique of the book and its author in his two Sulekha.com articles, “RISA Lila 1: Wendy’s Child Syndrome” and “RISA Lila 2: Limp Scholarship and Demonology,” that initiated the controversy surrounding the use of social-scientific critical theories in to interpret aspects Indian traditions. The critical theory used to interpret the iconography of Ganesha was “Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory” which eroticizes Ganesha in relation to his divine father, Lord Shiva. The Ganesha book controversy reached an impasse in recent weeks, when an internet petition started by Hindu students at a Louisiana university against the book garnered several thousand signatures within a few hours of launch, but had to be immediately stopped when some comments were posted containing physical threats against the author. With the outbreak of the Paul Courtright controversy, DANAM’s efforts at initiating a serious dialogue took on a sense of increased urgency. The Roundtable provided a scholarly forum where practitioners and scholars holding divergent views could meet to discuss this controversial issue.

The six panelists, specializing in Hindu traditions and philosophy, made impassioned pleas advocating a number of suggestions covering the full spectrum of views on both sides of the controversy. The controversy, in essence, boiled down to need for academic freedom to conduct research, engage in interpretive work that uses the critical tools of their profession and to publish it versus the freedom of Dharma
practitioners to demand representations of their sacred traditions that are in harmony with their shared experience and present understanding of their religious symbols, deities, and modes of worship. The resolution of the conflict is not yet at hand and the underlying question in the minds of many practitioners remains whether certain critical theories can be applied to Indian traditions without creating another realm of meaning from the one in which practitioners live and worship.

During the sometimes heated arguments, a consensus emerged that such a venue
provided a much needed forum and a good beginning of a dialogue between the two communities but more work needed to be done to bridge the gap. Prof. Courtright, who was in attendance, was invited to respond, which he did by stating that he regretted that his work had caused much pain among the practitioners that he had not envisioned when he wrote the book in 1985; he felt like the father who did not know how his child will turn out to be in the next eighteen years or so. It was concluded that the roundtable on building bridges be continued at the next DANAM Conference, when the AAR meets in San Antonio, TX in 2004. It is anticipated that a conference proceedings will be published in early 2004.

DANAM (Dharma Association of North American) is an independent, non-political, membership-based, non-profit organization in Virginia, with a focus on constructive presentation of Dharma traditions in the North American context. Its mission and objectives are described at its web site at www.danam-web.org, which lists distinguished scholars as Patron and Board of Distinguished Visiting Scholars (BDVS) drawn from various disciplines. Information about the Journal of Vaishnava Studies, now in its twelfth year, is available at www.deepakheritage.com.

For further information, please contact Dr. Adarsh Deepak at a.deepak@stcnet.com or Prof. Rita Sherma at rita.sherma@cgu.edu, or
contact@danam-web.org .
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