Geetha Patil
BOSTON: The Boston Center of Excellence for Health and Human Development and the MIT Hindu Students Council under their joint auspices organized a thought-provoking speech by Dr. Joy Sen, Professor and former Head, Architecture and Regional Planning, and Chairperson, Centre of Excellence for Indian Knowledge Systems, IIT Kharagpur, India at Tang Center, MIT,on October 5, 2023. Many interested and enthusiastic students of MIT along with some public from the Greater Boston area attended this program.
The program started with the welcoming remarks and introduction of Kanchan Banerjee, President, Boston Center of Excellence for Health and Human Development, by Eeshan Tripathi. President of MIT Hindu Students Council. Kanchan Banerjee familiarized Dr. Joy Sen to the audiences by presenting his excellent bio sketch and research works. He also highlighted the main objectives of his organization.
Dr. Sen who is well known for his thought stimulating work on,‘Advancement in Human Values and Planning’ history and its relationship with History of Indian Knowledge Systems with that of the world [From India to Greece; Greece to France; France to USA]’ in India and abroad.
He delivered HIS speech on ‘Indian Knowledge System and Its Emerging Complementarities with Modern Sciences’ . He thanked the organizers for inviting him to share his discoveries and comparisons with the passionate students and the zealous public. He said that the Indian sub-continent contains a fascinating range and array of knowledge systems and practices that exist side by side even today.
He talked about how did the Indian knowledge spread to the Western world and how has the Indian knowledge influenced modern scientists, theorists, and noble prizewinners in developing their theories and drawing conclusions.
He also described how Indian Sages, philosophers, poets, spiritual leaders, and Yoga influenced knowledge constructsof the western world by presenting several examples from Indian philosophy, quantum theory, thermodynamics, art and other areas. He concluded his presentation by Swami Vivekananda’s quote, “Help and not fight. Assimilation and not destruction. Harmony and Peace and not dissension.”
Kanchan Banerjee thanked the special speaker Dr. Joy Sen for his excellent and exciting speech. He also thanked all the students and the public for attending the speech with great interest in the topic. Dr. Sen and Kanchan Banerjee donated their books recently released books and IIT Kharagpur Calendar to MIT library as their informative gifts for spreading the light of knowledge.