A group of scientists and scholars from Sri Chaitanya Math working on the fundamental topics in science – Consciousness: Origin of Life and Origin of Matter under the guidance of Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. visited Shridhar University Pilani on 01 December 2011.
Prof BR Natarajan Pro Vice Chancellor welcomed them and introduced them to the audience comprising of faculty members and students of Shridhar University. Dr B N Shanta Swami who holds a PhD from IIT Kharagpur gave a talk on “Sorry, Darwin: Chemistry never made the Transition to Biology.”
Dr Shanta Swami talking of Primordial Bombardments Dumped in Darwin’s ‘Warm Little Pond’, polymerization riddle, Pre-RNA world etc raised the question of metabolism first or replication first and pointed out that biology is not to be misconceived as an amalgamation of physics and chemistry. Dr Purushottama Jagannath Dasa talked about Cellular Sentience – Downfall of Central Dogma and Atomism in Biology. The talk was followed by a lively question answer session.
Thanking the speakers for visiting Shridhar University, Prof Natarajan pointed out that it is unfortunate that while many top ranking universities in USA and Europe were doing extensive research on Consciousness Studies not many universities in India today have been focusing on this area with exceptions like BITS Pilani which offers a collaborative program with Bhaktivedanta Institute, Mumbai.
