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Dr. Krishnakant Shukla gives a talk titled “Spiritual Ecology: The Indian Village as a Model of Sustainability.”

Tuesday, Feb 8 at 7:00

at

the Deeksha House 619 Kupulau, Kihei

Krishna Shukla is a musician, scientist, writer, poet, and philosopher. After obtaining an M.S. and Ph.D. in solid state physics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he taught physics and astronomy as an assistant professor at Hartwick College, but eventually decided to quit academics to study Indian classical music in rural India.

He says, “My extensive forays into Indian villages over the last fifteen years slowly revealed to me many more invaluable treasures than just the folk music I was seeking. It slowly dawned on me that village India, its rhythm, way of life, and, most importantly, its “world view” holds much of the medicine that the modern ‘scientific’, ‘developed’ urban world needs. I began to see a truth that escapes many modern, educated people. Village India is a very sophisticated mode of existence. In stark contrast to the Darwinian “dog eat dog” paradigm of the modern, scientific, materialistic, rationalistic, post industrial world, village India evolved to maximize spiritual and emotional growth, and loving connections between fellow humans. It did NOT evolve to maximize material wealth and comforts, though it welcomed these as pleasant side benefits. Most importantly, village India evolved to co-exist in harmony with the earth and nature. It never treated the earth as a resource for human consumption.

Over the last few years, I began to speak about these experiences and the realizations distilled from them, to visiting student groups (from Europe, U.S).

The key question which I have been asking (and am still researching) is “what can village India teach New Delhi, NY, London and Tokyo?”.

So now, in addition to giving music concerts, I am increasingly being called to speak, and the label I have given to my talks is “Spiritual Ecology”. These lectures are commissioned by academic institutions (such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences), Banaras Hindu Universtiy, and, on a regular basis, at the Finance Ministry of the Central Government of India. In the latter case, my audience consists of government officials from India and several other countries who have a say in Public Funds Management. These lectures, together with the way of life and the world view I personally follow, are my own small contribution to the gigantic group effort needed to steer mankind away from its present, ‘lemmings-like” march into a dark abyss worse than death.

The lectures consist of, to begin with, an outline of some of the major crises the human community is facing in the ecological, economic, political, social, family, and personal levels. Then, I address the question of whether we can find a common cause or a key contributing, seed factor for all these problems, which introduces us to the world view that we are all immersed in today. Then we look at some alternative world views and societies, of which village India is a living example. The faulty paradigm of modern technological societies has its roots in  western science and its fruit..modern technology. This forces us to look at what was going on during the “scientific revolution” and specifically, what are the elements in modern scientific philosophy and practice that make it pathological, and how can these elements be removed? Finally, as a look towards the future and healing, how science can be infused with spirituality and love to make it whole and sane.

Directions:This Tuesday, Feb 8 at 7:00 at the Deeksha House 619 Kupulau, Kihei

Enter Maui Meadows at Mapu, turn left onto Kupulau at STOP sign.

619 is on the left side, 3 blocks up. The event is in the house in the back.

(Please be on time and park along the empty lot above the house)