A new spirit of oneness will take hold of the human race.

-Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo Society Union Territory of Puducherry under the ‘International Cultural Relations’ Project of AuroBharati, organized a Lecture on the topic ‘Culture unites all’ by Professor (Dr.) Ramesh C. Gaur, & Dean (Administration) & Professor & Director (Lib. & Inf.), IGNCA, Ministry of Culture, New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Kishor Kumar Tripathy, Member Secretary, AuroBharati, Sri Aurobindo Society said that Indian culture is incredibly diverse and rich, reflecting thousands of years of history, traditions, languages, and customs. He mentioned about the vision of Maharshi Aurobindo on the grand cultural heritage “Indian civilisation has been the form and expression of a culture as great as any of the historic civilisations of mankind, great in religion, great in philosophy, great in science, great in thought of many kinds, great in literature, art and poetry, great in the organisation of society and politics, great in craft and trade and commerce.” He said about the ideas of Sri Aurobindo on the defence and revivao of Indian Culture with special emphasis on rich and diversity of cultural expressions, unity in diversity, peace and sustainable development.

Eminent scholar and speaker, Prof. Dr. Ramesh Chandra Gaur presented his views on the origin and evolution of Indian culture including the broad spectrum of topic such as shared beliefs, customs, values, and practices. He shared about the contribution of Sri Aurobindo and his works on India and Indian Culture. Emphasizing on the cultural divides that emerged in India due to the massive attack by the Mughal invaders and by the European colonizers, particulary the British.  He mentioned about the inherited traditions, landmarks, artifacts, and practices that are passed from a generations to generations and present the glory of Indian culture. Dr. Gaur spoke about the shared cultural heritage of Indian and emphasized on unity in Diversity, Religious Plurality, Festivals, Cuisine, Traditional Clothing, Art and Architecture, Family Values, Language and Literature, Spirituality and Philosophy. Addressing the critical issues related to the crises in the contemporary scenario, Dr. Gaur said that The state of being united or joined as a whole, often referring to the cohesion and solidarity among individuals or groups within a society or nation and culture can play a prominent role for creating unity in diversity, peace and sustainability. At the end of the lecture, significant interactions held on focussing on specific issues related to diversity of cultural expressions and cross-cultural relations.

“A widest and highest spiritualising of life on earth is the last vision of all that vast and unexampled seeking and experiment in a thousand ways of the soul’s outermost and innermost experience which is the unique character of [India’s] past; this in the end is the mission for which she was born and the meaning of her existence.”

(Sri Aurobindo)

About the speaker: Prof. Ramesh Chandra Gaur Ph.D. Fulbright Scholar (Virginia Tech, USA), Former Director, National School of Drama.  Prof. Gaur is the first Indian nominated as Member- the International Advisory Committee (IAC) UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) Programme (2018-2025) as well as Member UNESCO Global Task Force on Indigenous Languages (2020-2032). Prof. Gaur has received / honoured with over 18 National and International awards. Prof. Gaur has also served as member of Expert Consultation Committee for setting up of International Centre on Documentary Heritage (ICDH) in South Korea. Prof. Gaur has also been appointed as Chairman of Project Monitoring Committee (PMC) of a NITI Aayog Project (under the directions of PMO) – Networking/ integrating Libraries amongst various Union Ministries/ Departments, to enable Libraries to deliver higher quality services in an integrated manner.