Start Date: 18 october, 2019 End Date: 20 october, 2019 Location: Sri Aurobindo Society
International Conference on “Spiritual Perspectives on Creating a Conscious Humanity” October 18-20, 2019 – Inaugural Function and Day 1
The conference was represented by a geographically diverse set of 23 speakers from France and across India with speakers from Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Kollam, Jaipur, Surat and Pondicherry.
We had 8 keynote speeches, 13 paper presentations, a plenary session and a panel discussion as part of the conference.
We saw that speeches and presentations were inspired by various fields like science, Ayurveda, Yoga, Sri Vidya Yoga, Kabir Das Dohas, Kalarippayattu, etc
The conference was inaugurated and addressed by Prof. Subash Chandra Parija, Vice-Chancellor, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth who emphasised the importance of the conference theme.
The first keynote speech by Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani was on creating a conscious humanity, the yogic way. He touched on how to break the cycle of Karma, Samskara, Vasana and vritti using the power of intent as a tangent adopting the yogic way. He specifically spoke about the yogic postures for pregnant women and various yogic aspects 
that would enhance the consciousness of the mother to bring in the new life.
Dr Tushar Dashora gave a thought-provoking talk on Karmic effect of abortion highlighting how a father is also impacted along with the mother at a karmic level. He also presented certain facts to clarify misleading assumptions on abortion.
Deepa Vaitheeshwaran gave a very interesting similarity of a mother’s womb with the Kalari pit which is beneath the earth designed based on the 5 elements and kundalini shakti. She also described Sri Chakra through Sri Vidya Yoga representing the union of Shiva Shakti and also explained the 3 main rituals performed before procreation to strength the embryo and enhance mental growth.
International Conference on “Spiritual Perspectives on Creating a Conscious Humanity” October 18-20, 2019 – Day 2
Ms Paula Murphy presented with visually appealing pictures on a guide for mothers, fathers and midwifes. She also brought in perspectives from Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri.
In the first paper presentation session, we heard from Rutu Baldha about how Auro Navjeevan Sanskar shikshan kendar is bringing in revolution towards conscious creation of a being by providing free service on guidance of food, mental, emotional and intellectual development through simple activities. We also taken through a journey into a child’s world by Nivedita Mondal to understand the mother infant attachment through breast feeding, providing a circle of security, responsive parenting and early stimulation. We heard from Rubai Saha on True Maternity from a spiritual perspective with reference to various scriptures like the Smritisastras, Words of the Mother and Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.
Dr.P Ram Manohar provided the keynote speech on “Garbhashariram: creating a nurturing life consciously through ayurvedic perspective and context”. He highlighted that consciousness is the invisible seed which helps in transformation of the material matrix and to manifest itself. According to Auyurveda, Garbha the mother’s womb is called the temple where new life is created and that conception is an opportunity to change the course of human destiny through conscious choice. Many other perspectives from Ayurveda on Karmic engineering, garbhasharira, sensory development in the womb, sindhura on the forehead and celebrating the expansion of consciousness were presented.
In the second paper presentation session we had four speakers. Usha Rani presented a very motivating initiative called Matru Shishu yoga for mother infant dyads when the mother has mental illness, focusing on how to handle the bonding with the baby to increase the attachment. Nutan Pandit presented how five Bach flower rescue remedies could be used innovatively to harmonize body, mind and soul since it works at the vibrational level. Monica Gulati bought in her personal spiritual journey and how she became conscious to feel the rain of grace and become porous to absorb it all.
Dr Julie Gerland gave a very engaging keynote speech on “The sacred marriage of spirit and matter – personal, collective and planetary transformation”. Dr Julie called out that education begins before birth. Through her personal journey she explained how to go deep and connect with the cells to express gratitude and unconditional love to work in harmony. This way parents can heal themselves by giving birth to new cells consciously and then plan to give a new birth of life.
The plenary session on the role of education in preparing conscious humanity was co-ordinated by Pragya
Dr Prabhjot Kulkarni explained “The role of the teacher as a Yogi in preparation of conscious humanity”. Calling out on the current challenges due to technology and global influences on defining the role of the teachers to balance out their high ideals and aspirations. She elucidated the 2005 education policy to bring in a paradigm shift for our future education by moving to learner centric and collaboration. She called out the 12 attributes of the Mother are to be imbibed by the teacher and could adopt the 4 points – finding the true purpose of life, looking other and oneself as growing souls, means of self-consecrations and look at problems and challenges as inner growth.
Shivakumar spoke on “Education for conscious development in early childhood”. Highlighting how the current education system in information based which should move towards growth 
oriented. Growth has to be focused on physical, emotional and Vital or Mental level which are then guided by the holistic level. The actual education would then mean to have an environment for a child to remain in touch with the inner being or psychic being.Dr. Sampadananda Mishra gave an appealing talk on “understanding Man & Woman relationship: a necessary condition for creating conscious humanity”. With questions on what is marriage and what is its purpose and what makes us complete? Reading out the lines written by The Mother on marriage and so beautifully explaining the deeper relationship and the meaning of marriage. With this marriage, purusha and prakruthi should invoke a soul with intense prayer to manifest!
International Conference on “Spiritual Perspectives on Creating a Conscious Humanity” October 18-20, 2019 – Day 3
On Day 3, The first session started with the keynote speech on the topic – A universal spiritual vision on creating a conscious Humanity” by Dr. Francois Gerland. He shared his spiritual journey and his experience of meeting his Guru at conscious level and how he was attracted to the beautiful eyes looking at him. He believes that in nature there is no void and that Heart, Will and Intellect have to be in perfect balance. He compared the journey from vitality to spirituality through the colours passing through the inverted prism. He described Man and Woman in Physical plane, Astral plane and Mental plane and then in the fourth region. He further explained the law of recording and Spiritual galvanoplasty. He emphasized on purification to be the basis of spirituality and how to create a conscious humanity. He ended by reminding the mothers to become conscious of their power and the sacred duty they have.
The third paper presentation session consisted of three talks which started by Dr G Shashidhara with his talk on “Living in the present as a scientific way in creating conscious beings”. He explained the relative existence and how the truth of our life is PRESENT which has outer present and inner present representing Prakruthi and Purusha. This PRESENT is called the EVERPRESENT state. The second speaker Sheela Govindharaaj spoke on “Conscious pregnancy and celebrating 
motherhood”. She shared the practices developed by them inspired by ancient wisdom to help the pregnant women at a multi-dimensional level. Through pictures, she exhibited how the fathers are equally and actively engaged with the mother in the practices. The third speaker Ms Divvya Nirula engaged everyone with an experiential questioning through an activity on “Seven questions guiding us towards the sustainability of the self and human relationships”. She emphasised that one feels complete by connecting with the divine grace.
The fourth paper presentation session also had three speakers. Dr. Geeta Auropremi spoke on “Ayurveda and Conscious creation of a being”. She started by giving a glance on Ayurveda and explained Garbha Sanskara process for the conscious creation for aspiring couples. She described some of the procedures and best practices that she follows with the to be parents. Dr. Manjubala Dash took us through the “Exploration of spiritual health and its impact on the unborn foetus”. She stressed that the spiritual health is within us all the time. She educated us on physiological changes that occurs during pregnancy in women. Dr. Gurvinder Ahluwalia spoke on “The Role of Spiritual practices by expecting mothers in creating awakened civilization”. She mentioned that Spiritual Education is linked with the development and training of emotional and psychic states of the mother which begins with the awareness of self and reaches to the awareness of infinite, and that the Spiritual Education can include spiritual practices such as Karma Yoga, Gyan Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Dhyana Yoga. She also explained the spiritual knack model from her
The final keynote speech by Dr. Alok Pandey was on “Conscious parenting in the light of India’s Spiritual tradition”. He opened a box of stories to bring in his insights. He believes that the important thing according to Vedanta is that there is something beautiful in all of us and the journey that we need to embark on is to engage with it and bring it out. For this to happen for a child, an atmosphere of love and peace must be provided. He stressed that we grow by being mentally aware.
The last session of the conference was a panel discussion with eight nursing students from Mother Theresa Post Graduate and research institute of health science, Government of Puducherry. The topic of discussion was “Bringing consciousness approach into medical education: Implications for patient care” and was moderated by Pragya Upadhyay. The discussion highlighted the following:
– Bringing in Empathy by lecturers to make knowledge gaining an engaging process.
– Consciously using different teaching techniques.
– How a small act of compassion which does not cost time or money can bring in a big difference to the patient.
– Promoting Equity vs Equality in education and medical field.
– Qualities of a teacher and how students can provide feedback to them.
– Communication with the patient where even a gentle touch can bring in comfort to the patient.
– Suggestions to clinical teachers to bring in more exposure and hands on experience for students.
– Challenges in the profession and how spirituality has to be made part of it.
The discussions were based on personal experiences and observations. One such project that they are involved in is based on the observation of hesitation of expectant mothers who came for vaginal tests. They have provided recommendations on how it can be handled emotionally and mentally to make it more comfortable for mothers.
The conference ended with the valedictory session addressed by the chief guest, Dr. Ananda Reddy who brought in a lot of insights from Sri Aurobindo and mother related to transformation, conscious creation of a being, purpose of education and possibility of a new supramental body.
Every session was followed by an engaging discussion by the speakers and participants which brought in more clarity of the concepts and insights making it a more meaningful interaction.
From the participants feedback, it was evident that the conference topics touched every individual’s inner being and helped them to reflect on the knowledge gathered at the same time encouraging them to be in the present and be conscious of the moment.
There was also a post conference workshop conducted by the team members of the Birthing the New Humanity on 21st of October that was attended by around twenty participants.