Guest guest Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 BHAKTIVEDANTA INSTITUTE Promoting a Dialogue between Science and Spirituality Bhaktivedanta Institute is pleased to announce the launch of its 2010 Essay Competition and invites interested students to submit their Essays. The theme of this yearÂ's Essay Competition is: " What is Life? - Scientific and Indian Spiritual Perspectives on the Nature, Purpose, Meaning and Origin of Life. " The details of the format and last year winners can be found on the website: http://www.binstitu te.org/aissq2008 The extended last date of submission is: October 15, 2009 All the Colleges and InstitutesÂ' Incharges are requested to display the below notice for the kind attention of the students. Launched in 2006 by the InstituteÂ's Founder Director, Dr. T. D. Singh, this Essay Competiton is organized by the Bhaktivedanta Institute every year to stimulate creative thinking in students for a balanced growth of scientific and spiritual advancement and to support outstanding students in their pursuit of deeper knowledge. The first three selected candidates are awared cash prizes besides getting an opportunity to present their essay at a special session of Institute's annual conference on Science and Spirituality. All the participants will receive certificates. Thank you.Regards, Bhaktivedanta Institute All India Students' Essay Competition 2010 Topic: What is Life ? Scientific and Indian Spiritual Perspectives on the Nature, Purpose, Meaning and Origin of Life Last date of submission: 15 October 2009 Essays to be submitted to essay.aissq@ gmail.com Essay Theme: It is 150 years since Darwin published his famous work, On the Origin of Species in 1859 in his quest for an explanation of the nature and the diversity of life. Eighty four years later, Erwin Schr0dinger, the famous quantum physicist, again highlighted the question of life and wrote his classic monograph, What is Life? in his search for the meaning and nature of life, which also inspired many pioneers of molecular genetics like Wilkins, Watson and Crick. Since Darwin began his journey on the ship Beagle till today, we have made tremendous developments in various fields of life sciences. However, along with many penetrating insights these developments have provided us, they have, perhaps much more, questioned many of our earlier concepts and have raised many questions about the nature, meaning, purpose, and origin of life. Today, after 150 years of unimaginable advancement in vast disciplines of sciences, the very question 'What is Life?' remains beyond our reach. Besides, the precious Indian spiritual and cultural heritage has been guiding us that life has a spiritual dimension beyond particles and waves, beyond genes and proteins. The spiritual concept of life has come more in forefront, as never before, when we are faced with serious ethical issues, global climate changes, moral questions and responsibilities of we as humans, dangers of biological warfare, terrorism, etc. These issues have once again surfaced questions on how we view ourselves and each other, who we are, why we are here, what we wish to become and what the purpose of our lives is. Thus a serious attempt to explore life from scientific and spiritual perspectives is of paramount importance and hence the theme of this Essay Competition. Essays with following items will receive preference during selection: Good number of references of all the items and thoughts presented. Pictorial representations. Mathematical formulation of the expressed ideas, wherever possible. Original views/reviews, not copied materials from books or websites. Honors and Awards: First Prize: Gold medal, Cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- (Rs. ten thousand only) and three Publications of the Bhaktivedanta Institute (winner's choice). Essay to be published in Tattva-Jijnasa, the annual students' magazine of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. Second Prize: Silver medal, Cash prize of Rs. 6,000/- (Rs. six thousand only) and two publication the Bhaktivedanta Institute (winner's choice). Third Prize: Bronze medal, Cash prize of Rs. 4,000/- (Rs. four thousand only) and one publication of the Bhaktivedanta Institute (winner's choice). Conference Presentations:All Prize winners will get an opportunity to present their essays at AISSQ-2010 MNNIT Allahabad, U.P., India during 15-17 January 2010. Travel reimbursements:All Prize winners will be reimbursed to and fro III AC ticket fares from nearest railway station to Allahabad. Benefits All short-listed participants can register free of cost in the 5th All India Students' Conference on Science and Spiritual Quest (AISSQ-2010) to be held at MNNIT Allahabad, U.P., India during 15-17 January 2010 All short-listed participants can avail 15% discount on the purchase of the Bhaktivedanta Institute's publications. All short-listed participants will receive participation certificates. All short-listed participants will be entitled for free subscription to the Bhaktivedanta Institute's e-magazine For further details, please refer to http://www.binstitu te.org/aissq and click on 'Essay Competition' tab. Bhaktivedanta Institute RC/8, Raghunathpur, Manasi Manjil Building, 4th floor,VIP Road, Kolkata – 700059, India Tel: 033-2500-9018; Fax: 033-2500-6091 Take advantage of this rare opportunity of this human form of life. There are 8,400,000 different species of life through which we are rotating lifetime after lifetime. So getting a human body is not an every day affair. This most auspicious opportunity only comes after many millions of lifetimes in the lower species. Anyone who does not utilize their human life for self-realization is making the greatest mistake. When this happens it is the greatest tragedy, and unfortunately today this neglect of the human form has become the standard behavior for the entire human society. What can be done? We must first ourselves become solidly situated in Krishna consciousness and then do the highest welfare activity of spreading to everyone else all over the world. Chant:Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare HareHare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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