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His Holiness Bhaktisvarupa Damodara
Swami Maharaja
Maharaja is the posthumous spiritual director of the
project. He recently passed away October of 2006
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| His Holiness (Dr. T.D. Singh, Ph.D.) was an extraordinary
combination of scientist, interfaith leader, educationist, poet,
singer, and cultural ambassador. He was well known for his
pioneering efforts for more than thirty years to interface
between science and religion for a deeper understanding of life
and the universe. He received his Ph.D. in Physical
Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in
1974. He had contributed many papers in the Journal
of American Chemical Society and the Journal of
Organic Chemistry. He underwent Vaishnava Vedanta
studies (1970 - 1977) under His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada, and was appointed director of the
Bhaktivedanta Institute (1974 -), a center to promote studies
about the relationship between science and vedanta. He had
organized three international conferences on science and
religion - First and Second World Congress for the Synthesis of
Science and Religion (1986 & 1997) and First International
Conference on the Study of Consciousness within Science (1990)
which were attended by prominent scientists and religious
leaders including several Nobel Laureates. He had authored
and edited several books including What is Matter and What
is Life? (1977), Theobiology (1979), Synthesis
of Science and Religion: Critical Essays and Dialogues
(1987), Thoughts on Synthesis of Science and Religion
(2001), and Seven Nobel Laureates on Science and
Spirituality (2004), and was the editor-in-chief of the
journal of the Bhaktivedanta Institute entitled, Savijnanam:
Scientific Exploration for a Spiritual Paradigm.
His Holiness was a founding member of the United Religions
Initiative (URI), and was president of Manipur (NE India) Cooperation
Circle. He started a network of schools in NE India where
about 4000 students receive education centered on spiritual
values. He was the founder and director of "Ranganiketan
Manipuri Cultural Arts Troupe" which has about 600
performances at over 300 venues in over 15 countries. He
guided over a thousand of his students around the world in the
techniques of spiritual life. His poems inspire
introspection and his beautiful singing of prayer at openings of
various global peace and interfaith meetings was a much-awaited
sacred moment. |
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