SANSKRITI UNIVERSITY IN HIMALAYAS

Nestled in the tranquil foothills of the Himalayas, the Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya (DSVV) is quietly imparting high-quality education based on scientific spirituality. Surrounded by lush green foliage, the sprawling state-of-the-art campus spread over 80 acres lies in the vicinity of the holy Ganga in Haridwar. The campus is proud of herbal gardens, Acupressure Park and a functioning dairy farm with an attached unit of self-employment centre. It has Wi-Fi facilities, computer labs, state-of-the-art libraries, laboratories, and a multi- modal Poly-Clinic.

Its excellent infrastructure and dedicated faculty make the institution a Centre of Excellence, whose cardinal priority is to promote ethical, moral and spiritual transformation of the youth. DSVV has earned UGC recognition and NAAC accreditation. Besides, it has been awarded as the best university for holistic education.

The current patron and brain behind bringing spirituality and science under one roof in the DSVV is Pro Vice Chancellor of the university, Dr Chinmay Pandya, a highly qualified medico. Dr Pandya explained, that the entire teaching is based on the knowledges and vision of Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya Ji, who was a ground-breaking scholar and one of the greatest philosophers of recent times in India. His philosophy was to provide free education to deserving students with the contribution of the society and in turn, the qualified students should return the learnt skills to the society in the form of a mandatory social internship.

The University is quickly gaining international renown for its dynamic blend of ancient and modern aspects as well as due to its unique approach to the personal and intellectual development of its students. “We are proud hosts of the world famous annual International Festival on Yoga, Culture and Spirituality,” he said. Dr Pandya himself is one of five institutional leaders from around world, including those from the University of Cambridge, and the University of Virginia, to be a Director of the Global Covenant of Religions (GCR). He is also the Founder Patron of Rishihood University, Haryana.

DSVV specialises in the character development of its students through fostering a better lifestyle based on the spiritual practices of the East and the West through different undergraduate, post-graduate and postdoctoral programs in a wide array of schools such as School of Indology, School of Humanities, Social Sciences and Foundation courses, School of Technology, Communication and Management, School of Biological Sciences and Sustainability which offers variety of programs such as Animation and Media Studies, Journalism and Mass Communication, Computer Science, Yoga and Human Consciousness, Holistic Health, History and Culture, Music, Tourism, Rural Entrepreneurship and Development, Environmental Science, Linguists, Humanities, Education and Psychology. The result is well- rounded and dynamic graduates eager to channelise their skills towards serving the needs of society.

The University has more than 90+ International Collaborations with esteemed international institutions in Italy, Germany, USA, UK, Latvia, Lithuania, Indonesia, China, Japan, Russia, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Korea. The university is also a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) as well as Association of Indian Universities (AIU) and proudly hosts a high number of international students from more than 14 nationalities in the current academic semester. We also host Asia’s first and only Centre for Baltic Culture and Studies (CBCS) that was inaugurated in 2016 in the august presence of Ambassadors from all three Baltic Nations.

It also houses the first South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation (SAIPR), which was inaugurated by then Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu in March, 2022,” says Dr Pandya, who serves as the chairman of both these institutions -- the Centre for Baltic Culture and Studies, and South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation. Interestingly, there are many similarities between India and the Baltic countries in terms of our spiritual beliefs, values, and cultural practices, he points out.

Another major highlight of the DSVV campus was establishing a research centre that disseminates the ethos of scientific spirituality and produces scientific evidence for the fire ritual (yagya) prevalent from Vedic times. This Yagya Research Centre, founded in 1979 by Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya, has been a very significant part of All World Gayatri Parivar. The research centre is dedicated to the integration of the modern experimenting techniques with the study of ancient and traditional sciences in a practical way, aimed at the noble goal of mind and health through in yagya therapy.

Dr Pandya explained that yagya is a scientific method aimed at the finest utilisation of the subtle properties of sacrifice matter with the help of the thermal energy of fire and the sonic vibrations of the mantras. In the process of yagya, herbal and plant medicinal sacrifices are made in the fire of specific types of wood in especially designed fire-pit or brick and clay structures called ‘yagya kunda’. Slow combustion, sublimation, and most prominently, the transformation into vapor phase of the sacrificed herbs’ medicinal and nutritive substances take place in the yagya-fire.

There are three basic energy systems in the physical world – heat, sound and light. While performing yagya, these three energies, namely, the heat from yagya, fire and the sound of the Gayatri and other mantras, besides the light coming from fire and sunrays, are combined to achieve the desired physical, psychological and spiritual benefits.

“When we talk about its environmental impact, the medicinal fumes emanating from Agnihotra have been observed by researchers in the field of microbiology to be clearly bacteria lethal in nature. These eradicate bacteria and other micro- organisms, which are the root cause of illness and diseases. This is the reason why the incidence of physical ailments, sickness and diseases becomes less in the households where yagya is regularly performed,” said Dr Pandya.

“We are also the recipients of the prestigious Erasmus-Mundus scholarship, under which the students from our university get opportunities to study in the European universities and their students can choose to study for an exchange semester here in India. On many occasions, we have been graced by various dignitaries of national and international repute,” Dr Pandya said with pride.

Uniquely, DSVV is propelled solely by an international socio-spiritual organisation, All World Gayatri Pariwar, which includes over 4000 social reform and around 5000 social service training centres across the globe with an international research institute dedicated to the study of spiritual science, thanks to contributions of more than 150 million members across 40 countries.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle