Mumbai 2005

The path to peace must be initiated with dialogue. With this thought an International Seminar on 'Prayer, Peace and Unconditional Love and the Works of Raimon Panikkar' was conducted by the K. J. Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham, Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India from 20th December 2005 to 23rd December 2005 at the Somaiya Campus, Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India.

In this seminar various topics related to the form, role, and the necessity of prayer within the global climate were discussed. On this background, deliberation on and appreciation of the works of Prof. Fr. Panikkar, a pioneer and strong promoter of Inter-religious Dialogue was presented. The seminar was inaugurated at 9.30 in the morning on 20th December 2005. All the participants were invited to light Samai - the traditional lamp. It was a beautiful sight to see a lamp with nearly 70 bright flames.

S. K. Somaiya, the Chairman K. J. Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham and Vice President, Somaiya Vidyavihar extended a warm welcome to all the guests and declared the seminar open.
Milena Carrara, from Italy, President of Vivarium Panikkar Interculture Centre, Spain and Italy read out a message for the seminar from Raimon Panikkar.
Pankaj Chande, the Vice-chancellor of Kavi Kulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Maharashtra delivered a speech bringing out the relevance of the theme of the seminar.

Paper were presented by: S. K. Somaiya (Mumbai, India); Anand Amaladass (Chennai, India); Paulo Barone (Italia); Gerard Hall (Australia); Peter Raine (New Zealand); Francis D'Sa (Germania e India); Sister Clemens Mendonca di Pune (India); Kala Acharya (Mumbai, India); Nalinee Chapekar (Mumbai, India); Joseph Prabhu (U.S.A); Bernhard Nitsche (Germania); Fabrice Dubosc (Italia); Michiko Yusa (U.S.A); Harshad Sangharajka (U.K.); Oscar Pujol (Spagna); Gaetano Sabetta di Haryana (India e Italia); Subhash Chandra (New Delhi, India); S. L. Gandhi di Jaipur (India); V. Ranganathan (Mumbai, India); P. K. Shamsuddin Kerala (India); Piero Coda (Italia); Mariano Iturbe (Spagna); Antonio Baggio (Italia); Supriya Deshmukh (Mumbai, India); B. G. Chandarana (Rajkot, India); Kalpana Das (Canada); Shubhada Joshi (Mumbai, India); Annakutty V. K. Findies (Mumbai, India); Lalita Namjoshi (Mumbai, India); Charlotte Sunde (New Zealand); Rajeshri Goswami (Mumbai, India); Young Chan Ro (U.S.A).

The valedictory function was held on 23rd December 2005. Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri from Delhi, India was the guest of honour for this function.