Amrita University to Launch Centre for Spiritual Studies

Amrita University in Kerala is launching tomorrow a Centre for Spiritual Studies at its campus in South Kerala's Kollam district with the aim of providing new insights into India's rich traditional spiritual culture.

The centre will be officially launched at Amritapuri on Thursday as part of Amritavarsham60 that began today, according to the Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM) which is organising the three-day celebration marking the 60th birthday of humanitarian leader Mata Amritanandamayi.

The Centre will engage in academic, research and extension activities focused towards spiritual, social and cultural development and awareness, an MAM spokesperson said. It will also promote and institutionalise selfless- service-oriented education and give voice to Amma's universal message ‘Love and Serve'.

Apart from academic and research collaborations with similar esteemed centres throughout the world, the centre will offer credit-based academic programmes in all aspects of Sanatana Dharma, spirituality and culture at postgraduate and doctoral levels.

It will offer research activities from spiritual perspective in Sanskrit and scriptures, arts, science, technology, literature and astrology, the spokesperson said.

Other proposed activities include documentation, dissemination and spreading the universal message of Amma's life and teachings. Specific focus will be on Amma's concept of vishwamatrutvam - the quality of viewing every aspect of the universe as a mother views her own child and treating all aspects of creation with the love, patience, compassion and selflessness a mother has for her own children.

The centre will conduct research on Amma's charitable, humanitarian and social programmes and their impact on society. The initiative will also feature teaching of meditation and yoga through MAM systems such as Integrated Amrita Meditation Technique and Amrita Yoga, the spokesperson said.

The centre will seek to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western knowledge systems besides institutionalising selfless service activities as an integral part of credit-based curriculum of universities.

The new centre will open up a new path of research in the Amrita University which from its inception in 2003 has had a strong focus on research, developing low-cost practical innovations that will help uplift society, particularly the poor and needy.

Several Amrita Centres of Excellence - like the Amrita Centre of Nanosciences & Molecular Medicine, the Amrita Centre of Wireless Networks & Applications, E-learning, Haptics, Biomedical Engineering and Virtual Labs - are now internationally recognised for creating path-breaking solutions to social problems.