Post by Vinay Kulkarni

Is there a conflict between science and IKS? Acharya, Dr. Ramachandra Bhat Kotemane, former VC of S-VYASA (Deemed to be University) shared his views at the recent BLR IKS CONCLAVE in Bengaluru. In my latest essay, I sit with Dr. Ramachandra Bhat's teaching on how the Indian Knowledge System maps the very act of knowing — not through heavy jargon, but through four clear modes: Saṃjñānam, the clarity carried by the spoken word from guru to śiṣya; Ājñānam, the integrating knowledge where one key opens many doors; Vijñānam, the applied science of yantra and tantra that extends our senses; and Prajñānam, the pure awareness that is both the ground and summit of all wisdom. The piece also names a quiet loss we rarely speak of — of the roughly 1,131 śākhās, the living branches of our Vedic knowledge, only ten or eleven remain in active practice today. And yet the light endures, compressed into sūtras and waiting to be reawakened. The heart of it is simple: what is truly ours only grows stronger the moment we choose to pass it on. Read the full essay on my blog.