INDICA

We are honoured to have the Hon’ble Finance Minister, @nsitharaman , deliver the Inaugural Address at the Global Oneness Festival 2026. A month-long journey into Advaita begins April 21. A civilisational conversation continues.

It was another level of joy to adress the young literary minds at Vishwa Bharti Public School, Noida. The questions they asked about writing process, craft, character arcs, new age content, etc spoke of great immersion and commitment. Teachers and leadership of this institution deserve a huge round of applause for nurturing tomorrow's literary talent. The kids said they were inspired but the one truly inspired was me! Hoping to see more of them in future. Thanks @dimplekaul_in @IndicaOrg

The Vision and Journey of #INDICAKautilyaCentre to bring an #IKS Lens to #Policy, #Governance, and #Leadership @IndicaOrg indica.in/the-vision-and…

Masterclass on the Yogasūtras By Nrithya Jagannathan In collaboration with Central Sanskrit University New Delhi, Aug 21 to 23 In the KYM Tradition of Sri T. Krishnamacharya & TKV Desikachar In the book Pranidhana, the theme of @indicayoga 2026 festival, Shri Desikachar begins with honesty. His father’s Yogasūtra teachings, given with immense patience & precision, did not immediately make sense. Yet, as a yoga teacher and devoted son, he continued attending the classes - compelled by reverence and an inner recognition that the text carried a depth he had not yet fully grasped. Years later, when Western students requested him to teach the Yogasūtras, he found himself confronted by searching questions and apparent contradictions. Though he relied on his notes, the text had not yet become fully alive within him. Unable to answer many of the deeper questions, he returned once again to his father for further study. That return became a lifelong journey. Over many years of dedicated learning, reflection, and dialogue, the Yogasūtras gradually revealed their inner coherence. Shri Desikachar began to perceive not only the brilliance of Patañjali’s vision, but also the originality and depth of Krishnamacharya’s interpretations - distinct from commentaries such as those of Vyāsa and Vācaspati. Shri Krishnamacharya often drew from the teachings of Yogi Nāthamuni, bringing forth a deeply experiential and practice-oriented understanding of Yoga. In 1984, Shri Desikachar requested his father - then over 90 years old - to dictate his complete commentary on the Yogasūtras in Sanskrit. Shri Krishnamacharya would close his eyes and slowly dictate the sūtras and bhāṣya, while the students carefully transcribed every word and read it back to him for approval after each sitting. This sacred labour continued for nearly 1000 sittings, eventually culminating in a complete commentary on all 195 sūtras. This masterclass seeks to enter that very stream of transmission. Led by Nrithya Jagannathan, who belongs to the KYM tradition, the course approaches the Yogasūtras not merely as philosophy to be intellectually studied, but as a living śāstra meant to be contemplated and practiced. For practioners, scholars and enthusiasts! indica.events/.../master-cla…...

There is a word in the tradition - sabhā. It is often translated as “assembly” or “court,” but something essential is lost in translation. A sabhā is not merely a meeting. It is a space shaped by who gathers, what they bring, and what becomes possible between them. The Mahābhārata is full of sabhās. Each one a world unto itself. Each one revealing something about the people, the times, and the civilizational questions at stake. When INDICA began its conferences and symposiums in 2019, the intention was not merely to disseminate or broadcast. It was to gather. To create spaces where scholars, practitioners, traditional paṇḍits, independent researchers, artists, and seekers could encounter one another seriously and meaningfully around the knowledge traditions of this civilization. Over six years, that invitation has been accepted 1,121 times - by approximately 837 distinct voices - across 67 gatherings. Behind these numbers lies something far more precious: the slow emergence of an intellectual ecosystem rooted in seriousness, freedom, dialogue, and civilizational continuity. Many of these conversations opened pathways into domains rarely engaged in contemporary discourse, while others brought fresh energy and rigor to subjects long neglected or fragmented. For this, we remain deeply grateful to Bhagavān, to our founder Shri Hari Kiran Vadlamani for his vision and trust, and to the then Kulapati Dr. Nagaraj Paturi, whose extraordinary range, curatorial depth, and intellectual leadership shaped these gatherings into living sabhās. Along with numerous co-curators, scholars, and participants, they helped create spaces where ideas were not merely presented, but genuinely encountered. Read full report by @dimplekaul_in here: indica.in/a-reflection-o…

aalolika - the first lullaby (2026) Aalolika does something genuinely provocative. Like in the good old times, it pulls sacred Indian stories off the pedestal on which recent discourse has placed them and forces them to sit beside us in the messy, often hilarious reality of modern life. Imagine the Lord of Death, Yama, suffering from crippling social anxiety - awkward, deeply uncomfortable, desperately wishing he were anywhere else. Or Lallanwala, the famous jalebi maker of Kashi, furious not with a difficult customer but with Lord Shiva himself - an act of astonishing boldness. When we encounter texts from India’s ancient heritage - the epics, the Puranas, the Shastras - they are often presented with an aura of impenetrability and distance. But this was not always the case. INDICA is extremely proud of this beautiful new book by CEK founder member, filmmaker, photographer, poetess, and author Akanksha Damini Joshi, edited and creatively directed by Tania Kamath and published by Watering Can. Akanksha refuses to look at these beloved stories from behind closed glass. She breaks that invisible barrier to reveal how these narratives were originally intended to function: as tools for navigating everyday existence. The title itself hints at this intention. Aalolika is the Sanskrit word for “lullaby,” yet through its layered interplay of story, sutra, and imagery, the book is clearly not trying to put the reader to sleep. Instead, it gestures toward what it calls “soothed awareness” - a state in which one remains alert to the complexities of life without being consumed by them. The book feels like a complex orchestral arrangement stripped down until only a soothing voice remains. It removes the grandiosity often associated with the divine and distills experience into a sutra or a cherished photograph capturing life and light in an ordinary moment. Rather than encouraging passive worship, it draws the reader into active introspection. Akanksha describes her style as “unconventional but reverent.” The reverence is entirely intact - but it is directed not toward the frozen image of a deity, but toward the utility of wisdom itself. The book acknowledges that both human and divine emotions are messy, contradictory, and unresolved, and that the wisdom gained through engaging with this complexity is entirely valid. Aalolika's playfulness and mundanity carry profound realism: inner understanding arises not despite the noise and dirt of everyday life, but through it. Akanksha’s skills as a filmmaker emerge vividly in the cinematic quality of the storytelling and in the extraordinary photographs that span landscapes and lives from Chhattisgarh to the Rann of Kutch, from Kashi to East Godavari. The work seamlessly combines filmmaking sensibilities with over twenty-five years of meditation practice and fifteen years of facilitating meditation groups, giving the book both contemplative depth and visual intimacy. Often pivoting toward overlooked narratives, neglected voices, and lesser-heard languages, the work carries a deeply Indian truth: that the highest wisdom does not belong behind walls of abstraction, but in markets, kitchens, crowded streets, and fleeting human encounters. Congratulations and wishing Aalolika the very best

There are some people who speak about Sri Shankara Bhagvadpada as historians do. And then there are those rare few for whom Acharya is not history at all - but a living presence, a chaitanya still moving through Bharat, shaping its memory, geography, and destiny. Listening to Manish Pandeyji of Ekatma Dham at INDICA’s 7th Global Oneness Festival Valedictory Session was to encounter that second kind of bhakti. When he speaks of Shankara, it is with the intimacy of someone who believes Acharya is still quietly orchestrating events from behind the visible world. The 108 ft Statue of Oneness was not ultimately the work of architects, engineers, sculptors, or committees. It was Shankara’s own sankalpa taking rūpam. The artists themselves, he says, felt this. Shankaracharya himself had become the kalpaka, the yojaka, the niyojaka — the conceiver, organiser, and unseen guide of the entire process. There was no separate mādhyam because Acharya himself was the mādhyam. The vichāra and the mātrā were him alone. And perhaps that is why Manishji never speaks of the pratima as an object. He speaks of it almost as a darshana. The murti does not show Shankara seated in meditative stillness. It shows him in prayāṇa mudrā — carrying the ādeśa of his guru from Omkareshwar to Kashi and beyond. This is sannyāsa in motion. What empires could not permanently unify through power, Acharya unified through tīrtha, yātra, paramparā, and sacred memory. The Char Dham, the four Amnāya Peethas, the very imagination of Bharat as one sacred geography. He invokes Nani Palkhivala, whose reverence for Shankara carried unusual significance because it emerged from a mind known for intellectual rigour and neutrality. Palkhivala called Shankaracharya the supreme “Universal Man”. Manishji repeats this insight almost with vismaya. How could one human life contain so much? For Manishji, Ekatma Dham is an offering born from this wonder. That is why he resists calling it a museum. What they are building instead is a living anubhava kshetra where the Rishi Paramparā can once again be felt. The Narmada is not scenery; she is part of Acharya’s inner yātra. Shankara came from Kalady seeking Narmada. The Annapurna complex is not merely a food court; it is a celebration of Bharat’s anna samskriti. Even the technological ambition — the immersive storytelling spaces, the IMAX theatre, the film on Acharya — emerges from the same desire: to make him experientially alive for future generations. And it is perhaps in the three great sankalpas taken at the Prayag Kumbh Mela that one sees most the depth of people's devotion. The first sankalpa was to celebrate Acharya Jayanti as the International Day of Oneness.The second was the resolve for a Decade of Oneness. And the third was perhaps the most moving: a Digvijaya Yātra retracing Acharya’s sacred journey across Bharat, beginning from Kalady on January 16 and culminating at Kedarnath on his Jayanti. What a fitting finale

Providence often works through unexpected intersections. For many, the journey into Bharat’s civilizational wisdom begins through books, lectures, or academic inquiry. For Vipul Kocher ji, it emerged through a lifelong curiosity that quietly ran parallel to an accomplished career in technology and software testing. Vipul Kocher ji is widely known in the global software testing ecosystem as an entrepreneur, innovator, and institution builder. An IIT alumnus, former Adobe engineer, founder of multiple technology ventures, and a pioneering voice in software testing education, he spent decades building platforms, communities, and frameworks that shaped India’s testing industry. Yet beneath the world of technology lay another enduring passion -  India’s intellectual and civilizational traditions. His interests in archaeology, Indic thought, history, dharma, and cultural continuity gradually evolved from personal curiosity into deeper participation. That journey found a natural home in INDICA where Vipul Ji became not merely a participant, but one of the key forces helping nurture and expand the ecosystem. Today, as National Convener of INDICA, he plays an important role in enabling conversations, institutions, retreats, masterclasses, and networks dedicated to Indian Knowledge Systems and civilizational resurgence. What makes Vipul’s journey remarkable is the synthesis he represents. He belongs equally to the worlds of modern technological innovation and timeless civilizational inquiry. He demonstrates that one need not abandon contemporary excellence to engage deeply with tradition. Rather, the two can enrich each other. In many ways, his journey reflects the spirit of INDICA itself - professionals, seekers, scholars, entrepreneurs, artists, and thinkers rediscovering Bharat not as nostalgia, but as a living source of meaning, inquiry, and future possibility. Link indica.in/my-indica-jour… @vipulkocher #INDICA #indianknowledgeSystems #Culture

A three-day immersion into the teachings of the Yogasūtras INDICA, in collaboration with Central Sanskrit University, invites you to a three day in person Master Class on "Introduction to Yogasūtras" with Nrithya Jagannathan. The present Master Class turns toward one of the most concentrated articulations of the science of the inner life that the Bhāratīya tradition has given us: the Yogasūtras of Maharṣi Patañjali. Our esteemed speaker Smt Nrithya Jagannathan is the Director, of KYM Institute of Yoga Studies, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram. Date: Aug 21- 23, 2026 Venue: Vishwa Bharti Public School, New Delhi Scan to Register or visit INDICA Events. #indica #Yogasūtras #patanjali #masterclass

INDICA's 7th GLOBAL ONENESS FESTIVAL Valedictory Session: Acharya Shankar Sanskrit Ekta Nyas, Govt of MP, May 20 7pm - 8 pm IST In many ways, the journey of the INDICA Global Oneness Festival finds a natural culmination in the vision embodied by Ekatma Dham - a space where Advaita is not merely preserved as philosophy, but reimagined as a living civilizational force. The festival’s years of careful curation bringing together Acharyas, scholars, artists, scientists, seekers, and institutions across the world - point toward precisely such a future: one where India’s deepest spiritual insights once again become the basis for education, culture, research, ethics, ecology, aesthetics, and collective life. What makes Ekatma Dham especially significant is that it attempts to move beyond the idea of a memorial or pilgrimage center. Instead, it envisions an integrated ecosystem rooted in the principle of Oneness - where contemplation and scholarship coexist with artistic expression, scientific inquiry, traditional learning, and community life. In that sense, it resonates deeply with the spirit of the Global Oneness Festival itself, which has consistently sought to present Advaita not as an abstract metaphysical doctrine confined to monasteries or academic discourse, but as a transformative framework capable of addressing the fragmentation of the modern world. The dialogue between ancient wisdom and contemporary disciplines - something the festival has nurtured through conversations on consciousness studies, neuroscience, cosmology, yoga, Sanskrit, ecology, governance, and aesthetics - finds architectural and institutional expression at Ekatma Dham. For us, Ekatma Dham stands not simply as the endpoint of a festival journey, but as a powerful symbol of what thoughtful cultural curation can ultimately aspire toward - the revival of sacred spaces where knowledge is lived, transmitted, practiced, and embodied across generations.

INDICA's 7th Global Oneness Festival, organised by INDICA Mosha, May 20, 7 AM to 8 PM IST. Examination of Time as per Relativity, Nyaya and Advaita Vedanta by Sudhanshu Shekhar To register click here: indica.events/event/global-o…

INDICA's 7th Global Oneness Festival, organised by INDICA Mosha, May 19th, 7 pm to 8 pm IST. The Traditional Guru: Shankara’s Vision by Shri Kathirasan K To register click here: indica.events/event/global-o…

INDICA 7th Global Oneness Festival, organised by INDICA Moksha, May 19, 7 am to 8 am. Reflections on Dakshinamoorthy Stotram by Vid. Goda Anantha Somayaji Register here: indica.events/event/global-o…

INDICA 7th Global Oneness Festival, organised by INDICA Moksha, May 18, 7 pm to 8 pm. Transcending Fear: A Vedantic Perspective by L Ramaswamy Register here: indica.events/event/global-o…

Submissions open for INDICA HERITAGE FILM UTSAV FEE • May 18. 2026 to June 1, 2026 - Early Bird Deadline – NO FEES. FREE SUBMISSION. • June 2, 2026 to July 4, 2026 - Regular Deadline (a) Features @ Rs.1,000 or equivalent in any other currency and (b) Shorts and Documentaries @ Rs.500 or equivalent in any other currency • Payment can be made only through the FilmFreeway website. SUBMISSION DEADLINES • Submission Opens on May 18th, 2026 • Early Bird Submission Deadline is June 1st, 2026 • Regular Submission Deadline is July 4th, 2026 INDICA HERITAGE FILM UTSAV • Selection Confirmation Date to Filmmaker is February 5, 2027 • Official Line-up Announcement Date is March 1, 2027 • Festival Dates are March 11 - 14, 2027 Center for Indic Films reserves the right to change any of the dates above without reason. Submit Now at filmfreeway.com/indicfilmutsav

SUBMISSIONS Open for INDICA DALLAS FILM UTSAV FEE • May 18. 2026 to June 1, 2026 - Early Bird Deadline – NO FEES. FREE SUBMISSION. • June 2, 2026 to July 4, 2026 - Regular Deadline (a) Features @ Rs.1,000 or equivalent in any other currency and (b) Shorts and Documentaries @ Rs.500 or equivalent in any other currency • Payment can be made only through the FilmFreeway website. SUBMISSION DEADLINES • Submission Opens on May 18th, 2026 • Early Bird Submission Deadline is June 1st, 2026 • Regular Submission Deadline is July 4th, 2026 SELECTION CONFIRMATION NOTICE DEADLINES INDICA DALLAS FILM UTSAV • Selection Confirmation Date to Filmmaker is October 6th, 2026 • Official Line-up Announcement Date is October 12, 2026 • Festival Dates are November 13 –15, 2026 Center for Indic Films reserves the right to change any of the dates above without reason. Submit Now on FilmFreeway: filmfreeway.com/IndicFilmUtsav

INDICA 7th Global Oneness Festival, May 18, 7 am to 8 am IST, Shankaracharya’s enunciation on Sankhya Yoga in Bhagavad Gita by Dr. Chandrashekhar Tekal Register here: indica.events/event/global-o…

INDICA 7th Global Oneness Festival, May 17, 7 pm to 8 pm IST, Vakhyartha Sadas on शांकरवाग्वैभवम् Sadas Adhyaksha: Vidwan Dr. Shrihari Shivaram Dhaygude, Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Advaita Vedanta, National Sanskrit University, Tirupati. Participating Vidwans: 1. Dr. Srinivas Jammalamadaka (Moderator) 2. Dr. L. Sowjanya Kumar 3. Vid. Varadarajan Dravid 4. Vid. V Krishna Sharma 5. Vidwan Kuvalaya Datta Do not miss this special session. Register here: indica.events/event/global-o…

INDICA's 7th Global Oneness Festival organised by INDICA Moksha, May 16th, 7 AM - 8 AM IST, Sunday Special Series: Vada & Vidya – Pivotal Dialogues of Adi Shankaracharya by Vid. Shankararama Sharma Register Here: indica.events/event/global-o…

INDICA's 7th Global Oneness Festival organised by INDICA Moksha, May 16th, 7 PM - 8 PM IST, Poetic Imagery of the Gangashtaka Stotram and Its Sculptural Representations by Smt Rekha Rao Register Here: indica.events/event/global-o…