Technology devoid of spirituality and humanism is dangerous and joyless

Debashish Banerji: Presenter AUM 2005

Debashish Banerji completed his undergradute studies with honors in English literature from the University of Bombay, and served as a cultural correspondent in some of the leading English language newspapers of India. He completed a master's degree in computer science from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in Indian art history from the University of California-Los Angeles. For 30 years, Debashish has been interested in the study and practice of the revolutionary and world-transforming yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He has given numerous talks on the subject, especially in its contemporary applicability.

Since 1991, he has served as the president of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Angeles, which was founded by Dr. Judith Tyberg and is one of the earliest institutions in the U.S. based on the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He is a faculty in a number of recognized religious studies programs. In this capacity, has been instrumental in teaching, giving talks, and organizing activities relating to the dissemination of Sri Aurobindo's yoga and Indian spiritual culture in the U.S. Debashish pursues technical and mercantile interests in multimedia productions, artificial intelligence, technology transfer, and import-export projects, particularly between India and the U.S.

In his view, technology drives society and culture in the modern world; thus, to be a wielder of the mighty levers of technological change is not just a practical advantage, but a global responsibility. At the same time, he feels that technology devoid of spirituality and humanism is dangerous and joyless. He believes in the urgency of bridging not only the twin cultures of East and West, but those too of the sciences and the humanities for a harmonious, spiritually rich life of the future; and he finds the integrative backbone of such a bridging most clearly manifest in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. www.collaboration.org/aum/2005