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The Chancellor of Amrita University is our beloved Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) who is a world-renowned humanitarian leader. She was awarded with a Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, USA in 2010. Amma is the founder, inspiration and guiding light for all institutions under Amrita University. In our continued quest for excellence under Amma’s unparalleled leadership, our thrust has been to develop world-class centers of learning and research, as well as to nurture and encourage value-based education amongst our students and faculty. The Amrita School of Biotechnology, founded with Amma’s vision in September 2004, continually strives to scale new heights of excellence in research and teaching on the laudable wings of Amma’s guidance.

Please Visit: http://www.amritaworld.org for more details about Amma’s humanitarian projects

Amma’s Message

Amma is pleased to know about the international conference on Biotechnology for Innovative Applications- BioQuest being held here.

The goal of science has always been knowledge – an understanding of the human body and the universe as a whole. No doubt, the knowledge gained from scientific research and development has helped to make our external lives more comfortable and affluent. Regardless, happiness continues to elude most people. Our inner lives have, if anything, become marked by greater turmoil and confusion. This lack of inner peace and contentment is reflected in the external strife and unrest that, today marks life throughout the world. People are losing their love and respect for, and their faith in, thei fellow beings. The gap between human beings and nature – to which we are inherently connected – is constantly widening. If our increasing knowledge is truly helping us to grow and society to progress, why is all this happening? Shouldn’t open communication and friendship also be growing?

Scientific knowledge and spiritual knowledge are like two streams. If we merge these two streams we wil find that we are able to create a mighty river, a river whose waters can remove suffering and facilitate the holistic growth of the society. Rue knowledge is, in fact, like a river that nourishes culture wherever it flows. However, if knowledge is devoid of values, it becomes asource of destruction for the world. However when values and knowledge come together, there can be no more powerful an instrument for the welfare of humankind.”

“… We all know that the real goal of education is not to create people who can understand only the language of technology. The main purpose of education should be to impart a culture of the heart, a culture based on spiritual values.

Education is not only to help us live a comfortable life of plenty. When our plans fall apart, when we face failure and loss, when we are knocked down, education should help us get back on our feet.

Education should help us regain our mental equipoise, self-confidence and positive attitude, so that we can continue forward. In fact, studying is a form of austerity. It is a process, like the bud unfolding into a beautiful flower spreading it’s fragrance. Understanding this, we should approach our topic of study with love and patience. The world of knowledge is limitless; the possibilities are as vast as the universe.

Therefore, before deciding whether a discovery is beneficial or detrimental, we need to contemplatewith a meditative mind. Knowledge is like a river. Its nature is to constantly flow. Wherever it can flow,it does so, nourishing culture. On the other hand, the same knowledge, if devoid of values, becomes a source of destruction for the world. When values and knowledge become one, there can be no more powerful instrument for the welfare of humankind. Today, physicists have even begun investigating the possibility that the essential substratum of the manifest universe and the individual are one and the same. We are standing on the threshold of a new era wherein material science and spirituality will move forward hand in hand…”

Read about the details of invited speakers meeting with Chancellor Amma here