AN APPRAISAL OF EMINENCE ON A TELEVISION SHOW
https://www.youtube.com/
All the panellists are civilised enough not to make this show a shouting match, so to say, but still the moderator must be allowed to ask the panellists to speak in the order he deems it fit and the panellists themselves must not jump the gun to do so which at times they have done, and that is unfortunate for it often cuts a speaker midstream.
These are eminent men, each distinguished in his respective vocation, although, all are not quite equally illumined at that. Their participation has embellished the show and raised it beyond the pedestrian programmes so often dished out on television these days, although, some of the 'yogic' assertions of Sadh Guru Jaggi Vasudev are simply preposterous for they are neither tenable in rational terms nor quite in keeping with Indian scriptural sanctity, although, when asked to comment about them, Swami Atmapriyananda is accommodating enough to call them collectively as 'one point of view'.
The molecular biologist, Dr. Pushp Bhargav, is quite an expert and speaks good sense without mixing up things or compromising on his rational stance. He sticks strictly to his scientific approach and sees no reason to concede unnecessary ground in accommodating what he, perhaps, deems irrational assumptions and credulous predilections stemming from human ignorance about the scientific mode of Nature's functioning. His delivery is so scientifically sound and succinctly articulate that it is a pleasure to hear him talk, especially when he illustrates his points with his references to his Nobel laureate friends across the Continent. Prof. Bhargav seems so luminous in his scientific conception of Nature and life. Clearly, he is a cut above the rest of the panellists barring, perhaps, Swami Atmapriyananda to a degree. The Swami, incidentally, is a particle physicist by training which is evident from the way he enunciates core principles of physics and also clarifies an essential misconception about the God Particle or the Higgs boson in so far as its ability to creating mass is concerned.
The physicist, R. Rajaraman, is rather unceremonious in stating that Swami Atmapriyananda knows his spirituality better than his physics, a cutting remark which the monk remarkably well takes into his stride as someone else's personal opinion about him. Otherwise, Prof. Rajaraman is a curious medley of personalities in one body with credulity and reason coexisting as complementary aspects of his persona.
The sociologist's (Prof. Vishwanathan's) verbal and body language at times is quite jarring, as if indicative of his discomfiture in the presence of more knowledgeable people than him. He goes about harping on silly things which are not quite in keeping with the tenor of the ongoing discussion and lends the conversation unnecessary incongruous levity.
The Catholic priest, Dr. Dominique Emmanuel, is a very pleasant person with a ready affable smile and an easy camaraderie with his co-panellists. His assertions are neither vehement nor smacking of egotism as he concedes the Biblical limitations in explaining the genesis of creation and his own inadequate knowledge of his self even as he declares that he can gain greater awareness of such through increased meditation.
Swami Atmapriyananda is delightful in his delivery on both science and religion and is so profound in his several articulations where he enunciates some of the fundamental principles of science in beautiful terms. His economy of expression in such enunciated profundity is a marvel and it is a pity that we do not get to hear this wonderful monk speak more often on the cross-links of science and religion unhindered by organisational trappings.
NDTV has ever been ahead of the other Indian television news channels in the English language in cutting-edge reporting and presentation of features pertaining to the domain of knowledge and they have exhibited exquisite taste here in assorting such a galaxy of speakers from across diverse disciplines to lend substance to the discussion on the God Particle from varied perspectives. If the conversation has been a success, which it has been to a degree, it has been on account of the vision of the directors of the channel who took it upon themselves to invite such a select group of intellectuals for the programme. And if the programme has been a trifle aimless and wandering, it has been on account of poor moderation by Vikram Chandra and his inability thereof to direct the discourse along a more topical pathway. The entire show seems a trifle ill-directed as speakers lend their voices to no aspired end of the conversation which drifts without direction to a blank endpoint. The God Particle pops up hither and thither but figures in the discussion in being no more than a figurehead as the swirl of ideas revolves increasingly remotely from it. Consequently, no inferences are drawn at the end of a purposeless discussion of sprayed ideas without focus or destination. But then that is Indian television journalism even at its best!
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : Swami Atmapriyananda, Vice Chancellor, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University
https://www.youtube.com/
All the panellists are civilised enough not to make this show a shouting match, so to say, but still the moderator must be allowed to ask the panellists to speak in the order he deems it fit and the panellists themselves must not jump the gun to do so which at times they have done, and that is unfortunate for it often cuts a speaker midstream.
These are eminent men, each distinguished in his respective vocation, although, all are not quite equally illumined at that. Their participation has embellished the show and raised it beyond the pedestrian programmes so often dished out on television these days, although, some of the 'yogic' assertions of Sadh Guru Jaggi Vasudev are simply preposterous for they are neither tenable in rational terms nor quite in keeping with Indian scriptural sanctity, although, when asked to comment about them, Swami Atmapriyananda is accommodating enough to call them collectively as 'one point of view'.
The molecular biologist, Dr. Pushp Bhargav, is quite an expert and speaks good sense without mixing up things or compromising on his rational stance. He sticks strictly to his scientific approach and sees no reason to concede unnecessary ground in accommodating what he, perhaps, deems irrational assumptions and credulous predilections stemming from human ignorance about the scientific mode of Nature's functioning. His delivery is so scientifically sound and succinctly articulate that it is a pleasure to hear him talk, especially when he illustrates his points with his references to his Nobel laureate friends across the Continent. Prof. Bhargav seems so luminous in his scientific conception of Nature and life. Clearly, he is a cut above the rest of the panellists barring, perhaps, Swami Atmapriyananda to a degree. The Swami, incidentally, is a particle physicist by training which is evident from the way he enunciates core principles of physics and also clarifies an essential misconception about the God Particle or the Higgs boson in so far as its ability to creating mass is concerned.
The physicist, R. Rajaraman, is rather unceremonious in stating that Swami Atmapriyananda knows his spirituality better than his physics, a cutting remark which the monk remarkably well takes into his stride as someone else's personal opinion about him. Otherwise, Prof. Rajaraman is a curious medley of personalities in one body with credulity and reason coexisting as complementary aspects of his persona.
The sociologist's (Prof. Vishwanathan's) verbal and body language at times is quite jarring, as if indicative of his discomfiture in the presence of more knowledgeable people than him. He goes about harping on silly things which are not quite in keeping with the tenor of the ongoing discussion and lends the conversation unnecessary incongruous levity.
The Catholic priest, Dr. Dominique Emmanuel, is a very pleasant person with a ready affable smile and an easy camaraderie with his co-panellists. His assertions are neither vehement nor smacking of egotism as he concedes the Biblical limitations in explaining the genesis of creation and his own inadequate knowledge of his self even as he declares that he can gain greater awareness of such through increased meditation.
Swami Atmapriyananda is delightful in his delivery on both science and religion and is so profound in his several articulations where he enunciates some of the fundamental principles of science in beautiful terms. His economy of expression in such enunciated profundity is a marvel and it is a pity that we do not get to hear this wonderful monk speak more often on the cross-links of science and religion unhindered by organisational trappings.
NDTV has ever been ahead of the other Indian television news channels in the English language in cutting-edge reporting and presentation of features pertaining to the domain of knowledge and they have exhibited exquisite taste here in assorting such a galaxy of speakers from across diverse disciplines to lend substance to the discussion on the God Particle from varied perspectives. If the conversation has been a success, which it has been to a degree, it has been on account of the vision of the directors of the channel who took it upon themselves to invite such a select group of intellectuals for the programme. And if the programme has been a trifle aimless and wandering, it has been on account of poor moderation by Vikram Chandra and his inability thereof to direct the discourse along a more topical pathway. The entire show seems a trifle ill-directed as speakers lend their voices to no aspired end of the conversation which drifts without direction to a blank endpoint. The God Particle pops up hither and thither but figures in the discussion in being no more than a figurehead as the swirl of ideas revolves increasingly remotely from it. Consequently, no inferences are drawn at the end of a purposeless discussion of sprayed ideas without focus or destination. But then that is Indian television journalism even at its best!
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : Swami Atmapriyananda, Vice Chancellor, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University
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