Prof Sangeetha Menon Ph.D.
Professor and Anchor of Consciousness Studies Programme
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
Bangalore, India
Biography
Prof. Sangeetha Menon is a philosopher-psychologist with a doctorate awarded for the thesis entitled "the concept of consciousness in the Bhagavad Gita" a major text of Indian philosophy. Her educational background is in biology, philosophy and psychology. A gold-medallist and first-rank holder for postgraduate studies, she received national University Grants Commission fellowship for her doctoral studies for five years.
She is a Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, in the campus of Indian Institute of Science and joined NIAS in 1996, with particular interest in consciousness studies in the larger context of science-spirituality-art interface issues.
Dr Menon has been working in the area of consciousness studies for over eighteen years. She has given numerous lectures and presentations in her country and also in United States, Europe and Australia on wide-ranging issues relating to consciousness, mind, and science-spirituality interface issues. Her core research interests are Indian ways of thinking in classical philosophical schools, Indian psychology and Indian dramaturgy and current discussions on 'consciousness'. Her publications cover areas that concern consciousness studies, brain sciences, altruism, aesthetics, Indian psychology and science-spirituality-art dialogues. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology published an article on her research work and contributions (2002) to bring consciousness studies into the Indian psychological context addressing scientific and spiritual questions. Her books include "The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita" (2007),"Consciousness, Experience and Ways of Knowing: Perspectives from Science, Philosophy and the Arts" (2006, NIAS), "Science and Beyond: Cosmology, consciousness and technology in Indic traditions" (2004, NIAS), "Consciousness and Genetics" (2002, NIAS), "Scientific and Philosophical Studies on Consciousness" (1999, NIAS) and "Dialogues: Philosopher meets the Seer" (2003) which is a set of nine dialogues with her spiritual teacher HH Swami Bodhananda on socio-cultural issues of contemporary importance and the common concerns of science and spiritual quest.
She has several publications in peer-reviewed journals, and contributed chapters on a variety of issues relating to science & religion, self, mind and consciousness. Her chapter on “Hinduism and Science” that appeared in the recently published Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (2006, OUP) gives a fresh outlook on this issue. She has also authored few monographs on consciousness in the context of Indian thought. Presently she is engaged in writing a book on Self and Brain.'
With her colleagues she has been responsible for organising many interdisciplinary meetings on consciousness, and to bring leading members from the scientific community and spiritual/philosophical world for constructive dialogues. The courses she offers for doctoral students primarily focus on the nature of self, consciousness and human wellbeing. She has co-organised landmark national and international conferences in India such as “Scientific and Philosophical Studies in Consciousness” (1998, NIAS) which was the first conference in India on this subject bringing together scientists, philosophers et.al to seek answers for fundamental questions on consciousness and human identity. The other major conferences she has organised are “Science and Metaphysics: Consciousness and Genetics” (2002, NIAS); “Science and Beyond” (2003, NIAS); “Consciousness, Experience and Ways of Knowing” (2006, NIAS) and “Looking Within: Interdisciplinary approaches to consciousness” (2012, NIAS). Major scientific and philosophical institutions in India, United States and Europe have supported these conferences.
She has been invited to be an Advisor for the programme on Art/Science/Spirituality Reconnections being jointly organised by Al Andalus Foundation and Leonardo/OLATS. She is a Board Member of the International Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and Asia Consciousness Society. She is an Advisor for the Dharma Association for North America a leading association for Indian Diaspora in North America. She also works with non-profit educational and charity foundations and is a Trustee of Sambodh Foundation, India. In August 2007 she was invited to be a distinguished member of the International Society for Science and Religion whose 100 plus invited members, in science, philosophy and other disciplines, include Nobel laureates. She was awarded two prestigious national awards for her achievements in the field of consciousness and Indian contributions. She was awarded the national award of "Young Philosopher Award" from Indian Council of Philosophical Research, for her research work in 2003.
Dr Menon has visited and spoken at many Universities in her country, United States, England and Australia; London, Oxford, Germany, Paris, Rome, Spain, Melbourne, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Moscow. She was a Visiting Professor at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS), Oxford University (Trinity Term, 2007), and at the Nanzan Institute of Religion and Culture, Nanzan University, Japan (Fall, 2007). She was invited to be a panelist at the World Parliament of Religions, Melbourne 2009, on three sessions that were sponsored by ISSR on Science, Spirituality and Environment. Along with her, the seven panellists included Dr Peter Doherty the Nobel prize winner for Medicine in 1996.
Apart from her academic interests she writes poetry, fiction, and is an avid photographer, artist and web-designer. She also spends her time for charity activities. For further details see http://consciousnessshop.com
Honoraria Titles
Major Prizes
Young Philosopher of India National Award
Religion, Philosophy & History Interests
Ethics, Indic Traditions, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion, Theology
Science & Technology Interests
Biology, Evolution, Genetics, Human Origins, Information Technology, Neuroscience, Psychology
Website
Publications
Brain and Self: Final Frontiers of Consciousness (forthcoming)
2012
Nature and Culture (edited volume)
Co-authors: Eds: Roddam Narasimha & Sangeetha Menon, General Editor: DP Chattopadhyaya,
The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in the Bhagavad Gita,
BlueJay Books 2007
Ed: Consciousness, Experience and Ways of Knowing: Perspectives from Science, Philosophy and the Arts,
National Institute Of Advanced Studies 2006
Ed: The Great Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004: An overview of a national disaster,
National Institute Of Advanced Studies 2006
Science and Beyond: Cosmology, consciousness and technology in Indic traditions (edited volume)
National Institute of Advanced Studies 2004
Co-authors: Eds: S. Menon, B.V.Sreekantan, Anindya Sinha, Philip Clayton, R Narasimha,
Binding Experiences: Looking at the Contributions of Adi Sankaracarya, Tuncettu Ezuttacchan and Sri Narayana Guru in the Context of Recent Discussions on Consciousness Studies,
Indian Institute of Advanced Study 2002
Dialogues: Philosopher meets the seer,
Srishti Publishers 2002
Co-authors: Menon S. and Swami Bodhananda,
Science and Metaphysics: A discussion on consciousness and genetics (edited volume)
National Institute of Advanced Studies 2002
Co-authors: Eds: S. Menon, M.G.Narasimhan, A.Sinha, B.V.Sreekantan,
Scientific and Philosophical Studies on Consciousness (edited volume)
National Institute of Advanced Studies 2002
Co-authors: Eds: S. Menon, M.G.Narasimhan, A.Sinha, B.V.Sreekantan,
http://consciousnessshop.com/publications.html
Brain Science and Kokoro: Asian Perspectives on Science and Religion
Nanzan Institute of Religion and Culture, Nagoya, Japan 2011
Editors:Paul Swanson
http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/Shuppanbutsu/Shinpozia/Brain_Science.htm
Advaita Vedanta
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/adv-veda.htm
