Last night, Aster invited me to attend an interesting talk here at Auroville, titled: "America's Multilayered Being and Its Implications for India." It was presented by Rajiv Malhotra, an Indian man who's been living in the United States since the early 1970s and is the founding president of a non-profit org called the Infinity Foundation. After his talk, Aster hosted a dinner for Rajiv and his entourage which included some fascinating dialogue. I'll say more about this in later comments to this article.

According to the handout for the talk: Rajiv Malhotra "... is a former telecom entrepreneur who took early retirement to pursue a wide range of spiritual and intellectual interests, including rediscovery and direct experiences as per the Hindu-Buddhist traditions. He is also interested in facilitating an expansion of the American education system to incorporate non-Western wisdom and culture so as to bring about a truly global renaissance for all humanity.

"The Infinity Foundation, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is engaged in making grants in the areas of compassion and wisdom. In the area of compassion it has funded organizations working for health and human services; food banks, the American Red Cross and organizations working for AIDS victims, both in India and USA. In the area of wisdom, Infinity Foundation seeks to promote East-West dialogue and a proper understanding of the Indian civilizational experience in the world, particularly in the United Sates and India. The world today is grappling with issues arising from globalization, religious conflicts and economic, ecological and cultural challenges. The Infinity Foundation believes that the experience and wisdom of the Indian civilization can play a positive role in an inter-civilization dialogue based on harmonious coexistence rather than a clash of civilizations."

For more information, see the web page of the Infinity Foundation:

http://infinityfoundation.com/index.shtml