‘A Life in Dialogue’ : A special session with Dhyana’s Founding Visionary

The session began with Dr. Gopinath guiding a short meditative exercise to centre the spirits of the attendees, reflecting on the necessity of silence to truly hear both the sound of silence and one’s own self. She began by reflecting on the backdrop of the creation of the society, revisiting the events taking place across the world that shaped people’s perceptions. She recollected how students at Lady Shri Ram College were ‘warming up’ to the concept of feminism, and how changing global realities contributed to the emergence of a feminist consciousness. Dr. Gopinath went on to speak about how Lady Shri Ram College was the first to set up a Women’s Development Cell in 1986, and also the first to establish the Voluntary Agency Placement Programme. She emphasised the importance of sustaining the idea of being ‘included and equal’, as reflected in the Reaffirming Equity, Accessibility, Capacity and Humanity (REACH) cell of the college. She highlighted the importance of ‘identity’, describing Dhyana as a dialogic space that allows individuals to form their sense of self and engage with issues that may not be heard or addressed in the same way elsewhere. She then referred to Ananya Vajpeyi, an alumna of the college and a writer, whose article ‘Dhyana: Poised for Flight’ was shared with the students and discussed. “There must be a wing on which to fly,” she noted, describing Dhyana as a collective that fosters dialogue and thoughtful reflection on issues that affect many but are not spoken about enough echoed in the idea that “the best music is in the silence between the notes.” Dr. Gopinath also recounted how four students of Dhyana were arrested and jailed after joining a peaceful protest by Tibetans at India Gate against the visit of Chinese Premier Li Peng; their written account was also shared with the attendees. She articulated her central idea through the phrase “Yat pinde tat brahmande” meaning “as is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm” suggesting that the individual is not separate, but intrinsically connected to the universe, and that global realities are inseparable from personal experience. She further encouraged Dhyana to continue as an alternative space for discourse one that nurtures connectedness, remains non-judgemental, and sustains meaningful dialogue, as reflected in the letter of gratitude by the Dalai Lama to the students of Lady Shri Ram College regarding the Tibetan crisis.