Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy & Arts (SIPA) is a non-profit organization working in the fields of Philosophy, Music and Photography. The Institute, currently based in Lahore, Pakistan, was set up in 1995 as a laboratory for testing and developing the ideas and concepts in all these fields, and has been funded ever since by Raza Kazim, its founder and current Director, who has been doing theoretical and practical research in all these areas since 1970.

 

The core object of the institute in the words of Raza is "to discover and establish through knowledge, reason and verification, a dynamic framework of theory and practice for making a new civilization for mankind. And, to create a principled social movement that seeks to move away from the emotional perversities and intellectual opportunism of the present disintegrating human spirit. And, to pursue this purpose principally through an open struggle against the prevailing darkness and ignorance within man’s mind concerning its natural function and role.”

 

Practically this objective has meant involving a sample (group) of individuals from different backgrounds in undertaking intellectually challenging and pioneering works in selected theoretical and practical arenas in accordance with 21st century standards of quality and intellectual excellence. Work in all these arenas has required them to use, upgrade and train their best mental resources and capabilities, and make a corresponding shift in their emotional and mental culture, in terms of their motivations, emotional and intellectual positions, habits, temperaments, pleasure programs.

 

The main works of the Institute are developing the theory and practice of a new discipline ‘Evolutionary Mentology’, exploring the concept and practice of‘Sanjan Sangeet’, the music of the future, designing and constructing high end ‘Bhulley’ audio amplifiers and speakers, a completely new stringed instrument ‘Sagar veena’and ‘Shruti Bahar’, a redesigned version of the existing stringed instrument ‘Surbahar’, ‘Sanjana audio recordings’ and ‘Symbolic photographs’. All these works draw their inspiration and objectives from the main purpose of the Institute. In practical terms this translates into breaking away from the present conceptual, motivational, and practical paradigms, being pursued in these fields the world over. And simultaneously exploring new approaches and dimensions of understanding and doing for making a new individual (emotional and mental) and collective culture, based upon sensitivities and intellectual maturity modern man is capable of seeking and developing in the 21st century.