Dr. Jayshree Panjikar

Respected Chief Guest Members on the Dias, Fellow Gemmologists, Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me a profound sense of satisfaction to address the 5th. IGS. This year the Forum of Indian Gemmologists for Scientific Studies has completed 20 years of its existence - 20 years is almost a life time for a new generation, some of you may not have been born in 1983. In these 20 years Forum has steadily marched ahead. It has actively witnessed most of the exciting technological developments in the field of Gemmology.

In the 1980's we had the advent of commercially produced flux rubies and hydrothermal emeralds, synthetic cubic zirconia in different colours, then came the synthetic diamonds to synthetic moissanite. Gemmology was slowly picking up.

In the year 1985 Forum organized the First National Seminar. Our chief guest then was our present Maharashtra Chief Minister Shri Sushilkumar Shinde who was then the Finance Minister. In our introductory speech we had said that Shri Shinde who had started as an office boy had risen to be a minister it was almost like Abraham Lincoln who had risen fro a log cabin to the White House. Our predictions have come true our Sushil Kumar Shinde has reached the White House - Varsha the official residence of the Chief Minister ! We give our Chief Guest today the very best of good wishes so that he too may become the Chief Minister of Orissa !

In the last decade, we saw the new treatments on diamonds irradiation, laser drilling fracture filling, carbon vapour deposition, HPHT as well as diffusion treatments on coloured stones. So the twenty years passed off very quickly and Gemmology became a career option for many.

I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that Gemmology is a subject, which is very engrossing. If you gaze into the depth of an emerald or into the interior of a blue sapphire you are in a totally different world. Like Prof. Edward Gubelin, the High Priest of Gemmology, says that jewels have in them the presence of natural monuments of a past that reach back millions of years. He compares them to the pyramids and says the inclusions are like the "Fingerprints of God" How true ! No wonder gemology gives us this Divine Bliss. Time passes at jet speed. Already a year has passed since I last addressed you at Udaipur on the occasion of the IGS-4. In fact the world famous philosopher, Jean Houston calls such time as "polychromatic time" which means that the time passes differently based on what we are doing and how we are involved with the activity at hand. When you are working at something enthusiastically, undistracted. Totally focused, hours may pass which may seem like few minutes. You are an eternity and a moment simultaneously. At other times when you are doing something you do not enjoy a minute may seen like an hour. These 20 years have passed off as if they were just few moments. Therefore we gemologists live in polychromatic time accelerating the richness of our living - All of us have one magnificent obsession - Knowledge of gemstones.

Recently in the times of India there was an article by one T.G.L.Iyer in the column Speaking Tree in which he writes that knowledge is gained through four sources.

1. Aagama or tradition
2. Upamaana or comparison
3. Pratyaksha or direct perception
4. Anumaana or inference

How true this is in our Gemmological science. For years together gem andjewellery trade learnt everything by Aagama or tradition. Then we started Upamaana or comparison. Then came the Gemmological Institutes which actually taught everything systematically which is Pratyaksha and now at these seminars and conferences we get the knowledge which is Anumaana or inference. By inference says Iyer we get nearer to the truth - you are trying achieve the divine bliss by gyana yoga. When you keep your thoughts, actions focused in your divine center and function in the world - you are nearer to the inference.

Last Spring, Gems & Gemmology published a news item of Life Gem Synthetic Diamonds - these are synthetic diamonds produced from the carbon content present in a dead human body ! We have always referred to extraordinary distinguished person as a "Gem of a person" but now actually we have a diamond made from a person's body. Gem of a person literally ! These diamonds are produced by Lucent Diamonds of Lockwood Colorado USA using iron alloy flux pressure of 5-6 Gpa and temperature between 1600 to 20000C. The production process requires that the mortal remains of your near ones be cremated at crematorium equipped with the LifeGems equipment. They collect the organic carbon before it is totally lost in the crematorium half way through the standard cremation process in a unique "carbon curing" container.

During my lectures to students I have taught them that diamonds can be produced from the graphite present in your pencils and from one full size pencil one can produce one 1 carat diamond.

According to the Lucent Diamonds from an average human body enough carbon can be collected to make at least 10 synthetic diamonds each of one-carat size. Since we have boron in our bodies we can get blue diamonds.

But I must add here that gemology science is definitely going to make humans almost immortal - people will start making wills which would have donations of all major organs followed by the body to be given for making 10 diamonds which the deceased will give to all relatives provided they pay for the synthesis ! At least at present there is no non-descriptive method to check whether the carbon content is from human being or from natural graphite ! So till then Gemmologists have something new to probe into.

Future of Gemmology

Gemmology definitely has a brilliant future. Everyday something new challenging, awe inspiring news comes up. Be it the new gemstones or new treatments or new synthetics or new deposits, a practicing Gemmologist's life will always be exciting. This is basically because of our thoughts says the famous Michael Curley. According to him our past thoughts have created our current reality and we are creating our futures with thoughts we think right now at this present moment. Man himself is the creator. All of us do it all the time - we are all big creation machines. When we create deliberately we call this manifestation. How can one manifest what one wants?

One can do this by three steps

1. With the thoughts one thinks
2. With the words one speaks
3. With the actions one performs

If we want to make the future bright we have to think and plan for a bright future. Because with our thoughts we sow the seeds of everything that we create in our lives - once we have accepted this, we take responsibility for it then ladies and gentlemen, I assure we have taken a major step towards raising our awareness and consciousness. Like Michael Curley says once we accept this we stop blaming outside influences including people for what happens in our lives. This show that if we have created what exists in life then ladies and gentlemen we also have the power to change whatever we don't like. Therefore if we visualize the abundance of gemstone business, abundance of new gemstone deposits of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, we shall have them.

I am at present visualizing a huge mammoth, gem testing research laboratory having all the latest equipments and state-of-the-art instrumentation. We should have in India better facilities, sophisticated technology in our Gemstone field after all our Indian Gemstone business is itself gigantic then our research technological developments should also be spectacular. If all Gemmologists come together, plan with positive thought energy then definitely we have the energy to manifest this to physical reality we have the power to change the world into aspiring scientifically brilliant world.