Introduction

[Guest guest]

Hi, my name is Sumanth Kaushik. I was introduced to this group by my

friend Krishnaprasad. I did manage to examine the web page and was

quite impressed with the amount of work taken by Mani in organizing

this group.

 

Re: me. I finished my Ph.D last year in the EECS Department. My work

was in solid state theory and opto-electronics. I am presently a

post-doctoral scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuq., New

Mexico working in the area of photonics. I have a strong background

in theoretical physics motivated primarily by a deep interest in

Hindu philosphy.

 

I come from a devout vadegalai iyengar family. I consider

myself quite religious. I have had my samashrayanam done by Sri

Andavan Swami.

 

There are a number of issues that I would like to bring to attention

of this newsgroup for possible topics of discussion. I will do so in

separate postings, so as to keep these e-mails in manageable size.

 

Some of the issues that I would like to address are: (1) universality

of the sri-vaishnavism (namely, is it?), (2) intellectualization of

God (is it possible? is it necessary? and is it beneficial?) and (3)

the future of sri vaishnavism and what we, as residents of America,

should do to help foster this in US and in India

 

The underlying thread in all of these topics is my perception that the

philosphy of visistadvaita, and in particular the tenets of sri

vaishnavism (I view them as distinct), are losing its resonance

amongst the youth of today -- especially amongst the educated and the

intellectual elite. Since the youth of today will be the torch bearers

of the faith tomorrow, to lose our youth is to lose the religion.

 

I would be very interested in hearing from the members on the net

about their thoughts and experience and perhaps provide their own

vision of the future of what I personally think is a beautiful

religion and a wonderful philosophy.

 

Thanks and I look foward to interesting discussion in the future.

 

Sumanth