An announcement and invitaion for your participation .

[Guest guest]

Dear Members of the Bhakthi Group :

 

The month of Aadi is the month of ANDAL's birth .

Aadi maasa piRappu was on on July 16 .

>From that date of July 16 upto the end of July ,

the second half of July , we have number of important birthdays

of AchAryAs ( ANNAS, IYAAS and AARYAS ) and ANDAL :

 

July 21: ANNAARYA Maha Desikan

 

July 22: NavalpAkkam IYAA Devanaatha TAATAARYAN

 

July 23 : (Today ) : Aadi AmaavAsyai ( Important at Thirupputtkuzhi

Vijaya Raaghavan's Sannidhi on the banks of Jataayu PushkaraNi ,

where AchArya RaamAnujA worshipped )

 

July 27 : Monday :ANDAL's Birth day : AADI PURAM

Birthday of the 26th ( ANDAL avathAram )

and 36th Pattam Azhagiya Singars of Ahobila Matam .

 

July 31 : Aadi SvAthi: Thirunakshthram of the 25th

Pattam Azhagiya Singar, the (SaapAnugraha ) Periya

Azhagiya Singar , the amsam of VynathEyar/PeriyAzhwAr .

 

During the evenings of July 20 and 22 , I had the good

fortune to write about VarAha PurANam ( Varaaha Charama

SlOkam ) , VishNu PurANam and KoormAvathAram in response

to queries from two BhakthAs of our List . I will share those

postings with you after July 27 .That was a blesssed experience

since , it made me read Rahasya SikhAmaNi , one of

the granthams of Swami Sri Desikan , which is a brilliant

commentary in ManipravALam on the CHARAMA SLOKAM OF VARAAHA NAYINAAR .

The limitless daya of BhuvarAhan in blessing us with this Charama

Slokam can be understood in the context of the great commentary

by Our AchArya . I will serialize the detailed vyAkhyAnam of

Swami Sri Desikan in SaraNAgathi Journal in the future .

 

With all this going on as context and background ,

I wish to invite your attention to a PIONEERING project ,

which has ramifications for a number of activities

related to the advancement of the Teachings of Sri

Vaishnavite AchAryAs and their Sri Kosams ,Sri Ranganatha

temple building and other kaimkaryams .

 

For some time now , I have been thinking about the ardent

appeal of number of our fellow members like Sri Keshava

Prasad to extend the enduring message of our AchAryAs

and our SampradhAyam to the younger generations and

their parents , who themselves want to know more about them

without being handicapped by the enormous effort to learn

Sanskrit, Tamil mUla granthams and the esoteric commentaries

of AchAryAs on the doctrines enshrined in the rahasya granthams .

 

With BhagavAn Hayagreeva's anugraham , we are about to launch a

major audio-visual , Multimedia project based on CD ROM to

compilment the work that has already been undertaken by

Sriman Dileepan about the creation of a CD ROM on the 108

Sri VaishNavite Divya Desams . That project was started

two and half years ago and got its major boost last summer ,

when Sriman Dileepan went on a pilgrimage to 106 Divya

Desams to collect the source material from these KshEthrams .

He has already shared some of that material through special

home pages on the web , which can be converted into the CD ROM

hopefully in a few weeks/months(?) time .He will be presenting

this content at the forthcoming Pomona festiviites ( Sep5-7) .

 

To bridge that time gap and to serve the needs of Sri VaishNavite

communities all over the world , Professor ALwar and myself

are launching a major project on AchArya RaamAnujA's

charithram , Vaibhavam , illustrious granthams , kshEthrAdanam ,

and AarAdhanam aspects for our younger generation to understand

and develop a ruchi for them .He has kindly sent me the first

vrsion of the demo CD ROM , which is characterized by

high artistic merits and superbly conceived Information content .

 

The "story book " and the navigational options backed by

wonderful( soul-stirring ) rendering of the SlOkams in Sanskrit

and Tamil by very capable artists make this effort a distinguished

one . As a native of Melkote and a holder of the Doctoral

degree in Ubhaya VedAntham from Thirumalai Thirupathi

University and with links to eminent scholars of Sri Vaishnavam ,

Profesosr Alwar is eminently suited to use his talents in

this area . His access to the well equipped multimedia lab

at Bangalore and the outstanding design and development

qualities of the staff there augurs well for the success

of the project to reach " the targetted audience " . Being a

niche product , we have to count on every one of your

support to come through with this ambitous not-for-profit effort .

 

One thing we can count on is the desirable blending of

expertise in content area and Technology ( multimedia )

with the opportunity to house audio , images and video

in generous doses to " inform , educate and entertain "

the younger generation on our ancient sampradhayam .

We will have a companion text to go along with the CD ROM

for the benefit of the parents to become familiar

with the details on the subject matter to answer

the questions of the youngsters ( a teacher's guide ).

 

We will pay special attention to the following factors :

 

1. Fully take advantage of the Unique ability of the CD ROM

to store huge amounts of Information that can be sorted and

linked in complex ways .

 

2. We will present a point of view and perspective instead of

dumping a bundle of disconnected Information .

 

3. We will organize the material in a well-designed ,

" immersive environment " that will include interactive games

to enhance the learning process for today's children .

The objective is to encourage the users to shape the material

of specific interest to them by graded follow-on studies .

 

4. We will try to get a CD ROM (next level prototype , if not

the finished product ) ready for sharing with you at

the forthcoming Labor Day Conference organized for

the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the founding

of Ahobila Mutt at Pomona , NY ( September 5-7, 1998 ).

 

We need all of YOUR help and support to come thru with this

ambitious project . We appeal to Bhakthi members , Naama

Members and the Sri VaishNavite Community at large in

UK , Middle East , Singapore and elsewhere to raise the funds

needed to cover the expenses for this educational project .

 

As in the case of CD ROMs , the cost can range from a few

hundred dollars to tens of thousand dollars . It is our best

estimate that we should be able to design , develop and

produce 1000 CD ROMs on Achaarya RaamAnujA for 12K$ .

 

I am grateful for the 30 BhakthAs , who helped to raise

$4,500 in five days time of request for Helping the

ThiruveLLUr MahA SamprOkshaNa Kaimkaryam . IT IS OUR HOPE

AND PRAYER THAT A LARGER SET OF LIKE-MINDED BHAKTHAS WOULD

SUPPORT THIS PROJECT AND IN RETURN HELP IN THE CREATION

OF THIS CD ROM FOR INSTRUCTIONAL USE FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION .

 

We need pledges of $100 from 120 BhakthAs to raise the 12K$

needed . If additional funds become available , we can expand

the reach of material covered by the CD ROM . Every one helping

this project will get copies of the CD ROM . Proceeds

from the sale of this CD ROM would go to other Kaimkaryams

such as the construction of the Sri RanganathA Temple ,

publication of the English Translation of Sri Ranganatha

Divya PaadhukhA SthOthram , the 108 Divya Desam CD ROM

et al . We will aim to get the next generation of DEMO

CD ROM for sharing with you during the Labor day weekend

at Pomona and with the Divya Dampathi's and AchArya

RaamAnujA's blessings get it ready for full release at

the Dallas NaamA gathering organized by Sriman RajAji

during the time of December 25-27 , 1998 .At this time ,

I would JUST need your pledges and comments on

the shaping of the CD ROM to suit the needs .

 

Both Professor Alwar and myself thank you in advance

for your valued support to engage in this Kaimkaryam

to salute our AchAryA RaamAnujA and to advance

the tenets of Bhagavadh RaamAnuja SiddhAntham .

 

Srimathe RanganAyikA samEtha Sri Ranganaatha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri sadagopan