new member introduction

[Guest guest]

I am quite shy in some ways (hence the anonymity) but quite bold in others.

By way of introduction I include a portion of a recent post to the Advaita

list. I hope it and I might be welcome here...

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Someone (in response to me) says...

>It might be worthwhile exploring it as your insights have great value. The

>Experience of Self is Self-Confirming and requires no "external authority."

>Sages and Scriptures are clear and consistent on this topic. That the nature

>of Self is Self-Delight, Pure Self Awareness, Supreme Satisfaction, The

>Essence of Completion. The Self has absolutely no longing for anything what

>so ever, is beyond all thought and doubt, and is Whole and Complete. Perhaps

>you can give your views on such words to convey the nature of the Self.

>

 

Oh well... at the time, there is no doubt or want. There is no thing to

doubt or want and no one to doubt or want it. It is much as you say.

 

Sometime after this happened I was rather miraculously introduced to a very

great being who will doubtless be considered in the same league as

Ramakrishna if not Ram and Krshna. When I really noticed how they were I

thought "ahh... if God were here this is what He would be like". As I saw

the love coming from this being I felt a pulse of love in my own heart

quickly erupting into something like a molten wave rushing out without

bound. This love seemed to be coming out of everyone and everything else

too. The physical world seemed to become a fluid mass of light and I could

not understand at all what happened next.

 

Now it seems that simply surrendering to God is the best segue to

nonduality which is why I write the things I do -- but perhaps I'm veering

closer to the Bhakti list by doing so? :-))

 

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P.S. dear Bhaktas (hope that's close to correct) -- I am a western person

with more respect for Hindu tradition than knowledge. Please forgive me if

I inadvertently mispell things or get it all wrong. :-))

[Guest guest]

Forwarded message

 

Dear Vaisnavas,

 

Namaste! I am a new member of the Bhakti list and would like to introduce

myself. I am an Engineer from New Delhi, currently working in the twin

cities area (Minnesota, USA). I am 29 years old.

 

I was introduced to Vedanta via the works of Bhagvatpada Samkaracharya at

the age of 15, but soon felt that something was missing in them.

Fortunately, 4years later, I chanced to read the Sri Bhasyam and was

delighted to discover in them a doctrine that appealed to me and also

appeared in conformity with

the teachings of the Upanishads. My Svadhyaya has continued ceaselessly

thereafter.

 

Unfortunately, I do not know Tamizh and so cannot read the writings of

Alvars. And it is this Tamil aspect of the Ubhaya Vedanta Sampradaya that I

seek to become acquainted with by joining the list. Of course, I recognize

that there is no substitute for reading the original texts. Hopefully, I

would be able to make positive contributions to the list as well, in

particular on the North India traditions of Bhakti and on the Vedic

literature (Samhita-Brahmana-Aranyaka...). Amongst other things, I have been

assiduously collecting the extant fragments of the 'Purvacharyas' remembered

by Sri Ramanuja in his Vedarthasamgraha. If Narayana wills, I shall be

putting up this massive collection on the internet soon.

 

I had earlier set up a website with Frank Morales (a practicing Vaisnava) on

Visistadvaita Vedanta at

htp://hinduweb.org/home/dharma_and_philosophy/vvh/

 

Sri Mani Varadarajan has graciously pointed out numerous lacunae and errors

and has made several suggestions. We still have to incorporate all of them.

 

So much for now.

 

Visvani deva saviturduritani parasuva| Yadbhadram tanna asuva||

 

Vishal Agarwal

 

 

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