Guest guest Posted March 6, 2000 Report Share Posted March 6, 2000 I thank Sri Sadagopan for the description of his experiences on such a momentous trip involving his "prapatti". I just wanted to mention Sri U Ve Kottamangalam Varadacharya is held in great esteem by even reknowned pundits such as SMS Chari (author of several books on Vedanta in English). Adiyen had the good fortune of meeting Kottamangalam Varadacharya few times since he used to visit his daughter in Bangalore who was our neighbor for a few years. At this juncture, I would like to request all of you and particularly Sri Sadagopan, who is so capable, to start a new project to somehow collect and protect the writings of great pundits who are back there. I bought several great works from parakala mutt in mysore long time back. They are of course products of the students of the great Abhinava parakala mutt jeer who wrote gudartha dipika. THose books are almost lost since they are out of print. They have to be re-printed. About 20 or 30 books of Sri Uttamoor viraraghavacharya have to be re printed. I was going through VKNS Raghavan's visistadvaita literature bibliography. Most of these works are not in print. I personally feel that the single most significant failure of our community to date is : "that we have some how not doing enough to protect the knowledge offered by our acharyas and obviously our own children will lose all that knowledge". Personally, I agree that temples have to built. Archamurthis have to be honoured and decorated with ornaments to express our love and devotion. Archa form is obviously the nearest form of that divine lord which is accessible to us right here on earth. However, the most important duty for all of us is protection of vedas, mantras, shastras, bhasyas, vyakhyanams and translating them to a language and medium ( books in different languages, cassettes, CDs, video cassettes etc.). With so much technology available I dont want to even think of the idea that 3 generations after us, one young person might say aloud " my ancestors screwed up reall bad! they were so stupid that with all the technology available to them they did not protect and preserve the eternal knowledge offered to them by acharyas". I want to see the age wherein "distance learning classes" are offered to anyone even on a part time basis so that people can just dial in on the internet or on some medium and listen to our shastras. We should educate our next generation in a suitable way with appropriate depth and language so that they dont think that is boring. There are several thousand people who are not even near temples. Those people should also have the benefit of learning about our rich tradition by getting pundits to visit and teach these shastras. There should be no book in our system of philosophy which is out of print! It is so clear that every 30 years a new generation is born and the old generation departs from this earth. The thoughts are in human brains and they have to be transmitted before such brains become dust or ashes. Most of these brains are in India and some master plan has to be undertaken to record such divine thoughts of these luminaries. While I am writing this, I feel devastated by that thought that as time passes we may never recover such divine thoughts of our older pundits. We should build temples. in fact these temples are the places where people come for solace and knowledge. Where does the knowledge comes from? it has to be imparted from another human being unless someone is so lucky as to get an instruction straight from an archa murthy! As these thoughts rush to my mind, statements from shastras " na hi jnanena sadrisham pavitram iha vidyate" ..( there is nothing more sacred than knowledge here in this world" ( bhagavadgita)... shreyo hi dravya mayat yajnat jnana yajnah parantapa... ( greater is the merit of offering of knowledge than the offering of material things". " marva menba dor koil amaitthu.. madhavan ennum daivatthai naatti arvam enbador poovida vallaarkkarava dandattil uyyalumaame - Perialwar pasuram" ( in the temple namely our heart establish that God namely Madhavan and offer the flowers of devotion. Shraddha nadi vimala chitta jalabhisekhaih nityam samadhi kusumaih apunarbhavaya - ( The water is our pure mind. Shraddha or devotion is the river. Take that water, namely pure mind and offer it to God everyday in addition to the flowers which is samadhi (or deep continous unmixed meditation on God). All these indicate that devotion and knowledge is real stuff needed. How can the next generation or anyone of us here get devotion or knowledge? There is only one way. Learn under an Acharya and attain knowledge from books written by them. Tranmission of knowledge is the key for survival of our system of thought. Such a transmission can only be done by instruction of appropriate information. How many temples are there? There are some temples. How many Visistadvaita Universities or Centers of Study are there? just a few. There should be an center of Visistadvaita study in every city so that next generation benefitted. Once bhakti cannot be imparted to the next generation what is the use of temples? If a person does not have bhakti he cannot help considering temples as only material buildings and things made of metals, concrete and stones rather than our Great Divine God who is the fountainhead of all life in this universe. Hence dear atmabandhus, please let us undertake a large project to reprint all the great books and let us invite great thinkers and pundits to come and help us. "A no bhadraha krathavo yantu vishvataha - let noble thoughts come to us from all directions". I request all of you not to mistake me for my request. I am not condemning or criticizing anyone here. I feel that our generation should avoid some great mistakes. It hurts me when I think about the disaster that can befall on all of us and future generations. One might think after reading this email : " this guy (adiyen) is thinking too much of himself and trying to advise all the rest. There are much more intelligent and educated people than this guy who is trying to point out mistakes in others. In fact he is the guy caught in the quagmire of material pursuits and it is funny that he is giving advice to others like a devil quoting from the scriptures!". All I can say is that we have to work together. adiyen Krishna Kalale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2000 Report Share Posted March 7, 2000 Dear Bhaghavata UttamAs: Very thought-provoking observations by s/shri Krishna Kalale, Sampath and Madhavkkannan. It is extremely relevant that we discuss and think on those topics. There are several instances where efforts to preserve the knowledge and wisdom of our present day Sampradayic giants are well underway. One such project is the popularization of Swami Vedanta Desika's works. Eminent scholars are invited on Sravanams and their upanyasam is recorded and distributed. So far about 20 to 25 different topics have been covered. This work is being organized by Shri Anantha Narasimhachar Swamigal under the stewardship of PoundarIkapuram Swamigal. The project is looking for more support and if you are interested please e-mail me. Thanks. dAsan Vijayaraghavan Buffalo, NY >Krishna Kalale <kkalale1 >"kkalale1" <kkalale1 >"bhakti-list " <bhakti-list > >Sri Kottamangalam Varadacharya >Mon, 6 Mar 2000 20:18:46 -0800 > >I thank Sri Sadagopan for the description of his experiences on such a >momentous trip involving his "prapatti". I just wanted to mention Sri U Ve >Kottamangalam Varadacharya is held in great esteem by even reknowned >pundits such as SMS Chari (author of several books on Vedanta in English). > Adiyen had the good fortune of meeting Kottamangalam Varadacharya few >times since he used to visit his daughter in Bangalore who was our neighbor >for a few years. > >At this juncture, I would like to request all of you and particularly Sri >Sadagopan, who is so capable, to start a new project to somehow collect and >protect the writings of great pundits who are back there. > > I bought several great works from parakala mutt in mysore long time back. > They are of course products of the students of the great Abhinava >parakala >mutt jeer who wrote gudartha dipika. THose books are almost lost since they >are out of print. They have to be re-printed. About 20 or 30 books of Sri >Uttamoor viraraghavacharya have to be re printed. I was going through VKNS >Raghavan's visistadvaita literature bibliography. Most of these works are >not in print. > >I personally feel that the single most significant failure of our community >to date is : "that we have some how not doing enough to protect the >knowledge offered by our acharyas and obviously our own children will lose >all that knowledge". Personally, I agree that temples have to built. > Archamurthis have to be honoured and decorated with ornaments to express >our love and devotion. Archa form is obviously the nearest form of that >divine lord which is accessible to us right here on earth. However, the >most important duty for all of us is protection of vedas, mantras, >shastras, bhasyas, vyakhyanams and translating them to a language and >medium ( books in different languages, cassettes, CDs, video cassettes >etc.). With so much technology available I dont want to even think of the >idea that 3 generations after us, one young person might say aloud " my >ancestors screwed up reall bad! they were so stupid that with all the >technology available to them they did not protect and preserve the eternal >knowledge offered to them by acharyas". > >I want to see the age wherein "distance learning classes" are offered to >anyone even on a part time basis so that people can just dial in on the >internet or on some medium and listen to our shastras. We should educate >our next generation in a suitable way with appropriate depth and language >so that they dont think that is boring. There are several thousand people >who are not even near temples. Those people should also have the benefit >of learning about our rich tradition by getting pundits to visit and teach >these shastras. There should be no book in our system of philosophy which >is out of print! > >It is so clear that every 30 years a new generation is born and the old >generation departs from this earth. The thoughts are in human brains and >they have to be transmitted before such brains become dust or ashes. Most >of these brains are in India and some master plan has to be undertaken to >record such divine thoughts of these luminaries. While I am writing this, > I feel devastated by that thought that as time passes we may never >recover >such divine thoughts of our older pundits. > >We should build temples. in fact these temples are the places where people >come for solace and knowledge. Where does the knowledge comes from? it >has to be imparted from another human being unless someone is so lucky as >to get an instruction straight from an archa murthy! > >As these thoughts rush to my mind, statements from shastras " na hi jnanena >sadrisham pavitram iha vidyate" ..( there is nothing more sacred than >knowledge here in this world" ( bhagavadgita)... shreyo hi dravya mayat >yajnat jnana yajnah parantapa... ( greater is the merit of offering of >knowledge than the offering of material things". " marva menba dor koil >amaitthu.. madhavan ennum daivatthai naatti arvam enbador poovida >vallaarkkarava dandattil uyyalumaame - Perialwar pasuram" ( in the temple >namely our heart establish that God namely Madhavan and offer the flowers >of devotion. Shraddha nadi vimala chitta jalabhisekhaih nityam samadhi >kusumaih apunarbhavaya - ( The water is our pure mind. Shraddha or >devotion is the river. Take that water, namely pure mind and offer it to >God everyday in addition to the flowers which is samadhi (or deep continous >unmixed meditation on God). > >All these indicate that devotion and knowledge is real stuff needed. How >can the next generation or anyone of us here get devotion or knowledge? > There is only one way. Learn under an Acharya and attain knowledge from >books written by them. Tranmission of knowledge is the key for survival of >our system of thought. Such a transmission can only be done by instruction >of appropriate information. How many temples are there? There are some >temples. How many Visistadvaita Universities or Centers of Study are >there? just a few. There should be an center of Visistadvaita study in >every city so that next generation benefitted. Once bhakti cannot be >imparted to the next generation what is the use of temples? If a person >does not have bhakti he cannot help considering temples as only material >buildings and things made of metals, concrete and stones rather than our > Great Divine God who is the fountainhead of all life in this universe. > >Hence dear atmabandhus, please let us undertake a large project to reprint >all the great books and let us invite great thinkers and pundits to come >and help us. "A no bhadraha krathavo yantu vishvataha - let noble thoughts >come to us from all directions". > >I request all of you not to mistake me for my request. I am not condemning >or criticizing anyone here. I feel that our generation should avoid some >great mistakes. It hurts me when I think about the disaster that can befall >on all of us and future generations. One might think after reading this >email : " this guy (adiyen) is thinking too much of himself and trying to >advise all the rest. There are much more intelligent and educated people >than this guy who is trying to point out mistakes in others. In fact he is >the guy caught in the quagmire of material pursuits and it is funny that he >is giving advice to others like a devil quoting from the scriptures!". > > All I can say is that we have to work together. > >adiyen Krishna Kalale > > >vadigale saranam - >To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list (AT) eGroups (DOT) com >Visit http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/ for more information > >------ >eGroups eLerts! >It’s easy. It’s fun. Best of all, it’s free. >http://click./1/2072/2/_/716111/_/952400968/ > >eGroups.com Home: bhakti-list/ > - Simplifying group communications > > ____ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2000 Report Share Posted March 7, 2000 --- Krishna Kalale <kkalale1 wrote: > I personally feel that the single most significant > failure of our community > to date is : "that we have some how not doing> enough to protect the > knowledge offered by our acharyas and obviously our > own children will lose > all that knowledge". the > most important duty for all of us is protection of > vedas, mantras, > shastras, bhasyas, vyakhyanams and translating them> to a language and > medium ( books in different languages, cassettes, > CDs, video cassettes > etc.). With so much technology available I dont> want to even think of the > idea that 3 generations after us, one young person > might say aloud " my > ancestors screwed up reall bad! they were so stupid> that with all the > technology available to them they did not protect > and preserve the eternal > knowledge offered to them by acharyas". > While I am writing this, > I feel devastated by that thought that as time > passes we may never recover > such divine thoughts of our older pundits. > Tranmission of knowledge is > the key for survival of > our system of thought. Dear Sri.Krishna Kalale, Adiyen fully shares your thoughts. You have said it all with so much genuine emotion that nobody can fail to see you are very sincere. What you have said is absolutely true. One is not at all sure if our religious tradition will ever survive and flourish in the 3rd millennium. Adiyen too, like you, is often struck by how scant is our present-day work to popularize and disseminate the ancient literature and works of our religion and 'sampradAyam'. Whatever feeble efforts are there in India or abroad, though admirable in purpose and sincerity, unfortunately are of no great interest to the large mass of our younger brethren today. To tell you the truth nothing any of us in our generation is doing, or trying to do in any which way, really appeals to our children and youthful brothers and sisters. This may sound very pessimistic but it is the raw truth. We keep glorifying our past. But that's about all we are able to do. We are accomplishing next to nothing in the present which is capable of really enthusing the present and next generations. And for their part they do not hesitate to severely tell us, "Look here, you can say and do what you want, but a tradition or system of thought whose past is always being portrayed to be much more interesting than its present simply has no future." The most important question in adiyen's veiw is to first ask: How can we vividly show to the next generation that our past and present religious tradition is really a very precious thing and it is worth preserving for the future? How can we get the large mass of our young generation (and not just a few thousands) to really believe that they have a big, big stake in their religious legacy? If one were not convinced that one's 'family jewels' bequeathed by a great-great-grandmother will not fetch 10 times its present value in the year 2015, would one ever bother to husband it carefully in a safe-vault today? So how to invest our religious past and present with "future-value"? How do we accomplish that? dAsan, Sampathkumaran Talk to your friends online with Messenger. http://im. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2000 Report Share Posted March 7, 2000 Sri: Srimathe Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya Namah: Dear Sri Samapthkumaran, While I agree with you and Sri Krishna, on the pitiable soory state of affairs presently prevailing, it is not as black as it is painted. There are lots of awareness NOW, especially due to graet bhakti posts (especially from Bhagawathas like yourself.. in such inimitable style like that of Sri Kuresar's ), there is sure lots of awareness. I know one young lad, (of 25) talking to his father and asking him to carry out Samasrayanam after reading these posts.. (He had already undergone last year).. You should see also the NAMA events happening, young children partcipating with such enthu, reading the stories of AzhwArs and AchAryAs. The manner in which Srivaishnavas in their 20's and 30's wearing pancha kaccham and madisaars and not just that. Talking about deep vishayams effioortlessly. (after performing bharanYasam, and also avoiding all paraannam..including eating in adiyEn's home). Today we try to (at least pretend) do because we saw our parents doing and followsing these anushtanams. How do we pass on them.. Just simply do it.. And after all.. is it not His leelA, samapth..? and if at all, some such stray thought comes to our mind, relating to Emperumaan, adhuvum avandhu innaruLE.. Regards Narayana Narayana adiyEn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2000 Report Share Posted March 7, 2000 Dear Members, When you reply to another post, please don't include the referenced article, or only include what few lines you need. This reduces the size of our Digest and makes it easier to read. Thanking you, Mani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2000 Report Share Posted March 7, 2000 --- Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan <vijayaraghavan_s wrote: > Dear Bhaghavata UttamAs: > There are several instances where efforts to > preserve the knowledge and > wisdom of our present day Sampradayic giants are> well underway. One such > project is the popularization of Swami Vedanta > Desika's works. Eminent > scholars are invited on Sravanams and their> upanyasam is recorded and > distributed. So far about 20 to 25 different topics > have been covered. > This work is being organized by Shri Anantha> Narasimhachar Swamigal under > the stewardship of PoundarIkapuram Swamigal. The > project is looking for more > support and if you are interested please e-mail me. > Thanks. > dAsan > Vijayaraghavan > Buffalo, NY Dear Vijay, This sounds like a sound and practical project. It is very interesting. Please let me know if there is any way adiyen can help. I can contribute my little bit to funding if you like. But more importantly, I wholeheartedly offer to lend a hand at faithfully translating the "upanyAsam-s" (which I am sure will be of excellent standards) into easy and readable English prose to go down well with lay and young readers. I am willing to undertake this in a spirit of 'kainkaryam' if your project leaders feel I am deserving enough to be entrusted with the task. If you can send me copies of the 20-25 tapes that are already out as you say, I can start work immediately. (I will bear costs of tapes etc.) dAsan, Sampathkumaran Talk to your friends online with Messenger. http://im. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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