May 18, 2001 ( Seventh Anniversary of the Founding of the Bhakthi List

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs:

 

On May 18, 1994 Sri Mani Varadarajan Created

the Bhakthi List . There were five members at

the time of creation of this List:

 

Sri Mani Varadarajan , California

Sri Parthasarathy Dileepan of Tennessee/Vaduvoor

Sri Krishna Kalalae of New York/Karnataka

Sri Sudarshan Iyengar of Texas

Srimathi Vaidehi Venkatakrishnan of

Florida/ThiruvallikkENi

>From that day , the membership has grown to

925 as of today , and is growing.

 

In the first year , there were 96 postings .

They grew to 886 in the second year ,2531 in

the year 2000 and 1152 sofar this year. The average

postings per month is around 300 these days.

 

What a spectacular growth!

More than physical growth ,

the most impressive aspect is the way

in which Bhakthi List is serving the information

needs of BhakthAs around the world thirsting

for information about the Lives and works of

AzhwArs, AchAryAs and the ancient tenets of

Sri VaishNava sampradhAyam.

>From the spark of Bhakthi List , a great dheepam

of a global Sri VaishNavite Sathsangam has been lit

and is shining splendidly with memberships in almost

all of the six continents .

>From that small nucleus of a group of FIVE in 1994 ,

this list has now grown to 925 today(185 fold increase).

Deep and abiding Friendships have been made and sathsangams

have been established at many parts of the World .

 

Members of the Bhakthi List have gone on to create

other e-lists to address specific needs , Some of them

are:

 

Malolan List : Sri ParthasArathy Dilepan

 

Vishanava Home pages: Sri Mani VaradarAjan

 

Vaishnava Universe : Sri VenkatEsh Elayavalli

 

Parakala Mutt Home Pages: Sri Rajeev Karamchedu

 

Sri Ramanuja Mission: Sri Nadadur Madhavan and

other sishyAs of Srirangam Srimath Andavan Aasramam

 

Acharya Groups: Poundarikapuram Andavan Asramam/

Sriman Muralidahr Rangaswamy

 

SaranAgathi Group: Srimans V.Sadagopan, S.Rengarajan

and Anbil Ramaswamy

 

Thiruvengadam: Sriman M.K.Sudarshan of Kuwait

 

Sri Vaishnava World: Sriman R.K. Venkat

 

Srivilliputthur Home pages: Sri Venkat Iyengar of

Srivilliputthur

 

Swamy Desikan, Acharya RaamAnuja , Padhuka sahasram,

ThiruvenakdamudayAn , ManavALa Maamuni Home Pages

--Srimans Madhavakkannan,Achutharaaman , Haresh Balasubramnyan

and V.Sadagopan

 

Jet USA : The SishyAs of HH Tridhandi Chinna Jeeyar.

 

Sri Ranga Sri: Sri Anbil Ramaswamy

 

International RaamAnujA Society , Sri Mohan Sagar,

Sri V.Sadagopan and Sri M.A.Alwar of Mysore.

 

NAMA group has been serving its international

chapters well with special attention to youngsters

and their families.

 

SthOthra and Dhivya prabhandham classes online

have been started.

 

A CD ROM on Acharya Raamanuja (Life and Sri Sookthis )

has been released.Work towards another CD ROM On

AzhwArs and 108 Dhivya Desams has been completed.

The audio version of the above CD ROM ( 2 Tapes)

is being released this month by Sriman Alwar .

 

Suport for many Vaishnavite Kaimakryams ( book

publication , Temple support, abhArana Kaimkaryams)

have bene realized.

 

Tele-UpanyAsams by great Vaishnavite Scholars

and AchAryAs have become an important recent development.

Thus direct links to the sources of our revered

SampradhAyam has been established. AchAryAs and

Vishnavite scholars are visiting us and blessing

our homes.

 

Next week the Consecration of the Temple for

Sri RanganAthA is going to be celebrated.

 

It has indeed been a rich spiritual life for

all of us since May 18, 1994 ,since the samll

spark of the Bhakthi List lit to many radiant

dheepams shining on the hills of Sri VaishNavam.

 

adiyen joined Bhakthi List in June 1995

and has benefitted immensely from my

participation.My special thanks to

Sri Krishna Kalale for introducing me

to this group.

 

adiyEn would like to express my personal thanks to

the Five who had the vision to initiate Bhakthi List

back in May 18, 1994.Special thanks to Sri Mani

VaradarAjan for skillful and tireless moderation of

the postings of the Bhakthi List .

>From a modest beginning of 96 postings in the first year ,

the archives of this list houses today 12512 contributed

articles.The range of subjects relating to Bhakthi

and Sri VaishNavam covers a tremendously impressive list

of topics.

 

It is my recommendation to members , old and new alike ,

to browse these extensive archives since many questions

that have come up recently have alrady been covered by

one or other members in hteir postings .

 

On this 8th anniversary of the Bhakthi List , it is my

privelege and pleasure to extend my birth day greetings

for further growth and Sathsangam of this list .

 

The aasIrvAdham , " DheergAyushmAn Bhava" seems

to be appropriate on this occasion !

 

V.Sadagopan

Acting Moderator ,

Bhakthi List

[Guest guest]

Dear bhakti list folks,

 

This bhakti list was formed by sri Mani Varadarajan after some arguments

regarding upanisads and advaita during the early days.

Seed stage work was quite less. There were only few posts at that time.

Most of them focused on interscholastic views between different systems of

thought.

I personally think that in terms of maximum number of posts I don't think

there is anyone other then Sri Sadagopan. In that sense I am proud without

knowing accidentally I did some punyam! by introducing Sri Sadagopan to the

list. Thousands have benefited by Sri Sadagopan's untiring efforts. It is

difficult to keep up the pace for years. I never realized that it has been

7 years since the bhakti list was formed.

Sri Sadagopan, thanks for your work. Let everyone in the list take an

active role. Adiyen recently got the blessings from sri Rangapriya swamy

and Sri Srimushnam Andavan ( in bangalore). They all need a lot of support.

Please remember our acharyas constantly. "acharyavan purusho veda". One

who has an acharya knows God. Support acharyas. This list is to strengthen

our ties to our system of thought and to our acharyas. I don't know why

this is so true that just by reading books, we cannot understand truth. It

has to dawn in our minds from blessings of acharyas. Never forget this

truth. Seek them with "shraddha" ( arvam)

Those who can make it to the Samprokshanam of Sri Ranganatha Temple, please

make it and help the temple. Archa murthy is definitely the most needed in

this life filled with limited happiness. Adiyen had the bhagyam of once

visiting the temple recently in Pomona NY.

Aa no bhadrah kratavo yantu vishvatah - let noble thoughts come to us from

all directions

 

Srimathe srivan shatakopa sri Vedanta Desika yatindra mahadesikaya namah

Srimathe sri lakshminrisimha divya paduka sevaka srivan shatagopa sri

narayana yatindra mahadesikaya namah

Adiyen Krishna Kalale ( now Krishna Kashyap )