Revised Scope of Advaitin using feedback from members

[Guest guest]

Hari Om Advaitins:

 

First, I want to thank all the members who gave us the feed-back to

improve the scope to reflect the purpose and goals of Advaitin List.

Pleae read again and suggest changes as you please. Those of you who

are good in editing, take sometime and edit appropriately and send me a

revision.

 

Second, the transfer of the past archives at to eScribe.com

is in progress and should be ready within a day or two. In this

connection, Gummuluru has been instrumental and he has shown infinite

enthusisam on this project. This most difficult task was simplified by

the young and energetic advaitin, Kartik Subbarao. We thought this

project should take up few months, but Kartik wrote up a "script - the

language of communication between computers" and completed this task in

few days. On behalf of the list members, we want to thank sage Kartik

who wrote the scripture for the computers to the community benefit. The

purpose any scripture is to benefit the universal population and

Kartik's scripture is no exception to this rule.

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

Gummuluru Murthy

Comoderators

 

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Advaitin List - An Electronic Discussion Group on Advaita Philosophy

 

Advaitin List Objectives

Advaitin Mailing list is an electronic Spiritual Forum to exchange

viewpoints focusing on Shankara’s Advaita Philosophy. Advaita is based

on the ancient Vedic Scriptures, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and

the Brahmasutras. According to Shankara, Brahman, the infinite

consciousness, is the sole reality. Shankara establishes the essential

identity between Atman and Brahman. In the ultimate analysis, Advaita

Vedanta holds that all that exists is only Brahman. The plurality of

living and nonliving beings of the entire universe is indeed nothing but

Brahman. The ignorance of this astonishingly simple truth leads to the

misery. The individual Atman is also ultimately not different from

Brahman, and realization of this important doctrine is Salvation

(Moksha.) A number of national and international institutions have

drawn inspiration from this philosophy which include Shankara Maths,

Ramanashramam, Vivekananda Foundation, Aurobindo Ashram, Sivananda

Ashram, Ramakrishna Mission, Satyasai Baba Center, Chinmaya Mission,

Vedanta Mission, Sachidananda Ashram, Arshavidya Gurukulam, Self

Realization Fellowship, Universal Spirituality, Krishnamurti

Foundation, etc.

 

The Internet contains an ocean of literature on Hindu Scriptures and

Vedanta Philosophy and the list welcomes discussions and postings that

can bring new insights. The list moderators want to assure the members

that the list has no intention to curtail any serious discussions on

spiritual subjects that have close resemblance to Advaita Vedanta. The

list encourages a wide range of discussion topics focusing on Shankara,

pre-Shankara and post-Shankara Advaita Philosophy. The list moderators

want to acknowledge the fact that Advaita Philosophy can’t be studied in

isolation and consequently will support spiritual discussions related to

Vaishnavam, Shivam, Buddihsm, Jainism and others. However such

discussions should help members to get better insights on Advaita

Philosophy. Discussions can go beyond Indian culture and philosophy and

the discussants are welcome to post their personal experiences. The

moderators will not hesitate to exercise their right to curtail

discussions when they drift away from the primary focus.

 

This list is truly dedicated to Vedavyasa, Shankara, Ramana Maharishi,

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and other sages and saints of East and West who

have dedicated their life time on nondual philosophy. The list intents

to facilitate meaningful discussions in a friendly and pleasant

atmosphere with several key goals:

To understand the nature of Ultimate Reality and to find the

relationships between all the entities

To comprehend self-realization transform that realization into actions

that are good for human society

To describe such realizations and actions using simple but crisp

language understood by most humans.

To motivate the beginners in philosophy and help them to understand and

appreciate the message of Scriptures.

To help members to develop an attitude to appreciate that human being

person is good in his/her own way.

 

Guidelines related to members and postings

1. Though the primary emphasis focuses on Advaita Vedanta of Saint

Shankaracharya, members have full freedom to express broader aspects

of nondual philosophies, activities and news related to Institutions

that support Vedanta Philosophy.

2. The list will facilitate courteous exchange of viewpoints from

members with different background. Eastern and Western thoughts on

nonduality will be explored in greater detail. Members can exchange

their views on Yogas (Karma, Bhakti, Jnana and also Raja and Kundalini),

book reviews, and quotations both from East and West on Spirituality.

3. Members are prohibited to use this list to sell commercial products

but they are encouraged to use this forum to inform about books, tapes,

lectures, cultural programs and URL addresses on spiritual topics.

4. The new members are required to send a short paragraph of self

introduction within two weeks after they receive the welcome mail. This

introduction will help the moderator and other members to get

acquaintance with the background, interests and needs of the new

member.

5. All postings should be in text format (ASCII) and mails with

attachments will be deleted by mailing list provider to prevent the

spread of computer virus.

6. The list prohibits discussants to engage in personal attacks and

remarks demeaning other religions, other religious leaders, individuals

or groups. Violators are subject to moderation and repeated violations

will force the moderator to ban the violator from posting to the list.

 

List Archives are available at:

/viewarchive.cgi?listname=advaitin

Those who are interested can visit the above address to review the

messages and and alternately can send an email to

chandran. Articles can be searched by keyword, thread,

author or date at the Mirror Archive Site:

http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/

 

Ram Chandran

Gummuluru Murthy

Comoderators of Advaitin