Bio-sketches (excerpts) of Moderators 2004

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

These are excerpts from the bio-sketches of the Moderators.

More details can be accessed from the folder '2004 Moderators' in the

Files section. You will now understand the meaning of 'a dwarf

sitting awed but secure, standing on the shoulders of Giants!'

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

 

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Ananda Wood (awood)

 

http://freespace.virgin.net/dennis.waite/advaita/ananda_wood.htm

 

Ananda Wood is a disciple of the Sage Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon

(1883 - 1959). He was born in 1947 .

His upbringing and school education took place in Mumbai, India.

He obtained his bachelors degree in mathematics and theoretical

physics at King's College, Cambridge, UK and his doctorate in

anthropology (with specialization in Indian tradition) at the

University of Chicago, USA.

He has now settled down to work from home in the city of Pune, on a

long-standing interest in the modern interpretation of Advaita

philosophy.

Ananda Wood has inherited this ability and provides a very readable,

fresh and modern approach to traditionally difficult topics. He

wishes to make the following books and essays freely available to

anyone who is interested and has, accordingly, produced some superb

PDF versions.

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Dennis Waite (dwaite)

 

Career-wise, I am a (Software) Metrics Consultant, specialising in

Earned Value.

Lived all my life in England .

I have been studying Advaita increasingly seriously for over 15

years.

Until the summer of '98, I belonged to an organisation called the

School of Economic Science in England. This received guidance for

about 25 years, until his death, from Sri Santanand Saraswati, ex

Shankaracharya of the North

Who is there to realise the Self? In these sorts of ideas, I

recognise Francis Lucille as my effective spiritual teacher, though I

remain open to valuable insights from any source, whether other

current gurus such as Ramesh Balsekar and Wayne Liquorman ,

traditional masters such as Ramana Maharshi or Western philosophers

such as Schopenhauer.

The more I search, the more I realise that so many are saying exactly

the same thing; it is just that some use language that is easier for

a particular mind-set to understand.

I have written a novel - an ecological thriller, also containing many

advaita monologues as well as being an original commentary on T. S.

Eliot's Four Quartets.

Over a year ago, I began writing my second book, which is (not

surprisingly!) an introduction to Advaita aimed at people who have

never heard the term. It will cover all of the aspects about which

intelligent people think (= worry) from time to time, showing how

Advaita considers/resolves the problems.

I am illustrating the book with cartoons to lighten the whole thing.

Of course, I am also using the list to help me resolve in my own mind

some of the more knotty problems!

Dennis

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Gregory Goode (goode)

 

OM! I grew up in California. My family moved about every 2 years up

and down the California coastline, as my father took different

industrial design contracts, including part of Disneyland.

I now live in Manhattan, New York City, working in the IT department

of an international law firm.

Working with them, I've travelled to London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong,

and Washington DC.

My family, of British, German and Swedish roots, has been culturally

atheist for as many generations as I am aware of. Never a mention of

anything spiritual or religious.

But for me, as young as age 10, I began to do what I'd now call a

kind of inquiry.

I studied for a B.A. in experimental psychology with an avocation in

philosophy.

In grad school I went for an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy.

Along the way, I studied mostly Western metaphysics, epistmology,

axiology (the study of human choice) and decision theory (the study

of rational behavior).

I experienced karma yoga in the U.S. Army :-), as well as profound

bhakti and karma yoga in the fundamentalist pentacostal Christian

church, which I felt mystically drawn to in the mid-1980's. I was a

deacon there for 4 years.

On my own, I studied Ayn Rand's Objectivism, Libertarianism,

microeconomics, solipsism, Western hermeticism, esoteric

Christianity, Kabbala, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy --

until the constant mention they made of the Vedas turned me towards

the East in search of Vedanta.

In the local bookshop, the first Vedanta books I found were the

Brahma Sutras with Shankaracharya's commentary, and the Mandukya

Upanishad. I began to read widely, and for about two years attended

the weekly Manhattan study group under the Chinmaya Mission.

For me, Advaita Vedanta found its richest, clearest and fullest

expression in the teachings of Krishna Menon (Sri Atmananda).

Currently I teach a 6-month course in advaita philosophy at the

Atmananda Yoga Center in New York, based on the Chinmaya Mission

teachings, as well as the tradition of Sri Atmananda.

Privately I teach Madhyamika philosophy.

I write articles on Advaita, nondualism and Buddhism for the

Nonduality website and Magazine.

I contribute to several e-mail lists on these topics, including NDS,

, Mahamudra, and NoDoer. Hari OM! –Greg

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Kuntimaddi Sadananda (sada)

 

I am a disciple of Swami Chinmayanandaji.

Originally grew up as VishishhTadvaitin, since I was born to a great

scholar and renowned poet in Rayalaseem who spend his whole life

propagating VishishhTadvaiata.

As fate would have it, I did not learn enough of VishishhTaadvaita

and in between got exposed to more of material science (ended up as

material scientist), JK philosophy and ultimately Advaita when many

of my questions found satisfactory answers.

I am currently teaching Vedanta on behalf Chinmaya Mission Washington

regional center - taking Giita class on Sundays for Virginia group.

I found teaching is the best way to learn. Hari OM!

Sadananda

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Madathil Nair (madathilnair)

I am 57, a householder, close to retirement, working in Arabian Gulf

since 1976. Interested in advaita since the early eighties. Main

source of inspiration: Sw. Dayananda Saraswathiji. Have read some of

the major upanishads including SrImad Bhagwad GItA and some

interpretations thereof. Like to contemplate on the Truth as much as

possible. Above all, a devotee of the Devi who chants Her praise day

in and day out, despite several human failings and shortcomings, and

who identifies the Consciousness of advaita with Her. Have been

writing mostly to Advaitin and occasionally to other

(spiritual) since early 2002.

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Prof. V. Krishnamurthy (profvk)

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy is a well-known scholar of Hindu Religion and

Philosophy from India. His father Viswanatha Sastrigal was a great

Sanskrit and Advaita Scholar. Dr. Krishnamurthy has written several

books on Hinduism with the titles: (1) Hinduism for the next

Generation, (2) The Ten Commandments of Hinduism and (3) The

Essentials of Hinduism. He was formerly the Deputy Director and

Professor of Maths of Birla Institute of Technology and was retired

in 1988. After his retirement, he has been giving lectures on

Hinduism, the Gita and the Upanishads. His Email address is:

profvk

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Ram Chandran (rchandran)

I belong to an orthodox Smartha family

Smartha families obey the teachings and traditions established by

Shankaracharya through the Shankara Matts and our family adhere to

the following of Sringeri Peetam located in Karnataka State.

My grandfather Sri Venku Sastrigal was a Sanskrit scholar well versed

in Vedas

My father, Sri Viswanatha Sastrigal studied Vedas from the same

school.

I was born in Madurai, the capital city of Pandya Dynasty located in

Tamil Nadu, India. My early education of religion and philosophy were

mostly provided by my grandmother. She was a true devotee and never

failed in her daily duties which includes taking care of everybody

which includes God through daily pooja and prayer. Her daily pooja

was quite elaborate consisting of bathing the idols, dressing them,

garlanding them and reciting slokas in praise of them and taking care

of all their needs. It was a remarkable symbolic gesture on her part

to demonstrate that the pooja is a just a reminder to fulfill her

obligations ordained by Him.

I had my school and college education in India. I worked in India for

several years at IIM, Ahmedabad before moving to the USA for

completing a Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics.

Moved to Burke, VA during 1990 to join as a Federal Government

Economist.

For the past ten years we have been attending Chinmaya Mission

activities under the stewardship of Swami Dheeranandaji.

Ram Chandran

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Founder Members and Consultant Moderators:

 

Frank Maiello (egodust)

 

Plainview, NY, 1968: Zen unlocks the mystery that in fact Reality is

Itself an Unfathomable Mystery that defies unlocking! I then found

this Mystery at the base of the teachings of Krishna, Jesus, Lao Tzu,

Chuang Tzu, Rumi, Osho, Tokusan, Milarepa, Padmasambava... the list

goes on and on.

Its clarity, however, reached its pinnacle for me in the mouna diksha

(silence initiation) of my guru Ramana, who opened the way to the

mounam of Dakshinamurthi to brahman Itself. I stand now naked in the

wilderness, proclaiming loud and clear as the Big Bang Bell of

Creation Itself that Self-realization is already utterly everyone's

experience *here and now*!

That it is the common and most paradoxic of all delusions in how

we've consistently managed *to go out of our way* to construct the

belief in our being otherwise!"

a more detailed bio can be found here:

http://pyramodule.com/egodust/fmpagebio1.html

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Gummuluru Murthy (gmurthy)

Prof. Sri Murthy.

He is one of the scholarly members of this list. He is very active

in local spiritual discussion groups. He has been living in Canada

for the last 25 years. Iam sure we would all benefit from this

wonderful scholar. First name: Murthy Last name: Gummuluru Date of

birth: December 30, 1941

Country: Canada for the past thirty five years Country of birth: India

City: St. John's, NF, CanadaPrimary languages: English, Telugu

Occupation: professor at University for the past thirty two years

Remarks: - member of the Advaitin List since its beginning - follower

of shri shankara's philosophy - shri lalitA upAsaka - major

interests: study of upanishads and shri shankara's works and

contemplation on them.

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Madhava Turumella (madhava)

I am 35 years old. Born and brought up in Guntur. I am a

postgraduate in computer applications. After finishing my graduation

I had spent 2 years of time in Chinmayaranyam learning Bhagawadgita

and Upanishads directly from Brahmaleena Swamini Saradapriyanandaji

disciple of Swamy Chinmayananda. I have learnt Srikrishna Yajurveda

aapastambasutras from Brahmaleena Sri Kota Kotayya Sastry (maternal

uncle of Sringeri Sankararacharya Sri Bharati Tirdha). Also I spent 6

months of time near Sevagram, Wardha (Mahatma Gandhi's ashram) to

learn low-costhousing engineering. I had served in social service and

later started my career. I have written a commentary book published

by Chinmayamission on Satarudriyam, besides I have written a satakam

(collection of 100 metrical poems) on Philosophy. And I wrote a few

articles in Indian Philosphy. After living and working as an IT in Germany for a few years, I have now moved to London, UK

to start my own management consulting business. By the grace of Lord

my business is running fine and I am expanding. I am the CEO

of "MadhNET Technologies Ltd." You could reach me at the following

email: Madhava Regards, Madhava -- Madhava K Turumella

MadhNET Technologies Ltd. (regd: 767923) 56 Manorway Harrow Phones:

+44.(0)20 7927 6847 Phones: +44.(0)20 8903 8969 Fax: +44.(0)20 7637

0419 email: madhava http://www.madhnet.com

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