Wishing the Advaitin Group a very AUSPICIOUS Sixth Anniversary !

[Guest guest]

Dearest Satsanghis,

 

Please Join me in thanking the Owner-moderator Sri Sundar Hattangadi

and his excellent team of Co- moderators for creating this beautiful

cyber shrine for the benefit of the community. This Group is

like a Banyan tree where we can all come and take shelter and bask in

the Sunshine of Adi Shankara's time-tested Knowledge of ADvaita

PHilosophy.

 

Over the years, the group has managed to attract scholars and

serious students from all over the world and we are able to enjoy the

wisdom from their messages in this very cyber satsangha. The Standard

of discussions is very high here and this can easily be called one of

the best run cyber groups with 'freedom' of speech and 'expression'.

Not your run of the mill c where there is a lot of 'chit-

chatting' and very little substance. My favorite of course is the

Monthly discussion on various topics and let me tell you the topics

selected so far are excellent and gave us an excellent opportunity to

learn about Advaita by examining various scriptural texts.

THE 'PURNAMIDAM' discussion initiated by shri Madathil Naiji was

very scholarly and was full of poetry and romance. This was followed

by Ken Knight-ji's brilliant discourse on 'MAYA IN THE VEDAS' ...

Kenji DELIGHTED us all with his indepth knowledge of Rig Veda and his

beautiful translation of the sanskrit verses in the Rig Veda. Ken-ji

brought out the 'Rhythm and Sound' of the rig veda beautifully

through his 'articulate' enteries! Then came Chitta with his month

long discussion on 'Real and unreal' ... This was A COMPLEX AND

PROFOUND SUBJECT. But, beloved Chiita handled it with 'ease and

elegance' and Advaita Vedanta was full of 'juice' and 'rasa ' and

not the 'dry' philosophy we all are used to reading ! Yes, even a dry

subject can become 'alluring' when in the hands of a POet and a

philosopher and a scholar!

 

what about the members here? They are all unique and exceptional

without whose help and participation , this group will be like a Dry

desert!! It is said , it is the Bhaktas who give the Temple its true

beauty and meaning. So is a GROUP... THIS IS A LIVELY GROUP WITH A

SET OF LIVELY, PULSATING, DYNAMIC members .... thank you fellow,

satsanghis for your time and support.

 

Lastly, but not the least, our own Professor-ji , the Patriarch of

this GROUP -the Bhisma Pitamaha - his self-less service to

community is admirable. First, he gave us the beautiful translation

of Saundarya-lahari followed by Adi shankara's shata sloki . His

latest contribution -advaita for beginners - is a rare treat indeed!

Thank you professor-ji and we wish you all the best as you leave for

India soon.

 

Having said all this, let me share with you a story from ADI

SHANKARA'S LIFE ....

 

"During my discourse in Banaras, an elephant became very

uncontrollable and began running berserk among the passers by. I,

along with my disciples, were passing by that street on our way to

bathe in the Ganga. Seeing the elephant running amuck, we

had to run for safety. One pandit who used to attend

my discourses daily, referring to this incident,

asked me the question: "O, great teacher. If as you

say, the world is maya [illusion] and the soul is

indestructible, why did you, a liberated soul, run for safety

seeing the maya elephant running wildly?" I replied:

"Well put, my learned brother. The elephant was maya,

as you say, and so was my running!"

 

Adi Shankara Bhagvadapada was a bhakta and a jnani par excellance.

 

please read the following verse from his Baja-Govindam stotra...

 

praaNaayaamaM pratyaahaaraM

nityaanitya vivekavichaaram.h .

jaapyasameta samaadhividhaanaM

kurvavadhaanaM mahadavadhaanam.h (VERSE 30 )

 

bhajagovindaM bhajagovindaM

govindaM bhajamuuDhamate .

saMpraapte sannihite kaale

nahi nahi rakshati DukR^iJNkaraNe

 

 

 

Control the self, restrain the breath,Sift out the transient from the

True,Repeat the holy name of God, And still the restless

mind within.

To this, the universal rule,Apply yourself with heart and soul

 

Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda,Worship Govinda, foolish

one! Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death.

 

 

Once again, a big Thank You to one and all for making this cyber

satsangha a virtual 'reality' where all serious aspirants of Advaita

Philosophy canassemble under one roof and learn from one another.

ONLY A 'LIT' LAMP CAM LIGHT ANOTHER! SO LET THE LIGHT SHINE!

 

JAYA JAYA SHANKARA !

 

HARA HARA SHANKARA!

[Guest guest]

advaitin, "adi_shakthi16" <adi_shakthi16>

wrote:

> Please Join me in thanking the Owner-moderator Sri Sundar Hattangadi

> and his excellent team of Co- moderators for creating this beautiful

> cyber shrine for the benefit of the community.

 

Namaste,

 

Just to correct a factual error! Sri Ram Chandran-ji is the

original Owner/Founder of this List, along with many other Founding

Fathers! (Greg-ji will be reminiscing about this soon!) He has

inducted some others (which includes me) later on into this 'August'

group!

 

We are happy to be of service to our members, enriching our

own learning in the process.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

[Guest guest]

Namaste:

 

Here is the final correction regarding the ownership. This list is

coowned by all the members. Actually, the 'real' owner is the Brahman

and mAyA is responsible for our misconception of the ownership!

 

We should thank Sri Ravi Mayavaram, Sri Jaldhar Vyas and

Sri Ramakrishna Balasubramanian of Advaita-L group who were

instrumental for the creation of this list during the August of 1998.

The list orginally started during June 1998 at

http://www.coollist.com. From there it moved to which

later merged into .

 

The members of this list is mostly responsible for the growth of this

list and are truly blessed to be a part of this universal family.

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh>

wrote:

[Guest guest]

I stand corrected!

 

i apologize to sri ram-ji for this grave error!

 

But in reality who owns the group?

 

in a democratically run group, group is run by the members , for the

members and of the members! This is very true of 'sdvaitin' list !

here, members are free to express their opinions and the 'rules' are

easy to live with - not too many don'ts ! i guess that is the reason

why it has survived for six years! Here, we do have to thank the

moderators ( whoever they are) for their 'liberal' outlook and

expanded 'vision'!

 

As Gandhi-ji was fond of saying , nothing really belongs to us in

this world, we are all caretakers only!!

 

Best wishes once again!

 

Ps - so, Greg-ji, we are waiting anxiously for you to start with the

next topic for discussion .... "place of practice in vedanta" and of

course the ANNIVERSARY MESSAGE !!!!

 

 

With warmest regards

 

 

 

-- In advaitin, "Sunder Hattangadi" <sunderh>

wrote:

> advaitin, "adi_shakthi16"

<adi_shakthi16>

> wrote:

>

> > Please Join me in thanking the Owner-moderator Sri Sundar

Hattangadi

> > and his excellent team of Co- moderators for creating this

beautiful

> > cyber shrine for the benefit of the community.

>

> Namaste,

>

> Just to correct a factual error! Sri Ram Chandran-ji is the

> original Owner/Founder of this List, along with many other Founding

> Fathers! (Greg-ji will be reminiscing about this soon!) He has

> inducted some others (which includes me) later on into this 'August'

> group!

>

> We are happy to be of service to our members, enriching our

> own learning in the process.

>

>

> Regards,

>

> Sunder

[Guest guest]

Ram Chandran <RamChandran wrote:

 

We should thank Sri Ravi Mayavaram, Sri Jaldhar Vyas and

Sri Ramakrishna Balasubramanian of Advaita-L group who were

instrumental for the creation of this list during the August of 1998.

The list orginally started during June 1998 at

http://www.coollist.com. From there it moved to which

later merged into .

 

Dear Ramachandranji, Sadanandaji, Krishnamurthiji and all the members,

 

First of all let me take this opportunity to add my congratulations to that

of Adishakthi and others in having an extremely successful list run for 6 years.

We wish this list many, many more productive years to come! This is one of the

best lists and the monthly topics are simply divine. I was initiated into the

list by Professorji and get to read the postings religiously! But I do not get

enough time to participate fully. One of these days hopefully I will be able to

enjoy this even more by full participation. But let us all congratulate every

one responsible for starting this project and benefit so many.

 

WIth Best Wishes,

 

Siva Subramanian

 

Jaya Jaya Sankara

 

Hara Hara Sankara

 

 

 

Siva and Kalyani Subramanian

 

Yaa DEVI Sarva Bhootheshu Maathru Rupena Samstitha

Namas Tasyai Namas Tasyai Namas Tasyai Namo Namaha !

 

HRAA OM HARA OM SADASIVA !

HARI OM HARI OM NARAYANA !!