Fwd: ADMIN: A Restructuring of the Bhakti List -- A Return to Ramanuja

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavatas:

I am forwarding the mail from Sri Mani Varadarajan posted in Bhakti list

regarding "Restructuring of the Bhakti List". On behalf of "Sri Ranga Sri",

we have already posted a "Note to Contributors". We will follow it up with

some more guidelines. Please stay tuned. Thanks.

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

Editor & Publisher

"Sri Ranga Sri"

=======================================================================

 

 

>Mani Varadarajan <mani

>Mani Varadarajan <mani

>bhakti-list

>ADMIN: A Restructuring of the Bhakti List -- A Return to Ramanuja

>Fri, 8 Mar 2002 02:01:55 -0800

>

>

> SrI:

> SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH

>

>Dear Members,

>

>I had long ago promised a restructuring of the Bhakti List.

>This is long overdue, and I have missed my own deadline

>several times. At long last, I have prepared a new set of

>guidelines for the group. Please read it below.

>

> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

>

>The Bhakti List is a moderated email discussion group

>for serious discussion of Sri Vaishnava philosophy

>and religious practice. Specifically, this list is

>dedicated to exploring the meaning and relevance of the poems of

>the Alvar saints (Divya Prabandham), the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Srimad

>Ramayana, and related core texts, as understood through the works

>of Sri Ramanuja, who is the central philosopher of this

>tradition.

>

>For quite a while, this list has tried to be all things to everyone.

>All topics were allowed, as long as they were somehow related to

>the Sri Vaishnava tradition. As many of you have noticed, this

>has proved unworkable in recent months, and the list has totally

>lost its coherence. Many threads of discussion end up in minutiae,

>bearing little relevance to both practical or serious philosophical

>concerns. There are many posts of purely local importance, announcing

>some event or lecture. And there are of course the parochial,

>emotional,and sectarian outbursts, from which little is learned and nothing

>isgained.

>

>However, what has disturbed me most is that today there is little or

>no discussion of the works and philosophy of Sri Ramanuja himself,

>at any level. The works of the greatest and most revered philosopher

>are often left in the rubble of other discussions. What discussions

>do go on often demonstrate a patent ignorance of even the basics of his

>written words, or of the ideas contained in the texts upon which he drew

>for inspiration. It is painfully clear to me that if all our members

>studied the works of Sri Ramanuja in even the most elementary fashion, our

>level of discussion would rise a hundredfold and all of us would be the

>better for it.

>

>Given all of this, I am now announcing a radical restructuring of the

>scope of discussion in the Bhakti List. The Bhakti List will now be

>dedicated strictly to the discussion of the works of Sri Ramanuja and the

>Alvars, and the texts upon which they based their works. That is

>to say, it will be a forum to explore and share the written ideas

>of Sri Ramanuja and the Alvar saints and their predecessors, and how

>to put them in practice. What exactly this means I hope will

>become clear below, and will become clearer as this new moderation policy

>is put into practice.

>

>I understand there is a need to discuss other more general issues.

>For other related Sri Vaishnava topics, I have created several other

>forums which you are invited to join. All together, on ,

>we have:

>

> bhakti-list : For discussion of the Vedanta philosophy

>embodied in the works of Sri Ramanuja and the Alvars

> sv-rituals : Discussion of daily and occasional rituals,

>household and temple worship, festivals, feasts,

> and "how to" questions

> sv-poetry : For discussion and presentation of Vaishnava

>poetry with a Sri Vaishnava focus, but not restricted to

strictly Sri Vaishnava poets (unlike Divya Prabandham which is to be

discussed in bhakti-list)

> sv-lectures : Announcement of Sri Vaishnava telephone and

>live lectures

> sv-general : General discussion of Sri Vaishnava topics,

>including biographies of saints, legends, etc. Announcements,

requests, doctrinal debates generally permitted as long

as they are conducted with decorum.

>

>There are also several other forums such as where one may learn

>a great deal about these other topics.

>

>The rest of this email will discuss the new moderation policy of the Bhakti

>List.

>

>

>What topics and texts can be discussed on the Bhakti List?

>---------------------

>I wrote above that the primary focus will be the works of Sri Ramanuja

>and the Alvars, and the texts upon which they based their works.

>This means that discussion should focus directly on the words

>of the Alvars and Sri Ramanuja, on the texts upon which they

>take for elaboration, or on topics which fall *directly* from

>their words. This includes the following:

>

> o Veda and Vedanta, particularly the principal Upanishads

> o Bhagavad Gita

> o Brahma-Sutras

> o Sri Ramanuja's commentaries on the above

> o Sri Ramanuja's Three Gadyas and the Nitya

> o The Alvars' Divya Prabandham and, secondarily, their commentaries

> o The works of Yamunacharya (Alavandar)

> o Sri Vishnu Sahasranama and other important parts

> of the Mahabharata

> o Sri Ramayana

> o Vishnu Purana

> o Other related ideas such as yoga, meditation, and

> daily life as a Vaishnava which arise *directly* out

> of the above texts

> o How these ideas contrast with those of other philosophers

>

>The key is that discussion should primarily center around philosophical

>or poetic ideas drawn *directly* from the above mentioned authors

>and texts. In our list, I want us to focus on learning what Sri Ramanuja

>and the Alvars *themselves* said, and not on later formulations or

>reformulations.

>The later doctrines may or may not be faithful to the original; that

>is not the point at hand. Too often the core texts, the Alvars' words,

>and the expositions of Sri Ramanuja are neglected in their original and

>are viewed and straightjacketed through the colored glasses of subsequent

>doctrinal formulations. The end-result is that the original ideas are lost

>in the shuffle.

>

>We need to return to studying the Vedanta, Sri Ramanuja, and the Alvars

>directly.

>

>Explanations of subsequent acharyas and their works are welcome

>provided they are directly elucidatory of an Alvar paasuram, and idea

>of Sri Ramanuja, or an idea from a core text. Otherwise, they are

>probably more relevant in one of the other forums.

>

>What may *not* be discussed on the Bhakti List

>-------------

>For that reason, I am going to disallow the following:

>

> o Expositions of teachings of later acharyas -- Kurattalvan,

> Bhattar, Pillai Lokacharya, Vedanta Desika, Manavala Maamuni

> included -- unless *directly* explanatory of the above texts or topics

>will unfortunately no

>

> In other words, just for the sake of circumscribing discussion,

> discussion of the poetry/stotras or the 'rahasya' works of these

>saints will *not* be allowed. But things such as Bhattar's sahasranAma

bhAshya, Desika's Upanishad Bhashya or amalan Adi pirAn vyAkhyAnam,

or Manavala Maamuni's Periyalvar Tirumozhi vyAkhyAnam is more than

welcome. Remember, the focus should be on the core texts.

>

> o Discussion of rahasyas and prapatti (self-surrender or saranaagati and

>the corresponding doctrinal differences and debates will be very

>restricted. I strongly feel that these topics should be

discussed in private with learned people and in small study groups

with a lot of self-reflection. What we discuss in the Bhakti List

should arise clearly and directly out of the works and words

listed above.

>

> o Posts centering on hagiologies, traditional histories (sthala-purANa),

>etc., will not be allowed unless their content is placed in philosphical or

>poetic context or they are drawn directly from Divya Prabandham, etc.

These should go to one of the other forums.

>

> o In general, biographies and tributes, particularly of later-day

>acharyas and institutions, are not within the Bhakti List's charter.

>

> o Please, no general questions, such as "Why vegetarianism?Why

>shouldn't we cross oceans?", etc. Please move these to one of the other

>forums.

>

> o No personal attacks

> o No emotional outbursts

> o No messages of a purely personal nature, including compliments

> o No advertising of any form

> o No self-promotion of any form

> o No fund-raising of any kind

> o No repeat postings

> o No announcements of a regional nature

> o No lecture announcements

> o No politics of any kind

> o No "current events" postings

>

>If there is a doubt about any of these, please contact me, the moderator.

 

I reserve the right to make exceptions to some of these from time to time --

but rest assured they will be very rare.

>

>Furthermore, all posts should be in English. Whenever other languages are

>used, please give at least a rough translation of the passage or word in

>English.

>

>Dear Members, you may have noticed that I have listed a lot of rules above.

>I hope it is not a burden on you; I really don't like stifling discussion.

>I find that a free flow of ideas can often result in remarkable dialogue

>between fellow seekers of Truth. For that reason, this list was initially

>totally unmoderated. Due to the large number of repetitive and off-topic

>posts, junk emails, and some needless emotionalism and personal attacks, I

>have had to take a much more active role in filtering the articles.

>Generally, I really

don't like to do this, not only because I don't like disciplining people,but

because I don't have the time (I'm a family man with my own hobbies like

most of you). I don't believe in policing people's thoughts. Therefore,

it's best if people moderate themselves and behave as they would wish others

would behave with them. All relevant philosophical speculation is welcome

and encouraged.

>It is just asked that discussion be conducted with certain guidelines and

>with respect and decorum.

>

>In the coming months, I hope we will rediscover in some measure the joy of

>the insights of the rishis, the incomparable passion of the Alvars, and the

>unifying brilliance of Sri Ramanuja. Please join me in this quest.

>

>I remain,

>aDiyEn, rAmAnuja dAsan

>Mani

-----------------------------

> - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -

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