Guest guest Posted September 24, 2004 Report Share Posted September 24, 2004 SrimatE Raamaanujaaya Namaha // SrimatE Nigamaanta Mahaa Desikaaya Namaha // SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya/ SrIman! SrI Ranga Sriyam anupadravam anudhinam Samvardhaya// KAvEri VardhathAm kAlE, kAlE varshathu vAsava: / SrI RanganAthO jayathu Sri Ranga Sri cha VardhathAm// =========================================================== SRI RANGA SRI VOL.06 / ISSUE # 01 dated 24th SEPTEMBER 2004 =========================================================== Dear Bhagavatas: EDITORIAL 8th ANNUAL REPORT OF SWAMI DESIKA DARSANA SATSANGAM (SDDS) & 4th ANNUAL REPORT OF “SRI RANGA SRI” (SRS), ITS ELECTRONIC JOURNAL ==================================================== Today is TaaraNa Samvatsara, Kanya Maasa, SravaNa Nakshatram. Today, we celebrate the Tirunakshatram of Tiruvenkatam Udaiyan. Today, we celebrate the Tirunakshatram of Swami Vedanta Desikan. Today, we celebrate the Tirunakshatram of BrahmaTantra Swatatantra Parakala Maha Desikan (the founder of Sri Parakala Matam) Such an auspicious day also marks the beginning of - - The 9th Anniversary of “Swami Desika Darsana Satsangam”(SDDS) (founded in 1996) and - The 5th Anniversary of “Sri Ranga Sri”, its Electronic journal (founded in 2000) - The 3rd Anniversary of the formation of Board of Advisory Consultants (BAC) for “Sri Ranga Sri” (formed in 2002) - on the Tirunakshatram day in the respective years. - The 2nd Anniversary of “Internal Resources Panel for SRS” (IRP) (formed in 2003) consisting of distinguished members of SRS. SRIVAISHNAVAM TODAY! Way back in the 1980s during my first visit to the USA, whenever I mentioned the word “Hinduism”, the first response of the Westerner (and even our own people who had lost their moorings to our traditions having settled here for long, not to speak of kids born and brought up here without an iota of exposure to our Satsampradayam was “Oh! I know. You are talking about Buddha”. These people did not know that Hinduism and Buddhism were poles apart. The next best bet was “Oh! I know! You are talking about Adhi Sankara”. This second category seems to have closer familiarity with “Hinduism”, thanks to aggressive marketing of vested interests, equating Hindu philosophy with just the Advaita philosophy. In the last few years, however, world populations have come to know about our great Acharyas like Bhagavad Ramanuja and Swami Desika as formidable forces to be reckoned with, recognized and revered. A very heartening news is that people who never ever heard of these names before now come together to celebrate Acharya Vaibhavam Conferences in different cities (and temples, in particular) especially in USA, Bahrain, Kuwait, England, Indonesia, Singapore and other places on the Tirunakashatram days of these Acharyas. And, in this month, we witnessed the PratishTaapana celebrations of Sri Rukmini Sathyabama sameta Sri Venugopala Perumal organized by Sri Ramanuja Mission in New Jersey. Participating in the study of Vedas, Saastras, StOtras and Azhwars’ Divya Prabhandams etc. organized by different SrivaishNava groups has become a routine these days. This is in no small measure due to the efforts of these various SrivaishNava groups that have been straining every nerve to disabuse false impressions and familiarize them with the life histories and works of these great Savants and the lineage of Acharyas of Sri VaishNava Satsampradayam to which they belong. We are happy to submit that we at SDDS and SRS have been doing our little bit in this direction, like the proverbial squirrel in Srimad RamayaNa. Since the early settlers from India and their kids seem to have forgotten what is “Hinduism”, Bhaagavatas in Kuwait published my book “Hinduism Rediscovered” – a nearly 1000 pages book elegantly got up. This was released by His Holiness Srimad ParavakkoTTai Andavan, Poundarikapuram Swami Asramam at Sri Rangam on the occasion of his 84th Tirunakshatram on 28th March 2004 in the presence of H.H. Rangapriya Maha Desikan and an overwhelming audience comprising of all well known Acharyas and Scholars of our Satsampradayam. We are glad to present in this Issue “Vichitra VeeNa” - a write up by Sriman Sadagopan Iyengar, Srikaryam Swami of SRS as a tribute to our very own Swami Desika on the occasion of his Tirunakshatram May Swami Desika bless that this trend to grow from strength to strength in the days ahead and result in the phenomenal growth of Aastikyam, everywhere. --------- GROWTH OF MEMBERS OF SRI RANGA SRI Thanks to the blessings of YathisrEshTas and Acharyas of Bhagavad Ramanuja – Swami Desika Satsampradayam and the encouragement of - Moderators of sister Internet groups who hosted our Editorials in their sites. - Editors of Religious Journals in India who kindly provided us due publicity in their publications. - Recommendations of existing members for admitting their friends. - The new members who joined out of their own volition. Our membership has burgeoned to about 4200 (including about 3000 Active members and over 1200 others whose mails bounce temporarily due to limited capacity of their mailboxes). It is needless to say that this is ample testimony to the popularity of your Journal. ----------- ISSUES RELEASED About 150 Regular issues of SRS have been released, so far (besides several Special Issues) – including: 27 Issues of Vol. 1 15 Issues of Vol. 2 42 Issues of Vol. 3 35 Issues of Vol. 4 and 28 Issues of Vol. 5 This works out to about 40 issues per year and more than 3 issues per month. Our ambition is to release at least once a week. -----------FEE\ D BACK Although we receive feedback now and then, this does not seem to be sufficient. It is worth remembering that the authors who contribute do so out of their dedication and anxiety to share their knowledge and there is absolutely no commercial motive in their efforts. The only reward they may expect is a feedback of constructive criticism and words of encouragement which we feel they richly deserve. Nothing sustains their efforts more than this recognition by readers and nothing puts them off more than the seeming apathy of readers, as evidenced through the absence of such appreciation. This disappointment is not confined to Contributors to SRS only but also to all other Internet groups. In the absence of such input, there is no way for them to improve their output! So, please “Be honest in your appreciation and constructive in your criticism”. To help you do this, we have catalogued the topics and shown the respective Volume / Issue in which they have appeared. Most of you would have perused them. If you have not done so or would like to re-view the same, you may do so NOW and give us the benefit of your valuable comments. You may indicate which serials or which articles you liked most and where you would like to offer suggestions for improvement. This will go a long way to help in improving the quality and content of your journal. Please send your response to -owner (And NOT to ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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