Encylcopedia Brittanica- Comments..- List moderator observations

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

It looks like this thread is concluding. As sri NAPS Rao suggested, the

issue of Jaina influence on Dvaita is a serious and complex issue that needs to

be resolved in separate forums at its own pace and time. As sri Kanekal

suggested, the definition of the word influence and exact implications of that

need to be clearly explored. I suggest that we STOP DISCUSSIONS ON THIS THREAD

AT THIS TIME and resume on the Dvaita list or other forums when some body has

explored the issues further.

 

As a list moderator, let me make the following observations based on some

feedback that I have received by list members offline.

 

* People felt that philosophical issues that were raised were fascinating,

but felt the standard of the debate was lowered by personal issues that

were dragged in to the debate.

 

I want propose the following guidelines so that the future debates can happen

without the rancour that was created in this debate. This is an unmoderated

list. So we owe it to ourselves to regulate ourselves and observe the standards

of decorum in the debate.

 

* There should not be any personal issues brought into the discussions on the

list. Our behavior should reflect the high moral, religious and

philosophical issues debated here. If one person raises any personal

issues in a posting, the other person SHOULD NOT RESPOND IN KIND BUT

COMPLAIN to the list moderators at -owner .

This will stop the cycle of successive E-mails that seem to focus on

personal accusations.

 

Having said this, the debate brought out some fascinating issues which

deserve to be explored further in other forums. I hope the debate takes place on

an intellectual level with compassion and understanding of the other point of

view.

 

This brings us back to the original intent of this thread and the correction

of the sri mAdhva's biographical note in EB. Sri Raghavendra Raichuri has

kindly agreed to coordinate the various inputs that were received by shri

Shrisha Rao, Dr. Zydenbos and others. We will review the response in a smaller

forum and publish the final result in this forum. If anybody is interested in

helping out by writing or reviewing to help this effort, please let me know to

my E-mail address (vmurthy). Please do not reply to the list.

 

Regards,

Vasu Murthy

--

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

Vasu Murthy

Bell Atlantic Global Networks

web page: members.xoom.com/vmurthy

vmurthy

W:703-247-7314 Fax:703-247-7359

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

[Guest guest]

Thank you for stoping the bickering.

 

Regards

 

Krishna

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

Apparently some person thinks that " bickering " has been stopped

due to the intervention of the moderator. While I am all for a

constructive and courteous approach to all controversial issues,

I think it is totally unfair to call what transpired as

" Bickering " . The anxiety of most us in the list is to ensure

that Acharya Madhva and his Thathvavada are not misrepresented

and criticised explicitly or implicitly. A casual attitude to

this kind of situation does not bring any credit to us - either

our commitment to the cause or knowledge.

NAPSRao

[Guest guest]

namaskar fellow Madhva-listers,

 

>napsrao <napsrao

>

>Dear friends,

>Apparently some person thinks that " bickering " has been stopped due to the

>intervention of the moderator. While I am all for a constructive and

>courteous approach to all controversial issues,I think it is totally unfair

>to call what transpired as " Bickering " .

 

I agree.

 

>The anxiety of most us in the list is to ensure that Acharya Madhva and his

>Thathvavada are not misrepresented and criticised explicitly or implicitly. A

>casual attitude to this kind of situation does not bring any credit to us -

>either our commitment to the cause or knowledge.

 

This list can be a good forum for discussion. The " spiritual " and " academic "

aspects can co-exist without either claiming a holier-than-thou attitude.

Discussions are healthy and enlightening and quite frnakly I enjoyed the

exchange betwwen Shrisha rao and Zydenbos even though it did become heated...

but all parties calmed down as the discussion progressed. I hope the moderator

will reconsider his decision and that we may see on this list more than people

asking for rides ...etc (before anybody jumps on me, I am all for such

co-operation).

 

regards,

Shri Kanekal

 

 

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

Shri Kanekal phone: (301)286-6517

Code 696 FAX : (301)286-1648

Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt Road

Greenbelt, MD 20771

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

[Guest guest]

KANEKAL wrote:

 

>

> This list can be a good forum for discussion. The " spiritual " and " academic "

> aspects can co-exist without either claiming a holier-than-thou attitude.

> Discussions are healthy and enlightening and quite frnakly I enjoyed the

> exchange betwwen Shrisha rao and Zydenbos even though it did become heated...

> but all parties calmed down as the discussion progressed. I hope the

moderator

> will reconsider his decision and that we may see on this list more than

people

> asking for rides ...etc (before anybody jumps on me, I am all for such

> co-operation).

 

Let me clarify my remarks. I don't think anybody is opposed to having

philosophical discussions.

All the feedback that I received said that philosophical discussions were

fascinating and enjoyable. I believe that Sri Shrisha Rao and Dr. Zydenbos

have educated all of us on two view points on this issue. I remarked that thread

was winding down on its own. I noted that further discussions warranted

somebody doing some more studies

and responding to these issues in a methodical fashion. If anybody wants to

start a related discussion on some aspects this thread, they are welcome to

do

so. In fact, I want to start a new thread on the debate between the

" spiritual "

and " academic " aspects of the discussion. I request is to do these debates

with

less heat and more light (to use a metaphor of sri NAPS Rao!)

 

Hope this clarifies the remarks.

 

>

> regards,

> Shri Kanekal

>

>

>

 

Regards,

Vasu Murthy

 

 

>

 

 

 

 

--

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

Vasu Murthy

 

 

vmurthy

 

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

[Guest guest]

For the attention of Mr. Vasu Murthy,

I am glad that the thoughtless remark of one individual has been

understood as such by many members of the list. In particular I

am happy at the clarification given by the moderator. I do

propose to make a couple of further contributions on the same

thread - on the points requiring rebuttal in the Jaina paper.

There will be a proper and fitting reply in the same journal

also in course of time by a distinguished scholar. I have

absolutely no doubt in my mind that Dr. Zydenbos's paper

requires considerable rethinking, based as it is on some

observations which are incorrect, superficial and having logical

flaws. But I do agree that a casual approach to such

intellectually taxing pusuits will not do - one has to put in

the man-hours or say, scholar-hours to do justice to the

subject. We have also to guard against the dangers of a closed

mind - not being willing to listen to any thing contrary to our

preformed opinions not based on deep study, and the other

extreme of just taking as Gospel, just because some one

pronounces his version of the " truth " , with suitable atmosphere

of his own superiority in intelect or knowledge.

I would also like to draw specifc attention to a point made by

Mr. Nataraj - that the list should have some contributions which

enhance our knowledge of Thathvavada - and not just programmes

and itineraries.

NAPSRao