Changes to Moderator Board for 2008

[Guest guest]

It is my pleasure and privilege to be able to announce two changes to the

board of moderators for the coming year. Firstly, the Chief Moderator role

for 2008 will be taken by Sri Ananda Wood and, secondly, Sri S. N. Sastri is

to join the board.

 

Both are well known to members through their many excellent posts to the

group, combining authoritative knowledge and clarity of communication. I am

sure that all members will warmly welcome them to their new roles. Sri

Ananda is admired and respected by everyone and his modest impartiality will

be particularly suited to the role of Chief Moderator. Sri Sastri has

demonstrated his vast knowledge of the scriptures and their interpretation

on many occasions and will be an eminent addition to the board.

 

There follows a more detailed resume:

 

 

Sri Ananda Wood

 

 

Ananda Wood is a disciple of the Sage Sri Atmananda Krishna Menon (1883 -

1959). He was born in 1947 of mixed parentage (mother Indian national of

Parsi descent, father English national of Irish descent). His upbringing and

school education took place in Mumbai, India. He obtained his bachelor's

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 currently lives in Pune,

where he devotes his time to writing.

 

He has written several books and many articles on various aspects of

Hinduism and Advaita, most of which have been made freely available on the

Internet. (Details and downloads available from

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/ananda_wood/ananda_wood.htm and

http://www.advaitin.net/ananda/ ). In particular, the following books are

noteworthy:

 

1. 'From The Upanishads' - this is a free translation of selected passages

from a number of the Upanishads into blank verse, along with some occasional

prose.

 

2. 'Interpreting The Upanishads' - this focuses on particular ideas from the

Upanishads, and explains how these ideas can be interpreted. For each idea,

selected passages are translated and placed for comparison beside much freer

retellings that have been taken from the first book.

 

(The latest downloadable versions of the above two books contain hypertext

links both within and between the two documents so that translations and

interpretations may be viewed together.)

 

3. 'Ways to Truth: A View of the Hindu Tradition'. This has just been

published and is available from D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd. It looks at the

Hindu tradition from a philosophical perspective of Advaita

enquiry.

 

 

Sri S. N. Sastri

 

 

Shri S.N.Sastri, now in his eighties, is a former member of the Central

Board of Direct Taxes for the Government of India. He retired in 1980 and

now lives in Chennai. He has been studying Advaita for over twenty years

under two traditional scholars: Dr. Goda Venkateswara Sastri and Dr. R.

Krishnamurthi Sastri.

 

He has authored the following books:--

 

1. An English translation of Narayaniyam of Melpathur Narayana Bhattatiri

(a devotional work in Sanskrit by the devotee-poet who lived in Kerala in

the 16th century A.D), with explanatory notes bringing out the Vedantic

import of the verses. This book is available at Chinmaya Mission centers all

over the world. [Published by Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, Mumbai- 72.

Second Edition, Jan 2005. Price Rs. 160.]

 

2. An English translation of Hastamalakiyam of Hastamalaka (one of the four

disciples of Sri Adi Shankara), with explanatory notes. [Published by the

author. Price Rs. 25.]

 

3. An English translation of Sri Shankara's Satasloki with elaborate notes.

[Published by the author. Price Rs. 80.]

 

4. A Vedantic interpretation of some of the episodes in Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

[books 2 and 3 may be purchased from Jayalakshmi Indological Book House, 6,

Appar Swamy Koil Street, (opp. Sanskrit College), Mylapore, Chennai- 600

004. Tel: 24990539]

 

He has also written articles on a number of topics in Vedanta. These have

been published in various journals and some may be read at his website -

http://www.geocities.com/snsastri.

 

I hope you will join with me in welcoming them to these new roles and

providing your support in the coming year.

 

Best wishes to all and my thanks for the support that you given me over the

past year,

 

Dennis Waite

Chief Moderator 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

My hearty congratulations to both Shree Ananda wood

and Shree Shastriji. We will definitely benefit with

their leadership.

 

Dennis Waite will still be with us and although it is

premature, I have to congratulate him for the

excellent job he has done as chief moderator.

Looking back, the list serve has done an excellent job

for the past 10 plus years and I am sure it will

continue to provide a forum for healthy discussions on

advaita vedanta.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda

 

--- Dennis Waite <dwaite wrote:

 

> It is my pleasure and privilege to be able to

> announce two changes to the

> board of moderators for the coming year. Firstly,

> the Chief Moderator role

> for 2008 will be taken by Sri Ananda Wood and,

> secondly, Sri S. N. Sastri is

> to join the board.

>

> Both are well known to members through their many

> excellent posts to the

> group, combining authoritative knowledge and clarity

> of communication. I am

> sure that all members will warmly welcome them to

> their new roles. Sri

> Ananda is admired and respected by everyone and his

> modest impartiality will

> be particularly suited to the role of Chief

> Moderator. Sri Sastri has

> demonstrated his vast knowledge of the scriptures

> and their interpretation

> on many occasions and will be an eminent addition to

> the board.

>

> There follows a more detailed resume:

>

>

> Sri Ananda Wood

>

>

> Ananda Wood is a disciple of the Sage Sri Atmananda

> Krishna Menon (1883 -

> 1959). He was born in 1947 of mixed parentage

> (mother Indian national of

> Parsi descent, father English national of Irish

> descent). His upbringing and

> school education took place in Mumbai, India. He

> obtained his bachelor's

> 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

> currently lives in Pune,

> where he devotes his time to writing.

>

> He has written several books and many articles on

> various aspects of

> Hinduism and Advaita, most of which have been made

> freely available on the

> Internet. (Details and downloads available from

>

http://www.advaita.org.uk/discourses/ananda_wood/ananda_wood.htm

> and

> http://www.advaitin.net/ananda/ ). In particular,

> the following books are

> noteworthy:

>

> 1. 'From The Upanishads' - this is a free

> translation of selected passages

> from a number of the Upanishads into blank verse,

> along with some occasional

> prose.

>

> 2. 'Interpreting The Upanishads' - this focuses on

> particular ideas from the

> Upanishads, and explains how these ideas can be

> interpreted. For each idea,

> selected passages are translated and placed for

> comparison beside much freer

> retellings that have been taken from the first book.

>

>

> (The latest downloadable versions of the above two

> books contain hypertext

> links both within and between the two documents so

> that translations and

> interpretations may be viewed together.)

>

> 3. 'Ways to Truth: A View of the Hindu Tradition'.

> This has just been

> published and is available from D.K. Printworld (P)

> Ltd. It looks at the

> Hindu tradition from a philosophical perspective of

> Advaita

> enquiry.

>

>

> Sri S. N. Sastri

>

>

> Shri S.N.Sastri, now in his eighties, is a former

> member of the Central

> Board of Direct Taxes for the Government of India.

> He retired in 1980 and

> now lives in Chennai. He has been studying Advaita

> for over twenty years

> under two traditional scholars: Dr. Goda

> Venkateswara Sastri and Dr. R.

> Krishnamurthi Sastri.

>

> He has authored the following books:--

>

> 1. An English translation of Narayaniyam of

> Melpathur Narayana Bhattatiri

> (a devotional work in Sanskrit by the devotee-poet

> who lived in Kerala in

> the 16th century A.D), with explanatory notes

> bringing out the Vedantic

> import of the verses. This book is available at

> Chinmaya Mission centers all

> over the world. [Published by Central Chinmaya

> Mission Trust, Mumbai- 72.

> Second Edition, Jan 2005. Price Rs. 160.]

>

> 2. An English translation of Hastamalakiyam of

> Hastamalaka (one of the four

> disciples of Sri Adi Shankara), with explanatory

> notes. [Published by the

> author. Price Rs. 25.]

>

> 3. An English translation of Sri Shankara's

> Satasloki with elaborate notes.

> [Published by the author. Price Rs. 80.]

>

> 4. A Vedantic interpretation of some of the

> episodes in Srimad Bhagavatam.

>

> [books 2 and 3 may be purchased from Jayalakshmi

> Indological Book House, 6,

> Appar Swamy Koil Street, (opp. Sanskrit College),

> Mylapore, Chennai- 600

> 004. Tel: 24990539]

>

> He has also written articles on a number of topics

> in Vedanta. These have

> been published in various journals and some may be

> read at his website -

> http://www.geocities.com/snsastri.

>

> I hope you will join with me in welcoming them to

> these new roles and

> providing your support in the coming year.

>

> Best wishes to all and my thanks for the support

> that you given me over the

> past year,

>

> Dennis Waite

> Chief Moderator 2007

>

>

[Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

[Guest guest]

advaitin , kuntimaddi sadananda

<kuntimaddisada wrote:

>

>

Namaste,

 

My question is; Why is the ego of participants so powerfully amplified

on these discussion boards, and why is there such an obsession with

control? Surely both these are anathema to advaita?..Hu

[Guest guest]

Dear Hupa-Ramdas,

admittedly being a new group member who does not know many of the adressees I

view

the mentioned postings differently.

If in any of the recipients of all that praise there is identification with the

ego, yes, it will

probably be amplified. If this very identification has dissolved though (which

is not

unthinkable with people in this group), the recipient will take the messages as

simply

stating facts in a loving, respectful or even devotional manner – non of which

is anathema

to advaita.

Similar with your second point: You can call it control or you can call it

protection – of a

very loving, respectful, friendly space which is rare in the world and certainly

rare in the

world wide web.

Om Shanti

Sitara

[Guest guest]

Wow! What a wonderful gift on this day of Thanksgiving day !

 

What a wonderful way to say welcome the new year with this Divine

announcement .

 

First and foremost, let us congratualte Sri Dennisji for his

outstanding and dynamic leadership this year. Under Dennisji chief

moderatorship , the group membership has reached an all time high of

over 1600 members . At the beginning of the year ( jan 2007) we were

only 1400+ strong . Not only the number of members showed an

increase in upward trend but the quality of posts also showed a

remarkable improveent ! We were fortunate to see some very

knowledgeble member join and rejoin the list - Particularly

outstanding contributions were received from our young lion cubs

Sampath, Vinayaka and bright Shyamji and brilliant Rishiji ! Of

course , we wre sorry to lose Subbuji, the most learned of us all !

But nature has its own way of balancing and there arose on the

Advaitin sky Our own beloved Shastriji , our 'divya chakshu' so ,

Shasti Avargale ! Welcome aboard !

 

Thanks once again , dennisji for all various acts of compassion and

kindness . We are also very grateful to Dennisji for initiating the

card system and for drwing up a set of more flexible list rules and

regulations ! i specially liked dennisji's laid back approach!

 

well, i cannot say how delighted i am to see Anandaji at the helm of

affairs . 2008 is certainly going to be the Year of Ananda - Sat-

chit-ananda - Truth Consciousness Bliss ! i am going to familiarize

myself with his writings via his new book 'ways of Truth' during my

Indian sojourn and see if i get more closer to Advaita than ever

before ! So far Shankara's advaita has been 'eluding' me!

 

While offering my heartiest congratulations to these two pillars of

Advaitic wisdom and knowledge Sri maan Shastriji and poojya

Anandaji , i also want to offer my heaerfelt thanks to my buddy

Dennisji , the outgoing moderator , for his outstanding leadership !

 

ANYWAY - my most beloved Anadaji and my most learned shastriji -

please remember " We know the truth, not only by the reason, but

also by the heart. "

 

love and regards

 

!

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- In advaitin , " Dennis Waite " <dwaite wrote:

>

> It is my pleasure and privilege to be able to announce two changes

to the

> board of moderators for the coming year. Firstly, the Chief

Moderator role

> for 2008 will be taken by Sri Ananda Wood and, secondly, Sri S. N.

Sastri is

> to join the board.

>

>

[Guest guest]

oh! oh! sadaji! you are supposed to delete the message you are

replying to because if you do not do so , it will clutter up the

disk space ! Smile :-) is that not one of the list rules ?( you

attached dennisji's entire message) are moderators not subject to

the same rules as members ? just wondering ... i don't mean to be

difficult !

 

btw , how about apointing a woman on the board of moderators ? My

recommebndation would smt Lakshmiji!!

 

no offence !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

advaitin , kuntimaddi sadananda

<kuntimaddisada wrote:

>

> My hearty congratulations to both Shree Ananda wood

> and Shree Shastriji. We will definitely benefit with

> their leadership.

>

[Guest guest]

--- bhagini_niveditaa <bhagini_niveditaa

wrote:

 

> oh! oh! sadaji! you are supposed to delete the

> message you are

> replying to because if you do not do so , it will

> clutter up the

> disk space ! Smile :-) is that not one of the list

> rules ?( you

> attached dennisji's entire message) are moderators

> not subject to

> the same rules as members ? just wondering ... i

> don't mean to be

> difficult !

 

bhaginiji - praNAms

 

Yes bhaginiji you are absolutely correct. I forgot

that we do have a moderator moderating the moderators.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda

[Guest guest]

hare krishna, namaskarams

 

Congratulations sri Ananda Wood as chief moderator and Sri. S.N.Sastry as

moderator of the board of moderators.may god bless you both as the leading

lights of this group and in the pursuits of members to enlightenment.

regards

baskaran

 

Dennis Waite <dwaite wrote: It is

my pleasure and privilege to be able to announce two changes to the

board of moderators for the coming year. Firstly, the Chief Moderator role

for 2008 will be taken by Sri Ananda Wood and, secondly, Sri S. N. Sastri is

to join the board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BASKARAN.C.S

 

 

 

Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaskarams,

 

With folded hands I welcome the new team. Both members are well known to all

the Advaitins and are highly knowledgeble and thorough gentlemen. Hope Advaitin

group will grow multifold under the able leadership of these Mahaatmas.

 

With Pranams

Raaghavan

 

 

Dennis Waite <dwaite wrote:

I hope you will join with me in welcoming them to these new roles and

providing your support in the coming year.

 

Best wishes to all and my thanks for the support that you given me over the

past year,

 

Dennis Waite

Chief Moderator 2007

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Happy Thanksgiving, Sister Bhaginiji:

Here are some operational rules followed by the Moderator Board for

everyone (including you to note):

 

(1) The board only targets the members who repeatedly violate the

rules and shows compassion and understanding when an error is

committed.

 

(2) The moderators are human beings (error is human) and if they

commit an error, they will respond immediately when a member points

out an error. (Just like Sadaji's reply to you with humility)

 

(3) The suggestions from members are always welcome (such as your

suggestion for a new moderator) but such suggestions should be

forwarded to the moderators' email address: advaitins

 

(4) Members when they commit an inadvertent error can always send an

appeal through an email to advaitins

 

(5) Member penalties are always decided after deliberation and my

majority vote by the board. All the previous decisions were done with

unanimous vote by the board after deliberation.

 

This clarification will help members to understand that the board

does not control (censor) the member posts but provide a supporting

free, friendly and meaningful discussions focusing on the subject

matter of advaita. Repeated offenders are once again reminded that

the board will take all necessary steps to stop them participating in

the list discussions.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

 

Advaitin List Moderators

 

advaitin , " bhagini_niveditaa "

<bhagini_niveditaa wrote:

> are moderators not subject to

> the same rules as members ? just wondering ... i don't mean to be

> difficult !

>

advaitin , kuntimaddi sadananda

<kuntimaddisada wrote:

> bhaginiji - praNAms

>

> Yes bhaginiji you are absolutely correct. I forgot

> that we do have a moderator moderating the moderators.

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Ramji and his wonderful team of co moderators :

 

Sitara , a new member , in post # 38207 , has the right idea when

he commented " You can call it control or you can call it

protection – of a very loving, respectful, friendly space which is

rare in the world and certainly rare in the world wide web. "

 

i got to agree with Sitara -ji ... i may have my pet peeves from

time to time but over all , this group is the least moderated among

all groups on the firmament . Not onlt that- the popularity of

the group is growing day by day as we can see from the increase in

member statistics. Also, in the month of November alone in this year

2007, we have reached an all time high of nearly 461 messages ( the

month is not over as yet! ) ... and guys , these messages are not

just some 'chat room ' type of messages but messages which reflect

the deep understanding and scholarship of all participants ! what is

even more laudable is all the senior members of the group such as

Sri Ramji , sunderji , sadaji , Anandaji , frankji, , profji etc etc

always come forward to respond to members' questions in a most

friendly and compassionate manner .

 

Sri Ramji is like Sibi chakravarthy - he gives protection to all of

the members who have taken shelter here - the rules are in place not

only to protect the group but all the members . can you imagine how

much chaos and confusion would be there if there were no rules ? it

will be like the kingdom of Kishkinda where the monkeys would be

uprooting all the trees ! i think the rules are 'livable rules and

operational rules ! the rules are there to protect the ruler and the

ruled ! smile :-)

 

also, i want to express one thing which i don't know if all of you

have noticed! Last year , sri dennisji published his book ' Back to

Truth' and he was chosen as chief moderator - Sri Ramji provided

Dennisji a platform - a platform from where Dennisji could perform

with confidence ! Again , at the end of 2007 , sri Rami has honored

Sri Anandaji with the title of chief moderatorship - and sri

anandaji has just published his long awaited book 'ways of Truth' -

all these only go to show how kind , compassionate Sri Ramji is ! ,

salutations to you for giving an opportunity for everyone

to 'shine' ! Also, Ramji has managed to gather around him the

best 'intellects' and minds on the www. All the members here come

from diverse backgrounds and very erudite and scholarly. i feel

privileged to be in their company.

 

i think over all , the group is being run very well... and remember

the 'thorn' is there only to protect the Rose !

 

one last point - i have a confession to make. sri ramji and i

apologize for my long post on the Holy cow ! You may not be aware of

this but my infant granddaughter was suffering from Cow's milk

allergies right from her infancy - so much so that her breastfeeding

mom could not consume either cow's milk or any of the dairy

products .... the baby was allergic to even soya milk and whaet ,

nuts etc etc ,... ! The allergy was so bad that the child and the

mother spent many sleepless nights together! naturally , i was so

concerned that why my poor grandbaby cannot even drink and thrive on

cow's milk ? Hence , that long post on the mother cow ! Sometimes ,

it is hard to understand the psychology of a poster!

 

i want to express my sincere thanks to one and all for their love

and unconditional support !

 

finally :

 

Ramji is a great leader - for he inspires and motivates and there

lies his strength!

 

on that note , let me take leace of you all !

 

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY XMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR !