Advaitin List Annual Progress Report for the year 2008

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Dear fellow members:

 

Originally, the list started its service during June 1998 at the

Coollist.com. Then on 31 August1998, Advaitin List moved to

which became . Finally got

superimposed with . The membership grew from 20

members when it started to 1883 at present The list doesn't insist on

membership to view the public archives which are open to all visitors

of the site. The site is visited by several thousands everyday.

 

We want to express our sincere thanks to every one of you for your

friendliness, cooperation and support.

 

Here is a brief summary progress report of Advaitin List.

 

Starting Date of the List: 30th August, 1998

 

Moderating Board consist of the following members (Year 2008);

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

Ananda Wood (Chief Moderator)

Gregory Goode (moderator)

Sunder Hattangadi (moderator)

Dennis Waite (moderator)

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy (moderator)

Kuntimaddi Sadananda (moderator)

Madathil Rajendran Nair (moderator)

Ram Chandran (moderator)

S.N. Sastri (Chief Moderator for the year 2009)

 

Founder Members and Past Moderators:

Frank Maiello)

Gummuluru Murthy

Madhava Turumella

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

 

The Bios of Sri Ananda Wood (2008 Chief Moderator) and Sri S.N. Sastri

(2009 Chief Moderator are provided below:

 

2008 Advaitin List Chief Moderator: 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.

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

 

2009 Advaitin List Chief Moderator: 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.

 

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

Advaitin List Membership Growth: (# at the end of the year)

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

1998 65

1999 155

2000 324

2001 495

2002 689

2003 935

2004 1120

2005 1325

2006 1532

2007 1686

2008 1883

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Currently the list site at

advaitin/message/ contains the archived

messages (42,500). It is possible to search the archive using keyword

or author or by title. Members can download and/or print the messages

for their personal use.

 

List Membership is open to everyone interested in learning and

discussing advaita philosophy and closely related philosophies. You

can visit the homepage, http://www.advaitin.net for further

information on the list scope and

FAQ. Dennis Waite's site, http://www.advaita.org.uk/ also contains

edited versions of articles posted in the list.

 

Happy New Year to everyone!

 

Advaitin List Moderators