Congratulations

[sadananda]

>Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
>I got engaged! See the pictures ==> http://www.braincells.com/jaldhar/sagpan

My hearty congratulations!  I saw your web page. I am sure Jyoti will light
the Jyoti in your life.  Both of you look charming.  Wish you both all the
best.
If you happen to be close to Bridgewater Hindu temple, NJ  this weekend you
will be able to witness the divine wedding - Andal Kalyanam -The story of
Goda Devi -  a Kuchipudi Bharata Natyam dance drama by Kalamandapam - By my
wife and her students with my daughter.

Everyone close to NJ are welcome.



K. Sadananda
Code 6323
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington D.C. 20375
Voice (202)767-2117
Fax:(202)767-2623

>From  Thu Oct  2 09:08:36 1997
Message-Id: <THU.2.OCT.1997.090836.0400.>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 1997 09:08:36 -0400
Reply-To: chandran at email.tidalwave.net
To: "Advaita (non-duality) with reverence" <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ram Chandran <chandran at TIDALWAVE.NET>
Organization: Personal
Subject: Re: Vedas
Comments: To: Advaita List <advaita-l at tamu.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Oct 1997, Ram Chandran wrote:

> > If you imply orthodox by true believers of Vedas, they respect
> > and live by the Vedas and they do not like to
> > conduct and participate in intellectual debates.  Some orthodox
> > Hindus may not feel comfortable to look and answer few of your blunt
> > questions.

> It is ironic that you should post this when a quick glance at the list
> shows it is the most orthodox members who are participating in
> intellectual debate and the followers of modern nitwits who are
> contributing nothing.
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

Dear Jaldhar:

Namaskar.

        First, there is nothing ironic about what I said about orthodox.  It is
a subjective definition and it is no wonder that we have different
interpretation!  I am coming from an Orthodox Hindu Brahman and my
grandfather, Vengu Sastrigal was a great scholar served the Diwan of
Thriuppuvanam (a small town located near Madurai, India) more than a
hundred years ago. My father, Viswanatha Sastrigal also became a Vedic
scholar after completing 12 years in the local Vedic school under the
tutelage of my grand father.  He and my mother, Sita raised 14 children
and I am the youngest of his fourteen children.  My grandfather died
longtime before my birth, my father died when I was 11 and my
grandmother died when I was 12.
        My grandmother who was a great Krishna devotee has strong influence in
my religious beliefs. I still remember the day of her liberation from
this worldly life. She was seventy nine years old and I was twelve years
old.  As per her daily routine, she woke up at 5:00 A.M., took her
morning bath, completed all household duties (cleaning, washing, cooking
and taking care of everyone's needs) and conducted an hour long daily
Puja between nine and 10.  She served food to everyone during 10 and
11.  At about 11:00 A.M., she said that she had chest pain and was
liberated from this world before Noon without eating her food!  As per
my memory, she had demonstrated her unconditional love, service and
devotion to all family members, neighbors and Lord Krishna.
According to my notions, my grandmother is orthodox who believed in her
Vedic religious convictions and lived a life full of sacrifice and
service.  Though she was a great devotee of Lord Krishna, she had never
expressed any hatred toward other people, Gods and religions. The
Sanskrit Slokas and the religious convictions that she taught me at my
young age are fortunately still in my memory and I hope will never
disappear. My grandfather, grandmother, father and mother never had any
time to get into intellectual debates on Vedas!  I started my school
education in a Christian school and somehow I never had Sanskrit
language education.  I became the first Ph. D in my family and
ironically, I am the only one without knowing Sanskrit.
        Contribution is again subjective and there are no objective ways to
measure their values.
>From your past postings I find that you are very bright, knowledgeable
on Hindu scriptures and Sanskrit.  All of us have the tendency to make
mistakes.  We are better of when we correct our mistakes sooner than
later.  The win-win approach for all of us to ignore and forgive the
offenders.  When we react, we likely become the victims. We should
determine to ignore the ignorant and dissolve them with our knowledge
and wisdom. We should avoid using inappropriate and blunt words such as
"nitwits."   We seem to assume that such blunt language can strike right
at the target.  Such hits divert the focus of the discussion from topic
to personalities.  They are neither necessary nor called for!   The
purpose this listing is to help all of us to learn to grow
intellectually, socially and spiritually.
        I want to thank both Vidyasankar and Sadanand for an enlightening
discussion on -
On Brahmasutras and VisishtAdvaita.  Vidya wrote: " I beg to disagree
.........."
Sadanand replied: " Well, Let us agree to disagree ................."
They have demonstrated to us that we can also communicate our ideas and
express our disagreements without offending others. This is a win-win
approach to learn and enhance my knowledge horizon!

Ram Chandran