ADVAITA-L FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

[Ravisankar S. Mayavaram]

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                ADVAITA-L FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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FAQ 1: What are the List policies?

FAQ 2: Where are the archives of the list?
       How can I access them ?

FAQ 3: Is there a FAQ on advaita-vedAnta?

FAQ 4: How do I find out what are my present options?

FAQ 5: How do I change my status to DIGEST form and viceversa?

FAQ 6: How do I unsubscribe from the list?

FAQ 7: How do I temporarily stop mail from Advaita-L

FAQ 8: How do I get more help?

FAQ 9: Additional information

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FAQ 1: What are the List policies?
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1) Advaita-L is a open, unmoderated list to discuss advaita-vedanta as
taught by shrI shankara. By advaita-vedanta, the tradition established
by shrI shankara and the maThas created to is referred.

2) Even though the major emphasis is on advaita-vedanta taught by shrI
shankara, topics related advaita-vedanta are welcome. Purpose of other
related articles should be to aid the understanding of advaita-vedanta.

3) Articles promoting bhakti within the framework of vedAnta are most
welcome.  The articles should be acceptable to the framework of
advaita-vedanta.  Even though advaita-vedanta holds that liberation
is through AtmajnAnam, bhakti is always emphasized.

4) Items 2 and 3 are vague, as the maintainer of the List, I reserve
the right on acceptability of articles. In the case the articles are
unacceptable, it will be informed in private and resolved in private.

5) Discussion of nAstika traditions and their philosophies are not
allowed. By nAstika traditions, I mean traditions like buddhism and
jainism. But scholarly articles comparing these traditions with
advaita-vedanta will be accepted. These articles should be sent to
the list manager (msr at tamu.edu) and not to the list.

6) Debates will be allowed. But it should be between two individuals
and not groups. And the individuals should choose a judge (who should
also be a list member) on mutual agreement and the debate should not
prolong more than a reasonable length of time, say one month. And the
loser should accept the position of the winner, atleast on the list.
The debates should be only on topics with in the fold of
advaita-vedanta. The debates between other different schools
(inter-tradition) will not be allowed.

7) Main purpose of this forum is to learn and understand
advaita-vedanta as taught by shrI shankara. I request members to aid
this goal.

8) Posters should not be disrespectful to towards saints and sages of
other traditions, and should show respect towards each other as well.

9) As the maintainer of this list, I reserve the final word on
critical issues like acceptablity of the articles and others
But I will not be autocratic, I will discuss the matter in private
with  knoweldgeable members of the list.  I will be open to
suggestions.

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FAQ 2: Where are the archives of the list? How can I access them
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There are two ways to access the archives. Easiest way is to use the
WWW interface. To do that point your Web browser to
http://listserv.tamu.edu/archives/advaita-l.html
This interface is very nice and has good search engine.

The second method is to use the GET command. This method is very
useful when you want download the messages say for a month and print
them. For this send a mail to listserv at listserv.tamu.edu and in the
body of the message

INDEX ADVAITA-L

As a response to this LISTSERV will return you the index of all the
files. The archives is in weekly format. Say I want to get the file
LOG9605C ( 3rd week of 5th month of 1996). Then send a mail to
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu with the body of the message containing

GET ADVAITA-L LOG9605C


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FAQ 3: Is there a FAQ on advaita-vedAnta?
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  There is an excellent FAQ on advaita-vedAnta authored by shrI
Vidyasankar Sundaresan. You can access the FAQ from

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~vidya/advaita/ad_faq.html
or
http://www.erols.com/ramakris/advaita/ad_faq.html

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FAQ 4: How do I find out what are my present options?
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All such requests should be sent to the
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu and not to the list itself.

To find out what your options are
send a mail to listserv at listserv.tamu.edu with body of the message
containing the following command.

QUERY ADVAITA-L

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FAQ 5: How do I change my status to DIGEST form and viceversa?
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All such "changing options" request should be sent to the
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu and not to the list itself.
To change to digest mode, please send a mail to
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu with body of the message containing

SET ADVAITA-L  DIGEST

To revert back to regular form, send a mail to
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu with body of the message containing

SET ADVAITA-L NODIGEST

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FAQ 6: How do I unsubscribe from the list?
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Send a mail to listserv at listserv.tamu.edu  with
body of the message containing

SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L

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FAQ 7: How do I temporarily stop mail from Advaita-L
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Send a mail to listserv at listserv.tamu.edu  with
body of the message containing

SET ADVAITA-L NOMAIL

This is a very good option to stop the mail temporarily when you go
out of town, etc. When you are back, send a mail again to
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu with body of the message containing

SET ADVAITA-L MAIL

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FAQ 8: How do I get more help?
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Easiest way is send a mail to me (msr at isc.tamu.edu)

Or you can read a good manual from
http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/user/user.html

Or you can send a mail to
listserv at listserv.tamu.edu
with body of the message containing  the command

HELP


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FAQ 9:  Additional information
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This list is supported by Texas A & M Listserv, whose pages can be
accessed from http://listserv.tamu.edu/
Support provided by the ListServ is gratefully acknowledged.


[For any errors/comments please send a personal mail to me. Do
not reply to the List itself]

>From  Sat Aug 15 18:15:19 1998
Message-Id: <SAT.15.AUG.1998.181519.0400.>
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 18:15:19 -0400
Reply-To: ramakris at erols.com
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
From: Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: shrI shiva nR^isiMha guru (Re: vivekachUdAmani)
Comments: To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at TAMU.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Ravisankar S. Mayavaram wrote:

> In the invoaction verses of the commentary by HH shrI
> chandrasekhara bhArati, there is reference to shrI shiva
> nR^isiMha guru, who is mentioned as an avatara of shrI
> dakShinAmUrti.
>
>  samsAra sAgara-nimagna janoddidhIrsuh
>    yo.avAtarachChiva-nR^isiMha-guruchChalena |
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>  jAdyAndhakAraharaNam karuNAsamudraM
>    taM daksiNAsyaminSam hR^idi bhAvayAmi ||
>
> Can some one  give more information in this regard.

It refers to H.H shrI sachchhidAnanda shivAbhinava nR^is.nha bhAratI,
his guru. You can find info on him at

http://www.erols.com/ramakris/sringeri/saccid.html

Rama