New member introduction: shrI Guy Werlings

[Subhanu Saxena]

On friday September 04, VidyaSankar wrote:

> If you let me know the publishers of the first book, I might be able
> to
> help in contacting them for details. I think permission to publish a
> translation of Krishnaswami Iyer's book can be easily obtained by
> writing
> to the Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya office in Bangalore. If I remember
> right, they have the publication rights for all of KAK Iyer's books,
> as
> also the other remarkable books on Advaita Vedanta by the Holenarsipur
> Swami.
>
> The Bangalore address, as given to me by Raghavendra, who is also on
> this
> list is -
>
> Adhyaatma Prakaasha Karyaalaya,
> No.68,2nd block,
> Thyagarajanagar,
> Bangalore-560 028.
>
Vidyashankar is indeed correct on the above.  In terms of getting books
published  the Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya have been running book
appeals to raise funds for publications. I have been supporting these
efforts, together with raising funds for Sruti Shankara Samshodhana
Samskrta Vidyapeetham, which is based in Mattur village Karnataka, and
is affiliated with Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya.  I am sure they will be
delighted to hear of a French translation of works by Krishnaswami Iyer,
but I am sure they will also welcome donations to support their book
publishing efforts (when I was in Thyagarajanagar last they had a number
of projects on the go)

On Vidyashankara's point re: books, I can recommend the following as
good introductions by Holenarsipur Swami. Those of you who remember my
introduction will remember that my Guru is a direct disciple of this
revered Swami.  The following books are written in English by Swamiji:

1) Shankara's clarification of certain Vedantic concepts.

An excellent, simple introduction to Shankara's position on key topics
in Vedanta, viz the Atman, AvidyA and MayA, Jiva and Ishwara, Creation,
The purpose of Vedantic texts, and many more. As well as the English
texts, a  number of Shankara's Bhashya quotations are given in
DevanAgari, plus with a crisp English translation

2) How to recognise the method of Vedanta.

This is the outstanding English introduction to Swami's magnum opus in
Sanksrit "Vedanta Prakriya Pratyabhijna", which has been translated into
English as "The method of Vedanta-A critical account of the Advaita
Tradition" by AJ Alston (Motilal Banarsidas).  The introduction written
in English by the Swamiji has been separately published as a small book
with the above-mentioned title. In it, he traces the history of Advaita,
together with a summary of Shankara's tradition. He also elaborates in
some detail on the basic method adopted in the Vedanta texts, namely the
method of Adyaropa-Apavada.  He also summarises the main positions of
later commentators on Shankara, and where they contradict the
BhashyakAra.He elaborates on all of these themes in the body of his
Sanksrit work. For those who have the stomach for it, I also recommend
this highly, though most people prefer to start with the excellent
English translation by AJ Alston.  This is available through Amazon at
the busting price of $160. I got it in India for 1400 Rs

3) Intuition of Reality

Again, a book on the ultimate nature of BrahmaVidya, focussing mainly on
Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya

4) Misconceptions about Shankara

For those who wish to go deeper into how the post Shankara commentators
have missed the spirit of Shankara's teaching in key areas, they will
find this book invaluable. In particular, at the end of the book Swamiji
offers  suggestions as to how one should guide one's way through the
maze of writings of Shankara and post Shankara and still arrive at  an
undertanding of Shankara's true meaning.

There are plenty more, but the above are a good starting point. They can
all be ordered from the address given by Vidyashankar above.  The person
who runs the Bangalore Kendra is Sri Subbraya Sharma, who is personally
know to me through my Guru (Sharmaji is also a direct disciple of the
Holenarsipur Swami).
He is very helpful in recommending books, and discussing future
Karyalaya projects.  If Sri Werlings suggests, I am more than happy to
write a letter to Sharmaji with regards permission for the French
translation publication (I owe him a letter anyway soon). Those
interested in books may get a discount if they mention my name!
(although I usually insist on paying full price)


Regards

Subhanu