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An announcement and invitaion for your participation .

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • July 23, 1998 


Dear Members of the Bhakthi Group :

The month of Aadi is the month of ANDAL's birth . 
Aadi maasa piRappu was on on July 16 . 
From that date of July 16 upto the end of July ,
the second half of July , we have number of important birthdays
of AchAryAs ( ANNAS, IYAAS and AARYAS ) and ANDAL :

July 21: ANNAARYA Maha Desikan

July 22: NavalpAkkam IYAA Devanaatha TAATAARYAN 

July 23 : (Today ) : Aadi AmaavAsyai ( Important at Thirupputtkuzhi
Vijaya Raaghavan's Sannidhi on the banks of Jataayu PushkaraNi ,
where AchArya RaamAnujA worshipped )

July 27 : Monday :ANDAL's Birth day : AADI PURAM
          Birthday of the 26th ( ANDAL avathAram )
          and 36th Pattam Azhagiya Singars of Ahobila Matam .

July 31 : Aadi SvAthi: Thirunakshthram of the 25th
          Pattam Azhagiya Singar, the (SaapAnugraha ) Periya 
          Azhagiya Singar , the amsam of VynathEyar/PeriyAzhwAr . 

During the evenings of July 20 and 22 , I had the good
fortune to write about VarAha PurANam ( Varaaha Charama
SlOkam ) , VishNu PurANam and KoormAvathAram in response
to queries from two BhakthAs of our List . I will share those
postings with you after July 27 .That was a blesssed experience
since , it made me read Rahasya SikhAmaNi , one of 
the granthams of Swami Sri Desikan  , which is a brilliant 
commentary in ManipravALam on the CHARAMA SLOKAM OF VARAAHA NAYINAAR .
The limitless daya of BhuvarAhan in blessing us with this Charama
Slokam can be understood in the context of the great commentary 
by Our AchArya . I will serialize the  detailed vyAkhyAnam of 
Swami Sri Desikan in SaraNAgathi Journal in the future .    

With all this going on as context and background , 
I wish to invite your attention to a  PIONEERING project ,
which has ramifications for a number of activities 
related to the advancement of the Teachings of Sri 
Vaishnavite AchAryAs and  their Sri Kosams ,Sri Ranganatha
temple building and other kaimkaryams .

For some time now , I have been thinking about the ardent 
appeal of number of our fellow members like Sri Keshava 
Prasad to extend the enduring message of our AchAryAs
and our SampradhAyam to the younger generations and
their parents , who themselves want to know more about them 
without being handicapped by the enormous effort to learn 
Sanskrit, Tamil mUla granthams and the esoteric commentaries 
of AchAryAs on the doctrines enshrined in the rahasya granthams .

With BhagavAn Hayagreeva's anugraham , we are about to launch a
major audio-visual , Multimedia project based on CD ROM to 
compilment the work that has already been undertaken by 
Sriman Dileepan about the creation of a CD ROM on the 108
Sri VaishNavite Divya Desams . That project was started 
two and half years ago and got its major boost last summer ,
when Sriman Dileepan went on a pilgrimage to 106 Divya
Desams to collect the source material from these KshEthrams .
He has already shared some of that material through special
home pages on the web , which can be converted into the CD ROM
hopefully in a few weeks/months(?) time .He will be presenting 
this content at the forthcoming Pomona festiviites ( Sep5-7) .

To bridge that time gap and to serve the needs of Sri VaishNavite 
communities all over the world , Professor ALwar and myself 
are launching a major project on AchArya RaamAnujA's 
charithram , Vaibhavam , illustrious granthams , kshEthrAdanam ,
and AarAdhanam aspects for our younger generation to understand 
and develop a ruchi for them .He has kindly sent me the first
vrsion of the demo  CD ROM , which is characterized by
high artistic merits and superbly conceived Information content .
 
The "story book " and the navigational options backed by 
wonderful( soul-stirring ) rendering of the SlOkams in Sanskrit 
and Tamil by very capable artists make this effort a distinguished 
one . As a native of Melkote and a holder of the Doctoral
degree in Ubhaya VedAntham from Thirumalai Thirupathi
University and with links to eminent scholars of Sri Vaishnavam ,
Profesosr Alwar is eminently suited to use his talents in
this area . His access to the well equipped multimedia lab 
at Bangalore and the outstanding design and development
qualities of the staff there augurs well for the success
of the project to reach  " the targetted audience " . Being a
niche product , we have to count on every one of your 
support to come through with this ambitous not-for-profit effort .

One thing we can count on is the desirable blending of 
expertise in content area and Technology ( multimedia ) 
with the opportunity to house audio , images and video 
in generous doses to " inform , educate and entertain " 
the younger generation on our ancient sampradhayam .
We will have a companion text to go along with the CD ROM
for the benefit of the parents to become familiar
with the details on the subject matter to answer 
the questions of the youngsters ( a teacher's guide ). 

We will pay special attention to the following factors :

1. Fully take advantage of the Unique ability of the CD ROM
   to store huge amounts of Information that can be sorted and 
   linked in complex ways .

2. We will present a point of view and perspective instead of 
   dumping a bundle of disconnected Information .
   
3. We will organize the material in a well-designed ,
   " immersive environment " that will include interactive games 
   to enhance the learning process for today's children .
   The objective is to encourage the users to shape the material
   of specific interest to them by graded follow-on studies .

4. We will try to get a CD ROM (next level prototype , if not
   the finished product ) ready for sharing with you at
   the forthcoming Labor Day Conference organized for 
   the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the founding
   of Ahobila Mutt at Pomona , NY ( September 5-7, 1998 ).

We need all of YOUR help and support to come thru with this 
ambitious project . We appeal to Bhakthi members , Naama 
Members and the Sri VaishNavite Community at large in
UK , Middle East , Singapore and elsewhere to raise the funds
needed to cover the expenses for this educational project .

As in the case of CD ROMs , the cost can range from a few 
hundred dollars to tens of  thousand dollars . It is our best
estimate that we should be able to design , develop and
produce 1000 CD ROMs on Achaarya RaamAnujA for 12K$ .

I am grateful for the 30 BhakthAs , who helped to raise 
$4,500 in five days time of request for Helping the 
ThiruveLLUr MahA SamprOkshaNa Kaimkaryam . IT IS OUR HOPE 
AND PRAYER THAT A LARGER SET OF LIKE-MINDED BHAKTHAS WOULD
SUPPORT THIS PROJECT AND IN RETURN HELP IN THE CREATION 
OF THIS CD ROM FOR INSTRUCTIONAL USE FOR THE YOUNGER GENERATION .

We need pledges of $100 from 120 BhakthAs to raise the 12K$
needed . If additional funds become available , we can expand
the reach of material covered by the CD ROM .  Every one helping
this project will get copies of the CD ROM . Proceeds 
from the sale of this CD ROM would go to other Kaimkaryams 
such as the construction of the Sri RanganathA Temple , 
publication of the English Translation of Sri Ranganatha 
Divya PaadhukhA SthOthram , the 108 Divya Desam CD ROM 
et al . We will aim to get the next generation of DEMO
CD ROM for sharing with you during the Labor day weekend 
at Pomona and with the Divya Dampathi's and AchArya 
RaamAnujA's blessings get it ready for full release at
the Dallas NaamA gathering organized by Sriman RajAji 
during the time of December 25-27 , 1998 .At this time ,
I would JUST need your pledges and comments on
the shaping of the CD ROM to suit the needs .

Both Professor Alwar and myself thank you in advance 
for your valued support to engage in this Kaimkaryam 
to salute our AchAryA RaamAnujA and to advance 
the tenets of Bhagavadh RaamAnuja SiddhAntham .

Srimathe RanganAyikA samEtha Sri Ranganaatha ParabrahmaNE Nama:
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri sadagopan