[Advaita-l] Book review: Shri Shri Satchidanandendra Sarasvati (Life History & His Contributions to Shankara Vedanta)

[savithri devaraj]

Namaste Sri Davey -
 
I believe the fastest way to visit Holenarasipur from Chennai is to go to Bangalore, and then take transport towards Mangalore. It is a town close to Hassan or Chennarayapatna. So if you take buses, you would get off at either of these, and take frequent local buses. It is less than an hour from Hassan and less than half hour from Chennarayapatna. There are direct buses from Bangalore, but these may be slow. Taking an express bus to Chennarayapatna or Hassan and then taking local frequent buses is better.
 
Trains are a good alternative, but may take a little longer. You will have to go from Bangalore to Mysore, and all trains towards Mangalore/Arasikere/Hassan stop at Holenarasipur.
 
Here is the excerpt from wikipedia regading its location.
 
Holenarsipura is on a state highway between Mysore and Hassan and on another state highway between Somavarpete and Bangalore. Holenarsipura is connected to the rest of Karnataka and India by broad gauge railway. It is 32 km from Hassan, 90 km from Mysore and 175 km from Bangalore.
 
Here are the details if you like to contact them at 
Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya
Holenarasipura, 
Hassan Dist.-573211
Karnataka, India
Phone No.91-8175-273820.
Email:secretary at adhyatmaprakasha.org 
 
or at
 
Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya
#68, APK road, 2nd block,
Thyagarajanagara,
Bangalore-560028
Karnataka, India
Phone No.91-80-26765548
 
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Savithri
--- On Tue, 12/9/08, balu davey <baludavey at gmail.com> wrote:

From: balu davey <baludavey at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Book review: Shri Shri Satchidanandendra Sarasvati (Life History & His Contributions to Shankara Vedanta)
To: "A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta" <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 9:39 PM

I request more information about Holenarasipur and how to approach it
from Chennai
with regards
Balakrishna Davey
2008/12/9 Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>:
> It is our ancient custom to recount the biographies of our saints and
scholars.
> In the tales of the itihasa and puranas or the digvijaya of Shankaracharya
we
> can see the practical application of the theories of the shastras.  We
mustn't
> think that the heroes of sanatana dharma belong solely in the legendary
past
> for even today Punya Bharat is the home to sages of the greatest
magnitude. One
> such luminary was Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati of Karnataka.
(1880-1975)
> The story of his life and great deeds was written in Kannada by Shri
> Lakshminrsimha Murti, a disciple, under the title Gurucharitamrita.  Now
thanks
> to our list member Shrimati Savitri Devaraj, it is available to English
> speakers as well.  She was kind enough to send me a copy and here are my
> thoughts about it.
>
> Y. Subbaraya was born in a typical Brahmana family of that time.  His
parents
> though not great scholars themselves were faithful astikas and did their
duties
> dilligently. And the village Yellambalase where they lived though small
and off
> the beaten track was filled with pious people. It was an environment that
> instilled a devotion to dharma and jnana in young Subbaraya that would
last a
> lifetime.  This was a very uplifting part of the book for me.  We see the
boy
> growing into a young man and steadily increasing in Vedantic knowledge. 
From
> the beginning, he did not just repeat what he had learnt but thought
> analytically about each topic.
>
> Although he supported himself by various teaching jobs, Vedanta continued
to
> remain Subbarayas main interest and in 1920, he formed the Adhyatma
Prakasha
> Karyalaya as a vehicle to spread knowledge about Shankaracharyas teachings
and
> his own views on the same. His fluency in Sanskrit, Kannada, and English
led
> him to become a prolific author.  This book gives useful information on
the
> title, contents, and publication dates of his many works and the various
> dharmic activities of the Karyalaya.
>
> In 1948, Y. Subbaraya took sannyasa with the name Swami Satchidanandendra
> Saraswati.  The description of this event in this book reminds us that
Vedanta
> cannot remain a matter of books.  It has to be put into practice with
vairagya.
>
> Swamijis critical approach (combined with the utmost reverence. He did not
make
> controversy for its own sake.) led him to conclude that the two major
lines of
> interpretation of Shankaracharyas thought, the bhamati and vivarana
schools
> unnecessarily complicated and even obscured the teachings of Advaita
Vedanta.
> He felt sadhakas should concentrate on the bhashyas alone and only turn to
> other works if absolutely needed.  As you can expect this was contested by
more
> conservative scholars.  Personally, at this point I don't know if I
would agree
> with Swamiji.  However it is clear that he was no deviationist and his
ideas
> are well within the bounds of traditional Advaita Vedanta and were
accepted as
> such by the vidvans. The book explains the nature of the controversy and
tells
> of some of the participants but I would have liked more information. 
Happily,
> the book also contains English excerpts from one of Swamijis Sanskrit
works on
> the topic called vedantavidvadghosti ("Vedantins Meet")  This
will give the
> reader an introduction to his style and salient arguments.
>
> By the time Swamiji attained mahasamadhi in 1975, he and his organization
> (which is still going strong today) were responsible for introducing the
> thought of Shankaracharya to literally thousands of people.  By
introducing new
> readers to the life and teachings of this great soul, I am sure this book
will
> help increase that number further still.
>
> "Shri Shri Satchidanandendra Sarasvati (Life History &  His
Contributions to
> Shankara Vedanta)" (294 pages) is available for Rs.150 (India) or
$5(foreign)
> from Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya Holenarasipur 573 211 India.
>
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> _______________________________________________
> Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
> http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita
>
> To unsubscribe or change your options:
> http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l
>
> For assistance, contact:
> listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org
>



-- 
baludavey
_______________________________________________
Archives: http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita

To unsubscribe or change your options:
http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/advaita-l

For assistance, contact:
listmaster at advaita-vedanta.org