[Advaita-l] On Acharyas and Modern Technology

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

At the risk of reviving a discussion that seems to have come to a natural rest, let
me add a couple of points on this thread. Venkata Sriram wrote:

>The project called "advaita-shArada" was well appreciated by sringeri achArya. 
>It was achAryA's blessings that took the shape of this project.  

Indeed. As a matter of fact, it was not just blessings, but also active involvement
from the Sringeri Peetham, and lots of hard work, behind the scenes, by key people
in Mysore, Sringeri,  Srirangam etc. Those who actually did it all have kept a low
profile and haven't gone around advertising themselves and their accomplishments,
in the time honored tradition of the Sringeri Peetham. Making the SAnkara bhAshya
texts available online in a very user friendly way for public access is actually only one
aspect. The larger scope of projects undertaken by the Sringeri Peetham involves
digitizing and preserving for posterity all the manuscripts in the Matha library and
archives, which has been ongoing for several years now. In reality, Sringeri is a role
model to learn how constructively and judiciously a traditional institution can apply
technology, in the service of maintaining its core values and dharma.
 
If one were to actually visit Sringeri, one will see that the Peetham administration
was also one of the earliest adopters of a quite different area of technology. There
is a big installation of solar panels behind the massive feeding hall, which ensures
that every visitor is fed daily, without having to burn massive amounts of firewood
or fossil fuels. As today marks the makara saMkramaNa of Aditya, I was reminded of
this, so I'm bringing it up now, quite belatedly for the purposes of this discussion.

Various other examples can be listed, if one cares to find out what works on a day to
day basis, in a remote region of India, with steep slopes and heavy rains. "Modern
technology" ranges much beyond the use of websites, email and social media! 
 
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/sringeri-temple-goes-ecofriendly/article3065764.ece
 
With best regards and wishes on this day of makara saMkramaNa,
Vidyasankar