Episode 01 - Upanishads - Acknowledgements.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The precursor for this venture was a six-month long email programme put together by me addressing a small group of spiritually-inclined people, mostly young, since August 2012. The posts were welcomed generally.  But a few of the younger members of this Group got involved in this with very animated and incisive discussions, the platform often capturing the original upanishadic ambience;  because of the proximity provided by the internet and the composition of the enquiring minds, ‘ni – shad’ was accomplished, with the needed degree of sobriety, though the peace, quiet and face-to-face delight of the deep woods was missed. 

The core thought about shaping the resulting compilation into a book was nourished by nudges from one or two members of this group; I am specially beholden to Sri B.S.Raghavan, I.A.S.(Retd.), who has been a great motivator in my life related to interface with the society and who was insisting that I should go ahead with this thought. He has been providing a great deal of inspirational support and guidance for this venture since then.

I critically needed  knowledgeable and meticulous editorial help in this work, as my knowledge of grammatical Sanskrit is not all that sound. Besides, the facts produced in the preface and other chapters that seek to provide a nexus between the spiritual thoughts discussed in the main, and with global philosophy and religious thought and their value to today’s life, needed some careful verification and validation. I was singularly fortunate to have secured the invaluable co-editing help in this regard from Sri Lakshminarasimhan Narayanan, a remarkable young chartered accountant who has dedicated his whole working life to the pursuit vedic and vedantic values and their place in the society today. Sri Narayanan has totally dedicated himself to the propagation and support of sanatanic, vedic and vedantic values in today’s society – a tough call by any standards – and has accomplished impressively in this noble pursuit, without wearing any of those accomplishments on his sleeves. His steadying and careful hands have steered this venture and his contributions are present in practically every page of this book. 

Lastly, Venkat (Sri VenkataSubramaniam), the DTP artist-cum-printer rolled into one remarkable resource. He had, just last year, helped me with great distinction, in the production of “KETTATHELLAAM THARUVAAN” – a book of Tamil verses dedicated to the presiding dieties at Thanda(va)nthottam, near Sri Oppiliappankoil. This time around the task was even more complex and severely time-constrained. And, Venkat has come up with trumps. 

I most humbly record my very sincere gratitude and pranaamams to all these divine energies and to the Divine Graces of Lord Navaneetha Krishna and Lord Varadaraja of Thandavanthottam and my late parents. 

Chennai, April 5, 2013                       S.PARTHASARATHY