Egroups & Weblogs (Blogs)

Egroups

Advaita-L
This is probably the most authoritative group available for Advaita philosophy in the tradition of Shankara. Much of the material posted can be very academically biased however and is often related to Hindu ritualistic aspects. Naïve posts or observations not strictly within the guidelines for the list are not well tolerated.

Advaitin
This is the group that I would most recommend. It exists to discuss any Advaita-related topic, on any level. Though it takes the teachings of Shankara as its baseline, followers of Direct Path methods are not at all frowned upon! There are 1250 members as of August 2005. Many of its senior members are very knowledgeable and able to comment learnedly on all topics. There are also numbers of relative newcomers, both from traditional Indian backgrounds and from other Western traditions. Questions from newcomers to the philosophy are always treated with respect and never answered patronisingly. There are clear guidelines for behaviour in the group and intervention by the moderators is very rare. Disrespect or posts that are outside of the subject matter are not tolerated, however. In the 5 1/2 years of my membership there have been many excellent discussions. There are also ongoing expositions, with discussion from time to time, on the Bhagavad Gita and on Shankara's bhashya on the Brahmasutra.

Their homepage contains general information and an invitation to join.

NonDualitySalon is a long-established group (the first of its kind) which, after a period of rest has now re-opened and has 859 members at Aug. 2005. It is run by Jerry Katz, who also has one of the largest web sites on Non-duality, listed on the Advaita-Related page.

NonDualPhil
I left this group in October 2004 after a prolonged period of heated exchanges between several members. Accordingly I do not know how it is going at present. With 142 members in August 2005, this could certainly be worth trying again.

SatsangDiary
This group was set up in April 2004 (in connection with the Satsang Diary website) primarily for those who attend satsangs of Advaita teachers living in or visiting the UK. There have been good discussions on aspects relating to the nature of enlightenment and, in particular, the different approaches of traditional and neo-advaita. As at August 2005, there has been very little activity for the past few months, though there are still around 100 members.

Million Paths
There is intentionally not a lot of discussion on this list, which exists primarily for members to post extracts and quotations from the Sages. Principal amongst the sources are Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj, though any Advaita material (actual or effective) is acceptable. This list provides an excellent opportunity to discover ideas, and ways of expression, that strike a chord. 348 members at August 2005.

Harsha Satsangh This list is dedicated to Sri Ramana and the pure teachings of the Self as taught in Advaita Vedanta and supports all the preliminary practices of yoga and meditation in the context of teachings of Ahimsa, the philosophy of non-violence. There is also a website with an electronic magazine containing articles and poetry.

NDhighlights provides daily posts from 1 or 2 of the 4-5 members who run this group; there are no discussions on the material. The extracts that are posted draw on other sources on the Internet, including many non-dual egroups and websites. News articles, discourses, poetry and random information that has caught the interest of the poster - anything may appear. If you do not know where to look for inspiration, something here is likely to appeal eventually. 802 members at August 2005.

There are several E-groups specifically devoted to Ramana Maharshi. The two largest are Ramana Maharshi (788 members Aug. 2005) and Ramana_Maharshi (196 members). And there is a 'silent group' (107 members), which simply emails members with a short quotation from Ramana each day.

Others
Note that there are many other E-Groups that I have not investigated, including ones that are concerned with only a single teacher, e.g. Nisargadatta, Vivekananda. Many now operate through yahoo and the complete list of those may be searched here. Descriptions and links to many groups can be found here.

Web logs (Blogs)

Floyd Henderson has an Advaita Blog to communicate daily meditations on relevant topics. His main site contains details of his books and he also has an Advaita Quotes blog.

The teacher Aja Thomas also now has a blog.

Gilbert Schultz, a former student of 'Sailor' Bob Adamson has a blogspot here.

Acalayoga is devoted to providing information about Ramana Maharshi with links to downloads and extracts, up-to-date information on events and other relevant thoughts.

Talks and Conversations is another blogspot devoted to Ramana Maharshi.

Happiness of Being is the weblog of Michael James, who has a major website devoted to Ramana Maharshi.

KrishnaViswaroopam is apparently a more traditionally based blog, drawing on the teachings of the Upanishads and Swami Vivekananda.

Non-duality Cartoons has a number of... well, cartoons depicting various aspects of non-duality from illustrator Bob Seal.

Self-Identity Anonymous is the blog of E J Shearn, author of the '12 Step' model of Self-Enquiry (using the model of Alcoholics Anonymous' Twelve Step Program).

Arunachala Grace - Not specifically about Advaita philosophy, this beautifully produced blog contains stories, pictures and general information relating to Mt. Arunachala and Ramana Maharshi.

Guruphiliac - is the place to go for debunking and exposure of gurus (with humour). The headline claims "Revealing Self-Aggrandizement and Superstition in Self-Realization since 2005" - and it is still going strong!

Awaken to Nonduality contains book excerpts, extracts from other web publications, thoughts and musings on non-duality from several contributors.

Pete's Blog is the weblog of Peter Sumner, a spiritual mentor based at Gurukula in Fremantle, Western Australia, particularly influenced by Eckhart Tolle. There are frequent updates with extracts from books, topical observations and comments and even jokes. Site updated Summer 2007 - looks very impressive!

Self Knowledge is the weblog of Dr. Shyam Subramanian. See samples of his writing at this site.

A practical approach to Advaita - an introduction to Advaita and how to put the philosophy to practice in everyday life

Tattva Bodha - an intelligent commentary on the tattva bodha, explaining many Advaitic terms from first principles.

You Are Dreaming is the blog of Randall Friend, a disciple of 'Sailor' Bob Adamson and Gilbert Schultz.

Absolute Freedom is the blog of Charlie Hayes, influenced by Nisargadatta Maharaj, 'Sailor' Bob, John Wheeler et al.

Awake by Katie is the interactive blog of Katie Davis (see Teacher entry). You can also have content delivered by 'FeedBurner'.

Sundance and Katie is the interactive blog of Sundance Burke and Katie Davis (links are to Teacher entries). You can also have content delivered by 'FeedBurner'.

Professor Narayana Moorty has a blog based around his notes and papers for a possible book on U. G. Krishnamurti.

Awakening to One is the blog of Sukhbir Singh, containing clearly presented, thought provoking analysis of some of advaita's key topics.

Ganapati-Advaita Ashram is the blog of Nathan Spoon, who teaches at this small ashram in Charlotte, NC. His background includes other traditions such as tantra, Kashmir Shaivism and kuNDalinI but Nathan now teaches Advaita and his blog addresses such topics as practice and self-enquiry.

The Philosophy of Advaita Vedanta - Nonduality contains articles on numerous aspects of advaita. These take the form of short definitions or discussions on terms or discrete topics and the emphasis is on traditional interpretation according to Shankara.

Arunachala and Sri Ramana Maharshi - is the weblog of David Godman, the author of possibly the best book on Ramana's teaching, 'Be As You Are'. Its purpose is to provide 'musings on any matters relating to the life and teachings of Ramana Maharshi' and there are numerous quotations and extracts from related books.

Jerry Katz now has a Nonduality blog. Possibly the most 'active' non-dualist on the Internet, Jerry's writing is always readable and interesting and often thought-provoking, whether reviewing books or films (he seems to read more than anyone I know!) or finding the non-dual in the most unlikely places. Read his fascinating piece on lucid dreams on April 29 '08.

Just Rest is the blog of Vincent Flammini, influenced by 'Sailor' Bob, John Wheeler et al. There are articles and discussions with questioners, emphasizing the need to 'just stop and rest'.