Welcome to our site. Not speaking German (or speaking just a little bit) is no disadvantage whatsoever in learning about our tradition and participating in activities here in Germany as long as you speak English.
We currently have a four major blog posts in English:
Spotting fake Śrī Vaiṣṇava Āchāryas
Finding Sanātana Dharma in the West
Understanding Death and Karma
Mudhal Āḻvārs – the first three Āḻvārs
You can also check the category English.
Introductory material (no previous knowlegde)
Audio lectures
Texts
There are many English language websites out there on Śrī Vaiṣṇavam, but all target an Indian audience which is accustomed to certain terms and concepts. So if you do not have such a background or your family has not transmitted these things to you, most articles are rather hard to understand. To give such people an easy start, we prepared four articles outlining the basics of our tradition. The same articles are presented on this site in German. You can find the English versions here: pillai.koyil.org/index.php/newcomers-guide/
You may also consider the suggested readings by our dear Godbrother Śrīvēnkatēśa Rāmānuja Dāsan.
Introductory material (some previous knowledge)
Printed books
We offer printed English books from koyil.org in the book section. The beginner’s guide and several other books are written for an audience with a little bit of knowledge about Vedic culture, but not much.
Websites
If you know some basic terms and concepts you may start with the „classic“ introduction from koyil.org. Besides the printed book, the introduction is available in the Web and additionally in three Indian languages:
Intermediary material
Sri Alkondavilli Govindacharya – A Sri Vaishnava Acharya writing in English
Virtually all of our Āchāryas have written and taught in Tamil or Sanskrit. This means that there is always a language barrier that has to be crossed when bringing the content to English. There is one important exception: Sri Alkondavilli Govindacharya, who lived and taught in the late 19th and early 20th century and who has written numerous books and treatises in English.
Here is a short biography and a list of his works:
http://githa.koyil.org/index.php/alkondavilli-govindhacharya/
Two translations of Ramanujas Bhagavad Gita commentary
Sri Alkondavilli Govindacharya has also written an English translation of Rāmānuja’s Gīta Bhaṣyam with additional remarks. The koyil.org team presents this as well as a brief comment by Puththur Krishnamacharya on a dedicated section on the portal:
http://githa.koyil.org
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