Date Given: 2004-06-29
Given By: Bodhinatha
Category: Self Improvement
Duration: 28 min, 19 secs
Description: Continuing his talk on having personal plans, Bodhinatha invites participants to list four activities each in the five areas of a plan, namely - spiritual, social, cultural, economic and educational. New activities such as kayaking and learning gold-leaf techniques emerge on this list, added to the known ones such as planning and tithing. Bodhinatha ends the talk with the inspiring story of an elder named Sivagnanam in Edmonton, who fulfills the ideal of having a plan and spending his later years, serving at the Temple.
Audio (English):
Transcript:
Bodhinatha: OK. So, I thought we could write down four activities for each of the five areas. i have a balanced answer sheet here and if we still have time left over, we can have a few more. Who would like to contribute to spiritual activities?
Participant: I feel like I should sponsor a pillar but I don't know how realistic that is!
Bodhinatha: Sponsor a pillar. That is a great activity!
Another participant: Does your father know? [laughter and more comments]
Bodhinatha: OK. Sponsor a pillar for Iraivan. Who else has a spiritual activity?
Participant: If you can't sponsor a pillar, you can do other things.
Bodhinatha: Good point.
[Participant lists other activities. Audio feeble]
Bodhinatha: We are going to count those as the same activity. They are two versions.
Participant: There is the obvious one of going for Satsang.
Bodhinatha: Regular satsang. With whom?
Participant: Well, with the Mission that we are a part of.
Bodhinatha: Mission satsang. So, we could say, regularly participating in Mission satsang. OK. Two activities. Activity number 3. Spiritual activity.
[Participant recalls special activities at the Aadheenam]
Bodhinatha: Yes, that is a great activity for those living on the Island. for short or long periods of time. Something special up here every week, not just the same. Private weekly special spiritual activity. Part of the problem in life is we sometimes neglect the opportunities that could be claimed. This is an example. We get so caught up in our routine that some speical activity like coming up and worship one day a week isn't done, whereas it could be.
OK. Activity number four.
[Participant suggests visualizing manifestation of the Temple as a sadhana]
B: Just visualizing everything that will be there in the future. OK. That's good. Number 4. Moving on to social activities. Who has an interesting social activity?
[Participant suggests reviving a game]
Bodhinatha: What is the name?
Participant: San Marga game!
Bodhinatha: OK. We can revive it. Everything is to be revived!
P: Went kayaking.
B: Kayaking. OK. Yes, it is interesting.
This is an aside, does not count as an activity. One of the interesting phenomena is we have a property in Northern Mauritius. Most of you haven't seen it. Similar in many ways. It is on a river. It is right near the ocean also. The Government recently, a few years ago shut down a sand quarry and therefore caused a portion of the village to become unquarried. They shut it down because it was disrupting the environment. Taking the sand away, hurting the coral and things like that. So, they are creating a eco-tourism area there and one of the first things they are doing is sending kayaks up the river. [laughs] So, just like the Wailua river you know, has all these kayaks coming up, the Rempart river which is going right by our place is going to have kayaks all the time coming up. Like the two properties have been linked together in some inner way.
So, kayaking. OK. Activity number 3.
Sky-diving ... No?!! [laughs]
Participant: Take the whole family on a trip, doesn't have to be a long trip. It could just be to another city.
Another Participant: Weekend outings.
Bodhinatha: Weekend outings for who?
Participant: Well ...
Bodhinatha: For the whole family?
[Participant is silent]
Bodhinatha: Family and friends. Is that what you are thinking?
Participant: In our life, largely, it is my wife and myself. Lots of weekend outings.
Bodhinatha: Yes, weekend outings with family and children. OK. That is four. Cultural activities.
Participant: Learning Tamil words in the bhajans.
Bodhinatha: OK. Learning the meaning of words in Tamil bhajans. Yes, it is important to know the meaning of the bhajans we sing even if we don't know every word. One needs to have a general sense of what it is about. How it is different from the other one. All songs become just one song, which we don't know the meaning of. We want some meaning, some visualization, some inspiration it gives us which is different from the other songs. Each one is distinct in some way. Yes ...
[Participant suggests making gift items. Audio feeble.]
Bodhinatha: I missed the first word. Making ... Handicrafts. So, making handicraft items. Yes, that is a very nice one. Items for gift shop. Gurudeva liked the idea of using, you know, good to learn to make things with your hands. If you haven't done that before, it is a fine process. OK, what else?
Participant: Play a traditional instrument like someone who has learnt how to play Western instruments can learn to play traditional instruments.
Bodhinatha: Learn to play traditional instrument. OK. One more?
[Particpant's suggestionis not audible]
Bodhinatha: OK That's good. Economic. Wait for the next editon?
Participant: Pay off Visa
Bodhinatha: Pay off credit card debt. Yes! Pay off credit card debt is a problem, the interest rates. You can end up paying a horrendous amount in interest. but, you only don't see it. They don't sort shove it in your face. A little bit comes every month. Reduce credit card debt.
The monastery though it uses credit cards, it always pays before it becomes due. Therefore, never incurs interest on credit cards. The rate is too high. If you don't want to incur interest, you have to lower the rate, the credit card rate. OK. Number Two.
[Participant talks of need for a living will. Audio not clear]
Bodhinatha: Yes, that is very important. We recently ... advertised it, I think lately, linked our Hindu Heritage Endowment on-line website with a planned giving website. There is this huge library of information on planned giving, which includes living wills. The first section of this website is the basic documents everyone should have. Of course, there is the will and then, this living will. There is a couple of other documents in there. So, the fact that it is right there in this first group, this professional firm thinks it is important. That is a very good point. Yes?
Participant: It has been on my plan for years now to make my will but I don't have the five hundred dollars to hire a lawyer to get the documents right. I was wondering if the monastery could download some documents for me [rest of statement is not clear]
Bodhinatha: Wills are important. That is one of the areas, a couple of areas to making the will, one is the funding, yes.
Participant: The website that I use is called 'LegalZoom', it is in Los Angeles.
Bodhinatha: LegalZoom?
Participant: Right.
Bodhinatha: z o o m?
Participant: There the ten-step process for each. They ask you questions, and you respond [rest of statement is not clear]
Bodhinatha: I see!
Participant: And then you pay fifty dollars for a will and then they either e-mail you a form [audio not clear]. Two days later, it is finished.
Bodhinatha: Oh! We will look into that. Thank you. Fifty dollars is better than five hundred which is better than five thousand! [laughs] Anyway, if you have a significant estate, of course, you have to have an attorney [not audible]. OK. We need two more for economic. Yes?
Participant: Making sure all of our bills are paid on time. [Rest of audio is not clear.]
Bodhinatha: Personal budgets. This would be personal finance, budgets.
Participant: Tithe.
Bodhinatha: Tithe. That is a good point. OK. Educational.
Participant: Learning to gold leaf [laughter]
Bodhinatha: I could use a few classes. Watching some of it blow away is the hardest part. You see it just blowing away and wonder how much gold is there in that! [laughs] Probably not much. It is part of the process. OK. Learn gold leaf techniques. OK. That is educational.
Participant: In business, whatever it is we do - computer programming, Quickbooks or something - upgrade our knowledge. Dedicate ourselves to whatever our business skills are.
Bodhinatha: Upgrade ... let's see ... upgrade skills you currently use on the job. What else?
Partcipant: This is a real easy one. [something about National Public Radio] They give lectures and workshops. You just pay a monthly or yearly membership fee. There are lots of new things to learn [rest of statement not clear]
Bodhinatha: All sorts of educational ...
[Participant suggests something about healing, audio not clear]
Bodhinatha: Ayurveda. OK. We have got four for each one. That is good. We have a few minutes left. Any other great ideas someone wants to share?
Participant: In the Learning club, you can learn almost anything you want on-line. Classes on language or drumming.
Bodhinatha: Classes. Yes, that is a new phenomenon. One last one
Partcipant: We have come to realize there are so many beautfiul temples coming up in North America. They are all finished and operating. We just discovered one in Tampa, Florida and one in Boston and of course, the Murugan Temple in Maryland. So, it got me thinking that we would like to find a favorite Muruga Temple somewhere and then, go on pilgrimage. Then, a favorite Ganesha Temple. Of course, we come here for Siva and Guru. It is a way of tapping into the beautiful, new resources in temples in America.
Bodhinatha: Very good point. Our experience came from the Edmonton Temple. Ganesha Temple, really strong. Been there four years. Very focussed on Ganesha, traditional Ganesha worship. So, a good candidate! They are starting a Ganesha Temple in Vancouver with a Ganesha deity that Gurudeva donated. We went to the house that they are currently using and hope to expand to their own building later on. They are just getting started. Very sincere and wanting to have, just Ganesha. Of course, we have been to Maryland and then to Montreal has a Murugan Temple and they are in the process of completing the expanded structure. That is worth visiting at some point, at least when they finish the expanded structure. Their chariot festival corresponds with the Nallur festival. I think they got for twelve days. Nallur, it is 26 days. So, they choose twelve of those days that tend to fall in the middle of August. It is nice and warm, in Montreal. So, that is a nice. We'll be there for the Monday of that festival.
Participant: What might be nice to see is a list of background of all the temples that Gurudeva has donated the deities and has been involved in.
Bodhinatha: Yes, we should have that. That is very important. It could be online and updated. Maybe I should mention that to the Kulam.
Participant: How to contact them and things like that.
Bodhinatha: Yes, because it changes all the time, in terms of how they develop. even though we have a list in the Gurudeva Commemorative issue of Hinduism Today, still it needs to be updated at least once a year, to show what is going on. For example, I am going to Cincinnati, where the Hindu Temple of Cincinnati is installing Murugan, Valli and Devasena in a new wing they have, in a more spacious shrine. They have invited us to be there for the installation. These are deities that Gurudeva gave, so it makes it special. These deities come from Gurudeva from India, so there is a relationship.
Participant: Yes, it would be a natural path.
Bodhinatha: Right. Quite often, Gurudeva has given a deity or been there at the kumbhabhishekam and these are matters meaningful that he and this Swami or this Swami were there for the kumbhabhishekam gives us a tie. Like in Flint, for example. The Flint temple we went to recently was a Siva temple. So, Gurudeva was there for the installation of the beautiful lingam there and therefore, they hold Gurudeva in a certain regard.
Participant: So, because of this beautiful history, we pay a visit to these temples and say where we are from, we are shown such a great welcome.
Bodhinatha: Oh, good point! That's another reason [laughs]
OK, let us summarize what we are doing here. [Temple puja bell rings.] That reminds us it is twelve o' clock.
So, talking about having a personal plan, have it on your computer or on the [not clear] if you are not computerised, have a functioning plan for yourself, if you are an individual or for all members of your family, including the youngest children. Actually have a plan in place for their fulfillment in all five areas for all members of the family. By having this we live a more balanced life, a more interesting life, a more diverse life and it gives us goals to accomplish. Gurudeva feels like in the area of education, you are never too old to learn something new. Some individuals stop learning at a certain age. andquot;I have learnt enough. I am thirty years old. I have gone to school. I've learned enough.andquot; That is not a healthy attitude.
You can always learn new things and it is positive and it keeps us youthful and engaged in life to learn new things. That is very important, especially as we get older. We need to be careful we don't run out of goals. We need to create new goals for ourselves, give meaning to our life and give us reasons to live another thirty years.
One of the important concept of the ashramas, meaning the four stages of life - some of you are familiar with the terms brahmacharya, grahastha, vanaprastha, sannyasa ashrama - which is the idea that we look forward when we are young to being older and having more time to devote to our spiritual activities. It is something we are looking forward to, something we are planning for when the children are ready, they are living on their own, and so forth, our obligations are less and we have more free time. In planning our whole life there is time for spiritual activities. Therefore, we do and it helps fill up that period of our life in a more meaningful life. We want to live near a temple where we can worship regularly.
There is a nice elder in Edmonton, his name is Sivagnanam, who is retired. He has been working with the temple since it first started as a society some twenty plus years ago. He has retired from his business, his children are raised. He spends everyday over at the temple doing karma yoga, helping out. It is his life. The temple is his life, he is totally happy doing that. He doesn't really feel he needs something more. He is just always wanting to spend more time at the temple, do more service and now he is able to, he is totally fulfilled on that. Doing simple tasks, helping gardening and other things. So, it is a nice example of someone fufilling the ideal of having goals for his latter years for expereinces spiritual. It keeps us alive, in a meaningful way.
Well, thank you very much.
