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Togetherness

Saturday morning was a full and fulfilling time with our Malaysian members. All gathered in the home of Rishipati Murugesu and Rishimata Valliamma. Traditional preparations would have made Gurudeva proud, complete with a Tamil-style welcome. Padapuja for Bodhinatha was conducted jointly by Tillainathaswami and the senior kulapatis of the country. There followed stories by Sadasivanathaswami about our beloved Gurudeva, a talk about the chakras, and singing of Natchintanai. Importantly and auspiciously, Poongkodi Vellasamy came forward to become a Vrata Shishya in Saiva Siddhanta Church. It is a deep spiritual commitment, and she had worked hard for years to qualify, bringing her ever closer to the Satguru and the paramparai. A feast followed, and all gathered at the home's entrance for this family photo.

Court Hill’s Big Surprise

Off the visiting swamis went to a marvelous temple famed for being in an area with lots of judges and lawyers who would go to Ganesha's shrine before their cases to get blessings and guidance.

One of the remarkable thing here is they do 108 or 1008 conch abhishekam everyday! Morning and afternoon! On this day it was 1008. They say there is a siddhar interred beneath a bilva tree trunk that sits right in the temple chamber (it was there before the temple was built and they did not want to remove it, though it is no longer living).

We had been told to expect a small surprise, but it turned out to not be small at all, as you will see in the slide show.

Ladies Only

Paramacharya and Tillainathaswami held a long morning session with the Malaysian ladiesl It was a time of stories (some never told), sharing, questions and a great Thai veggie lunch at the end. The written questions were anonymous and so all felt free to ask some tough ones: about the karmic implications of imperfect japa (what if I left out one of the 108 names?), how to reincarnate in Hawaii, dealing with difficult people and situations.

As a fun beginning, Paramacharya read a little poem written by ChatGPT with a simple prompt (untouched by human hands):



In Hawaii, two swamis did dwell,
Who knew the ways of Siva quite well.
In Kuala Lumpur, they found women so grand,
With wisdom and power, they took a strong stand.
In worship they did so excel.

Their love for Siva and guru so true,
Brought them together, a spiritually rich crew.
In stories and questions, they all took part,
With devotion and love, they spoke from the heart.
"Blessed are we," they sang, "for this path we pursue."

Exploring Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian members were eager to take Paramacharya and Tillainathaswami to a famed temple, one Gurudeva visited often.

The Bricksfield Temple is known for its intricate architecture and lively festivals, a spiritual retreat amidst some serious urban chaos. It offers locals and tourists an intimate glimpse into the soul of the city.

The manager took the swamis around the shrines, and then a puja was performed. One of the main purposes of the visit was then quietly performed (without photography) over near a remote pillar. It was the signing of the "Solemn Aspirations," the first and simplest vows of a monastic candidate. Kodiswara read aloud his pledge to follow the monastic path, and then signed the bookss in the presence of the swamis. The kulapatis then took the monks to a special restaurant, Annalakshmi, run by devotees of the Temple of Fine Arts, which has a section downstairs where food is served and you only pay what you can or want to pay.

Arrival in Kuala Lumpur

A short flight from Singapore brought our swamis to Malaysia to be met by senior kulapatis at the airport. Paramacharya had not visited for several years, and Tillainathaswami had only been inside the airport, not in the country. After a happy reuniion, off we were swept to our hotel which looks out over the city which has about 8 million citizens. We will be here for five days, with opportunities to be with members as our primary goal. Gurudeva came here often and it is easy to feel his presence in the faces of the shishyas who want to talk about Gurudeva, listen to Gurudeva stories and be with other Gurudeva devotees. So we feel right at home.

Satguru Satsang with Ladies Retreat Group

Towards the end of the recent Singapore/Malaysia ladies sadhana retreat here on Kauai, Satguru gave a presentation on progressive levels of personal spiritual practice. Here is a summary of the contents-- Satguru's presentation is drawn from Gurudeva's teachings on daily practice and is entitled "Six Levels of Practice". In this presentation, Satguru explores each of the six practices, namely (1) Making Dharma Your Own; (2) Pancha Nitya Karmas which is comprised of worship, observing holy days, pilgrimage, virtuous living and rites of passage]; (3) ten-minute spiritual workout; (4) sadhana and daily vigil; (5) extending daily vigil to an hour; (6) vigil in sannyasa ashrama.

Yoginathaswami and Yogi Dayanatha in India, Part Three

On this India pilgrimage the monks are being guided through the locations by our sishyas Thuraisingam and his wife Swapna.
After Tiruvanaikovil Jambukeswarar, our monks visited the Uchi Pillaiyar temple, a great walk up steep stairs. Beforehand, at the base, they visited Thayumanavar Temple which has a massive Sivalingam. The bottom part of the Sivalingam is enclosed by four walls which you can walk around.

Afterwards they drove to Pillaiyarpatti Ganesha Temple which is also home to Pitchai Gurukkal and his priest training school. Our current Iraivan Temple priest, Pravin Kumar, was trained there. It was a happy meeting with Pitchai Gurukkal just before he was leaving for Chennai and then to Canada (he travels often to officiate at temple kumbhabhishekams). He gave them a room to rest and also see other visitors.

Later on the way to Madurai, they visited Thirumarainathar Temple which is in the birthplace town of Manickavasagar. It is a very quiet place.

At the Madurai Meenakshi/Sundareswara temple, no phones, electronics, smart watches etc were allowed inside the temple due to bomb threat. They were shown around by Chellappa Baktar who was one of the priests at our Iraivan Temple crystal Sivalinga installation. They visited his home and presented a certificate for having officiated at our Iraivan Temple ceremonies.

After Madurai they drove to Maruthamalai Murugan Temple on a hilltop. It was crowded and they could only see Murugan from a distance. Yogi Dayanatha said He was covered with vibhuti and looked like a king. Afterwards they visited the beautiful Perur Pateeswarar Temple.

Yoginathaswami and Yogi Dayanatha in India, Part Two

Arriving in Kumbhakonam, they first visited Dharasuram Airavatesvara Temple, another ancient Chola Siva temple. It feels like a tourist attraction at the moment.

Next they met with Muruga Sthapati to plan for making a swarnabandanam, gold band, to be placed around the base of the Iraivan Temple Mahalingeswara crystal Sivalinga as the focal point of the public Kumbhabhishekam in several years.

After that meeting, they drove an hour to visit the Chola Thanjavur Brihadeeswara Temple, famous for the really tall vimanam/capstone and huge Sivalinga.

Next on the itinerary was to visit the water element Siva temple, Tiruvanaikovil Jambukeswarar temple in Trichy. It has amazing carvings, huge pillars and constant water flow in front of the Sivalinga that no one can explain.

Sevaka Here From Malaysia for a Few Weeks

Longtime sishya, Sivajnani Nagappan, is serving in the monastery's Siddhidata Kulam on our resident taskforce program for a few weeks. The timing works out well for him to especially help preparations for the Iraivan Temple final Mandala Pujas from May 8-11. Sivajnani has never husked a coconut before, so we gave him the opportunity to learn and husk one of the 250+- cocos that will be used during the upcoming pujas.

Waimea Canyon Outing with Taskforcers

Our current two taskforce residents, Vatshalan and just-arrived Lucas, have never been to Waimea Canyon and Kokee state park on the drier west side of Kauai. We saw mostly-clear weather on the forecast, so took the opportunity the other day. Besides the standard lookout points, we did the somewhat-strenuous Canyon Trail hike that goes up and down, along the edge of a ridge cliff and ends at a beautiful waterfall and pond area.

Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.

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