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Powers of the Spine – Part 3

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

“Once in either current for a long time, it is difficult to flow awareness out of it. There are some people who are predominantly piṅgalā, aggressive in nature and strong in their human elements in that area. There are some people who are predominantly iḍā: human, physical and earthy, and full of feeling. And there are some who switch from one to the other. These are the more rounded and well-adjusted type of people, who can move awareness through the piṅgalā current and through the iḍā current and adjust the energies almost at will.”

Powers of the Spine – Part 2

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

“Once in either current for a long time, it is difficult to flow awareness out of it. There are some people who are predominantly piṅgalā, aggressive in nature and strong in their human elements in that area. There are some people who are predominantly iḍā: human, physical and earthy, and full of feeling. And there are some who switch from one to the other. These are the more rounded and well-adjusted type of people, who can move awareness through the piṅgalā current and through the iḍā current and adjust the energies almost at will.”

HOLY SIVA SONGS

The monks continue almost daily work on the Siva songs of Saint Tayumanavar. Once in a while we wish we could share them all with you, and we will, once the book is published. In the meantime, here are two from yesterday's editing session.

Canto 40, Song 5
Alone, standing as the astounding pure void, if You call all lives to You and merge them in one inextricable mukti of unending bliss that we call God, will it diminish this play of Your manifold creation?





Song 6
Gathering universes all while losing not a single atom, You put them all into an atom. Gathering atoms all, You made them into universes vast. So mighty are You! Do what You will!




How Monks Use ChatGTP: A Word Game!

Aum Namah Sivaya

Apart from the usual articles we've all read, where the author describes the wonders of ChatGTP and then at the end they tell you that Chat wrote everything you read, there are other interesting uses for this and similar machine-learning tools. A major one of which is being able to write code.

Today we asked ChatGTP4 several simple questions to produce what we were looking for. Our first prompt: Write the html, css and javascript for a simple in-browser word game that includes at least 15 spiritual words from hinduism and yoga. Within 20 seconds we had the code for a working example. It even did pretty well with the definitions of the words. But it was a little plain so we prompted it to add more color and a different font. We also asked it to do a few other small changes such as improving the way it refreshed for a new word. Just a few sentences in english, and the ai updated our code for exactly that. We didn't do any manual adjustments the the above game, this was all built by AI. All we did was upload it to our website. Have fun! (And no, this article's words were not written by AI)

Ganapati Kulam Brainstorming Meeting

Every once in a while the Ganapati Kulam spends the morning at our seaside condo to casually discuss the overview of things and brainstorm new ventures.

Today we looked at the progress of a new version of our main websites that is nearing completion, examined ways to bring Gurudeva's audio voice forward more, and noted potential collaborations with well wisher volunteers along with organizations that we recently met at the World Hindu Congress in Bangkok

Felicitation of Hinduism Today Magazine at Bangkok Congress

The recent World Hindu Congress 2023, organized by the World Hindu Foundation, was first held in 2014 in Delhi, then again in Chicago in 2018. It is “a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another and impact the common good.” At the opening plenary session, plaques of recognition were presented to Swami Purnatmananda Maharaj, acting president of Bharat Sevashram Sangh, Bharat, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher, Hinduism Today, USA and Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, founder Mata Amritanandamayi Math, Bharat. The award for Hinduism Today was introduced by Shri Milind Shrikant Parande, Secretary General of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharat. He began, “The second award is to the worldwide magazine Hinduism Today. In the 1970s Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami established Kauai’s Hindu monastery, Kauai Aadheenam. It is regarded as the single most advocate of Hindu Dharma outside of Bharat. The worldwide magazine Hinduism Today was founded by him in 1979.” Shri Parande then read the text of the felicitation: “The Organizing Committee of the World Hindu Congress, 2023 Bangkok wishes to express profound appreciation for the remarkable contributions made by Hinduism Today since its establishment under the guidance of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, a devoted disciple of Jnanaguru Yoga Swami from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. “Hinduism Today’s commitment to nurturing Hindu solidarity, fostering unity and dispelling misconceptions about Hindu Dharma is truly praiseworthy. It has served as a guiding light of knowledge, inspiration and awakening for Hindus across the globe. The unwavering dedication to nurturing the ongoing spiritual Hindu renaissance and providing a valuable resource for Indian leaders and educators is immeasurable. “Hinduism Today’s pivotal role in preserving and promoting the rich heritage of Hindu Dharma is deeply appreciated. We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your tireless efforts in upholding the essence of Hindu Dharma and sharing its wisdom with the world.” The award was then jointly presented by Shri Parande and Dr. Mohanrao Bhagwat, Sarsanghchalak [head] of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Another report on the event is here. For the full report including Satguru's talk:

Noni Fruit Picking, and Gurudeva Annual Puja Events Underway

We took taskforcer Tarun Nathoo (in green) over to Himalayan Acres for the first time, to join us in picking hundreds of pounds of noni fruit. Suresh and Rajkumar also joined us. They got to briefly experience the picking platform to reach the higher fruits, while spending most of the time picking the younger trees from the ground.

The second group of photos shows the Ganapati Kulam updating our Guru Puja pilgrims on some of its media activities, including new artwork commissions, videos to show US sixth graders about students visiting the eastern dharmic religions' places of worship, and the Sanskrit pronunciation website we recently created.

HOLY SONGS

The monks continue almost daily work on the Siva songs of Saint Tayumanavar. Once in a while we wish we could share them all with you, and we will, once the book is published. In the meantime, here are two from yesterday's editing session.

Canto 40, Song 5
Alone, standing as the astounding pure void, if You call all lives to You and merge them in one inextricable mukti of unending bliss that we call God, will it diminish this play of Your manifold creation?


Song 6
Gathering universes all while losing not a single atom, You put them all into an atom. Gathering atoms all, You made them into universes vast. So mighty are You! Do what You will!

Today Begins the Annual Digital Dharma Drive

Following the model of another free resource, Wikipedia, today we begin our 13th annual November-December appeal for support of our publications development. The success of this drive defines the scale of our digital work in the months and years ahead.

Right from the days he printed his first yoga lessons by hand in the 1950s on a Mimeograph machine at the San Francisco Temple, Gurudeva readily embraced technological changes. One afternoon in 1984, having never seen or even heard of a Macintosh, he encountered this revolutionary computer in a small Apple store in the sleepy town of Kapaa. After playing with MacPaint and MacWrite for fifteen minutes, he walked out with a Macintosh 128K under his arm. Later, he bought each monk a Mac and gradually made the shift to digital typography. Takes one back to the LaserWriter, right? When the Internet swept up on Kauai's shores in 1997, he urged the monks to publish a daily blog of monastery events, and "Today at Kauai Aadheenam" was born. TAKA, among the earliest of blogs, has been issued almost daily since that time.

Gurudeva would celebrate where we have come today. He would love the ease with which his books are available, at no cost, to everyone who owns a mobile device anywhere in the world. The Capricorn in him would love the lack of massive investment costs that are required for major books to be put on printing presses, tens of thousands of dollars for each title. Then come the inventory costs, the shipping, the returns. All of that has been largely rendered unnecessary in the age of digital publishing. In our case, we are doing both, printed editions of the magazine, for instance, and then digital editions based on the elegantly designed PDF pages. Our Hinduism Today app, available to anyone with a mobile phone, anywhere in the world, is an example of the best of the Web.

Gurudeva would love that we don't have to charge struggling Hindu students and seekers for the spiritual teachings, but can make them available for free. In the last decade, our resource-building efforts have shifted massively toward the Web, following the fast-evolving world of communications and publishing. It takes a deft team to gather and sculpt the needed tools and stories for Hinduism Today and our Web resources. Creating and sharing an articulate and graphically elegant repository of Hinduism is neither easy nor without costs.

Hindu youth are learning their spiritual ABCs online, and millions of seekers are discovering Hinduism digitally. What they encounter should be thoughtful, lucid, elegant and authentic. Not to mention relevant in fast-moving times. That's what compels our annual fundraising campaign. It's a chance for you to help us to help explain and share Hinduism globally. In order to provide information without charging for downloads, without showing advertisements on our sites, without commercializing our mission, we turn to you for help.

Yes, we could (perhaps) meet our costs by charging for the online books and magazine, but we are determined not to do that. We ourselves are seldom motivated to pay for online information. We like it when needed information is available without cost. We have come to expect it. But free to the world is not free to those of us who create it. Running our websites entails significant costs, especially when we have to reach out for expert help and skills. A good example of current use of hired developers to transfer massive amounts of database information from our current Himalayan Academy website to our new one which us under development. The goal for 2023 is the same as last year: $75,000. Our Digital Dharma Drive will end at midnight on December 31, 2023.

We hope you will join in helping us meet our goal. In the right hands, and leveraged by the unsalaried work of the monks, these funds will have a profound impact on the future of Hinduism around the world. Please make a generous donation today.

With much aloha from the far islands and warm greetings during the holiday season,

The Editors
Kauai's Hindu Monastery
Himalayan Academy Publications

Evolution of a Work of Art

Today we take you behind the scenes to glimpse the process of creating art for our books. We show Art #3 (there are 10 in this series) which is a canvas showing biographical milestones in the saint's life.

The middle part of Tayumanavar's life is summarized here in four scenes. Seated at the style of desk from those days, he works as the finance minister for King Nayak, performing well the duties of an accountant and advisor. Having been sent back to the world by Maunaguru, he marries. Shortly after the birth of his son, Tayumanavar's mother passes away, and not much later his wife makes her great departure into a world of light. After conducting their funeral rites, the sage ponders the fleeting nature of life. Drawn to the renunciate's life, he determines he is not fit to raise his young son. With difficulty, he gives his possessions and the boy's care to his brother and his brother's wife, leaving the world behind. He adopts the life of a wandering sadhu. In the center the artist shows him seated in his simple hut, practicing yogic sadhanas. After Guru diksha, he experiences Self Realization, shown here as Siva's divine body merging with the sage. It is a foundational principle in Saiva Siddhanta that the efforts of the seeker, no matter how profound or disciplined, are not sufficient for realizing the Absolute. That final step on the spiritual path to perfect unity must be a gift of grace from God Siva.

The following Before and After slider shows the artist's sketch sent for approval, and his final work, fully colorized. Move the slider back and forth to see the effect. You may notice we had the artist add the sage to the lower right scene where he is giving his son into the care of his brother's family.

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

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