Today Gurudeva answers a question about reincarnation and past lives. Should we seek knowledge of our past lives? He tells us we are all of a sum total of our past lives. We have had the outer, now we look to the inner. Gurudeva tells us about the many things we have done in past lives and tells us how Saivites look upon Supreme God Siva.

Unedited Transcript:

Today at Kauai Aadheenam. December 27th. It is Sunday here on the beautiful Garden Island of Kauai. I am so glad you have visited my Cyberspace Ashram.

What are we doing today? A beautiful fire ceremony to invoke Lord Hanuman, Lord Ganesha, Lord Murugan, and Lord Siva to help with the foundation and bringing container-loads of beautifully carved stone that are finished, from Bangalore, India, to the beautiful Garden Island of Kauai.

Well, today is the 80th Birthday of 'Tutu'. In Hawaiian, 'tutu' means grandmother. This is Grandma Sendan. The whole Sendan clan has come to the Island of Kauai to celebrate her 80th birthday. Happy birthday to you, Grandma.

Dennis Wong, our neighbor is working to finish the 'Aloha Guha', which is sixty feet long and forty feet wide. It is going to contain and shelter all the carved stones that come from Bangalore to Kauai. The silpi carvers will come with them to finish them here on the Garden Island. When you come to visit, you will also be able to help chip the stones. Won't that be wonderfull! To create a Temple, as we are creating here on the Garden Island of Kauai, is a wonderful thing. Participation in the creation is a one-time opportunity. Once a temple is built, that opportunity goes away. So, let's make the most of it. Dennis Wong has a big tractor. He is leveling all the ground and preparing for the foundation of this 'Aloha Guha' that will be going up, probably next month.

It is what we call 'Zip day' for 'Hinduism Today'. We start reading next month's magazine and then it goes to the printer.

We have a question here, about reincarnation. "If we know something about our past lives, should we try to know more about a certain past life? Should we meditate on it?"

Well, if you know something about your past life and it's come from a reliable source, that is very nice. But, you are the sum total of all of your past lives right now. Before you hear of the divine Self within, before you have the desire to realize the divine Self within, you are quote, "You have been a rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Hindu chief", unquote. You have been everything. You have gone through all the instinctive experiences. You have gone through all the intellectual experiences. You have gone through all the psychic experiences. You have worn out experience.

So then, what is the final experience? Superconscious experiences, the core of which is the Self, is Siva. Siva is ever-radiating out energy which flows through your body, ever-radiating out light which lights up your thoughts, the creator of the universe, the preserver of the universe, the one who absorbs the universe, the one who gives the big bang to recreate the universe. That is Supreme God Siva to us Saivites. To science, it is not Siva, it is just the way things are. We can agree with that - it is just the way things are.

So, in answer to your question, if you know something about your past life, that is nice. But, you are all of your past lives, sum total, right this very moment. Be happy that your direction is inwardly pointed and not outwardly pointed. You have had the outer, and now you are wanting the inner. That is why you visited our cyberspace Ashram, because you are an inner person.

All inner people are surfing the internet. Some get thrown off their surfboard by a big wave and others manage to stay afloat and enjoy the surfing. Many, many, many wind up on the beach. I am looking at the ocean right now and I am seeing a beach and big waves. They wind up on the beach of the cyberspace ashram. After that, there is nothing more to do but to go in and in and in, and then in and in and in some more, until you have realized God within, the highest realization on this planet. That is why we came to this planet. That is what they said in 'Lemurian Scrolls', many, many years ago. Let us make it a reality now.

Aum Namah Sivaya! We will see you again tomorrow at darshan time, while we look through cyberspace and enjoy each other.