Yesterday so much was happening that we had no time to share it all. In the spirit of catching you up, Gurudeva greeted Larry Payne and 40 of his ardent yoga students. they had a nice tour and then gathered, as you can see in the photo, for darshan of the Satguru in the Peackock Courtyard. Gurudeva spoke to them of the origins of yoga in Hindu dharma, and of the ways our yoga can lead us within. He asked one of the swamis to demonstrate Hatha Yoga, and what a delightful demonstration it was!

You may all know about the "Dummy" series of books: Chess for Dummies, Computers for Dummies, etc? Well, the editors of that series have commissioned Mr. Payne, and also Georg Feuerstein, a frequent collaborator on our Himalayan Academy books, to produce a new boook, yes, "Yoga for Dummies." There is a proposal for them to put in the back of the book a statement about Merging with Siva, as a further resource and reference for those who are getting beyond the Metaphysics for Dummies stage!

It is Sun Two, Tuesday, and we are told the world comes to life again after the holiday.

We have a beautiful path going from the monastery down thru Fern Valley to our waterfall, natural pool and holy Wailua River. It is about a quarter-mile and traverses a rich array of magnificent plants, birds and insects. It is constantly offering new sights to behold even to familiar eyes. The other day, we encountered a three-inch long dragon fly, bright, bright red with an artistic, mystical design in black along his spine, bathing in the sunlight sitting on an equally bright green leaf. None of us had ever seen such a creature on the island before.

While we do not follow a fruitarian diet, we received a nice message from the Fruitarian Network folks this morning, appreciating all the effort Gurudeva and his monks have . Since is has several references to Indians and dharma, we thought you might find it interesting to read.

Dear bharatiyas, We thank you for the wonderful article on vegetarianism by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. Perhaps the most Hindu of diets if fruitarian, since the word Hindu is from the Sanskrit hin (violence) du (away from). The Sanskrit word for fruitarian is phalahari (the fruit of Hari.) Sri Rama, says the Ramayana, was a fruitarian in the forest for 14 years, as was Sri Krishna and His disciple Mahatma Gandhi. Both the latter were lactofruitarians. In those days there were no factory farms. Sri Yukteswar, the guru of Yogananda, wrote The Holy Science with a chapter on fruitarian diet and a comparative analysis of the anatomies of frugivores with those of carnivorous cats. In reading this book American actor Dennis Weaver several decades ago became a vegetarian. Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said "Why pluck a flower and hasten its death?" and in July of this year stated that even insects have attachment to their families. This is not as austere as it sounds, for anything given to us by a plant, tree, bush or vine is a fruit. This includes nuts, seeds, corn, peas, beans, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and in some cases grains. Chandra Bose was knighted by the Queen of England for his laboratory proof of plant consciousness, and Isaac Tigrett the founder of the Hard Rock Cafes, who sold them upon becoming a vegetarian, has the rights to the book The Secret Life of Plants. Leonardo Da Vinci, the Westerner, has references only to eating fruitarian products in his notebooks. We have a website on 108 reasons to be fruitarian. It is at www.acorn.net/fruitarian. Another website 38 reasons not to mow your lawn is at www.acorn.net/av in the reforestation file. Om sarvabhutananda Neelakanta Swaha. May Lord Shiva the drinker of all negative karma give bliss to all beings. I write what I must learn. Saiom Shriver ab514@acorn.net PO Box 80232 Akron Ohio 44308 USA