Gurudeva handed out new water jugs for all the monks, with their names on the lids. He explained the benefits of drinking at least eight cups of water each day, as a minimum, and more if you work hard or if the weather is really hot and the body fluids are depleted. the new jars hold exactly one day's minimum requirement of life-giving water. Thanks, Gurudeva, for caring for each aspect of life.
We thought this was a rhetorical question, but if you listen now to Gurudeva, he'll tell you just how great Siva is! MP3 Streaming: Use the QuickTime controller above to listen to Gurudeva's upadesha in MP3 streaming mode. You must have the QuickTime plug-in installed in your browser. (Click here to get QuickTime.) Click here for Real Audio For those unable to play streaming MP3 or RealAudio: Option-click here to download MP3 file to your computer. Option-click here to download WAV file to your computer. Other visitors came today too. Bernard and Shirley Machado, their daughter-in-law Sherryl and nine-year-old grandson RJ or Randell, along with a friend of Randell's, all shown here with Acharya Palaniswami and island girl Ann Leighton on the far right who knows the monastery and brought the family. The family lost their beloved father and husband and son last week in a sudden accident. Randy Machado was a wonderful island man, much loved in this community. He worked in August on the Iraivan Temple foundation project. He passed away last Friday following an accident on a skateboard which caused severe head damage. He will be dearly missed. The monastery had taken some photos of the crew that put all their energy and hard work into the concrete work on August 21 and 28. As it happened, those were the last photos ever taken of Randy. So naturally we wanted to share these with his family and friends. They came to the monastery today to pick out the ones they will keep, and we took them on a short tour of the publications facility and the grounds, including the foundation their Randy helped with and enjoyed working on so much. Randy's father, Bernard, loves plants like the monks do, and so we shared with him some rare ti plants that have never been given away before, as our gift to the family. Bernard went away with these specimins: Purple Boy, Nigra (the giant black), New Guinea Black (maybe the rarest in the world) and Cordyline australensis. Bernard has some special fruit trees he wants to bring to the monastery. Explaining the Spiritual Discipline Called Vasana Daha Tantra We have a special sadhana for this retreat, actually for the next four months. The monks are doing a once-in-a-lifetime edition of Vasana Daha Tantra. Gurudeva has asked those who have never thought of their past for all these years to think about it profoundly. He is having each one write ten handwritten pages, 8.5 by 11 inches pages, of recollections for every year they have lived. That's 100 pages per decade, so a lot of writing, a lot of remembering. After completing this detailed survey of life's most memorable moments, Gurudeva wants us to go back over the years, see if anything stands out as holding emotional energy, and write again on the things that still vibrate in the mind. It takes many hours, of course, so we are looking for little corners of time. Instead of meditating out under a Bilva Tree before dawn during Sadhu Paksha periods this year, many of us will be working on our tantra. It's another of Gurudeva's beautiful ingenuities, to take the entire monastic community through their life in abundant detail. It is an extraordinary way to sort through the ups and downs of life and, as Gurudeva says, in the process find the knots of emotion, good and not so good, and in finding them, seeing them, recording on paper and then burning them up, to be free of them. It's even more interesting for us, since as monastics we have lived in the Besee, the Eternal Now, our whole adult life never allowing awareness free rein to meandering amid the memory patterns in the old subconscious. It's become quite a meditation, and the little revelations are so wonderful each day to see. This discipline is being done by the monks and members alike, and already members around the world are sharing how wonderful this has been for them to clarify and purify the past, resolve old hurts and unclarities, let go of old fears. Once this is accomplished, it's back to the Eternal Now for the rest of this passage through life.Here's a photo of our Gurudeva with some of today's visitors. Year 2000 March Caribbean Innersearch Taking Reservations NowDon't Delay as the group is limited in size Gurudeva says,"Come with me to the Caribbean next March, on the Year 2000 Innersearch. Besides our wonderful study together, we are planning a gala gathering of Hindus in Trinidad for one day." We will depart from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 25th and return to Fort Lauderdale on April 4th and be traveling on Holland America's spectacular, brand new cruise ship, the MS/Volendam. For information contact our wonderful tour agent who will be conducting the Innersearch: Kailash and Indra Dhaksinamurthi of Search Beyond Adventures, Inc. ASAP at search11@mail.idt.netVery Important!: Be sure to include your mailing address and phone number in the body of your message! Kailash will be mailing you information, but if you don't send an address there is nothing he can do.
The monastery had taken some photos of the crew that put all their energy and hard work into the concrete work on August 21 and 28. As it happened, those were the last photos ever taken of Randy. So naturally we wanted to share these with his family and friends. They came to the monastery today to pick out the ones they will keep, and we took them on a short tour of the publications facility and the grounds, including the foundation their Randy helped with and enjoyed working on so much.
Randy's father, Bernard, loves plants like the monks do, and so we shared with him some rare ti plants that have never been given away before, as our gift to the family. Bernard went away with these specimins: Purple Boy, Nigra (the giant black), New Guinea Black (maybe the rarest in the world) and Cordyline australensis. Bernard has some special fruit trees he wants to bring to the monastery.
Called Vasana Daha Tantra
We have a special sadhana for this retreat, actually for the next four months. The monks are doing a once-in-a-lifetime edition of Vasana Daha Tantra. Gurudeva has asked those who have never thought of their past for all these years to think about it profoundly.
He is having each one write ten handwritten pages, 8.5 by 11 inches pages, of recollections for every year they have lived. That's 100 pages per decade, so a lot of writing, a lot of remembering. After completing this detailed survey of life's most memorable moments, Gurudeva wants us to go back over the years, see if anything stands out as holding emotional energy, and write again on the things that still vibrate in the mind. It takes many hours, of course, so we are looking for little corners of time. Instead of meditating out under a Bilva Tree before dawn during Sadhu Paksha periods this year, many of us will be working on our tantra.
It's another of Gurudeva's beautiful ingenuities, to take the entire monastic community through their life in abundant detail. It is an extraordinary way to sort through the ups and downs of life and, as Gurudeva says, in the process find the knots of emotion, good and not so good, and in finding them, seeing them, recording on paper and then burning them up, to be free of them.
It's even more interesting for us, since as monastics we have lived in the Besee, the Eternal Now, our whole adult life never allowing awareness free rein to meandering amid the memory patterns in the old subconscious. It's become quite a meditation, and the little revelations are so wonderful each day to see.
This discipline is being done by the monks and members alike, and already members around the world are sharing how wonderful this has been for them to clarify and purify the past, resolve old hurts and unclarities, let go of old fears. Once this is accomplished, it's back to the Eternal Now for the rest of this passage through life.
Here's a photo of our Gurudeva with some of today's visitors.
Taking Reservations NowDon't Delay as the group is limited in size
Gurudeva says,
"Come with me to the Caribbean next March, on the Year 2000 Innersearch. Besides our wonderful study together, we are planning a gala gathering of Hindus in Trinidad for one day."
We will depart from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 25th and return to Fort Lauderdale on April 4th and be traveling on Holland America's spectacular, brand new cruise ship, the MS/Volendam. For information contact our wonderful tour agent who will be conducting the Innersearch: Kailash and Indra Dhaksinamurthi of Search Beyond Adventures, Inc. ASAP at search11@mail.idt.net
Very Important!: Be sure to include your mailing address and phone number in the body of your message! Kailash will be mailing you information, but if you don't send an address there is nothing he can do.
