A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Satguru Siva Yogaswami Jaffna, Sri Lanka		Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA
	November 17, 1999 - Satabhisha

"Eye'll Be Seeing You" As we all paused this morning in the moments after sunrise on our way to the Iraivan Foundation, our photographer took a close up of Gurudeva's eyes. Everyone speaks of the grace of the Satguru's Feet, but the eyes of a great soul have their own gracious gifts, like a direct encounter with our soul. New! Satguru Speaks Again! Today' talk continues the War in the Home Must Stop and Gurudeva's upadesha on Lord Muruga. 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. On the retreat, Gurudeva and seven monks went to the home of a wonderful lady, Roberta Haas. She lives an Alice-in-Wonderland life in a remote valley of Kauai, called Limahuli. Her home is built in the middle of a lush forest, overseeing the sea below and the sheer ridges above. We took our digital camera and made a special shot of it all, though even this does not really capture the grandure. Still, we invite you to join us in exploring the valley from Roberta's deck. Our Nikon camera with the 360 degree fisheye lens allows for "Spherical Virtual Reality" photos. What does tnat mean? You stand in one spot and pointing the camera forward and take a shot. It captures everything in front, above, below and on both sides. Then you swing the camera around and in the exact opposite direction from the same point in space, you take another shot. These are then "welded" together digitally to create a sphere and you can view this as if you were inside the sphere and move around inside it. To view these you will need to get the LiveViewer Plug-in after downloading this, then click to see Limahuli Valley "Spherical Virtual Reality Shot." Once you open the image a special page of instructions will appear, so you can explore the space in amazing ways. More on our visit later in the TAKA page. Gurudeva in his laid-back mode, meeting with Acharya Ceyonswami this morning. Arthurji and his wife Nutan and her mother and father from Mumbai came to the homa this morning. Gurudeva asked them if they still love one another. They both smiled big time and said together, YES! Gurudeva asked them to read their marriage vows, a renewal of their shared commitment to each other and to their growing family and son, Shantanu. In unison they intoned their support of each other, their value of keeping God first in all matters, their love of service for all humanity. Arthurji is a medical doctor on Kauai, and the author of a popular book on back pain that is selling all over America, a book that places spiritual practice at the center of pain resolution. That is Nutan's father on the firht, Indraji. He is one of India's greatest living painters, and the man who painted Gurudeva's several portraits that you have seen on his books lately. After the homa, all trek to the temple site, seeing a glimpse of Mount Waialeale along the way. Nutan's mother and Shantanu's grandmother came too. She is a special lady and has been on Kauai for many months. They are planning to return to India in a couple of weeks. We will miss them. Our beloved Satguru on his way to San Marga. We're back at Roberta's home, looking here up at the Makana peak that rises right out of her living room! Amazing. During the morning we enjoyed breakfast pupus prepared by none other than Deepak Chopra's former chef, all so very healthful. Then we sat in the fireplace chamber with Roberta and others and Gurudeva presented his next idea for the island peoples, a project called ALOHA YEAR. It is a wonderful vision of how to uplift the businesses here which have remained a bit depressed since our major hurricane in 1992. Gurudeva is always seeking to find ways to make life better for everyone. Roberta is a special soul and has worked for more than 12 years to make her home in the valley. So successful has she been, that when Al and Tipper Gore visit Kauai as they do almost yearly, they stay at Roberta's place. What a retreat that must be for them! This is what her deck looks like through our fisheye lens. Barbara Curl was a wonderful partner in the hosting that day, on the left. Barbara is the inspirer of the Vision Kauai 2020 group that meets each month or so to craft the future ideals and values and directions for the island. It is a group that Gurudeva has taken great joy in joining, and he has given the work lots of energy and support over the last three years. Our mayor and ex-mayor, county council members, business leaders and people in education and the media all participate in this, all thanks to the prodding and pleading, the persistence and patience of Barbara Curl. Gurudeva calls her "An angel sent by God." Two of the key botanists of the Limahuli Gardens took us on a personal tour. That's David on the left and Jeff on the right. They specialize in working with the native plants on Kauai, a small number of very rare and even endangered species. They take helicopters deep into the valley, dig up intrusive species and plant the natives so they can again flourish. They made a most generous offer to the monastery, saying they would like to bring some plants up so we can begin our own native garden here. Wow, what a great idea! Over the river and through the woods to Jill and Donal's house we go..... Chipper Wichman met us on the trek. He is the grandson of Juliet Wichman, the lady who built Kauai Aadheenam's main buildings for her family in 1929. She was a great mystic, poetess, founder of our Kauai Museum, philanthropist and lover of Peli, the Goddess of the Volcanos. Chipper told us the most wonderful Hawaiian story, a long one about willpower, divine intervention, sacrifice and laziness.....boy, can this man talk story. Down near the beach lies the home of Jim and Beverly Brill. That big cliff on the left is the same one you saw earlier that is right at Roberta's home. That's Beverly next to Roberta, in a pavilion where she marries people. She is a minister among her many other talents, and people come from far away to be wed in her gardens. Thanks for the tour, Beverly. Off to India. Today our Brahmachari Chundadevan returned to Kauai after an excursion that took him to India for several weeks and back home to Malaysia to visit with his family. He is soooo tired from all that travel, and sooo happy to be back. Here is is at a famous little stone temple in Mahabalipuram with our Iraivan Temple Manager, jiva Rajasankara. This is Arjuna's Penance, one of the most famous stone frescos in the country. The temple is carved right out of the rock. Here Sashi Valipillai visits our Bangalore carving village with a group of pilgrims, stopping to energize the stone that will sit at the very top of Iraivan, 35 feet in the air. The group is called the Millennium Innersearch. They traveled from the US to India in the cause of peace inner and outer. Jiva shows the Innersearches around the compound. Here he is showing one of the highly polished red granite stones that will form the chamber of the innermost sanctum where the crystal lingum abides. The brochure of the Innersearch group, scanned by Jiva and delivered by e-mail this morning. What a difference a decade makes in communications with India! Not to mention a T-1 line. This is another spherical photo. If you have been brave enough to come all this way on TAKA today, take one more step, this time INSIDE our Kadavul Hindu Temple. You will be able to see the entire space within the Maha Mandipam. To view this amazing image, you will need to get the LiveViewer Plug-in after downloading this, then click to see Kadavaul Hindu "Spherical Virtual Reality Shot." Year 2000 March Caribbean Innersearch Taking Reservations Now Don'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.
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