On Gurudeva's birthday, as is traditionally done every year, Gurudeva presented his annual State of the Church address. He summarized 1999, which was full of many remarkable changes, innovations and uplifting experiences for all of us. Here is a summary:
The manifestation of the Bethesda Murugan temple in Washington DC after 17 years since its conception. Gurudeva presided over the Kumbhabhishekam. More Jaffna Tamil temples are coming up in Vancouver where Gurudeva will be travelling to for the ground breaking ceremony this year.
Photo of the Line of Gurus this morning.
Photo of Skandanathaswami and Ananta Palani, who is returning to Reno this morning. Safe flight, Ananta!
Positive discipline in raising children was incorporated into our Church's daily living guidelines giving methods to raise children with positive application of nonviolence at home in countries such as our own Kauai, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, mainland America and others.
Photo of Jothi Param and his daughter Sandhya Devi, fast asleep.
We also experienced a constant flow of pilgrims during 1999,many more than usual, all who came to our island to see and receive blessings of the Satguru and of the radiant Mahaspatika Sivalingam which is amplifying the rays from the third and the second world. Discussions were held with the management teams of several temples, urging them to give their priests better working conditions, salary and social acknowledgement.
Photo of Siva Jothiswari.
Gurudeva explained his policy that we should take care of little problems as they arise in our life. If we do this regularly big problems will seldom arise in life. Gurudeva also urged families to follow traditional protocols of respect. The wife is to look up to the husband who has the responsibility to keep the entire family happy, including his dear wife. To keep the family ties strong, parents need to diligently chaperone their children and to regularly contact each other when away from home, as when traveling or on extended business trips.
Pilgrims return to the main part of the Aadheenam after the arati at the Iraivan Site.
We also move toward this goal of Self Realization by settling interpersonal relations before sleep so disagreements or hurt feelings do not settle in the subconscious mind to be faced at a later period, by understanding thoroughly our Saiva Siddhanta philosophy, as expressed in Dancing with Siva, by observing the Living with Siva sutras or guidelines, by studying daily the 365 lessons in Merging with Siva.
Photo of Satya Palani and his daughter, Meenakshi Devi.
By following dharma the soul eventually realizes Parashiva, Satchitananda and is liberated from birth. As we enter our 51st year, Gurudeva notes that his is a Church which serves members from birth to death and to birth again. When a member of the Church experiences the great departure, he or she will reexperience birth as a reentrance into a Church family. There will be a continuity of karmas within Himalayan Academy and other instutions.
This is Savitri, Satya's wife. And that ends our State of the Church story for the day. See you here tomorrow!
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.
