 Satguru Siva Yogaswami Jaffna, Sri Lanka |
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 Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA |
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| March 31, 2000 - Dhanishtha | ||||
    
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 Look, it's a movie!
Remarkable footage from Mangalore, Karnataka from the ancient monastery (over 1000 years old) of the Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt and its new temple construction.
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...In EnglishMP3 Streaming:MP3 streaming requires the QuickTime plug-in. If you are unable to play streaming MP3 or RealAudio, option-click one of the following links to download the file to your computer:  WAV |
...In TamilMP3 Streaming:MP3 streaming requires the QuickTime plug-in. If you are unable to play streaming MP3 or RealAudio, option-click one of the following links to download the file to your computer: WAV |
To submit questions on topics that you would like Gurudeva to elucidate, e-mail questions@hindu.org
A detailed index of past inspired talks is available here.
Thanks to those who are sending questions for future talk subjects. Keep it up, send your questions on important contemporary and spiritual issues to Gurudeva today!
We have a wonderful photo series and a report from Trinidad.
We will run the captions at the top and the report underneath.
Narendra Ragoonan and Sadhaka Dandapani at the Convention Center.
News
GURUDEVA'S ARRIVAL DAY
By Anil Mahabir
Trinidad Correspondent for Hinduism Today
The Dutch cruise ship carrying Gurudeva and his "Innersearch 2000" entourage arrived at the Port of Spain harbor promptly at 7AM and history was thus created. To the rhythmic sounds of drums, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, publisher of the internationally acclaimed HINDUISM TODAY, emerges from the vessel behind his devotees of various hues.
Section of the crowd at the Centre.
Anil's Report Continued
The white men in saffron robes had arrived. It was May 30 1845, when the first shipment of Indians and Hindus had arrived on these shores. On March 30 2000, Gurudeva , "the white Hindu Swami," 155 years later, had finally landed. One could have felt the electricity in the air.
A view of the pundits.
Anil's Report Continued
I looked at both Archaya Palaniswami and Gurudeva: their eyes were very piercing, their levels of consciousness, very high. I sensed it. I sense they were picking up vibrations in a land with a strong Hindu presence.
A view of the dignitaries.
Anil's Report Continues
In the car park at the port, the children of the Chinmaya Mission, lead by Pundit Abhedanand were singing a bhajan when Pundit Narendra Ragoonanan broke a coconut at Gurudeva's feet and blessed him. He was officially welcomed the Hindu way with a brief puja . Then the local media swarmed him. He was interviewed by the "Trinidad Guardian," Trinidad and Tobago Telelvision [ TTT News] and radio 90.5 FM. At 8:30am the entourage left for the morning programme at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre.
Ashwinee Ragoonanan and her husband Narendra our two "Trinidad Missionaries," hold up a portrait of Gurudeva. They have been instrumental in bringing and distributing Hinduism Today and Gurudeva's books in Trinidad for over ten years and were the prime organizers for the day's events.
The entourage pose for a photo.
Anil's Report Continues
The crowd at the centre was much more than I had first anticipated. I had told Acharya earlier that I felt a crowd of about 200 was good, but it really turned out to be 2000: I took my own meticulous count at the overflowing auditorium. Trinidadians had come from, west, north, central and south. They had come to hear and meet the great white Hindu Guru.
Anil's Report Continues
The programme began promptly at 9:15am: the master of ceremonies was former government minister and university lecturer, Dr Bhoe Tewarie. He introduced Archaya who in turn introduced Gurudeva. Archaya Palaniswami, Editor in Chief of Hinduism Today had a simple message: "Gurudeva has spent his entire life trying to link Hindus all over the world and to bring them together. Through Hinduism Today we are trying to do this for Hindus in Fiji, for example, must know about Hindus in Trinidad, he said.
Anil's Report Continues
Gurudeva began his address by congratulating Trinidad Hindus for clinging on to Hinduism: "It is amazing that for a country so far away from India, you have held Hinduism intact. You have brought your pundits from India. Indians who migrated to USA did not. Pundits are very important can you visualize a house without parents or a school without teachers?" he asked. He then reminded the audience to keep their pundits happy: "You must keep your pundits happy because they are the sustainers of the oldest religion in the world in your country."
Anil's Report Continues
On the hot issue of conversion efforts of the Christians, Gurudeva said: "The conversion efforts have strengthened Hinduism. They have worked contrary to the efforts of the conversionists. Why do you think so? Because Hinduism is the eternal truth: the knowledge of reincarnation and karma have pervaded time.
Section of the crowd at the Convention Center
Anil's Report Continues
The feature address was given by Ganace Ramdial, a senator who often acts as the president of the Republic. He likened Gurudeva to a Brahmin or high priest and asked: "What makes a Brahmin ? Birth, knowledge or conduct? He then drew reference to the Mahabharata where he found that the answer was conduct, telling the audience that if their conduct was exemplary, they would all be Brahmins .
Another section of the crowd at the Convention Center
Anil's Report Continues
Gurudeva then presented gifts to Ganace Ramdial, the Indian High Commissioner, Pundit Ragoonanan and myself. I received a bracelet and a model Lord Ganesh which I subsequently placed on my computer desk. I have named him Mahaganapati . Everyday I will prostrate to Mahaganapati and he will remove all my obstacles in life. Thank you Gurudeva As the programme closed, people were virtually rushing to touch Gurudeva's feet. They had come from far and wide, not only to see and to hear the great white Guru, but also to touch him.
Gurudeva meets Maha Sabha pundits
Anil's Report Continues
Today was a great day. The weather held-up well with not a drop of rain to
be seen, despite the past few rainy days. Perhaps Gurudeva's presence on
the island added to the warmth. At 12:45 pm Pt Rambachan, and myself left
the Chagaramas Convention Center with Gurudeva ji and one other monk.
Gurudeva moves to take his seat, Devant maharaj at right.
Anil's Report Continues
The programme at the Maha Sabha centre was smaller and more compact. The crowd was about 300 hundred at most.
The entourage arrives at Maha Sabha compound after monks.
Anil's Report Continued
In another car driven by Pt.Rampath Palaniswami ji and another monk followed. The Innersearch Team followed as a group in a tour bus. During the drive both Pt.Rambachan and I spoke to Guruji about the Maha Sabha, Hinduism in Trinidad, and the Hindu school system. We mentioned that here in Trinidad Pundits do not follow any lineages or 'gurukul'. Guruji stated insightly that since we followed the Brahmin tradition that in itself was a gurukul.
We arrived at the Maha Sabha HQ about 1:10 pm. As Gurudeva ji alighted from the car he was met by over 40 pundits of the Maha Sabha all dressed in their white pundits 's attire. It was quite a sight to behold. Guruji was then escorted to the Maha Sabha meeting area away from the crowd to meet privately with the Secretary General of the Maha Sabha, Satnarayan Maharaj, Senior Pundits, Maha Sabha Executives, Hindu Ministers of Government, and the Indian High Commissioner.
Sri Sat Maharaj greeted Guruji and offically welcomed him to
Trinidad and the Maha Sabha and introduced him to the gathering. Guruji
then addressed the attentive private meeting. Guruji told them of the good
job that Hindus in Trinidad were doing as well as the fact that Trinidad
may be used as model for other countries such as Fiji. Palaniswami also
made an address to the gathering. A few questions were then requested from
the floor that were answered by Guruji. This private session took about 25
minutes.
The entourage make their way to their seats.
Anil's Report Continued
After this brief meeting Guruji and group were escorted to the main stage
to the delight of the patiently waiting hundreds. A invocation dance
dedicated to Lord Siva was performed by a student of one of the Maha Sabha
schools. Sri Sat Maharaj then introduced Guruji to the crowd. Guru ji gave
an address that lasted about 25 minutes that again was well recieved by the
attentive audience. Palaniswami also addressed the gathering and thanked
the ancestors for bringing Hinduism to Trinidad thus allowing for this
event some 155 years later.
Here is Sri Satnarine Maharaj, President of the Maha Sabha.
Anil's Report Continued
Gurudeva, at the instigation of the Maha Sabha President Sri Satnarine Maharaj, was subjected to some questions from the audience. Slowly one by one Hindus came to the microphone asking questions to Guruji easy and difficult questions. One man asked: "In light of the Pope's declaration of war against Hindus worldwide, what is your advice?" To which Gurudeva replied, "love the Pope, love conquers all." A pundit asked: "What is the best form of Hindu greeting Swamiji? We in Trinidad say "Sita Ram, others say "Namaste?" Gurudeva said, to thunderous laughter, "Aloha, ...anything will do as long as it comes from the heart."
Sri Sat Maharaj then asked one of the Innersearchers
to give an impression of the visit so far. The response was simple and
inspiring at the same time that connected these Americans to the their
Trinidadian Hindu counterparts.
Group on stage.
Anil's Report Continued
To our surprise we were told that Guru ji had gifts to give the senior members of the Maha Sabha. As the Maha Sabha's Dharmacharya Pundit Krishna was seated next to Guru ji he was given a gift of a beautiful shawl by Guru ji. I was then asked to call out the names of the recipients. As I began to call the first name Guru ji surprised me by placing a shawl on my shoulders. I tried to explain to him that I was not the person being called. But he intended it for me. That was the highlight of guru ji visit for me.
Then I continued calling the rest of the names that included Sri Sat
Maharaj, and other pundits. After this great gesture by Guru ji, Sri Sat
Maharaj then announced that he would like to present a gift to guru ji.
Palaniswami collected the gifts that included a Ramayan, and various other
locally produced Hindu books.
Girl does a Shiva dance.
Anil's Report Continued
There was then another closing dance, then Guru ji and entourage slowly
proceed outside of the Maha Sabha main area. Each row of persons were
blessed by Guru ji as he left to an awaiting car that took him to the
docks. At exactly 3:00 pm Guru ji left the Maha Sabha compound.
Acharya Palaniswami introduces Gurudeva briefly.
Anil's Report Continued
The visit that was carried on the newspapers and radio for weeks before got coverage by the television in the nightly news. A brief interview of Guru ji was carried in the news as well as a caption of his visit.
In the end when Gurudeva was seated in his vehicle to begin his departure to the Port, a woman came up to him and begged him to touch her because she was ill. Gurudeva took off his beaded bracelet from his hand and gave it to her and she shouted, "I am healed now! as the vehicle drove off.
Now Back to Our Monastery on Kauai
Vicknewaran and Nilakantha taking a 'gentle moment with the mascot "Chola kitty" of the outdoor grounds team in their modular office.
Shots of Mount Waialeale in the mist.
Text Transcriptions of
Gurudeva's Previous Cyber Discourses
(To listen to the actual audio
click on the link to that day.)
Date: March 31 2000
Title: Quitting Smoking
Category: Drugs
Duration: 1 min., 17 seconds
A very desirous cyberspace cadet wants to stop smoking. He wants to control his awareness, so he doesn't even want to think about smoking.
What is the answer here? Ask yourself the question and answer honestly to yourself - Do you want to live a happy, healthy long life? Or, the next question to ask yourself - Do you want to die early and suffer all the diseases that have been documented that smoking can bring up in your body to destroy it?
If the answer is "Yes, I don't mind dying early and I am looking forward to all the diseases that are promised.", then, don't worry about quitting smoking.
If the answer is "I want to live a long, healthy life.", then quit smoking today. It is not an intellectual process. Just quit smoking today.
The international cyberspace congregation is very lively. We are getting better and better questions.
Date: February 03 2000
Title: Nature of the Soul Part 2
Category:
Duration:
Our great religion, Sanatana Dharma, known in English as Hinduism, has another environment in which we can take the next step - Satchidananda. The energy in me is blending with the energy in you and the energy throughout the entire Universe. That happens in the environment also, called a festival or a pilgrimage to a far-off temple, dropping off what we know of as our real jobs and professions, and only thinking about the soul and the inner quality of the soul.
We still have another experience beyond Satchidananda - the timeless, formless, spaceless Parasiva, which you can realize. But before that an initiation must come and an environment must be created. The initiation will be the renunciation of the world, which means, you don't have a job, you don't have a profession. The environment would be a monastery, where you are apart from the world, where you have no money worries, no food worries, no clothing worries. You are totally free to go deep within yourself safely. That is the environment for Parasiva.
Most western people want to go to the end of the path first and then start at the beginning. That is not very practical. Seeking Parasiva without the proper environment and without having a proper initiation, one would not be able to hold a job, one would fail in his profession because, the world will begin to renounce that individual.
And so yes, you have three perfections, just like Lord Siva. Only difference is, the human goes from one perfection to another, whereas Siva is all three perfections simultaneously.
Thank you, cyberspace devotee for the beautiful question.
Sevak Erasenthiren (front) works on the glossary for Gurudeva's latest book in production: "How to Become a Hindu."
Sivakatirswami working next to him (in the back)
This is our "home grown" interface for generating the daily HTML code for these pages you are seeing. Using a VHL program (Very High Language) called "Supercard" an interface was developed that loads photos, allows for caption insertion, and auto insertion of a variety of HTML code chunks and then automatically builds the necessary HTML file, images tags etc. that will later be added to other files and sent to our internet provider.
Sadhaka Japendra is working on the next "gang job" which is a variety of printed items that will be printed along side the cover of Hinduism Today.
He is resuscitating an old "Jnana Dana" (Knowledge Giving) pamphlet--the 9 beliefs of Hinduism, for widespread free distribution.
Meanwhile our bi-monthly magazine is in its "mid-cycle" deadline days, when we have taken a self-imposed vow to finish half the articles half way through the editorial production cycle. This is a wonderful article about afabulous fair held each year in Rajasthan.
Sannyasin Kartikkeynathaswami is the editor for this story. He also coordinates the assignments and input from our various photographers and is our digital "sound man." who runs the "Nada Guha" sound studio that delivers the daily talks you hear on this page.
Photos From Our Branch Monastery On the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius
Mauritius is at the moment of this writing, march 31, being approached by cyclone Hudah, 10th cyclone or tropical storm of the season, and it is raining over our monastery. If the system keeps moving due West, it will only skirt Mauritius. We are hoping it will do just that. We will let you know tomorrow. (Photo courtesy of Meteo-France.)
Yesterday morning, one of the arms of the system (the plume presently to the north of the system in the map above) darkened the sky over our Monastery and Spiritual Park and gave us some rain. Then it spun north and clear weather returned.
This morning, the sun rose behind a huge and dark cloudbank--the cyclone itself--traveling toward us at 15 miles per hour.
Later in the morning, the cloudbank, or cyclone had almost reached us. There it is. Hello, Hudah.
Now it is with us, rain and the very edge of a spinning vortex which at one time, from arm tip to arm tip was a thousand miles across.
In the meantime, we had some nice visitors. Here are two bright young couples from our own town of Pointe des Lascars, enjoying our Spiritual Park.
We had the pleasure of meeting another fine young couple, Rajesh and Sunita who are engaged and very much interested in meditation. They purchased Merging with Siva to start and have already begun their sadhanas. What a wonderful way to start out life together! AUM Namasivaya.
SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK AND RECEIVE A FREE GIFT
Click here to sign the Guestbook and we will send you a free issue of our global full-color bi-monthly magazine, Hinduism Today.
GURUDEVA'S BOOK SIGNINGS IN FLORIDA AND CALIFORNIA
It's a pleasure to inform you that Gurudeva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on his way to conduct a travel/study Innersearch cruise in the Caribbean. You are invited to attend his presentation of the newly illustrated 2nd edition of Loving Ganesha, Hinduism's Endearing Elephant-faced God at Borders Books and Music, on March 25 at 12pm. His other books will also be available at the store. For directions and details please contact the bookstore's Events Coordinator, Richelle, at 954-566-6335. View a map of the store location at www.borders.com. Gurudeva will also stop in Northern California on his return from the Innersearch program, presenting Loving Ganesha at Barnes and Noble in San Mateo on April 5 at 7pm. For directions and details please contact Sharon Anderson, at 650-341-5560. View a map of the store location at www.barnesandnoble.com. Don't miss these rare events!
THANK YOU, GURUDEVA!
For those who have been touched spiritually by Gurudeva's work, his books, his guidance, his inspired life and example and even his website, the "Thank You, Gurudeva Fund" has been established within Hindu Heritage Endowment.
Proceeds from this fund are forever, not a one-time gift, so gifts to this fund have an eternal gratitude built into them. They live on, in perpetuity.
Each month Gurudeva receives the income from the fund, to be used at his own discretion to promote his work and mission around the globe. He loves this, for he knows that it comes from all the good souls who have met him and studied with him, or traveled or just talked with him, over the years. A contribution to this fund is tax-deductible.
GURUDEVA'S MANY CYBERTALKS ARE NOW ONLINE
All of Gurudeva's Cybertalks are now on this site at:
/audio/
You will find here over 200 Inspired Talks, thoughtfully organized, with thorough text descriptions (yes, they are searchable!) so you can find the subjects that are of deepest interest to you. We encourage everyone to go to the page, bookmark it and visit now and again to listed to the wisdom of our beloved Satguru. Wow! What a grand addition to our website this is! Thanks to the many talented hands that made this possible.
Year 2001 Summer European Innersearch
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.
This page is updated every day at 5:30pm Hawaii Standard Time.
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