A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Satguru Siva Yogaswami
Jaffna, Sri Lanka

A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA

May 30, 2000 - Asvini
Hindu Year 5102: Vikrama, the "Year of Fulfillment"

Gurudeva with Acharya Ceyonswami on Vaikasi Vishakam morning. A fax just arrived. Gurudeva landed in Taipei where they rested over for one night.

Title: Converting to Another Hindu Sect
Category: Change and Transformation
Duration: 1 min., 2 seconds

Kanesh, from Ulu Behrang, Malaysia, gives his "departure speech" on the day before leaving for home and Gurudeva gives him his certificates.

Cybertalk: An e-devotee from New Zealand asks is it is possible and beneficial to officially convert from one sect to another within Hinduism, such as from Vaishnavism to Saivism. Gurudeva says, "Yes."

" For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.

Do you have questions for Gurudeva?
Please continue to send your questions for Gurudeva to answer in his Cybertalks. E-mail questions@hindu.org.

A detailed index of past inspired talks is available here.

Transcription of One of Gurudeva's CyberTalks
May 27, 2000
Title: Birth Karma & Prayer
Category: Hinduism & Tradition

A question from Selangor in Maylasia through cyberspace asking:
"If a baby is born into a family can the family perform their daily puja regularly?"

We'd want to give the full attention to the newborn child and not perform the puja for 31 days after the birth of a child in the home.

Another question from Selangor, Malaysia:
"Are there any simple penance or pryaschitta one can do going through bad karma?"

Well, first we would have to know what the bad karma is, because often what is bad to one person is not bad to someone else. Often those who were raised in schools of alien religions, what is bad to them is not bad to the Hindus. So take every experience in life as a learning experience and get the lesson out of the experience and that's why we are here in this incarnation and in this breath. I'll be in Maylasia next week and perhaps we can meet.

Questions are getting better and better day after day.

A question from Singapore:
"Does Gurudeva hear prayers that are offered to him and is he aware of us here in Singapore?"
Occasionally yes, if a devotee is going through an extremely intense experience, we are aware of it here at Kauaii Aadheenam on the beautiful island of Kauai. But normally we have a nice flow of actinic energy between us and that's a constant stabilizing force. Now to strengthen that bond it's very necessary for you, as a devotee, to be totally harmonious with everyone around you no matter what they do, say or think. I'll be at the Ganesha Temple in a few days in Singapore and perhaps we can meet.

We're going out to the foundation of Iraivan Temple now in a parade. And this will be the first time we'll have walked on the foundation since the surcharge of tons and tons of dirt has been on top to settle the foundation down and we can look and see if there are any even little tiny cracks in the foundation.
Aum Namah Sivaya,
Aum Namah Sivaya,
Aum Namah Sivaya Aum.

Sun One homa. Larry Reuter the "bamboo man" came in Balinese dress (with the white head-piece.)

Acharya Palaniswami with his mother and sister.

Imogene Gibson did a great job raising up a wonderful family and is now a "super-grandmother."

His sister, Laura Marks.

The two ladies were shown over the entire property over the last few days. Here they are planting the special bamboo from Bali, gifted to us by Larry Reuter.

Mrs. Gibson and daughter Laura are stand in front of a golden champa tree they planted three years ago. Wow! It really grew tall since then!

An eleven acre site in Bangalore, India, where 75 Indian families live and daily carve the sacred white granite edifice of Iraivan Temple which will soon begin to be assembled on the island of Kauai

Here is our master carver Perumal Sthapati working on a piece of the future Iraivan temple site. He is the apprentice to the famed Ganapati Stapathi, his guru, who says that "Perumal is now India's greatest living stone carver." Jiva Rajasankara (in the back) who is manager of the temple site had this interview with Perumal:

JIVA: I have seem hundreds of statues made in several parts of India but the ones made by you has a special effect. The faces are very pleasant to look at and appear to be smiling. What is the secret behind this ?

PERUMAL: When I am asked to carve a Ganesha icon, I get totally merged into the carving of Ganesha and become Ganesha himself. I normally do not work on a limited time frame and I carve the Ganesha until I am satisfied with it .. I do not work fast to complete the job and make as much profit as possible.

Internal visualision is important too, only then you can bring out the mental impressions in you and carve them physically on the stone. Most of the sculptors do not work on these principals. There is very little dedication towards the work they do. Generally, the scuptors who carve icons must have good moral and habit patterns. A sculptor who is a vegetarian and who has a good religious foundation, trained under a qualified sthapati make better icons.

However the main aim of most of the stone sculptors of today is to make maximum profit . A greed for money sculptor with negative habit patterns like smoking and drinking cannot make Ganesha smile !!! That is the truth.

This part of the special Tara pillar.

JIVA: Have you trained anyone to match your standard of intricate carvings ?

PERUMAL: No. Many have come and worked for a few months only. The moment, they can carve a Ganesha with an elephant face , they feel they have mastered the craft. All of them who have come to learn under me do not have the patience, tolerance , dedication and the urge to learn the craft.The burning desire to become the best is not there in them.Their burning desire is to make money. They leave to become half baked sculptors Half baked sculptors are of great demand at Mamabalipuram. They either work as a sthapati in a worksite or start they own unit with the little knowledge they have.

JIVA: How did you got trained under a master craftsman like Dr. V.Ganapathi Sthapati ?

PERUMAL: Ganapati Sthapati is my Guru. I am very very sincere and dedicated to him? until today. I do not claim that I have learned everything. In the early days, I start my work early in the morning and continue till 8 or 9 pm.Ganapati Sthapati will teach and correct my mistakes in a very nice way. We have developed a strong Guru and shishya relationship. My inner urge to learn and my selfless service to the guru has brought me to what I am now. Even today, when I carve a statue, I have a secured feeling that my Guru is standing beside me and guiding me in every bit of my chipping. I always do my very best and improve on that . Over the years, I have learned his technic, his likings, his feelings, his style and his expectations . Now, I am able to tune my work to his taste. I feel that my Guru is working through me to produce quality statues. I am still learning from him.

(stay tuned to more of Perumal's interview on tomorrow's TAKA.)

A tara pillar.

Invoking the Fire God at Iraivan temple site.

Gurudeva's Travel Itinerary/Visiting Kauai's Hindu Monastery
Click here for information about Gurudeva's travels to Singapore and Malaysia, and later to Canada, with information on events there and who to contact for program dates and times. And if you are planning to visit Kauai, please go first to our our visitor's page. Thank you.

INNERSEARCH EUROPE 2001

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Go to www.innersearch.org and for more detailed information, please contact Sadhaka Dandapani. Space is limited and filling up fast!

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