 Satguru Siva Yogaswami Jaffna, Sri Lanka |
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 Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA |
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November 16, 2000
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Pushya Hindu Year 5102: Vikrama, the "Year of Fulfillment" |
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 Once a week Gurudeva holds a shum class in the Guru Peedam on Sun four at 12 Noon. The monks are learning shum chanting and the basics of the alphabet.
Cybertalk: A cyberspace cadet in Dubai wonders if she can join Gurudeva's mission. Gurudeva explains that his mission is a mission of giving and that she already is a part of the mission by being on the receiving end. Another question is put forth to Gurudeva from a cyber devotee in Singapore. He asks how he should approach the Hindu Gods. Gurudeva says that he can find the answers in the books Loving Ganesha and Dancing With Siva. Gurudeva also added that however he prays to the Hindu Gods they will hear his prayers.
Do you have questions for Gurudeva? Send to questions@hindu.org.
Please note: Gurudeva only responds to questions from the general public on matters that are suitable for our public cyber audience. Personal or intimate questions sent to this address are not answered. A detailed index of past inspired talks is available here. Transcription of One of Gurudeva's CyberTalks October_29_2000 Title: Memory; To Become a Sadhu; The Eyes of Meditation Category: Meditation and Yoga Duration: 2 min., 25 seconds Date Given: October 25, 2000 A cyberspace question from San Diego regarding memory. "People when they get a little older can't even remember yesterday or what they did three hours ago." People of all ages have the same problem of not being able to remember what they're not interested in. If you can remember the future, your goals, your aspirations that's enough to remember. A cyberspace devotee, a young man in Oklahoma. Wants to know, "now that I'm connected to Hinduism, I'd like to renounce the world and be a Sadhu in India or serve the Sadhus in India. Please give me some advise." (I've only been a Hindu for a very short time, he mentions.) Well to answer to your question properly I'd like to get to know you better. This is a very big and serious step and also many, many people want to renounce the world and give up all things when they dive into Santana Dharma, the Eternal Truths. It's not always practical or is it wise. To become a sadhu or even to serve the sadhus, one must have a firm philosophical foundation within one of the many philosophies of India. So we'll have a conversation through e-mail, we'll get to know you better and then answer your question. In the mean time be patient. It's a long path and you're on the threshold. A cyberspace cadet in Long Island, New York wants to know about meditation, "should you have your eyes open or should you have your eyes closed?" There are various forms of meditation, very deep meditation and then there are surface meditations or preparation for meditation leading to deep meditation. For deep meditation the eyes will naturally close. Otherwise it's all right to have your eyes open but still looking within yourself as you look at some religious object on the outside.  Today we had some guests visit with the Ganapati Kulam, Kulamata Peshanidevi and pilgrim Marianne Thompson sat in on the morning meeting of the publications team. It is always interesting to listen as each staff member details some of his work for the day and necessary coordination is done under the watchful guidance of Acharya Palanswami who is the coordinator of this monastic "family". Acharya Kumarswami, who heads up the book production, is entering the editing corrections coming in from proofreaders for Living with Siva. Sannyasin Arumugaswami, managing editor, is working intensely on Hindu Press International, developing it and also working out articles for the next issue of Hinduism today. Art Director Sannyasin Natarajnathaswami is coordinating commission art from Bali and Chennai and is also staff writer for Hinduism Today. Sannyasin Sivakatirswami, production manager, is handling communications regarding new arrangements with a French international distributor, book translations in Ukraine and web work coordination, Sadhaka Dandapani handles subscription management, data entry, Innersearch planning and coordination and sound files for this daily page. Sadhaka Jivanandanatha (behind the camera) is aid to the managing editor, handles a full load of editorial pages for Hinduism Today and does our digital photography. . .  Meanwhile we have a wonderful story from Rishikesh India. We often think of Rishikesh as we look up at the beautiful Mount Waialeale (pictured here) as if it were a mini Himalayan mountain. And visitors sometimes refer to our location here as "the Rishikesh of the Pacific." Well the story goes like this. The 1999 Hindu Renaissance award we gave to His Holiness Swami Chidananda Saraswati Maharaj, spiritual head of the Divine Life Society and world renowned teacher. We prepared our usual placque last year and sent it to Delhi for our correspondent there, Rajiv Malik to personally deliver.
 Here is a picture of our Wailua river, a mini "Ganges" were we perform the "Wailua Ganga Sadhana" seated by the river much like the sadhus along Rishikesh. The story continues: So Rajiv had to take a trip to Rishikesh, but for various reasons it was not possible for some time to arrange a meeting with the great sage and ascetic. But just recently things worked and here is Rajiv's report: " ====== Namaskar Arumugaswami,
With your blessings my trip to Rishikesh was really wonderful. However the only problem I faced was related to the fault the cab in which I was travelling, developed near Haridwar and four precious hours were wasted while on the way to Rishikesh as no mechanic was in sight. Later it had to be towed with the help of another cab and the fault removed.
 Rajiv continues: "My main job, handing over the plaque to Swami Chidananda Saraswati Ji was done at a beautiful function organised in the samadhi hall of Swami Sivananda. The hall was packed with the devotees and monks of the Divine Life Society. In fact these people were gathered for a satsang where Swami Chidananda was to supposed to come and deliver a speech. A large number of foreign devotees of the DLS were also there.
"Would you believe it that Swami's whole speech was in praise of Gurudeva and Hinduism Today? He told the audience about his asscociation with Gurudeva and how he and Gurudeva were together in 1993 at the World Parliament of Religions . He also lauded the good work done by Hinduism Today magazine. He also told the packed hall that he was greatly honoured by the gesture of Gurudeva to choose him for conferring on him the honour of Hindu of the Year for 1999 and he also said that the plaque and the citation would always be his most loved possessions.
 Here is a picture of the front of the placque. The wording of the award goes like this: 1999 Hindu Renaissance Award Presented by Hinduism Today to His Holiness Swami Chidananda Saraswati Maharaj, President of the Divine Life Society, in honor of his fifty-two years of service as an eloquent torch bearer for Sanatana Dharma into the Third Millennium. His purity, simplicity and spiritual integrity are a shining ideal of yogic achievement and a source of spiritual strength for hundred's of thousands the world over. Rajiv continues: "He was also touched by the fact that I had come all the way from New Delhi for delivering the plaque. This fact was also mentioned there time and again while he delivered his speech.
Even the Swami's close disciples were surprised to see the interest he took in answering the questions posed to him by me in connection with interviewing him for Hinduism Today. As my conversation/interview was not complete before the satsang meeting. He was gracious enough to announce in the satsang meeting itself that he would grant me more time after the satsang was over. As the satsang meeting was over around 11.30 pm I went again to Guru Niwas, his official residence in Rishikesh and was with him till 12.30 pm. He answered the questions posed to him in a very forthright and candid manner.
 Rajiv continues: "In an informal chat with me he vividly recalled his meeting with Gurudeva in 1993 and later on a half an hour telephonic talk with Gurudeva from Malaysia. He told me again and again to convey his thanks and regards to Gurudeva.
 "Finally as you would have comprehended by the above account , a great importance was attached to the award presentation ceremony by the elder swami and his monks. Even the audience was deeply moved by the honour conferred on the Swami and they expressed their joy by clapping a number of times and long durations. All the HT copies that I had taken there were in great demand as everybody wanted the copy but only around one dozen people were fortunate to get these.
That is all I have on the Rishikesh Trip at the moment.  Back at Kauai Aadheenam. . . This is A. Manivelu's most recent completed work from Chennai which just came today over the internet. It illustrates among others, Gurudeva's wonderful affirmation "I'm all right, right now." "When you say to yourself, "I am all right, right now," you immediately bring the forces of the mind together. All fears, worries and doubts cease. An influx of spiritual energy fills the subconscious, and a sense of dynamic security permeates your being. "Tomorrow I shall wake up filled with energy, creatively alive and in tune with the universe." Say this several times to yourself and feel the spiritual force begin to move, the life force begin to move, within your body. You will wake up in the morning filled with creative energy, with a desire to be productive, to create. Answers to problems will be immediately unfolded from within yourself. You will experience finding solutions to questions that have been unanswered within your subconscious mind perhaps for years. A devotee having thus exercised this control over his mind to the point where when he commands the mind to be instantaneously creative, or puts a time limit on it--"Tomorrow I shall be creative, alive and in tune with the universe"--and his mind obeys, then has achieved a conscious control of the intuitive forces of mind. He is truly all right, in every now." Merging with Shiva
 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  Continuing on with more pictures from the Iraivan temple site blacksmith shop.
This is a special chisel used for smoothing the stone surfaces. Each vertical and horizontal lines as seen in the photo are patiently and carefully made by the blacksmith. The horizontal criss-crossed flat point has a number of small points on the now "hatched" end of the chisel.
 Here's the closeup view of the six different grades of chisels used for smoothing the stones. The silpis work with the chisel from the extreme left and continue using different grades. After using the sixth chisel, the surface of the stone becomes very smooth, almost as if it were sanded.  Gurudeva's other monastery in the island country of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean near South Africa  Every day brings new pilgrims to visit and worship Panchamuka Ganapati at the Spiritual Park here in Mauritius.  Sadhaka Haranandinatha stands with one of Gurudeva's close students, Navind Sagum, who is studying computer science at the University of Mauritius. Navind loves computer programming and almost thinks in computer code, but he also loves to garden and often helps the monastics care for our monastery garden. Here he and Sadhaka Haranandinatha examine the seeds from a gourd that Navind has brought. This particularly bumpy variety of gourd is known as "calabass" in Mauritius and is a popular source of food.  We were very happy to have the Ramrecha family come for a visit. When the monastics go shopping in the capital city and main commercial center of Mauritius, Port Louis, we often visit the agricultural shop where Seewanand Ramrecha (second from the right in the back row) works. Several months ago he gave us green bean seeds to plant in our garden and when we showed him the new plants he was amazed that we grow such beautiful bean plants without chemical fertilizers and sprays!  One day a week (plus lots of extra time) our three sadhaka at this monastery work for half a day in the garden, growing fresh organic vegetables to supplement our diet and keep us healthy and strong. When we laid down this cool, moist bed of mulch and grew these big leafy green plants from the seeds that Seewanand Ramrecha gave us, we thought these plants were primarily for food, but one of our cats found another use on a hot summer afternoon. (Below the equator, the summer is just beginning.) "How to Become A Hindu"! Gurudeva's latest book release is now available Hot Off the Press! Visit the Himalayan Academy Book Store Web Site get the book and read the incredible testimonies of the early pioneers from the west who chose to make a full and complete conversion to Hinduism, legally change both their first and last names to Hindu names, change their lifestyles, sever their formal connections to previous faiths and joyously face the challenges in joining the tribe of the Sanatana Dharma Visiting Kauai's Hindu Monastery If you are planning to visit Kauai, please go first to our our visitor's page. Thank you. 12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Join Gurudeva for Himalayan Academy's 17th travel-study program, the 2001 European Innersearch, themed the "Hinduism Today Adventure". Go to www.innersearch.org and for more detailed information, please contact Sadhaka Dandapani. Space is limited and filling up fast! Very Important: Please include your mailing address and telephone number in the body of your message. We will keep you posted as the program develops. Sign our guestbook and we will send you a free issue of our global full-color bi-monthly magazine, Hinduism Today. 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 last forever; they're not a one-time gift. So gifts to this fund have 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, traveled with him or just talked with him over the years. A contribution to this fund is tax-deductible. |
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