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

October 10, 2000 - Purvaprostapada
Hindu Year 5102: Vikrama, the "Year of Fulfillment"

Gurudeva meets pilgrims from California. Surya Kumar in the back on the left is long time friend and supporter. He came to US from Sri Lanka when he was a young man and became a success in the large format graphics business. Surya Kumar's aunt came for a visit to California and Surya thought "What better gift than to take them to Hawaii." He took three days off from his busy schedule, flew to Honolulu yesterday, came to the temple and for darshan with Gurudeva today and flies home tomorrow. Now that really shows committment to taking care of our elders!

Title: A Way to Realize Siva
Category: Meditation and Yoga
Duration: 1 min., 13 seconds

Cybertalk: A cyber cadet in Penang, Malaysia, asks Gurudeva if it is possible to realize Siva in this Kali Yuga with so many ways to fall off the path. Gurudeva recommends meditating on the the energy that flows through the body and trying to find the source of that energy. Gurudeva stresses that, like anything we want to accomplish, it takes great effort and consistency. Date Given: July 25, 2000

" 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
October_08_2000
Title: Wearing Rudraksha
Category: Hinduism and Tradition
Duration: 1 min., 09 seconds

A cyberspace question from Bob at aol.com. "Is it all right to wear rudraksha. A one-faced one for householder and how about children and where can you get rudraksha online?"

Rudraksha is a seed from a very tall tree which is sacred to Lord Shiva and yes, it's fine to wear rudraksha all of the time. It's also beneficial for children as well and on the internet there are many, many, many places where you can shop for rudraksha. Simply type in Hindu or type in rudraksha and see what you come up with. In our rudraksha forest here on the beautiful garden island of Kauai, our pilgrims have been finding eight-faces, sixteen-faces, two-faces, six, all kinds.

While the large Siva Nataraja of our Kadavul Hindu temple cannot be photographed, Lord Ganesha and Lord Muruga may be. These murthis are six feet in height. Lord Ganesha has such a warm and motherly shakti and you can easily feel close to Ganesha sitting in the temple gazing on this image of Maha Ganapati.

Here is an excerpt from the book Loving Ganesha from the chapter on the Ganesha Milk Miracle which is completely documented in the book.

"It all began on September 21 when an otherwise ordinary man in New Delhi dreamt that Ganesa, the elephant-headed god of wisdom, craved a little milk. Upon awakening, he rushed in the dark before dawn to the nearest temple, where a skeptical priest allowed him to proffer a spoonful of milk to the small stone image. Both watched in astonishment as it disappeared, magically consumed by the God. What followed is unprecedented in modern Hindu history... "

Today Lord Muruga was beautifully decorated. After the Deity is bathed, the curtains are closed and the image is dressed and decorated in what is called the "alankara" "to make beautiful." Some Hindu priests are experts in this sacred craft and they may take an hour or more to finish their work before the puja continues on.

Meanwhile the devotees will sing bhajans, meditate and chant. When the bell rings behind the curtain everyone stands. The curtain is drawn and the lamps are waved before the magnificent Deity in what is the most powerful moments of Hindu worship. . .words cannot describe the on-rush of shakti that fills heart, mind and soul when eyes and emotions are suddenly opened wide with awe.

It was Sun Five today and Gurudeva responds to questions from Cyber Space.

On October the 18th the Mayor of Kauai, Maryanne Kusaka is holding a special luncheon to honor Gurudeva as a Kauai resident who has received the U Thant Peace award. The restaurant only holds 120 people and today the mayor's office sent the guest list saying they were almost sold out and more requests were coming to join the luncheon. What to do! Gurudeva reviews the guest list so far.

Sannyasin Saravanannathaswami, one of the Ekadanta Kulam staff. One of his main areas of focus is the work of Gurudeva's mission to end corporal punishment of children. He does a lot of the research, keeps tabs on the global movement to outlaw corporal punishment and gathers resources for Gurudeva that we can distribute to our congregation. Three years of this work culminated in Gurudeva choosing to use Jane Nelson's Positive Discipline as a foundation for this ministry in Saiva Siddhanta Church. Now Positive Discipline is being studied by members in USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius and Canada. Members study up on the system, start study groups and when they are ready, offer public seminars on Positive Discipline. Not hitting your children does not mean we should be permissive or that they do not need to be disciplined. But the discipline needs to be given with love and respect.

The old joke is you have to go to driver education and get a license to drive a car, but you can have babies and raise them without any training at all! Not so. . .young mothers and fathers need help and Gurudeva is working hard to provide it. A great quote from Jane Nelson:

"Where did adults ever get the idea that to make a child do better you should make them feel worse?"

A rather incredible collection of large, multi-faceted Rudrakshas arrived today. These Rudrakshas have from 17 to 21 faces. They were beautifully cleaned. Being so rare they cost over $100.00 each!

This one we are saving back for planting here at the Aadheenam. Maybe 15 years from now we hope to harvest our own many faced seeds.

The remaining nine beads we will be selling in our Mini-mela gift shop. Prices will range from between $150.00 to $200.00 each. But before we put them out on view we are letting any of our TAKA viewers have the first opportunity. If you are interested please email Skandanathaswami

Contemporary art is flowing in from India. A. Manivelu who stayed with his for several months is working hard in India to keep up to a schedule of production of paintings for the new book "Living with Siva." In the sections on parenting paintings show happy parents with a happy baby. Note these are white American Hindus and the baby is a born Hindu. Read the incredible stories of Americans and Canadians who adopted (if they had no religion to begin with) or converted to Hinduism in Gurudeva's hot new book: How to Become a Hindu.

As A. Manivelu traveled around California he got to see a growing population of "cross-national" marriages where young Indian men marry American girls and Indian Hindu girls marry Americans. While many parents are nervous about the loss of culture, we find that if the Hindu spouse is strong, they easily bring the other spouse to adopt Hinduism and raise their children as Hindus. Gurudeva has always been very encouraging of these unions. . .they bring up a new race of people who transcend national, racial, and ethnic boundaries and conflicts. These are the pre-cursors to the fabled "Golden Race" of human beings who will eventually stop war, stop killing and usher in the Sat Yuga.

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

More magnificent photos of finished stones from the Iraivan temple Carving site in Bangalore.

This is a closeup view of the intricate works a Pathigai--"Banana stem" It took about 420 days to carve a single piece. Later, banana flowers will be carved and attached.

Gurudeva's other monastery in the island country of Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa

Each month, two faithful devotees come to the spiritual park to bathe and oil the three beautiful monolithic granite statues. Here Vel Mahalingam and Moorghen Caremben are working on the statue of Arumugam.

Sukanta, the son of Moorghen, lends a helping hand.

Finishing touches; Vel applies oil to the feet of Arumugam.

Now Muruga is ready for another month of devotion from the many guests who come to the park.

"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.

INNERSEARCH EUROPE 2001

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 RECEIVE A FREE GIFT

Sign our guestbook and we will send you a free issue of our global full-color bi-monthly magazine, Hinduism Today.

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 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.