 Satguru Siva Yogaswami Jaffna, Sri Lanka |
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 Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA |
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January 8, 2002
January 8: Visakha until 7:20PM HST January 9: Anuradha until 7:22PM HST Hindu Year 5103: Vrisha, the "Year of Fulfillment" |
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Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
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Cybertalk: Gurudeva's Shakti is so strong here at Kauai Aadheenam, stronger than any other place. Initiations are an important part of Saivism. It starts an inner process. The Paramachaya initiations of Palaniswami and Ceyonswami means that they can initiate people into samya diksha. All the monks are feeling Gurudeva really closely on the inside. The Nandinatha Sutras are a great gift. Many times the sutra of the day corresponds to what happens that day such as Gurudeva's Mahasamadhi. On that day the sutra was on dying at home among loved ones. Then on the cremation day the sutra was on cremation.
The State of the Church Address: Three things we will emphisize. 1) New members. 2) Finishing printing the Mastercourse trilogy. 3) Master Course study program for new students. Correspondence study and the less formal e-mail/web daily lessons.
" For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.
And click here for an Index to All Past CyberTalks.
Study Gurudeva's teachings
every day. Visit the Master Course site!
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Bodhinatha will be happy to hold "Prasnottara Satsang" -- "Questions and Answers" over the telephone with any Hindu religious societies, Hindu youth groups, Radio talk show hosts etc. All you need is a phone with a speaker and an enthusiastic audience. Arrangements may be made in advance by sending email to Sadhaka Mahadevan
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It was a very power Sun One homa today. One could feel Gurudeva's presence in the room very strongly as the ancient rites opened the channels between this and the inner worlds.
The final arati of the yagna is always an amazing experience as the priest waves the sacred temple lamp in worship of the Fire Itself. Gurudeva would often say that fire was "the last pure element."
Some amazing blossoms are to be found on our property, and a walk through the grounds to the new temple site can be quite exotic for those who live in less lush environments.
Bangalore Iraivan Temple Carving Site
Here is a picture from 1995 when Gurudeva was traveling in India and stopped in Bangalore. The Jiva Rajasankara family is here, Jiva on the right standing, his wife Kanmani sitting on the left and his two sons, Sentiladhiban and Thuraisingam.
We bring you today some testimony from Jiva about his experiences with Gurudeva and his life in India. Listen to the voice of the man and the family who are living at the Iraivan site and please give generously to move the project forward.
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"Jiva Rajasankara I am a disciple of Gurudeva since 1979. I was a banker and I do " Copper Tooling "as a hobby. I love art and have presented a few of my works as gifts to Gurudeva. I was given mantra diksha by Gurudeva in January 1983 . Gurudeva blessed me and wrote me a message on my " Book 2 "sadhana as follows:
" I expect a lot from you, Jiva, in the years to come..............‰ "
More then ten years later, sometime in November 1993, I received a wake up call from Acharya Ceyonswami who informed me that Gurudeva had offered me to take up the job as a "Project Manager" for the San Marga Iraivan Temple Project in Bangalore, India.
A new job, a new country, to work and stay in a small village, unlike Kuala Lumpur ..... to manage 80 stone carvers in India and get work done from them ..... certainly a serious life changing decision and commitment. I agreed and took up the mission within one hour of discussion with my family members. With blessings of Gurudeva the whole family left for Iraivan Worksite.
A completely new art field with zero knowledge and experience on temple architecture and sculpture, Bangalore was certainly a challenging ground initially. I went through some rough times for about 2 years, learning from observation and slowly absorbing the intricacies of temple architecture. The biggest challenge was to gain the confidence and love of the silpis. That itself was another "art" of public relationship. Gurudeva had "seen" my talent and capabilities in 1983 and was inwardly preparing me for this mission.
[continued below]
Gurudeva asked that no machines be used on the Iraivan temple. So the ancient craft of the blacksmith remains an integral part of the day to day work on the temple. Here one of the silpis is sharpening chisels, a regular task.
Jiva Rajasankara's Testimony continued:
" Gurudeva's vision of building a granite temple strictly with hammer and chisels alone, in the highly advanced space age of the 21st century is not an easy task. I tried convincing Gurudeva to speed up the work using simple machines. Gurudeva said a humble "no" . It took me 6 years to learn why Gurudeva was firm on hand work. The final carvings produced by the silpis are simply superb. No words can describe the fine craftsmanship and your eyes will not believe that the repeated floral designs and motifs were carved by hand. This is confirmed by the numerous visitors who come and marvel at Iraivan's beauty. Such is the inspiration that Gurudeva has given to mankind.
Even our architect, V. Ganapathy Sthapati, one of the master temple builders of India sometimes wonders how the silpis working for Gurudeva can produce such high quality of craftsmanship. The answer is simple. Gurudeva inwardly works through the silpis to produce Iraivan. As a matter of fact, Gurudeva always showed a personal interest in the welfare of the silpis. This is something the silpis are very proud of ..... never happens at other worksites. My little contribution to them was identifying some talented ones and training them on intricate ornamental work which need special care and attention ..... something that the worksite lacked. Its easy for a silpi to work on flat surfaces, but to work on floral motifs and getting the proper dimension is a gift of talent. Even the young blacksmith helper boys are given the opportunity to slowly learn the trade and today Gurudeva's worksite has trained over 40 of them.
[continued below]
Chinnu the silpi cook and helper man's the bellows which blows air into the hand made brick and clay forge. Jiva Rajasankara's Testimony continued:
Gurudeva has also ensured that the Hawaiian culture and art is preserved by selecting some of their motifs and designs as carvings on the pillars. In this manner , Gurudeva has incorporated new ideas and designs by merging Hawaiian and Indian art and culture while still maintaining the traditional values of Silpa Shastra. His introduction of herbal and medicinal plants as well as a different style of drawings has made Iraivan a different and unique temple by itself. Further more, Gurudeva's idea of following a temple architecture of the ancient Chola Style of traditional Architecture itself speaks of his efforts to preserve the art of ancient mankind and give them life in the contemporary world so that its absorbed by the future generations.
Gurudeva's contribution to the world of art is a theme that can be contemplated upon for days and days. His form iself is art, his works are filled with art. His contributions are many, but to me , Gurudeva's most beautiful contribution to art is the SAN MARGA IRAIVAN TEMPLE itself. Today, my family is gifted to have the opportunity to play a vital role in the making of Iraivan temple. Its a blessings, a punya carried on to this birth, to be with Gurudeva and share in his sacred mission of bringing east to the west. Even my wife takes pleasure in beautifying the worksite with a colourful landscape .... and my sons too got inspired and motivated by this beautiful work of art ....... something that I could see when my elder son opted to start a granite worksite which is now doing very well, thanks to Gurudeva for paving this beautiful life for us.
A small square opening filled with charcoal receives the air from the bottom. This opening is just about 8 inches in size, but is "white hot," bring the tips to chisels to a near molten state.
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa
During hosting day at our center in Mauritius i.e. the day on which visitors are most entertained, members of the Saiva Siddhanta Church Mauritius Mission start the day with a traditional arthi at the three large black granite murthis at the Spiritual Park to invoke Blessings of the inner worlds. Here we see a group of Gurudeva's sishyas worshipping Lord Muruga at the far end of the property under a spotless summer blue sky.
Pancha Ganapati was celebrated with much joy at the Spiritual Park last month. It was an auspicious occasion for everyone to enjoy on that day the five shaktis of Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapathi who majestically stands in the Mandapam. Venilla Mardemootoo is here opening the celebrations with a traditional Bharat Natyam dance. She also teaches this art in several areas of the island.
Children too feel themselves so close to Lord Ganesha and love this Mahadeva very much. They wanted to draw the Lord of Categories in their own little ways. Here we see a few children of our church families shyly displaying their drawings. They were all given a big applause by all guests present.
One of the Blessings of Lord Ganesha is inspiring devotees to arts and culture. Here is our young lady Niroshinee Perumal from Quatre Bornes painting a beautiful image of Lord Ganesha. Niroshinee is a very talented artist and everyone appreciated the dexterity of the hands with the paints and brush. She will surely draw a lot for the Church in the future and is happy to humbly teach our sishya's children her skills.
Guests discovered many talents from the young and the very young sishyas on that great Pancha Ganapathi celebration. They showed their hidden skills in many items presented. Kathir, 11, performed a beautiful classical dance. Here, Padmasri 8 years old, daughter of Parmeshswaran Ramsamy of Henrietta is singing a karnatic style song while she is being perfectly accompanied by Sivarathna Manick, 7 years old on the mrdangam. They surprised everyone by their talents on that day. Both Padmasri and Sivarathna are learning the Hindu classical arts from a very young age and look very promising for the future.
Many devotees and parents attended the Pancha Ganapathi celebrations. A group of devotees are here attentively listening to our two presentators, Velen and Kavin. It was a nice day and and all those who attended enjoyed it to their full hearts' content.
| MORE UPLIFTING THINGS |
Innersearch 2002 in Hawaii! Plans are in the works for a wonderful innersearch program located right here on the island of Kauai in the summer (July/August) of 2002. Be prepared for a wonderful spiritual experience in paradise with classes, meditations, seminars and wonderful ceremonies at the Siva temple of Kauai's Hindu Monastery. Details are being worked on and we will be informing prospective participants in the new future of the exact dates. If you would like to be on the mailing list to be informed, please send your full contact information, name, address, phone and email to |
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