 Satguru Siva Yogaswami Jaffna, Sri Lanka  Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami Hawaii, USA |
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 Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA 
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March 3, 2002
: Svati until 8:06AM HST : Visakha until 7:00AM HST Hindu Year 5103: Vrisha, the "Year of Fulfillment" |
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 Yogaswami sang of his guru: "MOTHER MINE
Oh mother mine, he came on earth in human form.
Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
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Cybertalk: Bodhinatha elaborates on the four-fold concept of austerity, which Gurudeva defined as sadhana, penance, tapas and sacrifice. So, why bother performing austerities? It increases our speed on the spiritual path. We resolve karma at a faster rate, and it takes us less lifetimes to realize the Self and attain moksha. Penance is atoning for misdeeds. Our subconscious tells us when there is something to be resolved through penance, for it throws that thing up in front of our awareness over and over again. Sacrifice is giving up to a greater power a possession to manifest a greater good. Tapas literally means "to heat." Tapas is purification through the burning up of impurities. And it all ends in a beautiful way. Tapas in a monastery acts as a magnifying glass on the inside of the person allowing for deeper meditation and forming of deeper psychic ties with the Deities in the temple.
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Sannyasin Saravananathaswami and Sadhaka Mahadevan are discussing a big project the Ekadanta Kulam is working on, which is to find the addresses of all the Hindu temples and organizations in the US. This is requiring some internet research and then the tedious task of checking to see if they are in our database already and, if not entering them. Our goal is to send a copy of the "Gurudeva Memorial" issue of Hinduism Today to all of them.
Sannyasin Saravananathaswami. He is part of the Ekadanta Kulam staff and is managing all the students of Himalayan Academy and also helping now with the coming Innersearch which is a Himalayan Academy program. He helps to guide students, under Bodhinatha's direction, through the study of the Master Course.
Sadhaka Mahadevan is the "latest" addition to our monastic order. He is from Malaysia and completed his Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources before entering monastic life. He is being trained to assist with various activities in the Ekadanta Kulam... specifically to deal with communications relating to the Hindu Heritage Endowment and also tasks relating to the Kauai Aloha Endowment, newsletters and communications. Gurudeva had offered to the Board of Advisors the services of his offices to help the Kauai Aloha Endowment.
Our pots from India put to good use, filled with small bromeliads, Hawaii Ti plants and other decorative plants.
Bodhinatha, like Gurudeva before him, keeps a very precise daily routine, only interrupted by sessions of darshan with pilgrims who have travelled to Hawaii and come to the Aadheenam with a pilgrimage in mind. Every morning he will call in Shanmuganathaswami to handle all the email. It is quite an education, as people will share their lives and experiences and from this he is able to draw a lot of "real life lessons" and his spiritual discourses are really very much "on the mark" because they relate to actual people and life.... His communications on personal matters at this level are confidential and not shared with the monks.
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Date: February_22_2002
Title: Ahimsa in Speech - Part 1
Category: Good Conduct
Duration: 6 min., 48 seconds
Date Given: February 17, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha
This morning we will start out on Ahimsa.
Ahimsa, as we all know, is the central principle of Hinduism. It is first in our list of Yamas or restraints. That shows it must be important, to be first. Of course, all of us here are very good at not inflicting violence in a physical way. We don't go around hitting people. We have got that under control. We have no deeds of violence that we are participating in.
However, as you will recall the definition, Ahimsa is not harming others in thought, word and deed. It is not just a matter of deed. Also our thoughts and our words need to be in alignment with the principle of Ahimsa.
This morning I thought we could look at words, specifically words that hurt. Let us take first the interesting area of joking and teasing, something that happens a lot. We say things to one another in the spirit of making a joke, teasing someone. We are trying to produce humor, be funny, cause laughter and therefore it is supposed to be okay.
Here are some common examples. Someone has a special privilege or position that we don't. Something that might be said could go like, "He got to skip the work today that we did. You've really got it easy." We are just joking, right?
To someone who is a bit overweight, "He certainly likes those desserts." Someone speaks English with a slight foreign accent, so you repeat back the mispronunciation and laugh. Someone has difficulty such as in multiplication and they are having trouble making a calculation, you make fun of them.
The rationale is, "Well, I am just joking, just trying to make someone laugh. It must be okay." But if we look at it more carefully, we will see that our words are harming someone, either in a small way or a large way. We are not helping them. We are harming them with our words. Our words are Himsa in these cases.
How can we tell? What kind of guideline do we have regarding our speech to see if it is in line with the principle, to see if it is alignment with the principle of Ahimsa.
Gurudeva has given us a very wonderful guide line. "Speak only that which is true, kind, helpful and necessary." So, it is a four-fold test - true, kind, helpful and necessary.
I remember long ago, when some of the sishya first encountered this principle. "Okay! True, kind, helpful and necessary. Well almost nothing is necessary. So that means I don't have to speak." Well, that was not exactly the right interpretation because social situations do require us to do otherwise than remain silent. That doesn't happen anymore.
In terms of joking and teasing, the first test to apply is - is it helpful? In other words, are we trying to help this person in some way? Are we trying to help this person do better, improve? Are we concerned about this person's well being? We want to see them improve, do better in some way, in an outer way, in an inner way, in a spiritual way. In some way, what we are saying is designed to help them.
Let us look at our four examples again and see if any of them pass the 'helpful' test. Someone has a special privilege or position that we don't, So we say, "He got to skip work today that we did. You've really got it easy." We are not trying to help them at all. We are kind of jealous.
Someone who is a bit overweight. "He certainly likes those desserts." That is not helping the person lose weight.
Someone speaks English with a slight foreign accent. You repeat his mispronunciation and laugh. That is not helping him learn not to mispronounce the word.
Someone has difficulty in multiplication and they are having trouble making a calculation. You make fun of them. That is not helping them multiply better.
So, all four certainly fail the 'helpful' test.
Next test is the 'kind' test. So let us take the example of someone who is overweight, who is a friend or family member. We are genuinely concerned that they are overweight. We would hope that they could lose weight. If we simply say, "You are very fat," we are being true and we are being helpful. But, we failed the 'kind' test. Depending on their nature, it could really hurt them.
It is not enough just to be helpful in intent, we also have to be kind, to figure out how to say this in a way that won't upset someone. How can we help them and be kind at the same time? We could rephrase it such as, "You know, I was on the web the other day and I found a chart that you might find useful on height, weight and age." That is being kind. That sounds better than saying, "You are too fat."
| MORE UPLIFTING THINGS |
Innersearch 2002 in Hawaii! Our next Innersearch Travel-Study program will be held right here on the island of Kauai in the summer of 2002. It's the first such program on the Garden Island since 1974! From July 17 to July 22 we will enjoy daily classes with the swamis, join in the annual Guru Purnima festival, be inspired by local culture, explore the lush tropical island in exciting and non-touristy ways, and more. Be prepared for a wonderful spiritual experience in paradise with meditations, seminars and sacred ceremonies at the Siva temple of Kauai's Hindu Monastery. Many have applied already, and there is a limit of 50 participants, so we recommend everyone apply as soon as possible. Interested? Please request an application from pilgrim@searchbeyond.com |
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