Satguru Siva Yogaswami
Satguru Siva Yogaswami

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Satguru Siva Subramuniyaswami
Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami

Hawaii, USA
TAKA - A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA
aum
May 6, 2002
May 6: Satabhisha Until 9:45AM HST
May 7: Purvaprostapada* Until 12:40PM HST
Hindu Year 5104: Chitrabhanu, the "Year of Varied Splendors"


Gurudeva at a publisher's desk meeting. After he got everyone to use small portable computers he found we were all more efficient and at the same time computers took a lower profile in our daily lives. He felt for the health of the monks who used them a lot it would be better if they did not sit for many hours in front a large monitor. While being an advanced metaphysical and occult master, he was ever the caring father. he also had a great sense of humor.

From today's transcript of answer he gave to cybercadents on November 22nd, 1998:

"Well, here's another one. "Can we meditate in the moving car, if we don't have much time to meditate?"

Well, I wouldn't advise it. (laughs) I wouldn't advise it one little bit.

Meditation is taking oneself away from the world. Meditating in a moving car might take you away from the world, permanently!"



Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Attained Maha Samadhi on November 12th, 2001
Click to read for Details.

Click here to read
Gurudeva's statement on September 11th



Bodhinatha sits where Gurudeva did for lunch. Bodhinatha carries on the tradition of making our noon meal a family gathering, asking for a report from the "kulam of the day," and soliciting news from anyone. Behind Bodhinatha is the giant gong from Indonesia. This gong is rung five minutes before lunch, then exactly at 1:00 PM and then at 1:30 when everyone adjourns for their mid-day rest, to return to Kulam seva at 3 PM.


Title: Gratitude and Appreciation
Category: Relationships
Duration: 12 minutes, 24 seconds
Date Given: April 29, 2002
Date Posted: May_6_2002
Given by: Bodhinatha

Cybertalk: Yesterday at the Vision Kauai meeting, the person who created the blue ribbon "Who I am makes a difference", was there. She had an excellent set of stories about appreciation. Gurudeva gave us two sadhanas, gratitude and appreciation. Gratitude is first then appreciation. When appreciating say something specific that you are thankful for so it's not a shallow compliment. Opportunities are coming up at Mother's Day, Father's Day and Grandparent's day to be grateful and express your appreciation.

" 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!

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

If you are experiencing any problems listening to the audio, please to go our Audio FAQ page for sound geeks and follow the directions there.


Narayanan and Sheela Venkatakrishnan at the Swayambhu Lingam on San Marga. They say they feel like they have rediscovered their roots.



We took them on a grand tour of the whole property. Here the get to meet Chaturthi, who still thinks she is a person, and loves to get attention from any of her brother and sister humans.


Sheela offers an abhishekam to the giant Narmada Lingam on San Marga.


Narayanan offers his prayers with the watery oblations.


Here is the Ganesha shrine at the beginning of the San Marga Path, the Gate Keeper to the path of the spinal climb to God. The shrine resides under a magnificent banyan tree.


Walking down the path of San Marga one passes through a bell tower into the Third World Section, representing the Siva Loka or the causal worlds where souls exist in their own self-effulgent bodies of light. It is tradition to ring the bell here and pass through the arch, thus notifying the devas that you are approaching the final segment on the Straight Path To God...


The pilgrims also went down to the river which is rushing full today from some much needed rains.

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Date: November_22_1998
Topic: Net Surfing, Meditating, Illness, Raising Children
Category: Change and Transformation
Duration: 10 min., 29 seconds
Given by: Gurudeva
Today at Kauai Aadheenam November 22. In our Vedic calendar, it is Sun 3. It is Sunday today here on the beautiful garden island of Kauai. We had 2 Indian families, pilgrims, living in Chicago now, who were from the Sitarama Temple, a big, multi-million dollar temple, which I had the pleasure of helping get started many, many years ago.

Also, some Hawaii Buddhists brought beautiful gifts of orchids and came to worship Lord Nada Budhake, a small Japanese Buddhist image, many hundreds of years old, that came to us to find a home when the United States Army took down the temple, at the time of the war with Japan.

In Hinduism Today, we are doing an article on AIDS, and talked to an AIDS expert about mother's milk. Maybe some of you don't know but AIDS can be given to a child, who is nursing on its mother. More about that - read Hinduism Today.

We have a question from Albuquerque, New Mexico, about children surfing the Internet and getting into areas, where the parents would not rather have them go. "What advise would You offer for parents facing this situation?"

Contact cyberpatrol.com for the free 7-day trial. There is another - cybersitter, { }, surfwatch, { }. They have a list of violence, bad language, pornography and all sorts of things that you wouldn't want your children to get into. Actually these organizations screen, for parents, the internet, and only allow the young people to access what the mothers and fathers have decided they should see. Of course, I don't know if they can hack around it or not. But, give it a try. cyberpatrol.com, cybersitter, { }, surfwatch.

We have another question all the way from Luxembourg about being and becoming. Question reads like this, "Isn't it that so many problems are created through false identification with our physical body and our other bodies? Could you speak on the concept of being and becoming?"

Well, identification is a power of the mind. Our awareness will identify and stick to whatever we put it on. Many people are only aware of their physical body and think that they are their physical body. Others seek the real Self within, the Siva-ness within them and identify with that, as their real self. Infinite, flowing powers that flows through the entire Universe, they identify with that. That energy which flows through all the bodies - the astral body, the physical body, the mental body, the emotional body, right out from Siva, God within. It is the same awareness, the identification has been shifted and that's the great power of yoga.

Thank you, Luxembourg, for the very interesting and provocative question.

Here is one from San Diego. "I know and I have heard of those who indeed, were on the straight path, but suffered from chronic, debilitating illnesses. I think I know that is all a result of past, bad karma. But, I can't let go of my belief that such illness could be alleviated through spiritual disciplines."

Well, that is true. I have never seen a very successful alleviation of illness through spiritual discipline, while remaining in the same circumstances, in the same job, in the same environment. But, I have seen illnesses totally clear up by changing profession, changing environment, moving from the city to the country, moving from a complicated profession to a very simple profession, becoming one with nature. A complete change of mental, emotional and physical environment has the power to overcome illnesses that are created in concrete jungles and high-powered, high-pressured jobs.

Thank you, San Diego. Hiteshvara in San Diego asked a very good question, thank you.

Well, here's another one. "Can we meditate in the moving car, if we don't have much time to meditate?"

Well, I wouldn't advise it. (laughs) I wouldn't advise it one little bit.

Meditation is taking oneself away from the world. Meditating in a moving car might take you away from the world, permanently. We don't want that, unless you were in the back seat or the passenger, with your seat belt on, and helmet, too.

Make time for meditation. The best time for meditation is early in the morning before the sun rises. That's the time when everyone else is asleep. The vibration in the city or the country side is very, very quiet and you can go within yourself. That's the time to adjust your schedule to.

People ask, "How do you get up so early?" Well, answer is - we go to bed early. Here, at Kauai Aadheenam, our cyberspace ashram, we are always up at 3:45, doing our exercises, meditating. Then temple puja, and then, a good hour's meditation - all of us together. Then, we start our day. But, it requires discipline. Discipline is what we can take on to the next plane of consciousness, when we make our grand departure from this physical body.

There is very little appreciation that we give to each other - children to parents, parents to children. Parents who don't discipline their children with love, or don't discipline them at all, let them get away with things they shouldn't get away with, are very neglectful. They are creating habit patterns in their children's lives, that they, the parents, will feel very badly about later on. They, the parents, will experience the experiences that their children are going through when they make mistakes that is disciplined by society itself.

Take time out to be with your children. Give time-out to the children. They say - one minute sitting alone for every year of the life of a child. Therefore, if the child is 10 years old, "Go to your room or the shrine room for 10 minutes. Sit there. Think about what you did and then come back to me and we will talk it over."

Slapping them around creates a child that is very humble in your presence, but very aggressive when he gets away from you. It is not an intelligent way to raise a child. Actually, it is cruel. But, time-out and then time with you, the parent explaining why the time-out was given, brings the child's mind around to a better way of behavior, a better way of looking at life. Educate the child.

What is prison? Prison is time-out. We talked about ice, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and we interviewed prisoners last week, who are doing time-out - 5 years. That's a long time. But, that could have been avoided had the parents in every infraction within the home said, "Go into your room, sit there for 1 minute for every year of your life." If the child is 16 years of age, "Sit there for 16 sixteen minutes. Come out and we'll talk it over." That may have saved the 5 years in prison that their child may experience later on in their life, as some people's children are. Raising children in today's world is as difficult as it was 2000 or 3000 years ago. We haven't advanced that much.

Well, I will be seeing you and will be loving you and you are loving me, looking each other through cyberspace and appreciating these moments, these very rare moments that we have together. Live a good life and help others to do so, as well.
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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