 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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October 7, 2002
October 7: Svati Until 2:16AM Tue HST October 8: Visakha Until 11:33PM HST Hindu Year 5104: Chitrabhanu, the "Year of Varied Splendors" |
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 On the second day of our retreat we held the monthly Chitra Puja. Here is Bodhinatha offering his prostrations at the end of the puja to Gurudeva.
Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
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Cybertalk: Bodhinatha continues his narrative of his visit to Mauritius (part 2). At a Siva temple Bodhinatha gave a talk on God Siva as the perfect parent. At the Mardemootoo family home a wonderful guru puja was conducted for Bodhinatha followed by a talk about the esoterics of guru puja.
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Milk Abhishekam.
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Yogaswami speaks of the Guru:
"He illumines everyone to see by the light of grace radiating within each being. His rays also lighten the universe which is constructed of the five elemental powers. Who can see if he Luminous One wills it not?"
--Natchintanai. 180
Yogaswami:
'Detach, and in attachment, see detachment,
Espouse righteous living with awareness, my dear
Thou art myself'--Thus spoke he.
"No intrinsic evil is there,' so said he,
'And Truth is Absolute,' he added my dear.
Yet he behaved like a dumbman, dear.
'Accomplished is His Will--there's neither before nor after.'
Like thunder, he echoed these words, my dear
What more can I speak, my dear. "
Chanting Gurudeva's 108 names.
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'That is: Who doth know?' so said he.
No parallel to him can I conceive, my dear.
Dazed and motionless I become, my dear.
'We know not,' declared the wise teacher.
A wholesome life bequeathed he, my dear
Fled are all the unrighteous acts, my dear.
In oneness did I see the universe in and out.
The devotees come forward, touch their heads on the sacred Tiruvadi, inwardly communing with Gurudeva.
After the puja Shanmugam Sthapati consults with Sannyasin Yoginathaswami about the next shipment of stones coming from India for Iraivan Temple. The 4 containers are packed in Bangalore and have just left the work site.
Easvan Param came from California for a short three days of seva installing the lights in the beautiful cornice that is now mounted over Gurudeva's shrine. Thank you Easvan!
Today we started our phase with the ever powerful Homa.
Sivagnaye Svaha!
Arati to the fire.
"The yoga of pure devotion is found at the beginning, the middle and the end of the path. Merging with Siva is more and more a deeply felt experiential reality when the soul gives of itself to Siva inwardly and outwardly in unabashed devotion. Prapatti truly is the key that unlocks the love needed as merger increases as the years pass by and, as Satguru Yogaswami said, "Love pours forth to melt the very stones." Bhakti yoga is not an intellectual study. It is a practice. It is also not an emotional experience. It is a devotional experience. There is a difference, which we will come to understand. Bhakti yoga is not a cure-all, nor a means to fast enlightenment. Rather, it is the foundation for enlightenment. It is not a technique. Nor is it a magic mantra. It is a way of life. The transformation that comes from living in the state of bhakti yoga is the softening of the heart. " -- Gurudeva
Bodhinatha gave a talk today on being firm but kind, quoting Gurudeva's guidelines for parenting.
Yogi Japendranatha handles the recording of the talks. The microphone goes to a very small USB preamp, and from there directly into the computer. It is a very simple and efficient set up.
Bodhinatha said the concept of being firm but kind also applies to situations where a supervisor is directing others. He referred to his talk today as a new theme he is working on, "still under construction as you see on some web pages."
A few key members of the East Kauai Water Cooperative came by to all pitch in together to prepare a mailing to everyone that has land which is serviced by the irrigation system which is now under the control of this citizens group. We have with us today. Clockwise from the front, Jerry Ornellas, Tony Branco, Les Milnes, Sannyasin Arumugaswami, Sadhaka Jivanandanatha
The goal is to get everyone who is receiving the water to join the cooperative, at least those for whom the water is a vital part of their land use.
We never expected to be doing such things, but everyone took the fantastic water system for granted all these years. It is worth hundreds of millions of dollars,, and was run by a sugar cane company that has shut down operations. It is up to the people now.
 The Remarkable Vision |
Iraivan Temple Progress Update |
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More wonderful pictures from Mauritius from Bodhinatha's recent mission there:
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On every major event at the Spiritual Park, devotees from all over the island come with offerings of fruits and flowers to place to the Holy feet of Lord Ganapathi, Remover of all Obstacles.
This time they were lucky to have a priest of Kadavul Temple from Kauai Aadheenam to perform an arthi æto Lord Ganapathi for them.
An arthi is also performed at Gurudeva's photo. Gurudeva created the Spiritual Park in 1986 following a vision Gurudeva had of Lord Ganesha at the the river flowing near the Park.
Here Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami is addressing devotees present in the Mandapam.
Kulapati Manon Mardemootoo thanking Bodhinatha for his wonderful talk the devotees present on that day.
A few special guests were present at the Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations at the Park. Here we see from right to left, National Assembly Deputy Speaker, Raj Putten, Member of Parliament Megduth Chumroo and Minister Anil Baichoo.
Vidwan Mayaven Murden, gold medalist on mrdangam from Chennai is a very close friend of the Spiritual Park. He is always there to accompany our artists on major events.
Here is someone from Switzerland who knows Saiva Siddhanta Church very well. Mr. Jean Luc Albert, an old friend of Kulpati Rajen Manick, is Professor of anthropology at the prestigious Lausanne University in Switzeland mainly lecturing masters degree students. Since he has been introduced to Saiva Siddhanta Church years ago, he has been following the Church mission activities. Jean Luc attended the International Muruga Conference in Mauritius and listened carefully to Gurudeva's address on CD there. He is at present doing an in-depth research on the impact of Hinduism outside India and is quite impressed by Gurudeva's mission. He is at present in Mauritius for his research.
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Date: September_05_2002
Title: Origin of Karma Management
Category: Karma
Duration: 12 min., 2 seconds
Date Given: July 26, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha
One last story which is tied to the origin of the 'Karma Management' idea. The idea came at a lecture in Perth, Australia a few year ago. In conjunction with a ground breaking ceremony. The temple in Perth, Hindu temple there invited Gurudeva. But, Gurudeva was not traveling during that time. So Gurudeva had me go, instead.
We had a nice ground breaking ceremony for the temple and they also arranged a lecture at the University there. There was a second speaker at the lecture. I went first and gave my talk and the second speaker was a Hindu gentleman from Malaysia, Jagadeesan is his name, a wonderful speaker and an even better singer. A beautiful devotional singer and his goal is to one day come here and sing. Isn't that a sweet goal? To come to Kadavul, so he can sing to the Deity. He made the comment that Hindu wisdom when presented by Swamis, is lots of times, ignored. But the same wisdom is often repackaged into these modern management seminar approaches based on Hindu teachings and people go to it in great numbers. So, it is a very interesting time that you have to repackage your Hinduism in order to make it popular. That is where we got the idea of putting 'Karma Management' in the same terminology as the 'Stress Management' seminar. It is the same idea. Effectively manage your stress, effectively manage your karma.
I tried to choose a topic, which was broad and had a catch word in it, a word to generate interest. So I choose the word, 'enlightenment'. Well, let us get the word enlightenment in the talk and maybe we will get some people who want to learn about enlightenment. The subject was 'Worship, Meditation and Enlightenment'. The idea that was presented was that sometimes, what is preventing us from making spiritual progress is a false concept about enlightenment. We get the sense from stories and movies and whatever, that enlightenment or the experience of God in a profound way, happens all at once. Someone is sitting in a cave for a year and then one day enlightenment comes. Or they are sitting under a tree, nothing is happening, nothing is happening, nothing is happening and all of a sudden one morning they are enlightened. You know, it is coming out of nowhere. Enlightenment is like that, that is a false concept. It is going from zero consciousness of God to a 100% consciousness of God in one second. Right? That is the false concept. Somehow we have no consciousness of God at all, we don't have a clue what God is like, where to experience God and we are zero conscious of God and then we are a 100% conscious of God, the next second.
When you think of it that way, it is not that logical. Right? Why would it happen that way? Why wouldn't it be gradual? Most things are gradual. Most things don't go from no ability to full ability in one second. It is like learning a language. You can't learn a language in one second, it takes years. It is a gradual process.
We saw some beautiful dancing, Bharatanatyam dancing, during our festival. It was impressive. "Oh, I have been studying for 15 years. I've been studying for 10 years." The time frame in which they have been studying to achieve that level of skill which was considerable, was long. Right? It is a gradual process.
Why would enlightenment be any different? Well, it is not. But, because we don't have a good sense of it, we think it might be. It is wishful thinking. No one goes from zero consciousness of God to 100% consciousness of God in one second. It doesn't happen that way. It is a gradual experience.
If we set aside that false concept, that enlightenment is instantaneous that goes from zero to 100%, then we are making some progress right there. Because then, we can say okay well striving for a 100% consciousness of God, that is not the way to go. How about going from zero to five or from five to ten? Let us try for a more realistic goal here in terms of our experience of God.
So, when we start looking at it that way, then the question comes up - Where do we look? Where is God? How do we experience God? Where do we experience God?
Of course, the easiest place to experience God is in someone like Gurudeva, someone of great attainment. That is also what people are recognizing in him. The island people sense this person is different, their state of consciousness is different. So we can look to the great Satgurus if we are fortunate and experience God in them. That is actually the easiest way. Because initially, the idea that God is in us "God can't be in us, you don't know what I have done. You don't know what I think. You don't know how impure I am. You don't know how imperfect I am. God can't be in there."
It is hard to look inside because of the concepts we have, initially. We have to change that eventually. We want to look in someone else, that is easier. So we look in a great being. That is the place we can look and we can sense God. The most interesting part of that is, if we sense God in a great being, what does that mean?
Well, we can't experience anything that is not inside of us. That is Gurudeva's teaching. Whatever we see in someone else has to be in us. Otherwise, we could not see it there. The positive qualities and the negative qualities. If we sense God in someone else, that means the presence of God in us is there and not that hidden from us. It is just, we are not used to the idea. But lots of people can't see God in the Satguru and that means the consciousness of God in them isn't that close to the surface, shall we say. To sense God in someone else, God has to be close to the surface in us. That is a very interesting idea.
Of course, we know Gurudeva's teachings. If you look deeply into someone's eyes, you can see God. Right? God is the Life of your life. How do you experience God as the Life of your life? You look into someone else's eyes. You go past their personality, whether you like or dislike them whatever. You go past that outer personality, deeply into their soul and you can see God in any person. You just have to go deeply enough.
There is a beautiful word, as we know in the Tamil language called, 'uyirukkuyir'. God is the Life of your life. So, we can see God deeply in anyone. That is the idea, of course, of namaskar. When we greet someone, we try and see their soul, see God in them, not react to them outwardly but see their inside.
Of course, as we know, we can experience God in the temple. We focused on that during our Innersearch, Guru Purnima, explaining it carefully to everyone. How the mysticism of the temple works and that Hindus are not 'idol' worshippers, they are quite busy. Of course, we are worshipping the spiritual Being, the divine Being, the God that projects Himself through the image. We are not worshipping the image. The image is treated with respect. Still, it is the Being that is projecting Himself through the image that is getting the worship. The image is like the temporary physical body, as we know.
That is a way in which we can deepen our experience of God quite a bit, through the temple. It is a simple way that is effective for children, as well. Maybe we can add that to the list of 'Greatness of Hinduism', it has something for everyone. Some traditions are so narrow. If you are not an adult or a certain age, there is nothing for you to do, like groups where all that you do is meditate. What do the children do? They run around outside and play because there is nothing for them to do. They cannot meditate for an hour.
Hinduism has something for everyone. Everyone can experience God to one degree or another through temple worship. Then, of course, eventually we can worship God inside of us. We may have to clear up some concepts about who we are and get rid of some negativity and so forth, to feel that we are a worthy place for God to dwell. But once we get past that, we can through the practice of meditation, of course experience God even more profoundly inside of ourselves. Gurudeva gives us many, many tools for that.
There is a wonderful verse in the scriptures that govern the monastery , are called the 'Saivite Shastras', that was written in just about mid-1970s, somewhere around there, 1973. It is talking about the monks, when the monks are young and this and that and that the spiritual path. "Oh, by the way, the spiritual path you are following in this monastery, consists of thirty-six years of training." They just throw that out at you. So that gives you a sense of how gradual the process is. We don't want to think that things are going to happen quickly, they happen gradually. It is like, we are planting a tree that is going to be three thousand plus years old. How fast does it grow? It is going to grow slowly. Spiritual life is like that. It is a slow process. But if we work at it consistently, we do make progress. So that thirty-six year time frame gives a nice sense of how long a certain process can take. It takes many, many years in order for certain things to mature.
Aum Namah Sivaya.
| MORE UPLIFTING THINGS |
Innersearch 2003-4 in India! We just completed the July 17-23 Kauai Innersearch, 2002. Bodhinatha will lead the next Innersearch to India, between Dec 2003 and Jan 2004. We will visit Bangalore and the Iraivan Carving Village, and settle in the South in Tamil Nadu, Click on the above for details on what will be an inspiring journey to our holy land of Bharat! |
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