A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Satguru Siva Yogaswami
Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami
Hawaii, USA

TAKA - A Daily Chronicle of Kauai's Hindu Monastery

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Kauai's Hindu Monastery, USA
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January 03, 2004
January 3: Krittika until 3:48PM HST
January 4: Rohini until 6:53PM HST
Hindu Year 5105: Subhanu, the "Year of Beautiful Radiance"

-- Site Map --

"The authenticity of Hindu teachings is perpetuated by lineages, parampara, passed from gurus to their successors through ordination. The Kailasa Parampara extends back to, and far beyond, Maharishi Nandinatha and his eight disciples--Sanatkumara, Sanakar, Sanadanar, Sananthanar, Sivayogamuni, Patanjali, Vyagrapada and Tirumular. This succession of siddha yoga adepts flourishes today in many streams, most notably in the Saiva Siddhanta of South India. Our branch of this parampara is the line of Rishi Tirumular (ca 200 bce), of which the first known satguru in recent history was the Rishi from the Himalayas (ca 1770-1840). From him the power was passed to Siddha Kadaitswami of Bangalore (1804-1891), then to Satguru Chellappaswami (1840-1915), then to Sage Yogaswami (1872-1964) of Sri Lanka, and finally to myself, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-). The Tirumantiram states, "Thus expounding, I bore His word down Kailasa's unchanging path--the word of Him, the eternal, the truth effulgent, the limitless great, Nandinatha, the joyous one, He of the blissful dance that all impurity dispels." Aum Namah Sivaya."

Meet Bodhinatha in Malaysia and India, Jan-Feb 2004

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami will be traveling through Malaysia and South India this January/February on his 2004 Indian Odyssey travel-study program. You are welcome to meet him at the below places:

Mon, Jan 19, 2004 - Sri Kandaswamy Temple, Kuala Lumpur

Fri, Jan 23, 2004 Ü Sri Meenakshi Temple, Madurai

Sun, Jan 25th, 2004 Ü Sri Karpaka Vinayagar Temple, Pillaiyarpatti

Mon, Feb 2nd, 2004 - Siva Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram

Wed, Feb 4th, 2004- Binny Hall, Taj Connemara Hotel, Chennai

Thur, Feb 5th, 2004 - Thaipusam celebrations at Arupadai Veedu Temple, Chennai

Click here to go to his Travel Page for details.

And now, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami...

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Most Recent update: September 12, 2003. Bodhinatha speaks on Ahimsa, noninjury, yama #1, which is noninjury in thought, word and deed. The law of karma decrees that it is wise not to harm or hurt others, for we will then receive harm and hurt in exchange in the future. 12 minutes, 29 seconds.

Innersearch is only 10 days away! Today is the middle of our phase before the full moon retreat and so this is the monthly "Ashram Sadhana Day" which is the day we put in extra cleaning of the monastery. Here is Sadhaka Dandapani in his office which is right now a bit chaotic staging ground for all the things that will be going off on the Innersearch. We start packing in a few days.

Here are some beautiful posters that will be displayed as we travel.

The Innersearch Study Guide is an old tradition that goes back to the very early Innersearches. Our older monks tell about the days in 1969 when they stayed up all night at a silkscreen shop to produce the study materials for the next Innersearch. Well, things have changed. Now we prepare the files and send them off to the printer by the Internet.

We want to thank the Father and Son business in Clawson, Michigan, who did this job for us. Bob and Rob Delaurier and their team there did an outstanding job. It's really beautiful!

We sent PDF files all the way from Hawaii to Michigan by the Internet and the books just arrived on Friday. Wow! Thank you Rob and Bob!

www.mjagraphics.com

Four-color throughout with laminated covers, the Study Guide contains the lesson text and exercises that will be done by everyone.

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Current Overview

Today, a look at Iraivan's pillars....

Each of these illustrations carved into the pillar is symbolic of an important increment in the teachings of Saiva Siddhanta. Here we have "the mental body," depicted as a "cut out' of the skull to reveal the brain.

There are 24 pillars with four "genres" of carvings: Shum, symbols of key concepts-logos, images of stories of Lord Siva and sacred plants

The ornamentation is exquisite.

In this one (slightly cut off near the top in this photo) a lady is feeding people, representing "dharma" in the form of "anna dana" charitable feeding.

Jaffna Tamils in Toronto

We all pray for peace in our beloved spiritual homeland of Sri Lanka. The upside of the war there has been the incredible spread of Saivism through the diaspora of very religious Tamil people from Sri Lanka. They have taken their rich religious culture to the far corners of the world. Toronto, Canada, is especially dense in the population of Sri Lankans with many temples which observe high ceremony. Our kind supporters there, Sivapatham Markandu sends this photo of a recent puja at the Ganesha Temple. He writes:

Received your New Year's Greetings.

The photos were from Sri Varasiththi Vinaayagar Temple in Toronto. It is the end of the 21 days of Pillayar Peringathai - Ganesh's 21 days of stories.Our family sponsers the last day. It is called Gajamooga Samsaran. It is where Ganesha defeats Sooran, Sooran in the meantime tries to deceive by dressing up as Ganesha. Lord Ganesha defeats Sooran and Sooran ends being Lord Ganesha's messenger The Mouse. It is a very joyous and colourful celebration. The temple gets a lot of volunteers, especially the young adults. It is also the defeat of ignorance. Sri Varasiththi Vinayagar Temple is an amazing temple in Toronto. You have reported about the temple in the latest Hinduism Today magazine. All the priests do an amazing job and according to all the Hindu principles. We are looking forward for Bodhinatha's visit in August.

With the grace of Lord Ganesha, we hope to organize an event for Bodhinatha and Iraivan at the Sri Varasiththi Vinayagar temple in Toronto

On another front, we are so happy that Bodhinatha will be visiting Malaysia. I have told all my sisters, brothers and family members to visit Swami in Malaysia. Pudu Pillayar or KotuMalai Pillayar and Scott Road temple are the two temples that I have been going since I was a little kid. I have written a lot and hope to hear from Sannyasin soon.

Anbe SivaMayam

Sivapatham"

~~~~~~~~~~

Today's Inspired Talk

Title: Teaching Hinduism to Non-Hindus
Category: Hinduism and Tradition
Duration: 9 minutes 29 seconds
Date Given: December 31, 2003
Date Posted: January_03_2004
Given by: Bodhinatha

Cybertalk: Bodhinatha presented his insights on how best to teach Hinduism to non-Hindus, especially students. He likes to share the Hindu understanding of the four purusharthas (goals of life): dharma (duty, virtuous living), artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and moksha (spiritual liberation). Artha and kama are such a universal human experience and goal. By sharing this, people soon learn that Hindus are not all that different from themselves, as they also pursue wealth and love in their lives. Also, he shares the beliefs in karma and reincarnation, things they know about, which are quite common in their lives, in movies and such. Even non-Hindus believe in karma and reincarnation, as is seen in so many popular films. Yoga is a third common element. There are yoga classes and studios everywhere, in every US city. When you mention that yoga is a Hindu practice, people once again see that Hindus are like themselves, and this takes away the misunderstandings that are sometimes taught in schools and texts about Hinduism.

And click here for an Index to All Past CyberTalks.

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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 Sannyasin Saravananathaswami

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

MORE UPLIFTING THINGS 2004 Indian Odyssey
Join Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami on an 18 day Innersearch to South India, from Jan 19 to Feb 5, as we pilgrimage to ancient monasteries, magnificent 1,000 plus year old sacred temples and meet with India's holy men in a life-transforming adventure. Click on the above link for more details.

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