 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 08, 2004
March 8: Hasta until 6:14PM HST March 9: Chitra until 5:05PM HST Hindu Year 5105: Subhanu, the "Year of Beautiful Radiance" -- Site Map -- |
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 "Beginning to meditate can be likened to starting a long journey. The destination and the means of travel must be known before setting out. Meditation is an art, a definite art, and well worth working for to become accomplished. Meditation is not easy, and yet it is not difficult. It only takes persistence, working day after day to learn to control and train the outer as well as the subtle, inner forces. We must realize that meditation is the disciplined art of tuning into the deepest and most subtle spiritual energies. It's not a fad. It's not a novelty. It's not something you do because your next-door neighbor does. It is sacred, the most sacred thing you can do on this planet, and it must be approached with great depth and sincerity. At these moments, we are seeking God, Truth, and actually controlling the forces of life and consciousness as we fulfill the very evolutionary purpose of life--the realization of the Self God. Unless we approach meditation in humility and wonder, we will not reach our goal in this life." -- Gurudeva  Here is Tiru Lakshmanan Nellaiappan and his wife Tirumati Maragatham . They have been dedicated sishya of the Parampara for decades. Nellaiappan is one of the trustees of our San Marga trust in India and Indian liaison officer for Saiva Siddhanta Church -- definitely one of the most competent human beings we have ever known! Nellaiappan was one of our key Indian Odyssey coordinators in India over the last few months. He has been working closely with Paramacharya Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani going over all the details for each temple and ashram visit. The out-of-this-world abhishekams and pujas that Bodhinatha and the Innersearchers enjoyed were due to his fine attention to details and excellent execution of a plan. Thank you very much Nellaiappan for helping to make our days there most memorable. We all appreciate the countless hours of hard work you put in.
 Our Sun One after a three-day phase began as usual with homa. The fire altar has been beautifully decorated by Yogi Mahadevan.  Lord Ganesha, Lord Hanuman and two sacred kumbha pots are the presiding Deities.  Offerings in readiness.  The fire takes our thoughts inward and our prayers to the inner worlds.  Yogi passes the beads of his rudraksha mala, as we all chant together "Aum Ham Haum Sivaya Svaha!"  Dr. and Mrs. Warren Ramesh, Robert and Bamini, Amma Parameshawara and Aunt from Klang, Malaysia. Ramesh met Gurudeva in Edmonton in 2001 when Gurudeva was invited to preside over the Mahakumbhabhishekam of the Edmonton Maha Ganapati Temple Society Gurudeva gifted the temple a large Ganesha murthi years ago. They met with Bodhinatha after the tour and received the Know ThySelf booklet which has a chapter about the Guru Parampara, which is significant to them as they are closely connected with Sri Lanka.  We had a long three-day retreat and many of the monks were hard at work outside and away from their computers. Acharya Kumarswami worked on the rafters for an upgrade and renovation of our monastic bathing facility.  This is redwood that Kulapati Deva Rajan rescued from a deconstruction project in California and had sent to the Church.  With the generous contributions of some anonymous benefactors who have sponsored some super carpentry equipment, Acharya is able to do some really beautiful work.  Most of the monks have some outdoor hobby or craft they work at when they can.  One of Gurudeva's guidelines in this area for his devotees is written in the Nandinatha sutras: "All my devotees are encouraged to learn a skill requiring the use of their hands, such as pottery, sewing, weaving, painting, gardening, baking or the building arts, to manifest creative benefits for family and community. Aum."  "Add to your contemplative lifestyle a hobby or craft. Working creatively with your hands, taking physical substance and turning it into something different, new and beautiful is important in remolding the subconscious mind. It is also symbolic. You are remolding something on the physical plane and by doing so educating yourself in the process of changing the appearance of a physical structure, thus making it easier to change the more subtle mental and emotional structures within your own subconscious mind. Energy, willpower and concentrated awareness are needed for both types of accomplishments--hard work, concentration and concerted effort to produce an effective and useful change in either the physical substance or the mental substance." -- Gurudeva  Sadhaka Haranandinatha at his station in the Lambodara Kulam office. He coordinates the Iraivan temple fund-raising efforts, handles all the incoming San Marga mail, cooks cereal for the monks in the morning, sweeps out in front of the temple, is an experienced guest master and in so many ways is a nurturing spirit to us all. One of his special services is taking care of the "entertainment" needs of our silpis. No silpi is allowed to get homesick on his watch! He tunes in on his computer to Tamil internet news sites and records CNN in Tamil and then give the silpis cassette tapes of the news. He also works hard to keep them supplied with special movies and other such things to make their lives here away from home happy and joyful. Thank you Sadhaka Haranandinatha!  Our visitors out on San Marga.
 Over the retreat, Sadhaka Adinatha pressure washed the vimanam capstone. It will be gold plated first down here and then placed later.  Shanmugam Sthapati with his plans, always thinking ahead, strategizing... stone is an unforgiving media, every step along the way involves 100's of man hours of work. No wrong moves in this tradition... Tomorrow Selvam Sthapati, who is Ganapati Sthapati's second in command, arrives from India and he and Shanmugam will be look over the designs carefully together to make sure the work in Bangalore is proceeding correctly for the future phases of the assembly.  Sthapati makes a great host for visitors. He is a charming and knowledgeable temple guide.  A padma stone... top of one of the pillars. This is actually upside down as you see it here. The square hole at the top will fit down on top of a square "peg" in the pillar and then roof stones will span the top.  It's still cool and blustery here on Kauai. We don't have central heating in our lifestyle, so when the temperatures drop to 65 degrees with a wet wind, we feel it... especially the silpis. Iraivan looks majestic and coming back from India, especially having been to Tanjavur, the significance of "Chola style" Siva temple has deepened in our hearts and minds. Brihadishvara temple is just one decade away from being 1000 years old and what a great gift Rajaraja Chola gave to the world, one millennium ago. So, too this temple will be a great gift to Hindus 1000 years from today. Just thinking of it puts the mind in awe. We are all so fortunate to be a part of this project!
 We continue with our Innersearch retrospectives. Today, set # 4 of 12... sent to us by the support team of devotees in Malaysia.... ~~~~~~~~~ The big public event, Kandasamy Temple Kala Mandapam (cultural hall) Day Four of Innersearch, January 19th.... Welcoming the guests as they arrive...  Arrival of Our Special Guest, Our Beloved Satguru Bodhinatha...  A gleaming smile from our Satguru as he makes his entrance...  Kulapatis usher Satguru to the Hall...  ...along with our Swamis and Sadhakas..  Sivakatirswami and Yogi Japendranatha make their way in..  Innersearchers takes their seat...  and waits for the event to begin...  Expectantly waiting.......  Event begins with lighting of the kuttuvilakku by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. ...to be continued...  From the Mark Boyer collection: a view of the famous Blue Mosque in Kuala Lumpur. Thanks to adherence to the graceful and elegant cultural aesthetic traditions of Islam, Kuala Lumpur's architecture runs at an uplifting level and has avoided the sometimes bizarre and unsightly creations of so-called "modern" designers.
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 Sannyasin Saravananathaswami If you are experiencing any problems listening to the audio, please to go our Audio FAQ page and follow the directions there.
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