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Gurudeva wrote: "Right behavior and self-sacrificing service are never outgrown. The keynote of charya, or karma yoga, is seva, religious service given without the least thought of reward, which has the magical effect of softening the ego and bringing forth the soul's innate devotion."

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami is a great exemplar of the selfless servant, known in Tamil as "sivathondan". Silently he served Gurudeva for decades working behind the scenes, but performing the key duties of the organization.

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An annual photo of the members of the Saiva Swami Sangam:

Left to right, front row:

Acharya Kumarswami
Paramacharya Ceyonswami
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Paramacharya Palaniswami

Middle rwo, left to right:
Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami
Sannyasin Sivakatirswami (just behind Bodhinatha on the left)
Sannyasin Muruganathaswami (just behind Bodhinatha on the right)
Sannyasin Arumugaswami

Back row: Left to right

Sannyasin Sivadevanathaswami
Sannyasin Yoginathaswami
Sannyasin Natarajnathaswami (center all the way in the back)
Sannyasin Saravananathaswami

Today's ashram sadhana day began with one hour of weeding the mondo grass in front of the monastery. It has been raining hard the last two days and this morning as well. Looks like we have a bit of water on the lens... But it makes it very easy to pull weeds as the soil is moist and soft.

Weeding is an enjoyable task. If you are by yourself you can chant "Om namasivaya Om" gentle to yourself, turn off the ever rampant thinking mind and be like a little child, sticking his fingers in the dirt, look for the roots of that weed.

Gurudeva writes: "Besides these yogas of doing, Hindus practice the central yoga of being--living a joyful, positive, harmonious life. The Vedas declare, "The mind, indeed, is this fleeting world. Therefore, it should be purified with great effort. One becomes like that which is in one's mind--this is the everlasting secret." Aum Namah Sivaya.|

As a group its a time to chat about things together with brothers you may not work with every day. Sivathondu or service to Siva, karma yoga, without thought of reward is a powerful spiritual tool.

Siva Yogaswami had many great things to say about Sivathondu:

Read his profound song, "San Marga"

:
We are the servitors of Siva.

No harm will befall us, if without forgetting we meditate on the holy mantram that we have neither beginning nor end, neither birth or death, neither day nor night, neither happiness nor sorrow.

What you contemplate, that you become.

Persistent spiritual effort is necessary. Do not become discouraged.

Those who fail to toil will not reap any reward.

No pains, no gains is a familiar saying in the world. "

The morning rains gave way around noon, gifting us with the ever awesome view of Mount Waialeale.

Click here and go now and read yourself the rest of Yogaswami's song: San Marga

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Date: September_18_2002
Title: Jivana Ritau Focuses
Category: Yamas and Niyamas
Duration: 2 min., 35 seconds
Date Given: August 24, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha

As we talked about last phase, we are in the Jivana ritau and Gurudeva's ritau and he would pull out 'Living with Siva' and find a few sutras and start scolding everyone. Of course, we are not going to do that this year. But , the spirit of the ritau is to try and look and see if there are areas that we are weak in and areas we have slacked off in terms of 'Living with Siva'. You will have to scold yourself this year! If you can find any areas, then it is appropriate to try and upgrade. Just do a little better.

It fits into the 'Yama and Niyama' concept. The yamas and niyamas talks we gave a number of months ago, are now getting posted on the web in transcription form. We are starting to get some e-mails in from those that don't listen to the talks but read them. Very appreciative e-mails on the yamas and niyamas. One statement that came in struck me. They liked the idea, that the yamas and niyamas are ideals we are striving for and if we fall short, that is alright. Of course, it is the way Gurudeva states it.

The person liked that because they know they have fallen short, and said, "Oh, okay. It is all right to fall short. I feel better about myself already." That was kind of the message that was being said, without being said.

"Oh, it is great to read this because we don't want to get stuck in the concept we have fallen short. This is terrible. I am an unworthy person, everybody else is better than me," or something.

That is missing the point. If we fall short, we want to try again and try to do better. That is the ideal of the yamas and niyamas, it is the ideal. You keep trying to do better in manifesting the ideal. But if and when we do fall short of the ideal, we don't want to blame ourself or feel badly about what has happened. We want impress ourselves that we have fallen short, try and figure out how not to repeat that and how to do a little better in manifesting each of the yamas and niyamas.

Have a wonderful phase.

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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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