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Look within during the Moksha Ritau is Bodhinatha's guidance for us all.

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Around the world members of Saiva Siddhanta Church are observing Pancha Ganapati, the modern Hindu festival for Lord Ganesha which Gurudeva instituted to be celebrated from December 21st through December 25th. This time of the winter solstice has been a time of celebration and worship since time immemorial, only recently adopted by western cultures for their holiday season. Here at the monastery we have a lovely five-faced statue of Pancha Mukha Ganapati and we have Him decorated in the courtyard. Gifts and goodies are piling up in front and cards from well-wishers around the world. Today and over these past few days our monks have been going out into the community and giving away gifts of honey bears to all our neighbors, those we do business here and through around the island. We share with you here the five observances to be performed during this festival, one on each day.

Pancha Ganapati is dressed anew each morning, preferably by the children, in a special color for that particular day. He appears in golden yellow on December 21st. A regal gown of royal blue is presented to Him on December 22nd and one of ruby red on the 23rd. On December 24th He appears in emerald green, and on the final day Lord Pancha Ganapati comes forth in brilliant orange to bless all who visit Him.

DECEMBER 21

The family sadhana for the first day of Pancha Ganapati is to create a vibration of love and harmony among the immediate family members. The day begins early and the entire family works together to design and decorate the shrine with traditional symbols, rangoli, lamps and more. When it is finished, a grand puja is performed invoking the spirit of Pancha Ganapati. The sadhana of the day now begins. The family sits together for the purpose of easing strained relationships that have arisen during the year. They make amends one with another for misdeeds performed, insults given, mental pain and injuries caused and suffered. When forgiveness is offered to all by one and all, they speak of each other's good qualities. Gifts are then exchanged and placed unopened before Pancha Ganapati. Family harmony is important to all Hindus.

DECEMBER 22

The family sadhana for the second day of Pancha Ganapati is to create a vibration of love and harmony among neighbors, relatives and close friends. This is the day for presenting gifts to next-door neighbors, relatives that live in the area and close friends. The sadhana of the day is to offer apologies and clear up misunderstandings. Relatives and friends living in far-off places are written to or called, forgiveness is sought, apologies made and tensions released. As on the other four days, all gifts received today are placed unopened before Pancha Ganapati.

DECEMBER 23

The family sadhana for the third day of Pancha Ganapati is to create a vibration of love and harmony among business associates, the casual merchant and the public at large. This is the day for presenting gifts to merchants, customers and to honor employers and employees with gifts and appreciation. The sadhana today is the settling of all debts and disputes.

DECEMBER 24

The family sadhana for the fourth day of Pancha Ganapati is to create a vibration of love and harmony, bringing forth the vibration of joy that comes from music, art, drama and the dance. The family, relatives and friends gather for satsanga to share and enjoy their individual artistic gifts. When the program is over, all sit together discussing the traditional values of Hindu dharma. Then, before Pancha Ganapati, Patron of the Arts and Guardian of Culture, plans are made for the year ahead to bring more of these refinements of living into the home.

DECEMBER 25

The family sadhana for the fifth and final day of Pancha Ganapati is to bring forth love and harmony within all three worlds. Because of sadhanas well performed during the first four days, the family members are now more open and aware of His Grace. Their love for Him is now overflowing. On this day the entire family experiences a climax of an outpouring of love and tranquility from the God Himself. His blessings fill the home and the hearts of everyone within it, inspiring them anew for the coming year. This exchange of affection between all members of the family and the Lord is invoked and perpetuated through the day by performing five special pujas. The first puja is at 6am. Before the puja, personal offering trays are prepared and placed before His shrine. After the puja, each one gives verbal testimony about prayers that were answered during the past year. Then vows of sacrifice can be verbally made. Vows should improve the quality of the life of the individual, such as giving up smoking or correcting other harmful habits.
The second puja is at 9am, and the third at 12 noon. The fourth puja is held at 3pm. At 6pm the fifth and final puja of the day is held. These five pujas to Pancha Ganapati solicit help from His devas in the home and establish the patterns for improvement in family life.
The evening puja is the long awaited time. The five sadhanas have been completed. Peace, love and harmony among everyone has been restored. After the puja and before the great feast that follows, Lord Panchamukha Ganapati Himself gives His final darshana and prasada to one and all. Gifts are distributed and joyously opened. Happy children. Happy parents. Happy God.

May we worship Ganapati, the Protector of Noble People, the Best Poet, the Most Honorable, the Greatest Ruler and the Treasure of all Knowledge. O Ganapati! Please listen to us and take Your seat in our heart. -- Rig Veda, 2.23.
There is nothing higher than dharma. Verily, that which is dharma is Truth--Shukla Yajur Veda, Brihadaranayaka Upanishad 1.4.14

Sadhaka Tyaganatha manages all the clothing for the monastery. Here he is working on yellow outfits for our Yogis.

He keeps notes in his little portable laptop computer. Today he has just dyed some cotton cloth from India to a deep yellow color for the Yogi's robes.

In our Saiva Dharma Shastras, the book that documents the guidelines for the activities and organization of Saiva Siddhanta Church members, one of the activities of the Moksha Ritau is for the mission to hold an Open House. Neighbors, friends, relatives and people in the local community are invited to join and during this time we share with others our life and work.

Our Kauai Mission held their open house yesterday and Kulapati Deva Seyon sends these photos.

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The open house was held at the home of the Durvasa Alahan family just a few doors down the road from the Aadheenam. Here is Neesha Alahan who prepared a beautiful kolum at the entrance and was there to
welcome all on their arrival.

Pancha Ganapati Shrine with fruits and gifts for the neighbors.

Young and old, neighbors meeting other neighbors.

We had three stations or tables: Gurudeva's & Bodhinatha's books and teachings along with material on Positive Discipline, A Hinduism Today Table with the memorial issue as a gift for all, along with recent past issues and the beautiful new San Marga CD booted on a computer for all to see.

Many asked what Hindus celebrate this time of year. Here is Erwin, a new neighbor from Canada ( a born Hindu) who is reading the Pancha Ganapati flyer we prepared.

We were honored to have the silpis with us. Their love and dedication for their work is such an inspiration to all of us. We made sure they ate first!

"Which one is Spicy?" Grama Fujii met Gurudeva years ago and has become very close to the families. Isani and Tara take her out shopping once a week, because she doesn't drive.

The children really loved the food. We went easy on the chilis!

After the food, all of the children got toy gifts.

Sthapati was interested in Durvasa's collection of carvings from India

Sthapati helps with the visitor's questions!

Gifts for the children made a very happy day for the parents!

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Date: November_26_2002
Title: Not Getting Angry
Category: Good Conduct
Duration: 7 min., 52 seconds
Date Given: November 13, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha

This morning we are starting a new subject, a preliminary presentation of a few ideas. So it is a little bit short but interesting. It has a few stories, so that is always very interesting. Stories are the best way to explain things.

This is related to the series we developed recently on the philosophical nature of man. Is man good, is man bad? Is man inherently evil, is he inherently good and so forth. We went through all of that recently and affirmed that all men are inherently good despite their behavior. All men are divine in their essence. All people are progressing on the spiritual path toward God whether they acknowledge it or not. It is just that their actions are sometimes foolish or out of touch with their divine nature because they are young souls.

So this is a related subject. It has to do with how we relate to other people, how we look at other people, how we think about other people or react to them or judge them. This is a 'Dear Bodhinatha', like a 'Dear Abby'!

"Dear Bodhinatha, thank you also for the wonderful talks on anger. Since Gurudeva's advise and now Bodhinatha's, there are a lot of changes in me regarding anger. Several years ago, I was very argumentative. I would always let the other party get a piece of my mind if they did or said anything not nice to me. Today, I am surprising myself, that I can walk away with a smile or say something jokingly without hurting the other party. I am learning very well to not hurt others even if they hurt me." Good statement.

"But the problem is when my father-in-law does and says awful things to my mother-in-law, I get angry. He calls her names in all the worst words in the world. He breaks plates if lunch is a few minutes late. He throws things at people sometimes. The worst is the usage of words, his accusations can puncture a heart. Sometimes I don't even know the meaning of some of the words that he uses. Thank God, Tiruvalluvar is not around. My mother-in-law keeps quiet despite all this torture. But I get so worked up on the inside for a while or so, then I am okay.

How do we keep cool and not be angry when we see or hear someone hurting someone else? We can jump and protect one from being hit, but how can we sincerely be calm or even pretend to be calm when we see people abusing another? Ironically, now when people say unkind things like that to me, I can be calm. But it is funny because I cannot bear to hear or see one hurting the other. It hurts me and so I get angry. The only thing is that I don't shout or go fight with the person. My husband and I have stood up against my father-in-law for abusing both of us. Ever since we disallowed him from hurting us, he disowned us and barred us from going into his home. But, we keep in touch with the rest of the family members always and each time I hear my mother-in-law is being abused I get angry. I believe I am angry also because I am unable to stop her from being abused. I humbly seek Bodhinatha's advise for I need to do something about this special kind of anger."

So my response was, "I suggest you look at your father-in-law as suffering from an illness, which is that his consciousness is stuck in the lower chakra. Accept the fact that his experience in this and past lives have put him in that state of consciousness. You as a person, who is consciously on the spiritual path naturally want to interact with every person in the spirit of encouraging that person to raise their consciousness."

That is the theme we are developing. I will read it again. "You as a person who is consciously on the spiritual path naturally want to interact with every person in the spirit of encouraging that person to raise their consciousness. So even if they are a nasty, mean person you still want to encourage them to raise their consciousness. Wanting him to be kinder, we can express kindness toward him such as giving him a gift on his birthday or other appropriate day. Wanting him to speak kindly of others, we can speak kindly of him. Blessings."

"Dear Bodhinatha, I took time to reply on this matter because I wanted to sincerely practice the advise given. It has been two months since I have received the advise and ever since that day I stopped saying how cruel or bad he is. In fact, I do not say anything bad about him at all and if at all, I am dragged to speak of him by others, I manage by saying the good things that he had done. It is working really well and I am at much ease. For Diwali, my husband and I bought him an expensive gift hoping he will be very happy. At first, he took the gift but refused to accept it immediately after. He left it on a table and it has been there ever since. The best part here is, we are not at all angry with what he did with the shirt. We tried. We are happy that we took your advise. Somehow we are happier today than we were yesterday, thanks to the advise. We will probably keep doing this, even if it does not change at all."

That is the saga. Isn't that an interesting story? It is a real dilemma, you know, when you have people who are in-laws, in your family, people you have to relate with who act this way. They are just so nasty to other people and the natural tendency is to be critical of them and to dislike them and to not want them to do well. You know you are not wishing them good, you are not helping them improve, you are doing the opposite. You are encouraging them to be the same way or worse by your reaction to them.

It is a definite challenge, but something well worth thinking about.

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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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