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After several days of bright, dry hot weather, it rained all day today, stopping major operations at the Iraivan Temple site and putting our cameraman indoors. Preparations for pillar raising was set aside and the silpis moved over to carving work...

One new project has been initiated here which is to get all of Gurudeva's audio tapes digitized and transcribed. Thousands of talks through the years will be input into computers, burned to CD's and given over to our team of transcribers. The goal? Every single word that Gurudeva ever spoke that was recorded will be written down for generations to come.

Unlike many of his answers to "cybercadet questions" where the questions were often quite "light weight" the talks we have on file are more of the nature of Inspired Talks... very powerful on many levels... you can look forward to listening to and reading these in the months (and years!) ahead... it's going to be a BIG job.

Also in the "hot news" items of the day: the Giant Dakshinamurthi statue and four sages have arrived in Honolulu. (see below)

Bodhinatha has taken the helm of our publications work as did Gurudeva before him with a new emphasis on smaller, easily digestible works for the masses. Now that our new Pilliyar Kulam is gradually assuming many of the administrative duties he carried for years, he is more free to look to the future...

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Most Recent update: February 28, 2003, Maha Sivaratri Upadesha (posted today). Opens in separate Window. Quicktime 6.0 required to view this 30 minute MP4).

No Audio Today

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Progress continues in Malaysia on Dancing with Siva... here is another piece of the beautiful artwork that will coming in that book.

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We bring you today another "documentary" from India.

(Drum rolls... nadaswaram plays loudly...)

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Here we are at Maha Balipuram with the finished black granite statue of Lord Siva in the form of Dakshinamurthi.

As you can see in the above photo, at about 12 feet in height, he is twice the height of the average person.

It was going to be a mammoth piece of stone and we even had to stop traffic on this road later when the container came.

All that was needed was to lay this 20,000-pound masterpiece on his back on the specially-constructed pallet palette.

This was actually the easy part. The challenge came when loading him into the container later that night when all the traffic was stopped. From midnight to 3am, the entire highway was closed.

Unhooking the crane.

A passing tourist takes a snapshot of this giant figure... Speaking of giants... it is hard to say how much Gurudeva impacted people's live. Here is one testimony among thousands of the result of a brief encounter.

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It all started in December of 1999 on the island of Kauai. I met a saint, truly a saint of the Hindu (Saiva) religion, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. At his Kauai monastery, I met this giant of a being, a living master. And I bought his book, Merging with Siva (God). When I first met him, I thought him only a kindly old man. Was I ever wrong. Auspiciously, he welcomed visitors to his Aadheenam the day of my visit, and he made himself available to sign books. I decided to wait in line to greet him even though my western style impatience kept tugging on me to get on with the beautiful Kauai day. He greeted my with "You know, this book will change your life". To which I replied, "I'm ready". But I felt like I was partly joking. Well, this episode did change my life; it really changed my life. I've returned to Kauai each year since then and Gurudeva's book has become my
most valued possession. Now I have the new "Merging
with Siva" and I treasure it equally.

A mere thank you seem hardly sufficient but it is all
I can say.

My great love and affection for Gurudeva extends to
you and all your fellow monks."

transcription begins

Date: March_07_2003
Title: Kundalini and Self Realization for the Monastic
Category: The Ultimate Goals of Life
Duration: 9 min., 24 seconds
Date Given: January 11, 2003
Given by: Bodhinatha

I was looking at today's lesson, early this morning and the 'Dancing with Siva' part looked particularly relevant to mention, as it relates directly to Moksha ritau and realization of the Self, which is one of our themes. Last phase, we were looking at the aftermath of the realization of the Self, Parasiva. A beautiful writing by Gurudeva.

This is the 'Dancing with Siva' part of today's lesson.

"What is the Sannyasin's kundalini path?

The sannyasin balances within himself both the male and female energies. Complete unto himself, he is whole and independent. Having attained an equilibrium of ida and pingala, he becomes a knower of the known. Aum.

Bhashya: There arises within the sannyasin a pure energy, neither masculine nor feminine. This is the sushumna current coming into power through which he gains control of the kundalini force and eventually, after years of careful guidance, attains nirvikalpa samadhi."

This is both high philosophy and a very practical statement as well. We talk about realization of the Self, attaining Parasiva, claiming that which we already are. This gives us a key, a very important key, as to how that is accomplished. It is talking about balancing the forces, the ida and pingala - the external force, feminine: ida, masculine: pingala - becoming balanced, allowing the sushumna to come into power, the spine pure energy, spiritual energy, the energy of the spine through which he gains control of the kundalini force, the essence of the spiritual force of the spine. When that force is powerful enough, nirvikalpa samadhi is achieved.

In reflecting on that, how can we try and bring that down to earth? Sounds easy. Well, let us balance the ida and pingala, get into the sushumna and kundalini and nirvikalpa samadhi. One,two, three, four!

We need to look at what throws us into the ida or the pingala current, what throws us out of our center. One of the things that does that, is close relationships to other people. Of course, this part doesn't apply to all our family members, close relationships to other people are the essence of family life. So, we have something for you later on here. Ignore this part.

But for the monastic, it is very important because you get chummy, you get close, you make friends with another monk to the exclusion of other monks who are not as close friends. You are going to end up in the ida or the pingala because that is what friendship is all about. It is the external currents coming into play.

So if you are with one monk and you feel really close to that monk, really great when you are with that monk. Somehow he is different than all the other monks, you have created a friendship. You are throwing yourself into the ida or pingala current. You are throwing yourself out of the sushumna, that is what friendship does.

The analogy I always use is the sun in the sky. The sun in the sky just shines, right? It does not say, I am going to shine on this person but not on that person. I am going to shine on this person 100%, but that person 80%. No, of course not. The sun is just up there and it shines. Everybody who is standing outside gets the sunshine. So that is like the monk should be. He should be like the sun just shining out friendship, the same amount toward everybody. Just like the sun in the sky gives out the same amount of energy. It does not matter who the person is.

That is one reason Gurudeva was so widely loved because that is what he would do. No matter who it was, he emanated a friendship, emanated an energy which if they were open to it, uplifted them. No matter if it was the waitress in the restaurant or the Head of the United Nations or a Minister in Malaysia. Gurudeva didn't discriminate. He didn't turn on and off his friendship, his love, his uplifting energy. A perfect example of the sannyasin ideal. He radiated it out to all and depending on the openness of each person, they received that. Therefore, he was widely loved by all people in all realms of life.

What are other ways we create friendships in the monastery? Well, by making distinctions. A good way to create a friendship is to have secrets, right? Friends always have secrets. If I am your best friend, tell a secret, gossip a certain amount but only to certain close friends. You have secrets that you don't share with others. Building up secrets, building up understandings, talking to one monk in a way that is different than another monk, criticizing monks who are not present to the monk who is your friend. You are building up secrets. You are building up a closeness. You are building up a distance from the monks you are criticizing and you are building a closeness with the monks you are confiding in. You are creating friendships. You are externalizing your awareness.

This is something that monks need to be very careful about. Because, as it says, we want an equilibrium of ida and pingala so that the pure energy, neither masculine nor feminine, the sushumna comes into power.

"Those entering the serious life of sannyas must be prepared to follow the traditional path of unrewarded sadhana through the years, apart from dear family and friends. Such is the way to reach the truth of yoga. It takes many, many years for the soul to thus ripen and mature.

The Tirumantiram affirms: Many are the births and deaths forgotten by souls shrouded in ignorance, enveloped in mala's darkness. At the moment Great Siva's grace is gained, the renunciate attains the splendorous light."

Of course, the years can be over many births. They don't have to all be in one birth. So you can't just count the years in this birth, you have to count the years in your past births as well. See how many years you put in, in serious sadhana.

The point here which is interesting is, "the traditional path of unrewarded sadhana". Interesting phrase, right? Of course, you want to think all your sadhana is rewarded but this is unrewarded sadhana.

What does 'unrewarded sadhana' mean ? It means that the fruits of the sadhana are not immediate. It is like, if we are out of shape physically and we want to get back into shape and we start an exercise program. So after six months of regular exercise, we take a look at ourself and we say, "Gee, I haven't improved that much." It is like unrewarded sadhana!

We have to keep at it a long time in order for the results to manifest. It is an encouragement of sorts. Just because you are meditating everyday and your head is not filled with a brilliant white light everyday, doesn't mean you are not doing okay. The mere act of striving on a regular basis, just getting up in the morning and meditating, is what causes the progress.

That is what it is saying, unrewarded sadhana done over many years leads to the result.

transcription ends

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