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"Every form is a form of Siva. Tradition has given us several of special sacredness. The Sivalinga was the first image of Divinity. After it all other icons evolved from mystic visions. We contemplate God Siva as Parasiva when we worship the Sivalinga. Its simple elliptical shape speaks silently of God's unspeakable Absolute Being. We exalt Siva as Parashakti or Satchidananda, God's living omnipresence, when we worship any form of His never-separate Shakti, especially Ardhanarishvara, whose right half is masculine and left half is feminine, and in whom all opposites are reconciled. We adore Him as Parameshvara, the Primal Soul, when we worship Nataraja, the Divine Dancer who animates the universe. Thus we worship Siva's three perfections in three forms, yet knowing that He is a one Being, fully present in each of them. He is also Dakshinamurti, the silent teacher; Hari-Hara--half-Siva, half-Vishnu--and Bhairava, the fierce wielder of trishula, the trident of love, wisdom and action. The Tirumantiram declares, "Everywhere is the Holy Form. Everywhere is Siva-Shakti. Everywhere is Chidambaram; Everywhere is Divine Dance."

Aum Namah Sivaya.

Speaking of Dakshinamurti, the statue of Dakshinamurti which arrived from India a few weeks ago was installed today. Watch the story below.

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Most Recent update: March 20, 2003, "Creating a Generation Free from Prejudice and Hatred." (posted today). Opens in separate Window. Quicktime 6.0 required to view this 30 minute MP4).

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It's a blessed day, as you will all see below, a day of the arrival of our Sivaguru. Here we begin the day with photos of Mr. Kalar Rajendiran and his wife Sharmila from Sunnyvale, California who came with their daughter Nivedita and son Sanjit. They felt themselves very fortunate to arrive on the day when Dakshinamurti was installed. Kulapati Deva Seyon and Kulamata Amala hosted them.

Sanjit and his sister Nivedita were born in the US. Good karma for them to be here on this auspicious day! When Nivedita comes again with her grandchildren, she can say: "I was here when I was just a little girl and that image of Lord Siva was put in place."

Saravananathaswami watches the lifting of Dakshinamurti with Trent Smail. Everyone takes a break from their karma yoga to observe the historic event.

Larry Conklin has brought his biggest crane... it can lift 20 tons. Dakshinmurti lies waiting....

A Ganesha puja was performed first...

Shankar Nathan from Koloa is working on a film documentary of Iraivan... he's on hand to capture the moment.

Yoginathaswami and the silpis stand by as Larry moves his crane into place.

Up we go...

Everyone is a bit nervous and we take it slowly... first task is to get him upright.

In order to lift him up and move to the first slab we need to add a few more straps

Away he goes to the first position.

Paramacharya Palaniswami watches the progress.

Setting him down on the old foundation of the yagnasala which was then turned into a blacksmith forge and now serves to be the place where the four Vedic sages will be facing the banyan tree.

A good distance shot to give you the context of where we are.

Ok, down and straps off.

Stapathi stands by as Larry moves his crane.

Yoginathaswami unstraps the huge pulley.

Yogi Japendranatha, Sannyasin Sivakatirswami and Paramacharya Palaniswami watch... light showers intersperse the three hour session as a blessing, but not enough to halt progress.

The sponsor of this huge statue had ordered a garland to be placed...

The crane is moved to the east side of the banyan tree and the 18,000-pound stone image is lifted again to be moved in under the tree.

Tejadeva blows the conch to keep up the vibration

Stapathi and his team guide the stone into place, taking measurements to center him perfectly. They tell Yoginathswami what they want and he signals Larry in the crane

Almost set in place.

Palaniswami helps to bring up the vibration with the conch also.

Final adjustments.

Larry is happy and sits quietly as the silpis work. It was a successful lift and the hard part is over.

The face of this image is amazing to behold.

Sadhaka Adinatha watches the silpis at work.

The base of the murthi is not square to vertical center and the silpis insert granite shims to make Dakshinamurti perfectly plum and vertically straight.

Aum Namasivaya! Oh, yes! We noticed as the maserpiece was being placed under the banyan tree that it had some strong markings at the base, on the rock on which Lord Siva sits. The stone color is striated, dark and light. Amazingly, those striations create a set of bands that look like darshan radiating from the foot of Siva. How amazing is that, that this particular form of discoloration would be cenered on the Foot of Grace. It looks as though light or darshan is emanating from Siva's Foot. Ah, another minor miracle of Iraivan. We know gurudeva is smiling today in his world of light to see this all happen. Jai to our beloved Gurudeva, and to all those who continue to work to manifest his extraordinary vision...In many ways he now is the Silent Guru, teaching us all from deep within ourselves...

"Our adoration of the one great God Siva is directed toward diverse images and icons. Primary among them are Sivalinga, Nataraja, Ardhanarishvara, Dakshinamurti, Hari-Hara, Bhairava and the trishula. Aum Namah Sivaya."

--Dancing with Siva

Even this photo cannot convey the depth of feeling one has looking into Dakshinamurthi's face... one has a feeling of the ancient, profound source of all being. Gurudeva has a word for the consciousness that is content under all circumstances, something he urged us all to cultivate. It is BEHAIEESHUM. Be content, no matter what happens, no matter where you are. It seemed to many of us today, that this is the face of Lord Siva, perfect contentment. BEEHAIEESHUM!

Aum Namasivaya!

As you can see he is really, really big! it was a successful day and a great fulfillment of yet another vision Gurudeva had for the development of this wonderful spiritual center in the middle of the Pacific... the place where, one day, "the world will come to pray."

Meanwhile on top of Iraivan, after the raising of Dakshinamurti... more beams were raised up... more pictures tomorrow.

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Date: April_06_2003
Title: Siva's Five Actions
Category: God and Lords of Dharma
Duration: 5 min., 10 seconds
Date Given: February 25, 2003
Given by: Bodhinatha

We want to welcome all our guests this morning. Vanakkam, Namaste!

Also, we congratulate Saroja Devi for being so well-behaved, the star of the show.

This is a wonderful week. We are leading up to our worship of Siva on Mahasivaratri, a very important and powerful festival. So, this morning I was thinking about God Siva in anticipation of Sivaratri. We are also working on an article for 'Hinduism Today' on a similar subject, on the nature of God, one of the misconceptions.

Sometimes we have visitors come here. We had two ladies come here a couple of years ago. One was a Hindu, one was a non-Hindu and they came into the temple. The Hindu lady was explaining Siva to the non-Hindu lady and she said, "Well, yes. Siva is the Destroyer. So we are worshipping the Destroyer."

That is what we are trying to destroy with this article in 'Hinduism Today'. Destroy the concept that Siva is the Destroyer! Of course, that is not how it is looked at. That is not the correct understanding. But, somehow it is a popular understanding, perpetuated in many books in different ways.

Of course, Siva is the Supreme Being to Saivites. The Supreme Being does destroy but He also creates and preserves. To call Siva the Destroyer, you are missing the mark. It is very misleading because in the worship that is not how we are looking at it.

We are looking at it that Siva is the Supreme Being. He creates, preserves and destroys the universe. Creates, preserves and absorbs back the soul. So, looking at Him as the Destroyer is something not particularly good. In addition to the three actions - creation, preservation and destruction of course - He has two other actions. One is called concealing grace and the other is the revealing grace.

Concealing grace is the idea that Siva pervades everything. He is inside of us, He is inside the temple, He is inside of everything, inside the tree. He pervades everything. But yet we cannot see Him. How is this? It is His concealing grace. He has hidden Himself. Siva pervades everything, He is all-pervasive. But we cannot even see Him.

Through grace we do see Him, that is called His revealing grace. He shows Himself to us. We become aware of Siva inside of us, that which was hidden is seen. Those two actions of grace are also very important when it comes to understanding God Siva. Of course, on Sivaratri we want to see Him to some degree or another. We are definitely wanting Him to reveal Himself.

The five actions of Siva are also in the five names that are found in the Agamic worship. Isana, Tatpurusha, Aghora, Vamadeva, Sadyojata, as you all know Yogi Mahadevan was chanting this morning. The five names, one for each of the five actions shows the Agamic perspective that Siva is Supreme Being and performs these five actions.

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