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Our Sun One opened with a beautiful homa and a quite a few pilgrims. Bodhinatha continued this morning with his discourse on each of the Yamas and Niyamas.

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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Yogi Mahadeva invokes the spiritual force into each of the kumbhas at the beginning of the homa.

The kumbha, which is a pot filled special herb water with a coconut on top, acts as a temporary physical body replacing the murthi or icon in the shrine.

Vasuki Sendan with rapidly growing daughter, Shaila Pusha who is all eyes these days, very alert and observant of everything. Such a blessed soul to have been conceived, born, raised and now growing up in the light of Shiva's home in the Pacific.

Pilgrims joined us today from Chicago, California and Florida.

Three pilgrims, on the left, Kasi Ramanathan who is on pilgrimage from Chicago for a few days. He is here to meet with Bodhinatha, attend the temple pujas, enjoy the Aadheenam grounds and also perform some karma yoga service. As a young man he started studying Gurudeva's teaching and is now enrolled in Himalayan Academy studies which he did consistently these past two years despite a rigorous schedule at medical school and now as a doctor in a hospital.

Center, Trent Smail has also been here enjoying pilgrimage for a week, and helping with planting around the Dakshinamurti statue. Trent is systematically moving towards formally entering Hinduism through the name-giving ceremony.

On the right, long time sishya (32 years) Deva Rajan on the right has come from California. He is assisting with drafting plans for the drainage, landscaping and terrain works around the Iraivan Temple.

Mr. Jasti V. Rattayya, who lives in California, came today with his wife, son and daughter-in-law. and his son A. Krothapalli, who lives in Florida. They hail originally from Andhra Pradesh. Krothapalli had been here a few years ago and met Gurudeva here at that time, but this is Rattayya's first visit. After the homa, we showed them Iraivan Temple, Dakshinamurthi, and all the new blue-fruit-covered rudrakshas currently falling from the trees. Then we took them for a wonderful darshan with Bodhinatha, during which Rattayya, who is in his elder years, asked key questions about moksha, the goal of life, what experiences lie beyond peace of mind, etc.

As a result of the wonderful discussion, Rattayya purchased the entire Master Course trilogy set of Gurudeva's books on the spot and is carrying it all home to fill his daily reading time which is three or four hours he says.

Both father and son also subscribed to Hinduism Today magazine so they can stay in touch with what is happening around the world in Hinduism.

Ravi and Karuna Ganesan visited from Atlanta this morning. It is their second visit to Kauai Aadheenam.

They toured the grounds for the first time, and performed abhishekam at the Narmada Lingam on the Path of the Tamil Saivite Saints.

Aum Namasivaya!

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Current Overview

No new pictures from the temple site today, but there is quite a lot of activity involved in preparation for the next lift of beams and potagai. This will be the last one conducted under the preparation and care of the current silpi team, who now only have a week or so left before they all return to India.

Meanwhile spring is here and flowers are showing up everywhere.

Gurudeva's spiritual center in the island country of Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa

A report and pictures has arrived from the beautiful island of Mauritius from our members who conduct satsangs and homas at Saiva Siddhanta Church's Spiritual Park there in Rempart.

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"Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati who reigns majestically at the Kerala style Mandapam of the Spiritual Park welcomes you all! The April Ganesha Havana attracted as usual devotees from all around Mauritius. This month the �M Koothan, SK Moorghen and Manick kutumbas humbly pulled their seva energies together to host the homa, where hundreds of prayers written by devotees have been burnt to reappear as Gurudeva explains, in the inner worlds for the devas to read and eventually help.

Ladies are usually traditionally seated on the left side facing Pancha Mukha Ganapati....

When the ladies sit on the left and the men are on the right facing the Deity, this helps balance the divine energies in the mandapam for the benefit of everyone present . To know more about divine energies flowing in Siva Temples, kindly refer to Gurudeva's book Dancing With Siva.

After the homa, an arati is performed to Lord Ganapati. Then devotees come forward to take the flame and a receive vibhuti-- holy ash.

The mango grove just a few steps from the Mandapam gives a very cooling shade and is an ideal place for new devotees to meet and get to know each other. Here our dedicated ladies are serving some sweet prasadam to everyone. �

The Mootoosamy family from Quatre Bornes are regular devotees of the Ganesha Homa who humbly support the Spiritual Park like many others through financial donations.

This is Mukya Kumaren Moorooven and his wife, Lomavadee. Kumaren is a building contractor and has contributed through the years, hundreds of hours of karma yoga and expertise to construction work at the Spiritual Park. Lomavadee has been a dedicated shisya of Gurudeva even before marriage from the time she was sixteen years old, when, in 1983 she helped organize classes for Gurudeva's teachings in Mauritius over 20 years ago.

Here is a group of visitors who are new to the Spiritual Park. They are happy and really enjoyed the Homa and the darshan of Lord Ganapati.

We introduce to you Brahmachari Issen Valaytan, the son of Kulapati Amba Valaytan of Flacq. Issen comes to the Park very often for karma yoga.

Here is Kulamata Premila Manick conducting a session on Hatha Yoga with the very young HA students. The children are being taught to memorize and meditate on the colors with their corresponding postures or asanas.

transcription begins

Date: April_12_2003
Title: Results of Self Realization
Category: The Ultimate Goals of Life
Duration: 4 min., 30 seconds
Date Given: February 25, 2003
Given by: Bodhinatha

Well, if it is nothing, how do you know that you have realized it? That is a good question, right?

You cannot experience it because it is nothing there to experience. So how do you know that something happened? This is a good question. "Did I realize the Self? I sat down and meditated, did I realize the Self?"

There are ways of knowing and one of them is the sense that you have stepped out of time, form and space. You just stepped out of the universe of time, form and space and now you are back in. Further more, when you stepped out of it, that was the reality and now you are back in the unreality.

What would an analogy be? An analogy would be like a movie, some action movie. Action movies can really get you absorbed in the movie. You forget you are sitting in a seat, forget you are in a theatre. You are watching the movie and you are really, really wrapped up in it. So, it is like sitting there watching the movie, really, really wrapped up in it and going outside for a minute and coming back.

That is an analogy of realizing the Self. When you come back, you are not looking at it quite the same way because you stepped out for a minute, you have a different perspective on it. You are not quite as emotionally involved. You are saying, "Oh, those are actors up there." Then maybe after ten minutes you start to get back into it and in another five or ten you are totally wrapped up in it again. You forgot you stepped outside.

But at the moment you came back inside the movie from stepping outside, you were aware you stepped outside. You had a different perspective on the movie, you were not so attached to it. The movie was going along, which is the fulfillment of karma but you have a different perspective on it.

The idea is, when you stepped out that is your real nature and this a seeming. That is the perspective of Parasiva. That it is the reality and there is no time, there is no form, there is no space, there is no cause. It is just there for you to claim.

As Gurudeva points out in his writings that the ability to realize Parasiva or shall we be more precise, "The regular realization of Parasiva is what brings jnana, brings wisdom."

Where does wisdom come from? Does it come from simply worshipping Parameshvara? No, that is where devotion comes from, not wisdom. Devotion is needed as a prerequisite to wisdom. Does wisdom come from sitting in the bliss of Satchidananda? No, it is blissful. It is much nicer than not being blissful but it does not produce wisdom.

Wisdom comes as the aftermath of the realization of Parasiva. So you do that enough times, you build up a little encyclopedia of inner wisdom. Each time you come out of Parasiva, it is like you have one more page in your encyclopedia of inner wisdom.

transcription ends

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