Blog Archives

"The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems. Children are perfect devas until puberty, when so many changes come, when prarabdha karmas--the results of past actions they bring with them to live through in this birth--begin to manifest and the growing-up process intensifies. Is there a set way, a rule book, for raising Hindu children in our contemporary society? I think not. But the basic principles of Hinduism have not failed. No, not at all. Teach the young adults to look ahead mentally into the future before making a decision, and to base their decisions for life on the value judgments of Sanatana Dharma as well explained in Dancing with Siva, Hinduism's Contemporary Catechism, here in Living with Siva, Hinduism's Contemporary Culture and in Merging with Siva, Hinduism's Contemporary Metaphysics. This Master Course trilogy is all that's needed for a fine future for young adults. What are these values? Peace; harmony within the home; tolerance for others; appreciation of the wisdom of those who have gone before us and of those who are older; purity of thought, word and deed; chastity until marriage; and, above all, cooperation and patience in choosing the right partner in life, for marriage is actually the joining of two families. "

Bodhinatha is in California with Acharya Kumarswami having left the morning of second retreat day, Friday. Acharya writes, this morning after arrival, via remote internet connection:

"Just to let you all know that we arrived safely in San Francisco and are settled in at the Embassy Suites Walnut Creek. Had a nice reception by members at the airport. Tomorrow morning darshan sessions begin at 9am.... Five hours from Lihue, landed in San Francisco at 9:15 pm. Bodhinatha took care of about 90 emails during the flight. Wrote the above last night. We tried to hook into the internet, but connection dropped off, and it was so late, we just went to bed. Now it's morning, about 4 your time, 7 ours, and the sun is up, so we are soon heading down soon. Connection is working fine now. Nice to be back at the Walnut Creek hotel where Gurudeva did so much work on the completion of Dancing with Siva."

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Most Recent update: May 18, 2003, "Bodhinatha speaks on the tenth yama, saucha purity: 11 minutes and 7 seconds. Opens in separate Window. Quicktime 6.0 required to view this MP4 video.

No Audio Today

				Live Web Cam Pix!

Sun 1 Homa at the Aadheenam the sandals representing our Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami sit on the cushion taking his place with the swamis and monks arrayed in the back.

Yogi Mahadevan has become quite adept at the yagna rites and does a very stately puja.

The final offering...

Paramacharya Palaniswami shares testimony on the impact of the Iraivan Temple site on recent guests he hosted. One comment made by a local lady who is a leader in the Shingon Buddhist community. "This temple is amazing. It reminds me of the power of being in Gurudeva's presence. Whenever he would be with us, I couldn't say a word, his spiritual presence was simply overwhelming. I feel that same power here at the new temple."

We have been had a steady stream of pilgrims coming. Increasingly we hear "I was told by friends who visited that coming to Kauai's Hindu Monastery is an absolute must," show that the fame of our little hideaway on Kauai is starting to reach far and wide.

Saravananathaswami hosted these two couples. He writes: "Two young Gujarati couples came by, Shailesh Desai and his wife from Vancouver Canada, and the Milan and Priti Sheth from Austin, Texas. The Texas couple heard about us from their hotel staff only after they arrived on Kauai. The Vancouver couple were recommended to visit by friends who had visited already. Both couples were enthralled with the Kauai Aadheenam property. They had already visited tourist spots all over Kauai and said "This is by far the prettiest place we have seen on Kauai."

One of the men also said, "After stepping on your property I began to feel so at peace." They all really enjoyed the fresh betel leaves too. One man was saying "I'm a paan connesseur and when I'm in India I usually have three or four a day."

Over the retreat, Brahmachari Rajadeva Alahan was acting host in place of the monks. He has a digital camera and took photos for TAKA. He writes:

"Here is M. Parick and Meena along with their extended family, on vacation here in Paradise; and they exclaimed that they were experiencing the Paradise of Paradises in Kadavul Temple and surrounding grounds.
The Paricks are from Indiana, and are devout Sishya of Swami Dayananda Saraswati. They travel often to Pittsburgh to attend his Satsanga"

Santosh Lal and son, Soudeep, sweet and wonderful, after having Kadavul Temple's morning ceremony and absorbed its great Shakti. They are from Fremont, California, and Soudeep has recently graduated from medical school.

Tannaswari and Bill, living on Oahu and attending school. She is originally from Malaysia.

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

Our Mauritius correspondent sends these photos from the monthly homa and satsang at Gurudeva's beautiful Spiritual Park in Mauritius:

~~~~~~~~~~~
Siven Veerasamy is the person visitors are sure to meet at the Park. He is in charge of the maintenance of the grounds and buildings. �Everyone appreciates his hard working and dedicated qualities to always be ready to help at the Park. Siven never misses our Sunday monthly Homa.

The kulapati of the district of Flacq hosted the Sunday Ganesha Homa for this �month of May. The youth came early to decorate the Mandapam with 'tornums', traditional hangings made from coconut leaves. Other volunteers helped in collecting dry mango twigs for the Homa.

The atmosphere in the Ganesha Mandapam is usually very spiritual while the Homa is going on. When the last notes have been burnt to the devas or angel beings of the inner worlds, devotees present are invited to sit quietly and absorb the divine energy pervading the place.

While a final arathi is being performed to Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati, everyone stands up. This is a very uplifting moment during the ceremony.

Kulapati Koothan (left) from Rivi�re des Anguilles in the south is looking very bright in his new kurta shirt. Next to him is Mukya Somandiren Peruman from Triolet. Both are very long time devotees of Gurudeva and are very dedicated to the maintenance upliftment of the Spiritual Park.

Hello divine kids! These children regularly attend the Ganesha Homa every month. It's a golden opportunity for them too to be exposed to Hindu values and culture. They learn a lot of wonderful things at the Park during these ceremonies. Gurudeva teaches that when children have such nice spiritual experiences, they acquire very deep and positive impressions in their minds that will help them later in life.

Mr. Ramakrishna Brijmohun and his wife are new visitors to the Park. He is the director of Prisons and Reform Institutions in Mauritius. Mr. Ramakrishna gave a beautiful testimony about how Hindu teachings have helped him to harmoniously cope with life in difficult times.

Our Himalayan Academy student Adi Shankara helping to clean the huge Muruga granite murthi with a hose at the far end of the Spiritual Park. Adi is a lecturer in Carnatic music at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute and also run such classes at the Park .

Here our ladies are happy doing sivathondu or service to God at the Dharmasala building. Grihinis Malini Peruman, Amravadee and HA student Anjeenee Devi are cleaning brass items to be used during the Ganesha Homa.

Have you ever tasted them? These yellow colored fruits are very sweets though not very fleshy due to having large seeds inside. Here on the island they are popularly known as "pomme jacquot". It's a rare seasonal wild tropical fruit we can pluck from a beautiful �shady tree which visitors can see at the Park. Children love eating these fruits.

transcription begins

Date: February_10_1999
Title: The Law of Karma
Category: Karma
Duration: 3 min., 34 seconds
Date Given: February 10, 1999
Given By: Gurudeva

Today at Kauai Aadheenam; February 10th. Greetings everyone!

Well, we are having a wonderful time here at our Cyberspace Ashram today. We have a visitor who teaches people how to look and speak on TV, on the radio, CDs, tape recording. Very interesting person.

A question that usually comes up is, "What did I do to deserve what is happening to me?"

Well, fortunately, people don't remember what they did or why they deserve what is happening to them. The never- failing law of karma, cause and effect.

Karma actually means 'action'. But we know every action has a boomerang effect. It comes back. It has a reaction. Action and reaction is the way the universe works. No way around it. So whatever is happening to us, we put into motion ourselves. Nobody else did. We did it ourselves maybe in a past life, or maybe in this life. Fortunately, we don't remember what we did. But, we did do that, to have the experience over again, that we caused somebody else to have perhaps. So that we know how it feels, so that we won't cause somebody else to have a similar experience in the future. That is how we learn.

The law of karma is an unfailing law; it is also an educator. It teaches us that if we stand back and look at the experiences of the day, we can intuit how those experiences were created in days gone by. Try it. It is a wonderful meditation. Next time you say to yourself, "What did I ever do to deserve what is happening to me?", begin to sort it out and be honest with yourself. Maybe you caused someone else to have a similar experience that now other people are causing you to have.

The law of karma is a cool, cold law. Good things, bad things and mixed things happen all in the same way, action and reaction. Look at it. Look at yourself, understand yourself and float through life in a happy way. Be like the 747 and fly over the cities that are trembling in all kinds of experiential problems, being untouched by them. You can be untouched by your own karma too. What did you ever do to be listening to me, telling this to you? In a past life, maybe!

Well, have a happy cyberspace day and we'll be together again tomorrow.

Aum Namah Sivaya!

transcription ends

MORE UPLIFTING THINGS		2004 Indian Odyssey Join Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami on an 18 day Innersearch to South India, from Jan 19 to Feb 5, as we pilgrimage to ancient monasteries, magnificent 1,000 plus year old sacred temples and meet with India's holy men in a life-transforming adventure. Click on the above link for more details.
	Check our children and youth section for new items for the young and young at heart!
1. SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK and receive a FREE GIFT
2. Newest Book: LIVING WITH SIVA
3. Visiting KAUAI'S HINDU MONASTERY
4. Contribute to THANK YOU, GURUDEVA FUND