Blog Archives

We are pleased to announce the web release of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's monumental work on Hindu culture and lifestyle:
Living with Siva.
Click here for the entire text and artwork, now on-line!

Roshan and Shivani Kumar have darshan with Bodhinatha. They came on pilgrimage from Oahu and are husband and wife "music team" in the entertainment industry in Honolulu. Roshan plays the guitar and Shivani sings, bringing happiness to their audiences, night after night.

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Most Recent update: September 12, 2003. Bodhinatha speaks on Ahimsa, noninjury, yama #1, which is noninjury in thought, word and deed. The law of karma decrees that it is wise not to harm or hurt others, for we will then receive harm and hurt in exchange in the future. 12 minutes, 29 seconds.

				Live Web Cam Pix!

The color edition of Dancing with Siva is a really incredibly beautiful work and we will have more to say about this in the days and months ahead. We expect copies to be available for sale in the US sometime in December.

A soft cover perfect bound edition was also produced as this is required by the mainstream bookstores in the US.

The Remarkable Vision	Iraivan Temple Progress Update	Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders
	Order Rudraksha Malas from Siva's sacred Hawaiian groves; and also single rudraksha beads ready to put on a chain around your neck. Great for Gifts! All proceeds go to the building fund.
Current Overview

Sadhaka Dandapani takes us on a "morning light" tour of Iraivan. Looking up toward the top of the door to the sanctum we see the "Parampara Stone" into which are carved the line of Gurus from Tirumular to Gurudeva, on either side of Lord Siva Nataraja.

Let's take a look up toward the 15th and 16th courses where the roof beams meet the main sanctum...

Yallis adorn the upper levels that you will see as you walk around the sanctum.

The roof beams are beautifully carved, making the ceiling of Iraivan a marvel in itself.

A platform is in place to support the workers as they go up and up and to protect the stones below from falling tools.

Two beams next to each other...

Coming around the northwest corner which is shadows at this hour.

From the northeast corner... the morning sun cuts across the fields to light up the temple walls.

The east wall of the sanctum.

the gomukai... spout from which the abhishekam waters that are poured over the Maha Spatika Lingam will come out to devotees.

The north, back wall of the sanctum,

Also considered a point of power, the back wall is touched by devotees who can visualize the Sivalingam, just inside.

Our team has completed course 17A and is now working on the ground level getting stones ready for the next lift up.

A pile of sand and the cement mixer....

Saiva Siddhanta Church
Malaysia Mission

More pictures are coming in from Malaysia, documenting Bodhinatha's visit, recounting from another angle the wonderful events and also a look at the team and people behind the scenes. So here we go on a trip into the past...

This report from Mohana Vilashiny Murugesu...

"Welcoming Satguru at Kulapathi Silvaraj's residence. Kulapatis washes Satguru's Tiruvadi."

Kulapathi puts the garland on Satguru and welcomes him into his home.

The shrine was specially decorated for our beloved Satguru. This creative artwork was done by none other than Lalitha Ponniah and her team.

Getting prepared for Satguru Padapuja

Arati shown during abhishekam. Satguru goes into deep meditation

Sandalwood offerings for our Satguru's tiruvadi

Pancha arati with the loud chant of "Aum Nakarmana..." by our devotees. Strong vibration felt during the arati, denoting the presence of Gods and our Guru Parampara.

The next day event. Master Course Catalyst session at the Panniru Tirumurai Valarchi Mayyam for the Master Course catalyst Aravind Raj welcomes Satguru.

A short prayer before the program starts.

Satguru gives a wonderful talk on "Enduring Happiness in Ourself and Others" An insightful session for all catalysts.

Aravind Raj handles the next session.

He explained the 90 days plan of running the Master Course classes.

Delicious lunch with Satguru. Our Kailasam SInnathamby's wife, Pakiam prepared a delicious lunch for Satguru. Her tomyam soup tasted soo good. Sadhaka Jivanandanatha and Muruganathaswami really enjoyed her soup!

Stay tuned for more in the days to come...

No Audio Today

transcription begins

Date: August_01_2003
Title: Improving Our Behavior with the Help of the Guru Part 4
Category: Self Improvement
Duration: 7 min., 50 seconds
Date Given: July 9, 2003
Given by: Bodhinatha

Let us look at rung number 4 - swearing, to assess how it influences our spiritual life. Gurudeva writes on it at length in 'Living with Siva'. Gurudeva states that habitual swearing unleashes a negative force that will ruin one's life and break up one's home. He continues that swearing is a good way to curse oneself, to build up a big balloon of negative energy. Swearing stimulates the lower chakras until one day swearing will turn into screaming and yelling, demands and threats and so on.

Some people habitually swear and they don't think anything of it. It is just acceptable behavior as long as you know you're just with your friends at work or something. You are not at some dinner party and you speak out in a swearing way, but you're at work, sometimes physical work particularly, people swear all the time and don't think of it as wrong. They think of it as acceptable behavior.

One of the problems of human nature is that it is easily influenced by our companions and that is why companionship is very important. We take on the qualities of those we work with, those we spend time with after work, more than we realize. We think a certain quality is ours but really it has been stimulated by the people we are with. If we work with people who are constantly swearing, we have to be very careful not to pick up that habit ourselves and not to think swearing is acceptable for those who are on the spiritual path. Because it is not. It is the fourth rung here on the ladder, we are down much further than we realize. As Gurudeva says at length in 'Living with Siva', it is stimulating the lower chakras.

So if we are swearing, it is so easy for that to turn into a more overt form of anger. We start yelling at someone, we are prone to yell and blame and so forth, much more so than if we weren't swearing in the first place.

There is a nice message from Gurudeva that resulted from going to Malaysia in June of 2000. He was invited there by Dr. Paramasivam, who was selling a Do- it-Yourself home agni kit, home-homa, doing a fire ceremony in the home. That sounded innocuous to Gurudeva and sounded wonderful. So Gurudeva went and he found out that the people involved in the organization and lots of people who were performing the homa were prone to serious anger, something he hadn't envisioned. So he came back with new insights into what happens if an angry person does a puja or what happens if an angry person does a homa, what happens if a priest who has been arguing at length with the trustee does a puja, when anger is present. He became very outspoken in that instead of invoking spiritual beings, they are invoking asuric beings. They are bringing in people that are in the inner planes, invisible people that are going to cause mischief, that are going to harm us rather than bless us.

So, he came back with some very strict guidelines. He came out with the message that people prone to anger should definitely not perform a fire ceremony and not even a regular puja, which involves passing of flames. All that they should do is a simple waving of incense before the Deities. Of course, it is alright to attend a puja, conducted by someone else. He also became very sensitive to certain temples which had lots of arguments going on between the priests and the trustees. Some of the temples even have lawsuits, the situation has gotten so out of control. Like the Malibu temple in California, the priests and trustees have gotten along so badly that they are suing one another. Of course, that creates a terrible atmosphere in the temple, a place you don't want to go to worship.

Gurudeva went on to say that once anger is experienced, 31 days should pass to close the door on the chakras below the muladhara before puja may again be performed by that individual. A simple waving of incense before the icon is permissible, but not the passing of flames, ringing of bells or chanting of any mantra other than simple recitation of AUM.

Sometimes we're asked how much anger needs to be expressed before we have to shut down our shrine room for 31 days, hang up our japa beads on the wall. When we look at the ladder here, Gurudeva didn't say, but to me it has to do with step 4, not swearing per se, but screaming and yelling, when we're starting to get out of control. It is that element of having lost control, which first starts in our words and can go down further in our fists and our actions. We have lost control over ourselves. That means the lower chakras are really spinning and it takes time for them to calm down.

Gurudeva said a normal emotional upset takes three days to calm down. If you just have a kind of big upset with someone, neither of you get particularly angry, it takes three days to recover from that. If you allow yourself to lose control and start yelling or screaming or grabbing someone or so forth, then 31 days is necessary to recover from that kind of expression.

But not something smaller, simple swearing or blaming and shaming, unless you lose control. Even in blaming and shaming, you can lose control. It starts to turn into screaming and yelling.

I'd like to take another five minutes and a little self-reflection. See if you can relate to any of the rungs on the ladders. See if you're climbing this ladder or if you're still on the ground. Be honest again, no one will see this. You're just being reflective on if anger in its subtle forms is something you are experiencing and can improve upon. We are just writing it down in order to objectify it so we can improve upon it, do better.

We'll give that five minutes.

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