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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!

Yogaswami declared of the Sivathondars (Servants of Siva):

"We'll wear the badge of service in humility,
And shall never forget the Feet of the SatGuru.
The Law of the land shall we not violate,
Nor will we waste our moments idly......"

--Natchintanai. 255.

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 skies are brilliantly clear these past few days, and despite it's being September, our weather has been quite hot. Walking up the path of Tiruneri... the arriving visitor sees this...

Halfway to the temple, the banyan tree on the left where soon will stand a large statue of Arumuga, Six-Faced Murugan.

Across the path from the banyan tree is the "Banyan Mandapam" which is a visitor display area, the finely carved statue of Tiruvalluvar.

Moving on the visitor will come out from underneath the banyan to discover Kadavul Temple.

and our "temple tank."

The bali-peedam after morning worship.

Then stepping inside the temple, on the right is the shrine for Gurudeva.

Today was Chitra Padapuja day and early this morning we were immersed in the vibration of our Gurudeva all during the puja to his Tiruvadi and bronze murthi.

This is the Morgan Lal family here on pilgrimage from Fiji.

Now we continue on with pictures from the Malaysia portion of Bodhinatha's recent mission.

Mohana Vilashiny continues with her story:

"September 6th, 2003... Here we are for a function at the Connought Bridge Mariamman Temple. One of the Sishya of Saiva Siddhanta Church, Kailasam, teaches here: these are his students waiting eagerly for Satguru's arrival.

Satguru makes his entrance with a wide smile .....

A song specially composed for Satguru by Parimala (blue saree, middle), Senju (red saree, left) and Ahila (Blue saree, right)

Mani, Naren and their team at their service....

After a wonderful talk by Satguru, devotees took turns to get their blessings. Saravananathaswami & Natarajnathaswami at their watch....

Sept 7th 2003- At the kumbhabhishekam in Ulu Behrang. Satguru is being brought in a chariot... A wonderful sight indeed!

Satguru as usual with his sweet smile as he enters...

Giving a wonderful talk to his fellow devotees.

The "Kopuram" where the kumbhabhishegam is about to take place.

Satguru pours the holy water from the kumbham onto the kopuram.

Satguru then comes into the temple...Abhishegam for "Lord Ganesha"...

His holiness at Selvanathan Jyotiswarar's residence

Arati at his home shrine

"From the other side of the table," these young ladies work hard to raise funds for Iraivan.

Many devotees bought these decorative items made by them...

Even the young lads were helpful...They went around with the "Undil" asking for donations for "Iraivan Temple."

The sales & fund raising team...

Our dearest Kulapatis...relaxing after the kumbhabhisekam

and our dearest Kulamatas....tired but happy after the long day...

The members of Saiva Siddhanta Church take a shot together....It was great having Satguru with us here! We Love You!...ALOHA!!

No Audio Today

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Date: August_03_2003
Title: Improving Our Behavior with the Help of the Guru Part 6
Category: Self Improvement
Duration: 8 min., 14 seconds
Date Given: July 9, 2003
Given by: Bodhinatha

Aum Namah Sivaya.

Very calming and soothing, isn't it? It is like having a sore throat and taking a cough drop. It soothes everything, the nervous system.

Just a general comment, before we get back. We have a couple of more remedies here. I am reminded of Billy's group, what is Billy's last name? Topatantay, hard to remember. She comes every year with a metaphysical group and I have a chance to give a talk to them. They are not Hindus but they are interested in Hinduism. I try and find an appropriate way to explain Hinduism to them.

So last time, we started out with the point that in some religions the whole emphasis is upon belief. Moving someone from not believing in God to believing in God, that is the sum total of the religion. Someone who believes in God, that is great. They are religious. Whereas in Hinduism, that is only a start. We need to move beyond belief into experience and that is one of the key qualities of Hinduism. It encourages us and gives us the tools to experience what we learn to believe in. So, if Gurudeva teaches us about the clear white light, then eventually in meditation we can experience it. It is not something that we just have to accept on faith. Everything in Hinduism can sooner or later be experienced.

They liked that and then I explained that another way of looking at Hinduism is the idea that we are talking about today. It is the idea of becoming a more spiritual person. Again we are not looking at mere belief here, "Okay, I believe in God." We are working on our nature. We are changing who we are. We are refining ourselves. We are committed to a serious process here of becoming a more spiritual person. As Gurudeva says in this same lesson on 'Living with Siva', even if you are a guru, even Chellappaswami, Yogaswami, they never stopped becoming a more spiritual person. Even Gurudeva kept becoming a more and more spiritual person, developing new qualities, new abilities.

In Hinduism, it is this constant refining, constant refining. Not just saying, "I have arrived. I believe in God, I have arrived." Or, "I am following certain concepts. I am doing pretty good." No, we don't stop there. We keep working with ourselves to become more and more a spiritual being. So that is the whole essence of Hinduism.

You know, what is Hinduism? Hinduism is the religion that believes we should keep becoming a more spiritual being. It says it in a more complicated way, it says we strive for moksha. But that is hard to explain to Billy's group. What is moksha? What is liberation? What is karma? And, so forth. You get into more complicated terms. But the essence of that whole idea, moksha being one of the goals of life, is that to achieve moksha we have to become a very, very spiritual being. It is not easy to achieve moksha but that is our goal. So said the other way, it is easier to understand. We are just becoming more and more, a spiritual being every year by improving ourselves in different ways.

Back to anger, finishing up here.

Our first remedy was color. Some people are too angry to sit down or unable to sit down and visualize light blue. So you need other remedies as well.

Second remedy is to put a sum of money such as $5.00 in a jar, each time you become angry and then donate that money to an orphanage. It soon gets too expensive to get angry. We have a very large orphanage Endowment because of this remedy, one of our biggest Endowments.

For those that can't afford to put $5.00 in a jar frequently, there is an alternate penance which is fasting for the next meal after they get angry. Gurudeva assures us that this works. It does, people don't like to skip a meal when they are not wanting to. Maybe you are ready to skip a meal on Pradosha day, once or twice a month. But, every time you get angry, you have to skip the next meal? So, this really impresses the instinctive mind because the instinctive mind is the part of us that is both getting hungry and getting angry. It says, "If I get angry, I can't seem to eat here. Maybe I should focus on just being kind and then I get to eat."

There is also a devotional remedy which is to sincerely worship Lord Ganesha. His worship is helpful in overcoming all emotional problems including anger, as He is seated in the muladhara chakra. Tuning into His Shakti and Being through attending puja at the temple, worshiping Him in your home shrine or even just visualizing Him in your mind helps raise us up into the muladhara chakra. Therefore, out of anger and fear into a calm state of mind. In fact, you can slowly seal off these lower states of mind and keep awareness permanently lifted above the animal instincts of fear and anger through the regular worship of Lord Ganesha.

So that is a devotional remedy Gurudeva gives and in fact , I give it in any emotional remedy situation. Someone says, "I have trouble, I get fearful regularly." I say, "Worship Lord Ganesha." It is just an all-purpose remedy for emotions of that kind. It brings emotions below the muladhara - fear, anger, jealousy, envy, revenge, any of those emotions that are down there. We can conquer them all with the worship of Lord Ganesha. It has to be sincere though, sincere worship where we really strive to tune into Lord Ganesha's Shakti, Energy and Being. It can raise us above and if we have problems down there can seal it off, meaning we don't go down there, ever. That is what "seal off" means. Some people don't. Those lower emotions are sealed off. They never experience fear, they never experience anger.

Of course, how we raise children relates to that but that is a whole other subject. You can stimulate those qualities in children by raising them with corporal punishment. You can awaken their lower nature of fear and anger, something they would never have to experience if you raised them in another way.

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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.
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