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Meet Bodhinatha in Malaysia and India, Jan-Feb 2004

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami will be traveling through Malaysia and South India this January/February on his 2004 Indian Odyssey travel-study program. You are welcome to meet him at the below places:

• Mon, Jan 19, 2004 -- Sri Kandaswamy Temple, Kuala Lumpur
• Fri, Jan 23, 2004 -- Sri Meenakshi Temple, Madurai
• Sun, Jan 25th, 2004 -- Sri Karpaka Vinayagar Temple, Pillaiyarpatti
• Mon, Feb 2nd, 2004 -- Siva Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram
• Wed, Feb 4th, 2004 -- Binny Hall, Taj Connemara Hotel, Chennai
• Thur, Feb 5th, 2004 -- Thaipusam celebrations at Arupadai Veedu Temple, Chennai

Click here to go to his Travel Page for details.

Bodhinatha taking down the flag of the Jivana Ritau, preparing to raise up the flag the Moksha Ritau.

This morning he send this email out to everyone as a reminder of our focus:

MOKSHA RITAU

Flag Raising
On December 15th we entered the moksha ritau and the Tamil month of Markali and performed our flag raising ceremony here at the monastery. The purpose of flag raising on the first day of the ritau, of course, is to impress our mind that we are in a new time of year.

Saiva Dharma Shastras
When a new ritau begins, it is always good to refresh one's memory of Gurudeva's perspective on the ritau by reading the section in Saiva Dharma Shastras which describes it. Some of the key points about moksha ritau are:

1) Those in the sannyasa ashrama are particularly honored, both the sannyasins and the family members who are over 72 years.

2) It is the time of year for families to talk about the future of any young men who may be monks to plan their future and arrange for their training.

3) At our mission satsangs, the teaching portion is devoted to meditating on one of the twelve shum mamsane followed by performing vasana daha tantra.

4) It is the finest time of year for meditation.

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.

"Meaning of Moksha
In thinking about moksha ritau, it is natural to think first about the meaning of moksha which is good. Gurudeva gives us a beautiful definition of moksha in our lexicon which is:

"Release from transmigration, samsara, the round of births and deaths, which occurs after karma has been resolved and nirvikalpa samadhi, realization of the self, Parasiva, has been attained."

Merging with Siva
As moksha relates to realization of the Self, we may conclude that this ritau relates just to the monks and not to householders.

As this is definitely not the case, we need to also think about moksha ritau in other ways as well. Each ritau relates to one of Gurudeva's Master Course trilogy. Moksha ritau, of course, relates to Merging with Siva. Merging with Siva focuses on understanding and controlling the mind. Therefore, this is an important aspect of this ritau.

There is a helpful comparison between the Jivana Ritau and the Moksha Ritau. In the Jivana Ritau we are concerned with the world we experience with our eyes open and with bringing more harmony and refinement into our external life. In the moksha ritau we are concerned with the world we experience with our eyes closed. We are concerned with what is occurring in our mind and in making it more peaceful, content and joyous. The focus is on taking our current understanding and control of the mind and deepening it.

"Control of the Mind
A simple way to state the challenge we face is this: do our emotions control us or do we control our emotions? Do the experiences we encounter in life determine our state of mind or do we choose our state of mind independent of our experiences?

For example, if some challenges we faced during the day upset us, do we stay upset for a few days or do we quickly gain control of our emotions and rid ourselves of feeling upset?

"From this perspective we can clearly see that the essence of our moksha ritau practices is to deepen our understanding and control of the mind. When stated in this manner, it is quite clear how moksha ritau relates to everyone, householder or monastic."

"Gurudeva
Gurudeva gives us many metaphysical tools for controlling the mind in Merging with Siva. However, as he emphasized on the 2001 European Innersearch, it is up to us whether we use them or not. Obviously it is in our best interests to do so!

Finally, here are two quotes from Gurudeva on controlling the mind.

"You are not your mind, because you can control your mind with your will."
"Peace is control, and control is freedom."

--Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

The spirited Mehra family joined us again today for the morning homa and also came later to our publications building for a full tour. This wonderful family has been reading Hinduism Today for many years. Here is Paramacharya Palaniswami explaining to them the various things that take place in the Ganapati Kulam.

They also had a meeting with Bodhinatha. Pictured here, from the left is, Sarika, Saloni, Deepa and Shashi Mehra, Soniya and Pooja.

Dr. Raghu is visiting on pilgrimage with his family, and today they took an extensive tour of the monastery grounds and Iraivan temple and met with Bodhinatha in the Guru Peedam. Bodhinatha spoke to them about how in India one hundred years ago the temple was the center of attraction for young people. There was theatre, dancing, singing, classes etc. But today there is a lot of competition with TV, radio, the internet etc. Therefore, religion and the temple needs to directly benefit the life of a young person. For example, going to the temple should help get better grades in school.

Left to right in this photo is Anjali, wife of Dr. Raghu's son, Hemant who sits next to her. On the floor is Dr. Raghu's mother-in-law, Sushilama, and next to her is Dr. Raghu's wife Gita. On Bodhinatha's right is Dr. Raghu. On Bodhinatha's left is Gita's brother, Sanjeev and his daughter Sandya. Behind her is Dr. Raghu's oldest son Gopal. The Raghu's are very much involved with the Balaji temple in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Raghu is the current president and Gita has a ladies group which meets every Wednesday. Dr. Raghu recently created an endowment for their family temple in Karnataka with Hindu Heritage Endowment, and you can read about it at http://www.hheonline.org/reports/2003/oct-nov-dec/index.html.

Last night on the evening of Guha Day, the every awesome sunset over Waialeale....

The pink coral hue of the clouds matches the color of the flag of the Moksha Ritau.

Sadhaka Jivananandanatha....

Saiva Siddhanta Church
Members and Students in South California

Our Southern California members in and around the San Diego area gather on the 21st for the first day of Pancha Ganapati at the home of Auntie Damara Shanmugan. Everyone is gathered and preparing for the puja.

A beautiful dancing Ganapati on the alter.

And a smaller black granite Ganesha received the worship and is now cover with gorgeous flowers.

Uncle Sadhunathan puts through a call to Rishi Thondunathan in Florida who is helping with fund raising from there. Dasan Mahadevan the left as everyone enjoys prasadam after the puja.

Dhanya Nadesan with Aums on sticks in the background.

Toshadeva Guhan send his love out to everyone on this joyful Pancha Ganapati!

Left to right: Mrs. Ushadevi Katir, Josan Feathers and Chudika Mahadevan.

And these three ladies are going to join us on India Innersearch. : Shakti Mahadevan, Josan, and Chudika again... daughter of Shakti and Dasan.

Dayavati Murugan from Palm Desert.

Long time member Damara Shanmuga talks with Thondunathan. Damara has put much of Gurudeva's teachings into the Braille language for the blind.

Mrs. Ushadevi Katir

Everyone had a joyous time. Happy Pancha Ganapati!

Saiva Siddhanta Church
Mauritius Mission

Congratulations to Navind Sagum (center) on his graduation from University in computer sciences in Mauritius. Here he is with his mother and father. Navind faced some challenges as do many young people, in early years in school, but he looked to Gurudeva and Saivism for his anchor, stayed on course and came out on top! Way to go Navind!

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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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