Blog Archives
January 24, 2004
Gurudeva with Paramacharya Palaniswami beside him at an event, likely in Europe.
In Living with Siva, he wrote, "It is time that the world knew of the greatness of Hinduism, knew it as it is. Of course, we cannot explain it in an evening. My satguru, the great Siva Yogaswami of Columbuthurai, would say, 'The time is short and the subject is vast.' "
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.
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami pauses for a moment on the sidewalk wall overlooking the Wailua River.
He reports today from Madurai, "This is our second day in Madurai. We held classes in the morning, then in late afternoon went back to the Meenakshi temple's Tiruvalluvar hall for a two-hour plus concert by Murugadass. Everyone really enjoyed his bhajan style, clapped along and applauded enthusiastically, The drum solos were also a great hit. it was quite uplifting, music is a universal language and everyone went away quite inspired."
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.
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||
Today, January 24, is "Gurudeva Day" on Kauai, so designated by the County. To mark the day, there was a small gathering of friends of Gurudeva from the community along with members of Saiva Siddhanta Church. Here Barbara Bennett was the master of ceremonies for the event. She explained that Gurudeva assigned her to do the Aloha Year 2004 to bring visitors to the island, something that is intended to happen every four years. It is modeled on programs in Malaysia and Australia, with special events all through the year. It's a big project, but she took it on with full strength from Gurudeva's inspiration. Several of the monks helped with the concept formulation. And she did all this while carrying for six children and holding a full-time job. You can read about Aloha Year 2004 http://www.alohavisitkauai.com. The poster you see on the web site was designed and printed by the monastery, and now 11,000 copies distributed worldwide to travel agents.
Prof. John Lydgate (center in white) has taught about India in universities. The event was held in Lydgate Park, which was named after his family, one of the oldest families on the island. He was one of the main organizers for the event.
Dr. Suhas, center, is an Ayurvedic physician recently moved to the island to participate in the practice of Dr. Tom Yarema. He will not only treat but teach the ancient Indian medicine, and is a wonderful addition to the island. Gurudeva inspired Dr. Tom to bring an Ayurvedic doctor to Kauai. Dr. Suhas' wife, Manisha, is at the far left, in the brown salwar kameez. She is also an Ayurvedic physician.
The group watches a video of Gurudeva prepared for the current India Innersearch program. It worked fine on one of our Macintosh 17" powerbooks!
Sadhaka Haranandinatha and Yogi Mahadevan represented the monastery. Sadhaka gave an update of the monastery's work during the year, which included a presentation of the completed Trilogy of Living, Dancing and Merging with Siva and other publications. He also mentioned the monastery�s on-going participation in the Kauai Aloha Endowment program which has created an endowment to encourage the spirit of Aloha on the island, and our work with the East Kauai Water Users' Cooperative which took over and is running a huge irrigation system in the Kapaa area.
The pavilion for the event is located about 300 feet inland from the beach at Lydgate Park.
Dr. Tom Yarema shared how Gurudeva inspired him toward a community-oriented medical practice, based on traditional medicines, with the idea that it would serve the whole island and would educate people on how to keep themselves healthy through proper diet and use of herbs, etc. Just in the last two months they got the visa for Dr. Suhas to come to Kauai.
Helice Bridges is the head of Difference Makers International. They have a program of encouraging people to ceremoniously give a ribbon saying "Who I am makes a difference" to their relatives and friends, and in the process acknowledging verbally the good qualities of that person and appreciating them for who they are. She's been doing this since 1983, and it's being used by people all across the country to encourage people to appreciate each other. She has them in 100 different languages, and the ones given out here were in Hawaiian. Gurudeva also encouraged her work.
A delicious potluck lunch was enjoyed by all.
Back to our travel log with Bodhinatha and the Innersearchers:
Day 5 of Innersearch began with a trip to Batu Caves, perhaps the most famed of the many abodes of Lord Murugan in Malaysia. Our rides in modern, well-appointed buses are relaxing respites between intense events.
Paramacharya Palaniswami shares with the innersearchers details about our destinations. Other monks do the same on the other buses.
Mr. and Mrs. Raman and Suselah Pumanian from Singapore.
Mary Beth Harnett from Ohio, USA.
At the base off the hill staircase up to the caves, Bodhinatha is paraded with thavil drumming and nadeswaram.
Sadhaka Tejadevanatha is serving as Bodhinatha's personal assistant during this journey and one of his main duties is removing the mountains of garlands that are placed on Bodhinatha at every puja and event.
It was a very bright, sunny, joyful day.
Puja to Lord Ganesha at the base of the hill.
Our devotees enjoy the worship... a scene we will experience 100 times or more on this trip.
Om Ganapataye Namaha!
Now the trek up the 256 steps to see Lord Murugan. Despite what is considered an arduous climb, many of us were inspired like little children to race up the stairs to have darshan of Lord Murugan.
Aum Vetri Vel Muruganakku!
We stop at the top of the hill before entering the cave for a photo with the priest who is leading the way.
Two of our Malaysian members Sivaneswaran and his wife Venilla. This was an arranged marriage. Venilla is from Mauritius and Sivaneswaran from Malaysia. Sivaneswaran spent six months at Kauai Aadheenam on task force and Venilla was trained at Kalakshetra in India.
After arati at the temple in the caves, everyone sat for meditation.
The top of these ancient limestone cave is open to the sky. It was a living paradigm of Gurudeva' teachings about how Divine energies are continuously pouring into each of our beings through the top of the head.
Light streaming down from above... the quiet chanting in the background from a CD "Aum Saravanabhava.... Aum Saravanabhava....Aum Saravanabhava....Aum Saravanabhava..."
Many innersearcher were profoundly moved by the experience.
It was a perfect picture of the culture of Saiva Siddhanta. Theistic worship and monistic contemplation merged in a single joyous religious lifestyle.
The obligatory group photos with the monks and the priests.
A rare photo full of the bliss we are all feeling here in Malaysia. Joyful children and innersearchers moving with the Satguru, being showered by the rays of Divine Beings, as well as the Divine Love in the hearts of our Malaysian hosts.
A perfect shot of the stairway up to the caves as the group descends back down to the Bhuloka level.
Just time enough to quick tour of the magnificent cave museum at the base.
Trekking back to wait for buses... our pilgrims are heating up in the sun.
Ahhh... ice cold green coconuts offered to all for refreshment before we board the buses for lunch. A perfect end to another uplifting morning.
That's Thanabalan Ganesan there smiling at us from behind Bodhinatha where he is holding an umbrella to protect the Satguru from the harsh rays of the sun... a traditional service to great souls, by their devotees.
Batu Caves was bright and sunny, a photographer's dream for taking great portrait shots. Today we bring you a series of our participants... Mrs. Rose Marie Tropf, from Florida.
Darshani Alahan from California.
Mr. Dave Tropf from Florida, Tampa Bay area.
Joel Knepp and Lynda McClanahan (husband and wife) from Ohio.
Stephanie Devi Corgatelli, from Seattle.
Jennifer Harvey from Australia
Zac Tropf, son of Dave and Rose Marie
Rakesh Chandranatha from Colorado.
Paramacharya Palaniswami with Satya Subramaniam from Brazil (formerly Davi Furlan). Satya will receive his Namakarana (name-giving ceremony) at Chidambaram -- and auspicious opportunity for a young many who has been reading Gurudeva' teachings and follows TAKA daily from his home in San Paulo, Brazil.
Everyone was bused to a beautiful man-made park in Shah Alam, where the Malaysia member hosted us for games and lunch on the banks of a lovely lake.
Acharya Kumarswami and Sannyasin Sivakatirswami relaxing as the members and innersearchers play an ice-breaker game.
Sannyasin Natarajnathaswami
Bodhinatha
Sadhaka Tejadevanatha
Paramacharya Palaniswami
Yolanda Lozano.
Kailash Dhaksinamurthi who is one of our staff, doing a fabulous job with coordinating travel arrangements and helping with logistics.
Toshadeva Guhan from California.
Mrs. Lindsay Boyer from New York.
Lisa Gibson from California.
Lindsay Boyer and Leonora Orr
It was a sweet satsang with our loving Malaysian hosts.
Stephani Shreiber, a Petty Officer in the US Navy (far left), Carol Kahn from Hawaii (center), with Josan Feathers on the right.
Joan Parlette in the right foreground with sunglasses.
Laura Marks from California.
Darshani Alahan, close-up
Asha Alahan, California, Darshani's mother.
Left: Puvaneswary Roberts from the Netherlands. Born in Malaysia, she is enjoying being back for a few days. Rajan Khurana... on the right.
And now we continue with the narration prepared in advance of what the Innersearchers are doing today. As you can see, our photo reports are arriving about four days after the events.
Jan 25 (Sun 4): Today Bodhinatha and the Innersearchers will have morning classes and then take a bus ride to the famed Tiruparankundram Temple, a Murugan Temple carved into a mountain-sized rock. Then they will visit the Madurai Aadheenam which is just next to the temple, one of the strongholds of Saiva Siddhanta for the last 1,100 years. It is a place Gurudeva supported, in part because the aadheenam has only one monk, a sign of the times, times in which young men seldom choose the noble and selfless path of the Saiva monastic. We quote again from the 1982-83 Odyssey diary: "At the Madurai Aadheenam we enter to find the kartar (the abbot) is a relatively young man who has just recently assumed the mantle of leadership when his Satguru, a Sri Lankan man, attained Mahasamadhi. After offering the Innersearchers refreshments, and after reading, as he does each year, a long message of welcome he has composed in praise of Gurudeva and his work in the West, he invites Gurudeva to come close. They speak privately for a time. Then the Kartar mentions in passing that Vaishnavism and Saivism are one and the same at heart. Gurudeva takes issue with this in a strong way, saying that, on the contrary they are wholly different religions and shows ways they are different. To our surprise, the Kartar has not listened or at least not understood Gurudeva's words, and he continues that "Saivism and Vaishnavism are the two eyes of Hinduism." Gurudeva responds that such a view weakens Saivism and mixes it all up to the point of uselessness.... That evening there is a procession in honor of Gurudeva, which is to parade around the temple. Two decorated elephants lead us through the streets, followed by Gurudeva in his orange robes holding his silver danda. Three giant deities on palanquins follow, with temple musicians and drummers in full regalia. The temple is not small, so the walk around all four sides takes over an hour. Then we enter through the giant gates and enter long halls that take us finally to a high, pillared room where a puja is performed to each of the temple deities while they are still on their carts. Speeches and long welcomes to Gurudeva follow and Gurudeva is gifted with a magnificent, six-foot-tall solid silver Trisula, with a ruby inset. It is given by a man who met Gurudeva last year and told him that his daughter was unable to have a child. Gurudeva asked the couple to come forward, and blessed them and told them their wish would be fulfilled. Now, a year later, the father is a proud grandfather of a healthy boy. In gratitude he has made, he is a skilled jeweler, this work of art."
No Audio Today
|
Be surprised! Take this opportunity for an adventure. Close your eyes and click to get a message picked at random from the vast audio archives of our Satgurus' discourses |
And click here for an Index to All Past CyberTalks.
|
|
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 |
||