Blog Archives
January 31, 2004
Gurudeva with his walking staff.
He writes in Merging with Siva, "The final goal of human life is realization and liberation -- realization of the Absolute, Unmanifest, Parasiva, Nirguna Brahman, and liberation from birth. This realization cannot be brought about solely by an effort of the mind, by any discipline or method. Sadhana, tapas and bhakti are necessary for purifying the mind and body in preparation for God Realization, but it is by the grace of the satguru that it is attained."
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 at the foot of Palani Hills temple.
He reports from India,
"We have shifted from Madurai to Thanjavur, a four and a half hour bus ride. In the evening, The class today covered the yamas of patience and steadfastness, the niyamas of Iswara Pujana and Siddhanta Shravana, the worship of Ganesha and refraining from verbal injury.
The next day we attended a grand puja at Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur. The innersearch group arrived at the temple at 8:30 and didn't leave until 1:30. It was a typical homa and abhishekam, however the scale of it was huge. In addition to the five priests at the homa and blessings the 108 Kumbhas, there were an additional ten priests chanting from Sri Rudram. After the opening portion we went to the sanctum for abhishekam for the Maha Lingam, which is thirteen feet high. The Lingam is so tall it has a permanent scaffolding installed to allow the priests to pour on the top of the Lingam. Gallons of milk, chandam and other sacred substances were carefully poured over the Lingam. We then went back to the homa area for the purnavati to conclude the homa, paraded the two major kumbhas around the temple and then all 108 blessed kumbhas were poured over the lingam while the vyoma vyapine chant was done. After a break during which the Lingam was decorated, we returned. The decorations were stunning. The entire lingam base and the bottom half of the lingam were covered with flowers that consisted of alternating stripes of white yellow and green. A large yellow and red garland went over the top. Quite a lot of flowers in all. Then the usual puja commenced of dhupa, deepa, naivedhyam, alankara and so forth. The alankara was the largest we have ever seen, visible from quite a distance. It was an inwardly powerful experience for sure. Om Namasivaya.
The group returned to the temple in the evening for a flute concert by Shashank, world renown flautist. Many of the innersearchers commented afterwards how fantastic the group was.
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.
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Yogi Mahadevan and Sadhaka Haranandinatha in the Lambodara Kulam office. This monastic group is responsible for the temple and pujas, the meals and the fund-raising for Iraivan Temple.
A mouse-eye view of Ganapoo, Persian mascot of the Lambodara Kulam.
The weather was a bit overcast today with light rain. We spoke to a man in North Dakota a few days ago who said it was 50 degrees F below zero there. That was 120 degrees colder than Kauai!
The simple impatiens flower blooms year-round at the aadheenam. When all other flowers are out of season, one can always find large quantities of impatiens for the puja. Their name is Latin for "impatient," so-named because the ripe seed pods burst and eject seeds when merely touched.
We pick up our TAKA coverage from January 23, with the group arriving in Madurai:
From the train the group drove off in three buses to the Taj Garden hotel, just on the edge of Madurai, up on a hillock overlooking the city. Once the corporate headquarters for British company in the late 1980's, the Taj group of hotels purchased the property and has established a beautiful hotel with just 90 rooms. It is a quiet, pollution free setting. Perfect for our Innersearch.
A scene we see every day... Innersearchers gathering to board or disembark from buses... here we have arrived after a long journey from Bangalore.
The Taj Garden retains its old world flavor, with bougainvillea vines decorating the old brick and beautiful wood structures. Its a refreshing "organic" change from the super modern "chrome plated" hotels and airports of Asia. We feel very much at home here.
Being situated on a hill, the hotel rooms are layed out on terraces surrounding the main reception building. The means going up and down stairs whenever moving from one place to another in the hotel.
Sadhaka Dandapani meets with the two staff with our travel agency that are handling all the ground logistics., from buses to hotel reservations and checking in. Everything is taken care of in such a transparent way, that the Innersearchers are entirely freed from all these travel concerns.
Everyone has been asking when classes would begin. Today after getting settled in our rooms, everyone gathered on the garden terrace for Bodhinatha's first lesson of the Innersearch.
Rakesh Chandranatha from Colorado who has already gone through "self-conversion" after studying Gurudeva's teachings and then proceeding as outlined in "How to Become a Hindu" to change his name and get the Namakarana Samskara done by a Hindu priest.
Bodhinatha's practical classes make it easy to take notes. He also stops for exercises where the participants examine and make notes about aspects of their lives that relate to the subject such as "Contentment"
Michael Inthawong Duncan was associated with Gurudeva decades ago and has come to Kauai Aadheenam from time to time. He now lives in Thailand and has come on this Innersearch with his eleven-year old son, "Moose."
Bodhinatha teaching.
Mrs. Lindsay Boyer from New York.
Mark Boyer, Lindsay's husband.
In the afternoon we made our way to the Madurai temple. As with all the Hindu temples, in terms of photos, the visit is "rahasya" or "secret" as photos are not allowed. It was a powerful experience for everyone to have darshan of Lord Sundaresvara and Goddess Meenakshi. Here the devotees gather in an outer hall and the priests honor the visiting Aadheenam Kartar.
Bodhinatha is being showered with garlands, again and again....
The Raja Gopuram over the east entrance of the temple, which covers an entire city block.
Bodhinatha is also enjoying the temple visits and shines with joy that everyone feels very strongly. Since Gurudeva's passing, many devotees feel that they need to get to know Bodhinatha better. This trip is a great opportunity. Devotees find Bodhinatha to be full of "fatherly love."
Returning from the temple we finally get a chance to relax. The Taj Garden hotel is very much, as the new general manager has said, like an ashram. The view overlooking Madurai is stunning... we can see the four Raja Gopurams of the Meenakshi temple in the distance.
The sun sets in full view of our hotel.... in indescribable experience to be here after darshan of Mother Meenakshi, being in the holy land watching the sun set...
One downside to urban life in India is the extreme pollution produced by all the diesel engines. But, the good news is the government is making major moves to change things and natural gas engines are slowly being introduced to replace diesel.
In the morning the Sivachariyas from Pillaiyarpatti have driven all the way to Madurai to meet with Bodhinatha and make sure all is set for the big program at the Pilliyar temple tomorrow with the big boys of the Padasala.
Swami Omkarananda from the Vedagiri Ashram also visited this morning.
S. Madhavan, vice-president of the Sri Swami Chidbhavananda Ashram, also came with Swamiji.
Here is our wondeful Sri Pitchai Gurukkal who started the Gurukulam in Pilliyarpatti in 1985. Since then over 1,000 priests have been trained and deployed in temples not only in India but throughout the world.
Sri Pitchai Gurukkal is beloved by all his students and the populace of Pilliyarpatti. It was one of his sishya in California, serving as the priest at the Concord Palaniswami Sivan temple, who arranged for our visit to Pilliyarpatti. In the Indian way of making arrangements, first hand personal confirmation of a program is considered a mandatory mode of doing business. A phone call or email isn't enough to finalize an agreement to conduct major programs.
Oranges and apples are a common fruit sold everywhere on the streets.
Our Innersearchers are taking short visits out to Madurai to shop and get clothes personally fitted by tailors in town.
Small yellow apples....
The ubiquitous auto-rickshaw perfect for a short ride if you can handle the diesel fumes on the streets.
These men on cycle rickshaws handle loads of incredible size... unbelievable how he can drive this mammoth load.
Every level of transportation for every budget! 3 rupees get you across town on a cycle-rickshaw.
Giant garlands adorn a chariot moving through the streets.
Palaniswami giving a class in the afternoon.
Stephanie Corgatelli from Seattle...
Raman Pumanian
Sivakatirswami attends the classes with a little iBook and writes these captions for TAKA. Later he logs onto the internet from India, emails photos to Kauai and Arumugaswami puts up the daily TAKA page in his absence.
The men on one side of the garden terrace classroom.
Hitesvara Saravan from the big island of Hawaii...
Chandran Param is here with his wife and two boys from California.
And we catch up with our in-advance description of the pilgrimage. The dates are India time.
Jan 31: Today Bodhinatha and the Innersearchers are leaving the town of Thanjavur, where they have been for several days. They will take their buses to Swamimalai, there to visit another of Lord Murugan's major shrines. This area is known throughout India as a center for the art of metal sculpting. In fact, our own 108 Siva Tandava statues were made here. The master craftsman who did that work years ago has asked to host Bodhinatha during his visit, and to show the Innersearchers through his workshop.
Feb 1: Today Bodhinatha and the Innersearchers will stay all day at the hotel in Thanjavur, with a cultural concert arranged by us at the great Siva Temple here, called the Brihadeeswarar Temple. This temple boasts the largest capstone in the world, weighing 80 tons and build by Rajaraja Chola 1100 years ago. In his classes Bodhinatha is stressing the yamas and niyamas, how we can live them ever better in our life. Using the tools that Gurudeva has given us for spiritual transformation. We quote again from the 1982-83 Odyssey diary: "We visited the home of a religious industrialist today. His home is really a palace, about two miles out of town. Whenever a Satguru is invited to a home, it is called Mahesvara Puja. The host performs a long Guru Puja in a spotless clean hall where we are all sitting in marble and mats. We then are taken to his shrine room, which he wants Gurudeva to bless. We are treated like kings and queens, and everywhere we look there is beauty and art, all Saivite, much of it ancient no doubt. In the shrine room Mr. Chokalingam gives Gurudeva a rare right-handed conch shell, and he tell us that water poured from it will automatically be holy water. We had looked at such conches in a high-end shop a week ago, but they were so expensive we did not buy it. Now our host hands one to Gurudeva, camphor before Gurudeva, passing the flame over all our banana leaves to bring us the blessings. Now, at last, we are allowed to eat!"
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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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