Happy Chitra Nakshatra!

Jai Gurudeva!

This morning our monks and local shishya celebrated the Chitra nakshatra with their monthly observance in Kadavul Temple. Sannyasin Tillainathaswami and Yogi Haranandinatha performed an abhiskekam at Gurudeva's shrine in Kadavul Temple, while other monks chanting Sri Rudram. Aum

"Devotees seek a satguru who teaches them to understand suffering, and brings them into the intentional hardships of sadhana and tapas leading to liberation from the cycles of experience in the realm of duality." - Gurudeva

\"The yoga of pure devotion is found at the beginning, the middle and the end of the path. Merging with Siva is more and more a deeply felt experiential reality when the soul gives of itself to Siva inwardly and outwardly in unabashed devotion.\"

Prapatti truly is the key that unlocks the love needed as merger increases as the years pass by and, as Satguru Yogaswami said, \

Love pours forth to melt the very stones.\'\"'

\"Bhakti yoga is not an intellectual study. It is a practice. It is also not an emotional experience. It is a devotional experience. There is a difference, which we will come to understand.\"

\"Bhakti yoga is not a cure-all, nor a means to fast enlightenment. Rather, it is the foundation for enlightenment.\"

\"It is not a technique. Nor is it a magic mantra. It is a way of life.\"

\"The transformation that comes from living in the state of bhakti yoga is the softening of the heart.\"

\"External worship, bhakti yoga, is taught first on the spiritual path, because it produces a softened, mellow heart. It is to waste the gurus time to give training in meditation and contemplation before the heart has been softened through bhakti yoga.\"

\"The patient guru will wait until this has happened within the devotee. Otherwise, any accomplishment attained through intense raja yoga practices will not be sustained.\"

\"the wise guru starts his devotee at the beginning of the path, not in the middle\" - Gurudeva

Aum Namah Sivaya

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