Kauai Aadheenam

The Two Perfections of Our Soul, Part Three

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

The struggle with the mind is an easy struggle if you are constantly vigilant, all of the time, doing always what you know you should do, not allowing the mind to become instinctive, not excusing the mind when it does become instinctive, not allowing the mind to justify, rationalize, excuse, become combative, but making the mind always remain poised, like a hummingbird over a flower, so that you begin to live in the eternal now, constantly, permanently. And then the within becomes natural to you, not something you hear about, study about, talk about, sing about, for you become open, awakened within. 

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New Monastery Residents

Several days ago we welcomed two young men who arrived here just in time to help prepare for and attend the Iraivan Temple annual Samvatsara Puja.

Nithya Shankaran Mogan arrived first from Singapore, on his very first visit to Kauai for a month. He is a longtime sishya in Saiva Siddhanta Church along with his late father, his mother, sister and brother. While he currently works in Singapore, his family is from Malaysia. He turned 31 yesterday; Happy Birthday!

About a day later, Arinien Mootoocurpen arrived from Mauritius to pursue the monastic path. It was the culmination of months of preparation, including a special visa application and entering the first stage of pre-monastic life which we call Aspirancy. He first flew to Kauai some years back to experience the monastic path for several months in order to be familiar with his life path options. Arinien comes from a family who are also longtime sishyas in Saiva Siddhanta Church. With plenty of joyful tears, family members and other sishyas in Mauritius wished him well for his chosen path.

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The Two Perfections of Our Soul, Part Two

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

Out of the microcosm ever comes the macrocosm. Out of Paraśiva—which is timeless, causeless and formless—ever comes all form. This is the great mystery without a reason why. Out of pure consciousness ever comes the light which binds all form together in specific bondage, individualizing forms, souls, one from another. This is ever happening, as simultaneously struggling souls remove their bondage through the grace of God Śiva to come into Satchidānanda, later to be absorbed into Paraśiva. This, too, is a great mystery without a reason why. 

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Cleaning Kartikeya at Muruga Hill

A Kartikeya Deity adorns the side of Muruga Hill on San Marga path, tall bamboo swaying above. The Deity was previously at the entrance to the Svayambhulingam square. Just before completing his taskforce stay a couple weeks ago, Maruthu Darmalingam and one of the monks cleaned the murti and surrounding platform, lightly oiled and dressed Him in clean garments, with new pottus.

A couple days ago we had very strong wind gusts, so formidable that, just before Muruga Hill, a tall rudraksha tree clump fell across the San Marga path. It had been growing in a swampy area, so the roots were unstable. It’s now leaning at a 45 degree angle over the path because more rudraksha trees on the other side halted the fall! It’s going to be quite a job to safely remove this clump, probably involving a excavator. For now, no one is allowed to pass through this area.

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The Two Perfections of Our Soul, Part One

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva.

We shall now discuss the three perfections of our Supreme God Śiva: Paraśiva, Satchidānanda and Maheśvara. Isn’t it wonderful to know that two of God’s three perfections are inherent in the soul of man? What are those three perfections? The great God Śiva has form and is formless. He is the immanent Pure Consciousness or pure form; He is the Personal Lord manifesting Himself as innumerable forms; and He is the impersonal, transcendent Absolute beyond all form. We know Śiva in His three perfections, two of form and one formless. First, we worship His manifest form as Pure Love and Consciousness, called Satchidānanda in Sanskrit. Second, we worship Him as our Personal Lord, Maheśvara, the Primal Soul who tenderly loves and cares for His devotees—a Being whose resplendent body may be seen in mystic vision. In our daily lives we love, honor, worship and serve God in these manifest perfections. Ultimately, in perfectly simple, yet awesomely austere nirvikalpa samādhi, we realize Him as the formless Paraśiva, sought for and known only by yogīs and jñānīs. We cannot speak of His Absolute Reality which is beyond qualities and description, yet knowable to the fully matured soul who seeks God within through yoga under the guidance of a satguru.

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Fruit Orchard Mulching

Though time consuming to apply, our avocado and other fruit trees respond well to mulching, so the Siddhidata Kulam is carving out time to replenish the mulch layer around them more frequently. This is partly possible due to a large amount of material being regularly delivered by tree trimmer companies when they work in our area. We are very thankful for this.

Many of the avocado trees are putting out blossoms and tiny fruits right now, so this is the time to add more mulch.

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