Kauai Aadheenam

(Part One was included in the previous week’s upadesha.)

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.

“Upon hearing of these soul-searching procedures (known as vrātyastoma), most will bow out without a word and seek less demanding groups, thus proving their insincerity. These time-proven methods prevent detractors from returning to further disrupt the group from the inside more effectively than they could from the outside. If the seeker is qualified to be readmitted after completing his prāyaśchitta, he must begin at the beginning study level and be given no special privileges, positions or recognition in respect for his prior association. The protection of the fellowship is of utmost importance for the benefit of each devotee, and for the continuing spiritual unfoldment of the guru or swāmī himself. One should not be so naive to think that disgruntled former devotees would not seek reentrance for the purpose of disrupting the organization, or be sent on a mission from an adversarial group to rejoin in order to disrupt. All this and more has happened to gurus and swāmīs since the turn of the century.“

(This also contains a lesson from Chapter 45, Spiritual Training.)

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.

“Once someone said of my guru, Yogaswami, “You have to make yourself like a fool to go in front of that man. He will speak as a madman of God to you. But if you go to him in an ordinary state of consciousness, he will say, ‘I’m just like you. Go away. I have nothing to say. Nothing comes from the inside. Go away!’ ” You have to be an intellectual fool to be in front of the satguru. If you hear ordinary things from the guru, look closely at yourself. He is your closest mirror. He is only biding his time with you until the extraordinary ones come along to utilize his depths. Most gurus enjoy an exquisite inner life that is so refined and interesting, it keeps them very well occupied. “

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.

“Still a certain darshan power goes out to him, but the guru no longer consciously inwardly works with him as an individual. He knows it is too dangerous to work with this fluctuating aspirant, for there is no telling how he might take and use the accumulating power that would later be awakened within him. The satguru makes such a one prove himself to himself time and time again and to the guru, too, through sādhana and tapas. Sādhana tests his loyalty, consistency and resolution. Tapas tests his loyalty as well as his personal will, for he does tapas alone, gaining help only from inside himself, and he has to be aware on the inside to receive it. A wise guru never hesitates to “put him through it,” so to speak.“