Kauai Aadheenam

In the mystic, devotional songs to Siva, Saint Tayumanavar (1705–1742) beseeched humanity to see the one Divinity within all paths and philosophies. He sought to reconcile the religious conflicts of his day in South India—the Buddhists colliding with the Jains, the Vaishnavites quarreling with the Saivites—not unlike what we see in other parts of the world today. He had a Tamil word for it: samarasam. Samarasam literally means “same taste.” It denotes the harmony of doctrines, the inclusivity of religions, the bliss in which all dualities dissolve. It is, in essence, the high state of awareness that sees the One Divine equally in all beings. It reminds us that the thousand names of God are but echoes of one eternal Silence.

That call for religious harmony and reconciliation is a hallmark of Gurudeva’s teachings,and reaches back to Yogaswami before him. Saint Tayumanavar was deeply connected to our lineage, and sang that he followed the teachings of Tirumular, the second satguru on the Nandinatha Sampradaya.

Tayumanavar sings from within this current. His hymns revere both Vedas and Agamas, the saints and siddhars, and above all the living Guru who embodies their essence. He sees Saivism not as one creed among others but as the meeting point where outer differences are reconciled. For him mauna (silence) is not emptiness but the serene absorption that follows perfect understanding; and samarasam (harmony) is not compromise but the state in which Vedanta’s insight and Siddhanta’s devotion fuse as one path. His language of longing—sivanubhūti, anbu, jñāna, mauna—marks a heart that has passed beyond theology into direct awareness.

Today we share a sampling of his songs and art from the book we are soon to publish. 

Songs for Siva

Who was it that gave this egoity so much authority? Does this maya even exist outside of my thought? Will “sky flower’’ and “mirage water’’ ever have a practical use? Even my instructed state is thrown into confusion unless I receive Your grace to seek refuge in You. It performs a conjuring trick in my mind, establishing the illusory world as permanent. When shall I receive the secret of conquering this? Please tell me, O Jnanaguru Who expounds in Your grace the six established faiths and the philosophical unity of Vedanta and Siddhanta for all the worlds in cardinal directions to know. O Mantra Guru! O Yoga Tantra Guru! Mauna Guru who comes in the line of Tirumular!

Holding as real this body that is evanescent, like a flash of lightning, holding as real the pleasures of flashy women who intoxicate the senses with their collyrium-painted eyes, holding as heaven the stately mansion and mounting riches, holding gold as an imperishable treasure that waxes high, putting on false appearances to an excessive degree, abandoning to the winds the virtues of patience, wisdom, renunciation and charity, to be possessed of greed, miserliness and other demons, to walk about here below caught in the faith of the materialist—with a single word, in compassion, You kept me from all these that I might receive the grace of the great Vedanta-Siddhanta accord and enjoy the life eternal. O You Jnana Guru! O Mantra Guru! O Yoga Tantra Guru! Mauna Guru who comes in the line of Tirumular!

Today we announce our annual end-of-the-year Digital Dharma Drive.

A Message from Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

November 1, 2025

Namaste and welcome to our various websites and mobile apps, through which we endeavor to provide accurate, useful and contemporary information on Hinduism. 

Thanks to Digital Dharma Drive donations, the monks continued their steady push to create additional AI recordings in Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s voice of his writings that he did not himself record. This is especially appreciated by individuals who regularly listen to audio files, such as when traveling to work. We have a new presence on Instagram, where snippets from Path to Siva and Gurudeva’s Spiritual Toolbox appear each week thanks to development and publishing tools that have been acquired. AI has been adopted by many of the monks who now use it to aid in communications, publications, web development, image creation, troubleshooting, computer learning and research tasks. Donations also cover the professional fees needed to continue to upgrade and expand our digital offerings. Our most exciting news is the completion, after 13 years of work, of our own translation and commentary of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. And it’s illustrated!

The material on our websites and mobile apps continues to be available for free. Our Guru, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, insisted that all of his books as well as our other publications be available in digital formats without charging readers to access this material. For example, all issues of our magazine, Hinduism Today, are available online without cost.

We do, however, follow the model of Wikipedia of asking for donations during the last two months of the year. For fifteen years running, you have responded generously to our Digital Dharma Drive, and after another year of dynamic digital progress, we are back again with our 2025 appeal.

In our “How the Funds Are Used” page, https://ddd.himalayanacademy.com/how-the-funds-are-used/ we detail what we did with your past generosity, and what we hope to accomplish in the coming year. Digital Dharma Drive funds do not pay staff salaries or administrative overhead, since our sites are created and maintained by selfless monks who happily work for free and live simply in our remote monastery on the island of Kauai. This allows us to accomplish major projects with relatively small cost.

Ten percent of your tax-deductible contribution goes into the permanent Digital Dharma Drive Endowment, which now stands at $319,764 after fourteen years of fundraising. This follows Gurudeva’s vision that ultimately, in the future, all major aspects of our work will be supported by endowments. As the endowment accumulates, it will provide an ever-increasing income for decades to come, protecting the digital future of Hinduism, your religious heritage.

We urge you to donate today, and empower us to improve Hinduism’s global English-language resources—for the benefit of this and future generations. Our plans, projects and publications can be made manifest with your help.  

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Guru Mahasannidhanam of Kauai Aadheenam
Publisher of Hinduism Today

On October 1, a rare and uplifting Ladies’ Workshop was held at the Spiritual Park, bringing together the amazing women who form the heart and sustaining force of Gurudeva’s and Bodhinatha’s mission in the island nation. The gathering focused on issues close to their lives—how to lovingly guide children who do not follow our path, how to balance the many daily tasks at home and at the Park, and how to find precious time for meditation amidst it all.

After the presentations, Paramacharya invited everyone to pair up and share their often-unspoken love and appreciation for one another. He began by expressing his gratitude to Premila Manick, who then responded in kind. Inspired by their example, the women turned to those beside them, offering heartfelt thanks to their friends for simply being part of their lives. The space soon filled with laughter, gentle hugs, hand-holding, and tears of joy as each felt seen and cherished.

The event concluded with vibuthi blessings. Paramacharya had brought from Kauai 23-karat gilded Rudraksha beads and a small piece of the robes Gurudeva had worn in life, presenting each woman with these sacred and deeply meaningful gifts.

Testimony

Om Namasivaya Paramacharya,

I wanted to write to you on how AMAZING it was to hear and see you during the Ladies workshop today. I will most probably remember this for the rest of my life. There were so many teachings – some conscious, some unconscious. 

When you said that it is important for women to know that they are seen, heard and loved for all that they do, it suddenly occurred to me that it is exactly what my mum requires. She is emotional most of the time these days, and I think it is because she does not feel seen, heard and loved. I came home today and I had a different response to her. I was more present, tolerant and understanding. All thanks to YOU. You are really untangling my karmas!!

I also really appreciated the way you demonstrated appreciation and gratitude to Kulamata Premila. There are so many profound lessons in those moments that I will love to go back to this memory and draw inspiration from it again and again.

I have changed today, I am deeply humbled by this experience and I want to convey my deepest gratitude to you.

Om

Sadasivanathaswami and Tillainathaswami are in Mauritius the last few days as you saw earlier, spending more time than usual with members, both in groups and individually. As scripture says, nothing brings greater joy to a Sivabhaktar than being with other Sivabhaktars, and the devotees here are amazing. Amazing in their dedication, amazing in their service to others, amazing in their exemplary sadhanas and more than amazing in their rarified presence, a purity derived from decades of putting Gurudeva’s teachings into practice. They have done the work, and it shows. The last photo in the gallery captures the September 30 meeting of the kulapatis. Standing are the senior ones and seated are the newly installed younger leaders. The leadership has thus strengthened significantly, assuring the dynamic growth of the Spiritual Park continues long into the future.

In one of the talks, Paramacharya gave a Gurudeva quote that is worth repeating here: “The Natha Sampradaya has revealed the search for the innermost divine Self, balanced by temple worship, fueled by kundalini yoga, charted by monistic theism, illumined by a potent guru-shishya system, guided by soul-stirring scriptures and awakened by sadhana and tapas.”