Catholic Brother David Steindle-Rast from Austria, recently visited the aadheenam. He and his small group were given a tour of the grounds, after which they had a meeting with Satguru Bodhinatha. Later he sat down for a talk with Sadasivanathaswami and Brahmanathaswami. Brother David actively promotes the practice of gratefulness and was involved in past interfaith Global Forums in Moscow. He had some wonderful words to say about many topics, including the importance of religion as something which brings man into unity with God, stating that any beliefs or practices that separate people or divide the world, could not be called religion.

On Wednesday, February 19, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami joined a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic monsignor, an Episcopal bishop and a Baptist pastor for the fourth annual Permian Basin Interfaith Event. The two-hour event was videotaped, and as soon as the monastery receives it on DVD, it will be uploaded to YouTube for everyone to see.

The five speakers this year were (left to right in the first photo above):

• Rabbi Holly Levin Cohn of Temple Beth El, Odessa, Texas


• Msgr. Larry Droll, Pastor, St. Ann's Catholic Church, Midland, Texas


• Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami of Kauai's Hindu Monastery, Hawaii


• Rt. Rev. Sam B. Hulsey, Bishop (Retd.), Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas


• Dr. Randel Everett, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Midland, Texas

The following questions were asked of the five speakers, which each addressed with three minutes of prepared remarks:

1. Do you actively seek new members? How do you deal with inquirers seeking information to consider membership?


2. How does your faith influence your views on gay marriage, and more broadly on homosexuality in general.


3. What does your faith tradition have to say to those of us who do not believe in a Supernatural World, one with Gods, Spirits, Ghosts, and Demons?


4. Throughout the year there are many public events such as awards, banquets, board meeting for the numerous non-profit organizations and regular meetings held by Government bodies. And they are often opened with a prayer which honors or beseeches Jesus Christ.
   How do you feel about this, given that often-times members of non-Christian faiths are present?


5. Non-Christian children are frequently told by their peers that they are going to go to hell. Knowing that such comments can create fear and insecurity in young minds, how would you address this topic with your congregation?

The answers were significantly more approachable this year, perhaps owing to the fact that the questions were less philosophical and more socio-cultural in nature than in previous years. The group has also developed a bond and momentum that displayed itself in an increased cordiality and respectful banter between them, particularly when the moderator opened the floor for the panelists to speak and pose inquiries to each other for a while before taking follow-up questions from the audience.

An article about the event appeared in the local newspaper, The Midland Reporter-Telegram, and can be read here. We look forward to presenting the video of the entire event here in the weeks to come. Stay tuned.

Our Malaysian members left Lanka today, we tried our best to give them a memorable yantra in Yogaswami's land. Took them to all the major temples in Jaffna and the places connected to our paramparai. I believe they had a nice visit.

We had a nice sivaratri puja at the Alaveddy pasupathiswarar temple. Kumbilavalai Chandran Kurukkal is in London now, his son returned to Sri Lanka and now is a priest at the Nallur temple. His name is Prasana Kurukkal, did the pumas and, herewith I am enclosing a photo of him, Malaysian members also attended the puja.

Love,

Thondunathan

Recently multiple families made pre-arranged visits to enjoy the grounds and have darshan with Satguru Bodhinatha.

Today we celebrate Gurudeva's Siva Vision Day, calculated by Revathi nakshatra in the month of Kumbha. It is today that we worship Siva at the svayambhu lingam, to which Gurudeva's vision lead him. Just before sunrise, monks and devotees walked through the darkened gardens, to the lingam square to enjoy a short puja and meditation.

Here is the story of Gurudeva's vision, as told in these excerpts from The Guru Chronicles:

In the early hours of February 15, 1975, lying on a tatami mat in his Ryokan room, Gurudeva was having one of those profound sleeps that is neither awake nor full of dreams. In that clear space above physical consciousness, the 48-year-old satguru experienced a threefold vision that would be the spiritual birth of the great Siva citadel called Iraivan Temple and its surrounding San Marga Sanctuary.

I saw Lord Siva walking in the meadow near the Wailua River. His face was looking into mine. Then He was seated upon a great stone. I was seated on His left side. This was the vision. It became more vivid as the years passed. Upon reentering Earthly consciousness, I felt certain that the great stone was somewhere on our monastery land and set about to find it.
Guided from within by my satguru, I hired a bulldozer and instructed the driver to follow me as I walked to the north edge of the property that was then a tangle of buffalo grass and wild guava. I hacked my way through the jungle southward as the bulldozer cut a path behind me. After almost half a mile, I sat down to rest near a small tree. Though there was no wind, suddenly the tree's leaves shimmered as if in the excitement of communication. I said to the tree, "What is your message?" In reply, my attention was directed to a spot just to the right of where I was sitting.
When I pulled back the tall grass, there was a large rock--the self-created Lingam on which Lord Siva had sat. A stunningly potent vibration was felt. The bulldozer's trail now led exactly to the sacred stone, surrounded by five smaller boulders. San Marga, the "straight or pure path" to God, had been created. An inner voice proclaimed, "This is the place where the world will come to pray." San Marga symbolizes each soul's journey to liberation through union with God.

That vision must have wrought profound changes in Gurudeva's interior world, for it certainly was the seed of profound changes on the outside. Immediately he embarked on a long journey that would bring Saivism deeply into the lives of his followers and build not only a temple to honor his life-changing vision, but a traditional aadheenam like the great ones he had visited in South India just three years before.
Gurudeva had observed there was no such temple/monastery complex in all of the West for Hindus and threw himself into its creation. With no authorities to guide, he searched within for the systems of spiritual and material management and crafted an astonishing set of procedures and flows to guide every aspect of his several institutions, and to inform the monks' lives and relationships.
By the spring of 1987 Gurudeva's vision for Iraivan Temple was evolving from a mystical revelation to a real-world plan. Working with sacred architects in South India, he was defining its physical form, establishing the principles of its creation and considering the style of the massive stone edifices built during South India's Chola Dynasty a millennium ago. The big question was still pending: What form of Siva would inhabit the inner sanctum? It was a meditation that continued for months, for he knew the relevance of this decision. It would define the temple more than any external style. It would be its life and essence, the most holy and powerful force around which all else would circle.
One day, in an early-morning vision in his private quarters, Gurudeva saw the future, as he would later say. In fact, he often said, if you want to know what you should do, do this: In your mind, travel into the future, and from there look back and witness what happened. The present-day decision will be obvious.
In this vision of the yet-to-be, Gurudeva saw a massive crystal Sivalingam shining brightly in the sanctum of Iraivan Temple, radiating out to the world. It was a titan among crystals. In fact, it seemed in this first seeing impossibly large, fantastical and beyond reality.
The Agamas say one can worship this Great God Siva in the form of a Lingam made of mud or sand, of cow dung or wood, of bronze or black granite stone. But the purest and most sought-after form is the quartz crystal, a natural stone not carved by man but made by nature, gathered molecule by molecule over hundreds, thousands or millions of years, grown as a living body grows, but infinitely more slowly. Such a creation of nature is itself a miracle worthy of worship.

During Sivaratri night, a poem was composed that we share today.

If you look carefully, the lines of the first quatrain and each of the subsequent parallel lines relate (mostly).  

Sivaratri Night
Kadavul Temple
February 27, 2014

Siva is not a friend of fathomers,
Of those who seek a God within their ken,
Or those who dwell in twin-mind's separateness,
Or those who think of Him but now and then.

Unfathomable He, mystery untold,
Unseekable, our God, beyond all mind,
Undivided, separateness' nemesis,
Unthinkably beyond what souls may find.

How then to fathom such raw Omnitude?
How to draw near That without breadth or length?
Perhaps just trust. Perhaps just be, and see
That He is there as life, as love's mute strength.

Better yet to know what can't be known,
Defiant Truth that flees the grasp of man,
To say, "I searched but was the searched I sought,
With not a separate thing to understand."

Aum Namasivaya!

This year, the monastery enjoyed another beautiful celebration of Mahasivaratri. The night began at 7 o'clock, as devotees walked the torch-lit path up to Kadavul temple. There they sang bhajans together until 7:30 when the special Siva homa began. From that very first arati to Ganesha, it was obvious that this would be a powerful night. With everyone gathered around the crackling flames, the monks chanted Sri Rudram with an intense and indomitable cadence. Siva's unlimited and all-pervasive energy and love, swelled through the minds of all present, drawing them inward toward the Self of themselves.

There the eye goes not, nor words, nor mind. We know not. We cannot understand how He can be explained. He is above the known, and He is above the unknown. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us. Sama Veda, Kena Upanishad 1.3

As the Homa reached its crescendo, and the final arati had passed, the Siva kumbha was placed upon Satguru Bodhinatha's head, and was paraded around Nandi and the Kodimaram, then brought to Siva's inner sanctum for the night's abhishekam.

Like the household fire, devotees seek the glory of the Lord even from afar and enshrine it in their inner chamber for enlightenment. The glory of our Lord is full of splendor, all-illuminative and worthy to be honored in every heart. Rig Veda 7.1.2

Soon after, everyone sat and listened to a talk given by Gurudeva on that same night 24 years earlier. Following the talk, a short and serene, silent meditation on the Absolute. After a quick break, Bodhinatha gave an absolutely incredible talk, which we hope to have online soon. He discussed the nine stages of merging with Siva with his usual simplicity and grace.

Namah Sivaya has such power, the mere intonation of these syllables reaps its own reward in salvaging the soul from bondages of the treacherous instinctive mind and the steel bands of a perfected externalized intellect. Gurudeva

The small and sometimes unnoticed crystal lingam, which sits Nataraja's feet in Kadavul, parallels the often unnoticed and silent power reverberating through it. The abhishekam soon began, and the monks took turns bathing the lingam. In pairs, they poured milk, yogurt, citrus, vibuthi and others, over the perfectly clear crystal Lingam. Offering their prana to Siva's formless unevolutionary perfection.

With love and tireless devotion to our great God, the source of all things and the core of our being, Aum Namah Sivaya!

Be unknown. God is unknown. Siva Yogaswami