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Make Your Home God's Home

In this video, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami reads his editorial from the October/November/December 2011 edition of Hinduism Today magazine. He encourages us all to establish a formal shrine room as the family’s place of communion with the Divine through worship and meditation.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui0FgbNpXsg

Gurudeva Pada Puja (video)

We bring you a short iPhone video with highlights of our monthly puja to Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s sandals at his shrine in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery on the monthly occurrence of his mahasamadhi nakshatra, Chitra, September 1, 2011. Only two months to go before the grand tenth annual observances of Gurudeva’s Mahasamadhi!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxSc-v_YUM

Ganesha Visarjana (video)

We bring you a short iPhone video of Ganesha Visarjana at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, August 31, 2011. Thanks to local devotees who made clay Ganesha murtis to immerse in the Wailua River after the grand Ganesha Chaturthi puja!
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yotZUQmyTvE

Satguru Speaks on Stephen Covey's Seven Habits

This video was created by the monastery for a Hindu Students Association leadership conference called Dharma Initiative, held in Plano, Texas, on May 21. Dharma Initiative is an annual leadership training conference where young Hindu leaders around the United States are invited for professional leadership development. The HSA expressed much gratitude to Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami for creating this video for them.
At this year’s conference, workshop topics were: Positive Affirmations (using materials written by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and presented in a seminar to HSA’s national officers earlier this year), A Hindu Take on the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People of Stephen Covey, Improving Relationships, Identifying and Maximizing Personal Strengths, Individual Development, Hindus/HSA in American Fabric, Speaking to Win, and Social Media’s Role in Multiplying Efforts.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aWXo3c-5r8

A Most Illustrious Guest

Lord Subrahmanya Himself came today, Pleaiadean God, Master of advanced yoga, in whose sannyasins and rishis take refuge. His is the library from which Gurudeva read decades ago, drawing forth the wisdom that defines and pervades our church and our monastic order.
Today is Vaikashi Vishakham, one of Muruga’s holy days. Watch the homa and the puja in a short video the monks have created out of love for Siva, for you — and for the graceful ascetic of the inner realms, Lord Muruga.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcIBMUd2L4A

Publisher's Desk Video: Be a Spiritual Leader!

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami reads his editorial from the July/August/September 2011 issue of Hinduism Today.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_xUjLmUFUg

A Kauai Innersearch Retrospective

It was a year ago this month that we held the 2010 Innersearch Travel-Study Program on the island of Kauai with 55 devotees from around the world. Enjoy the following video summary of the program, and consider joining us during our next program in 2013, voyaging to North India and Mauritius. To get on the list for announcements about the next program, e-mail us.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0yhPXV48M4

Video of Jayendrapuri Mahaswamiji

Sri Sri Sri Jayendrapuri Mahaswamiji says a few sweet words about his visit to Kauai Aadheenam in this video.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBrxNr_YPeM

Christian and Jewish Leaders Discuss Evil and Suffering

As promised, here is the video showing the Christian and Jewish leaders’ responses to the question “How does your faith tradition explain the problem of evil and suffering?” at the interfaith gathering held at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Midland, Texas, on April 7, 2011.
Speakers in this video: Monsignor James Bridges of St. Stephens Catholic Church, Pastor Jay Mayo of Stonegate Baptist Fellowship, Reverend James E. Liggett, Jr. of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church and Rabbi Sidney Zimelman of Temple Beth El.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfBD4Q0Aurc
(Our apologies for some of the framing issues in this video)
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami’s answer to this question can be viewed here.

Interfaith Event in Midland, Texas

On Thursday, April 7, 2011, St. Stephens Catholic Church in Midland, Texas, was host to the Permian Basin's first ever interfaith gathering. Three newspapers and a TV station were there to cover the event (two articles are online here and here, and a short video posted by one of the newspapers can be found here). Here, all the speakers talk to the local CBS News before the event begins.

The event was brilliantly designed to give each faith's understanding of contemporary issues, not to discuss theological points of difference.

The questions were submitted by the speakers themselves and then answered one after the other in turn, with the panel taking questions from the audience at the end. The five questions of the evening were:

  1. How does your faith tradition explain the problem of evil and suffering?
  2. What is the religious goal to be achieved in your faith? What actions are required to achieve this goal and, of these, what is the one action stressed the most?
  3. Granting that we live in a pluralistic society and nation, which is committed to not favoring any religious group over another, what is the role, if any, of religious beliefs, convictions, and arguments in the public forum–in the debating and the enacting of laws and public policy?
  4. The issue of pro-life v. pro-choice, how can you define your views based on the understandings of your faith and belief system?
  5. Do you think that denominational prayer in the public schools should be countenanced since they can be awkward at best and exclusionary at worst of minority groups? And how do we deal with coach-encouraged denominational prayer by team members prior to football games since they, too, tend to be exclusionary of other faiths?

Dr. Padmaja Patel, left, was responsible for conceiving and coordinating the entire event, with the help of her husband, Dr. Mrunal Patel. Russell Meyers, right, the CEO of Midland Memorial Hospital and an Episcopalian by faith, moderated the event.

The speakers, from left to right: Monsignor James Bridges of St. Stephens Catholic Church, Rabbi Sidney Zimelman of Temple Beth El, Pastor Jay Mayo of Stonegate Baptist Fellowship, Reverend James E. Liggett, Jr. of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church and Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami of Kauai's Hindu Monastery.

An important aspect of the event, of course, was the opportunity to share the Hindu perspective, which is a new perspective in West Texas. But the various ministers’ five-minute answers to all the questions surprised many, particularly because they were so similar on many points. However, on the first topic, evil and suffering, all of the Abrahamic denominations present relegated their responses to the admission that it is a complete mystery to them, that they have no answer for why God, who is omnipotent, allows evil and suffering in the world. Hinduism was the only faith represented on the panel that had a full answer to the question, and an enlightened, thoughtful one at that.

An estimated 500 people attended the event, which everyone involved considered an excellent turn-out. The goal, which was to promote greater understanding amongst the various faiths in West Texas, was definitely achieved.

Watch all five of Bodhinatha’s answers to the questions posed at this interfaith event in the video box below. Each of five videos will play in turn, one after the other, or you can choose from the videos by clicking the button in the control bar second from the left.

If the video is not loading fast enough, pausing often, or you are on a slow computer and it is choppy, try choosing a lower quality version (480p or 360p) from the menu on the right side of the control bar.

Below, the Christian and Jewish leaders answer the question: How does your faith tradition explain the problem of evil and suffering?

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfBD4Q0Aurc

Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.

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