Education

Final Malaysia/Singapore Workshop Reports

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Below are some of the final descriptions by the traveling team for their days in Malaysia and Singapore. Day 14–

Today, we traveled to the Sri Subramaniya Swami Temple in Kajang for the Path to Siva workshop. We had a wonderful turnout of 35 students and received an incredibly positive response from the participants.

Although the students were quite shy at the beginning, they warmed up beautifully as the session progressed. It was a huge help to have several of our own young sishyas present to support Swami; they did a fantastic job of explaining questions and encouraging the youth to actively participate. By the end of the workshop, several students even approached Swami to ask personal questions.

Day 16-17

Today was a day of travel and teaching. We arrived at the airport four hours early due to the festive holiday season. Swami utilized this extra time to prepare for the upcoming Singapore Path to Siva workshops. After a quick 50-minute flight, we were warmly greeted at the airport by several sishyas, followed by a wonderful meal at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant filled with lively discussion about our travels and the Monastery.

That evening, Swami conducted a workshop at Sudha’s home, with 25 adults and youth in attendance. The core focus of the session was managing stress.

Key teachings from the workshop included:

 The Three States of mind

 Our True Identity: Remembering that you are not the instinctive mind; you are the soul.

 Spiritual Practice: Swami introduced the practice of Vasana Daha Tantra

Day 18–

Singapore day 2 was a full four-hour Path to Siva workshop, 35 in attendance. Focused group with a lot of questions. Swami followed the standard workshop format.

Later went to the home of Trishna for a Satsang. Modest group of 20. Young families and single adults were in attendance. Great questions were asked about parenting and how to encourage the youth to go to the temple and continue to practice our religion. Swami talked about our amazing religion, sadhana, our mission in Malaysia, and monastic life.

Day 19–

We had a 6:30 departure from Singapore traveling to Johor. We arrived at the Arulmigu Sithi Vinayagar Temple around 8:15, had a nice darshan of Ganesha, then set up for the workshop. Just before 9 am, Swami performed an arati to Ganesha, Gurudeva, and Satguru Bodhinatha. 39 students were in attendance. Swami starts each event by saying this workshop is for the youth; if there are any adults in the back, refrain from asking questions. This workshop was entirely in Tamil. At the end several youth stood up and asked questions. Home satsang in the afternoon. Swami went back to the importance of a daily sadhana practice and how to best encourage youth.

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Conversing in Shum Language

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Easan Katir, a Saiva Siddhanta Church senior sishya, has been teaching the Shum language for decades, mostly recently through video conferences. He includes conversational Shum in the seminars. With the help of AI and a student devotee, Akash Katir, he has now created a website with primer lessons for learning conversational Shum. The first three lessons are complete and available here.

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September Malaysia Travels Part Three

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Our monks are currently still in Malaysia on a mission attend youth workshops, bringing our Path To Siva lessons to Malaysian teenagers and students. Here are the things they have mentioned to us about their trip:

“Swami and I left the hotel at 6:30 am. Today’s workshop was held at the Sri Subramuniya Swami temple in Kajang, 53 students attended. One of the instrumental organizers of today’s event is Padma a Bramachari, who is also a Master Course student. He was the MC for this event. He distributed fliers for the event, reached out to friends and other students, then spoke to each individual student and their parents to invite the students to today’s event.

“Swami followed the same pattern as last Path to Siva workshop. This group of students was a little more shy when asking questions. They slowly warmed up, and the questions started to flow.

“The workshop went quite well. Just like the first workshop, Vasana Daha Tantra was a big hit that every youth felt created a change in their life. One young man age 19 approached Swami wanting to become a monk. He will be emailing the monastery soon to inquire more about monastic life.

“It was another inspiring day.”

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September Malaysia Visit Part Two

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Yoginathaswami and Sadhaka Tejadevanatha completed the first Path to Siva workshop, visited with SSC sishyas at the hotel and in their homes, and also the offices of Kauai Aadheenam supporter Dato Vijay Eswaran. Here are some notes Sadhaka made about it–

Today was Swami’s first workshop, hosted at a Brahma Kumaris meeting hall. Between 90 and 100 students age 16 to 22 were in attendance. We first checked out the hall, then had a meeting with the manager. Our Mc, Aravindraj, opened the event with a short explanation about the monastery, then gave a few words about Yoginathaswami, and his experience on taskforce. We honored two of the Brahma Kumaris with a small gift.

A short video was played, ” All about Kauai’s Hindu Monastery”. Next Swami dove into Path to Siva. The subjects began with the Four main Hindu denominations, three types of Karma, Reincarnation, God is everywhere and in everything, the importance of being a vegetarian, Temple worship, Bhakti/devotion will soften Karma, daily 5-minute sadhana, attending the temple once a week, pilgrimage to a far off temple once a year and the importance of a Satguru to go deeper into spiritual life.

We played a video about our monastery life. All the students and teachers really enjoyed it. Swami opened up for Q&A.
A few of the questions:
Where did the name Siva come from?
Why are there so many Gods?
How does one qualify to be a monk?
Is God real?
What made you believe in Siva?

Swami then discussed Vasana Daha Tantra at great length and the students were provided with paper to perform this very powerful tool. Positive affirmations were discussed and how exactly to utilize the power of affirmation to create change in one’s life. Three phase of the mind, 5 states of mind and How to meditate were discussed.

We had one more Q and A. Swami Gave out Vibhuti to all in attendance and I gave a Kauai rudraksha to each student and a few of the teachers.

Swami asked if any young men were interested in monastic life, one young man raised his hand and during one of the breaks another two young men spoke to swami about monastic life.
Another subject that Swami discussed was the importance of celibacy and transmutation. He spoke of how many youth fall into the trap of being sexually active because of peer pressure.

Swami touched on the subject of suicide and how it is not the answer to solve one’s difficult life. Suicide will complicate your evolution, creating more karma. It is best to ask for help and work through your challenges in life.

My impression was the students really appreciated the workshop. Swami explained the high philosophy in a way that all the students could comprehend. He weaved stories into the talk in both English/Tamil and he threw in a few Malay words which everyone loved. Swami’s understanding of the local culture really captivated the audience.

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Monks Arrive in Malaysia

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Aum Namah Shivaya

Recently, our traveling monks landed in Malaysia after many hours of plane rides from Hawaii to Japan and on to Malaysia. Upon arrival, Sannyasin Yoginathaswami and Nirvani Tejadevanatha were greeted by Malaysian shishyas at the airport. After some much-needed rest, the two enjoyed private meetings and meals with member families and students.

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