Vel Alahan hosted two familes today. On the right Mylvaganam Kathirgamanathan (he calls himself Kathirgamanathan) and his wife Sarathadevi are from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, now living in Toronto, Canada. Kathirgamanathan is a surgeon and attending a conference on Kauai. He has memories of the days when Siva Yogaswami was alive. In fact his whole family were devotees of St Yogaswami.
On the left The family from Queensland, Australia originally from Fiji: Priya Ayesha Sinh (daughter), Mrs. Sushila Sinh, Ravi Sinh (son), Vinod Sinh (father). They follow the Aadheenam closely on line and are donors of the gilding of Iraivan Temple.
Swami Ishwarananda Ji of the Chinmaya Mission in Los Angeles made his second visit to the Aadheenam today. He first visited ten years ago, and he barely missed meeting Gurudeva at that time. Accompanied by Sri Lankan devotees from Southern California, Swamiji told us that he came to Kauai this weekend solely to visit the monastery.
The group of thirteen attended the morning Siva puja, toured Iraivan Temple, met with Bodhinatha and met with some of the swamis of the Ganapati Kulam. The monks also served him and his entourage lunch.
Bodhinatha has always praised the good work of the Chinmaya Mission. Swami Ishwarananda is an excellent teacher and speaker, one of few that Chinmaya Mission has stationed permanently in the US. He and Bodhinatha met in November 2008 during a visit to Anaheim. Since then, Swami has moved the center to Tustin, just a few miles away, to accommodate a larger student body. Every Sunday they have 800 children and 400 adults attend their satsang and classes.
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Today was an auspicious one for the Kailasa Paramapara, Rudiren Carpanen Pillay and Uma Sivanathan. They both received their Samaya Diksha and the precious and magical gift of Panchakshara mantra was passed on from preceptor to sishya in the simple ancient initiation into mantra japa yoga given by Bodhinatha to each of them.
This is the first and foundational step onto the Saiva Neri, the Path to Siva. The daily contemplation on Lord Siva, Siva Dhyanam, begins with this practice and deepens through the years, as we repeat the Sacred Letters Five and let our hearts and minds melt in Divine Love for the One God of All.
Yogaswami sang:
"Thou who art non-pareil,
The consort of UmaDevi,
Whose temple is thy devotee's heart.
Hail Namasivaya.
'Ye art not the body', said he
And gave me strength divine
To purge me of my fearful bonds,
Oh Primal One, Namasivaya
That Tattvas ninety six are unreal,
I realised through thy grace,
And transcended their barriers,
Oh Siva, Namasivaya.
To those who have crossed
The six centres of consciousness,
Thou did'st grant thy Lotus Feet
Thou great God, Namasivaya
In the void of silence, that I may
Attain peace thou willeth.
Thou source of Vedas and God of Devas,
Thou sovereign ruler, Namasivaya.
Thou pursued me that I may turn to thee,
Thy beauteous form I saw,
In rapt synthesis I was thine for ever,
Oh Source of Grace and Power! Namasivaya.
Those who behold the sight
Of thy dance with raised legs-
Will they perish in this world
Full of toils? Namasivaya.
Art thou not the support
Of those who seek thee
In the temple of the body?
Oh Sankara, Namasivaya."
Our January 2012 news video covers events in December 2011, including the Pancha Ganapati holiday festival, progress on the Iraivan Temple and other carving projects, our Digital Dharma Drive and the massive influx of visitors that came to the monastery during the holiday season.
To view in higher quality, after clicking the play button, select another option in the right side of the control bar above, such as 480p, 720p or 1080p.
The Thanigasalam family returned today. Appa was interviewed by Senthilnathaswami who took video of him sharing his experiences as a young man with Yogaswami. The family also was introduced to Sivakatirswami's work on the teaching of Natchintanai and offer to help with getting more recordings for our collection. Later Saravananathswami took them out to see Iraivan
After our Maha Ardra day festival Kulapati Satya Palani stayed on to help the monks. He is currently a top project manager for a construction firm but in his younger days he was a master tile craftsman. He kindly offered to help the Siddhidata Kulam tile their new office floor. Thanks to his amazing expertise and the team work they finished the whole job in two days. These photos are from day two and the floor is almost done.
Rudiren Carpanen Pillay, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University Of KwaZulu-Natal Durban, South Africa, is here on task force for nine days- He will be receiving his Samaya Diksha before he goes home.
Kulapati Satya Palani and Kulamata Savitri Palani came to see Bodhinatha before they return home to California. They shared their plans about moving to a new location. Among other things Bodhinatha advised them to write a positive affirmation that they could recite together to help visualize and manifest their goals.
Inspired Talk: Title: Niyama Ten: Tapas
Category: Soul Duration: 15 min, 4 secs
Date Given: 2012-01-11
Given by: Bodhinatha
Description:
Tapas is to practice austerity, serious disciplines, penance and sacrifice which increases the speed at which we are moving forward on the spiritual path. Daily sadhanas and penance to atone for misdeeds are obligatory. Austerities, assigned and overseen by a guru, give a great sense of release from the past, a profounder understanding of the path and deepening of one's worship and meditation. Meditation on Ishana and Tatpurusha: veiling and revealing grace. All along we are Siva and finally that dawns on us.
