"The older you get, the more disciplined you should get, the more sadhana you should perform as you drop off the extraneous things of the world. "
Gurudeva
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.
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As you might imagine, creating and sharing an articulate and graphically elegant repository of Hinduism is neither easy nor without costs. Yet there has never been a greater need, with youth learning their spiritual ABCs online and millions discovering Hinduism digitally. That’s what our annual fundraising campaign is all about. It’s a chance for you to help us to help Hinduism globally.
Those of us who create free content know the challenges. And one of the challenges is funding. Last year, a few astute donors to our new Digital Dharma Drive brought to our attention that it may appear to many who see fund-raising reports throughout the year for our other projects that we are bringing in plenty of money and that we could just as well spend some of it on our websites and online initiatives rather than having a separate fund-raising drive. But the truth is, we can’t simply reallocate funds given to us for a different project to this one without taking away from those projects, and from our promise to the donors who gave for them. Most activities at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery operate on a donation basis, and when we need money for a project, we raise funds for it. We are strict in the usage of those funds; contributions are only used for the projects for which they are given.
For many years, we have operated under the guiding principle that our many Hindu resources will all be available digitally for free. Yes, we could charge for them, but many who might find them inspiring or needed would simply not pay. But free to the world is not free to us. We have significant costs in running some of Hinduism’s leading websites. Plus we want to grow a little, provide Gurudeva’s teachings in an ever-growing list of new formats, maintain and upgrade the websites and engage some professional assistance to help make all of this possible in today’s rapidly advancing field of digital technology. These goals all come with a price tag. It’s a modest one, but it is real.
We are committed to providing it all without charging for downloads, without showing advertisements on our sites, without commercializing our mission. Without these revenue sources, we turn to you for help.
Last year we received $60,000, and the 2011 goal is $70,000. Our two-month-long Digital Dharma Drive ends on December 31. Many have given, but our goal is still not in sight. We hope you will join in helping us meet our goal. In the right hands, and leveraged by the unsalaried work of the monks, these funds will have a profound impact on the future of Hinduism around the world. Please make a donation today to keep our sites strong well into 2012.
Warm greetings this holiday season,
The Editors
Kauai’s Hindu Monastery
Himalayan Academy Publications
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami reads his editorial from the Jan/Feb/Mar 2012 edition of Hinduism Today magazine. If we start at the beginning and work systematically, we can replace undesirable qualities with their opposites. Watch the video below.
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As we proceed in the development of our new web site, we are preparing to present the various art collections that have been developed through the years. Here is a sneak preview of all of the art that was commissioned years ago for The Guru Chronicles book, and painted by S. Rajam. A note regarding our new slideshow method of presentation: We have upgraded the technology to allow us to send slideshows with many images and large detailed images to even those with slow internet connections. Only two images at a time are sent to you. Hopefully those of you who may have seen errors recently in some slideshows will see this problem go away. If you do see errors, please report them to "studyhall at hindu.org"
Normally images are horizontal which is the natural way to hold a camera. In some cases we may have "portrait" (vertical) images. For these we are leaving them large and they are "cropped" and only show the center of the image in the slideshow window. You can use your mouse to move up and down. This is also the case if you go to fullscreen (lower right button). This allows you to examine details in the image or photo. This is marvelous for looking at Rajam art in particular which has fascinating details here and there in the painting. In the case of some art collections, they may all be vertical. To view the paintings in their full, un-cropped view, select the "Popout image" button on the lower right (second one in from the fullscreen button). Enjoy.
Gurudeva gave hundreds of talks in Siva temples, translated here by Mr. NK Murthy. His message was of courage and of the power and spiritual potencies found in Saivism. He would later write perhaps the most succinct summary of what he meant:
"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."
In the lineage stands Kadaitswami, who always carried a black umbrella to shade him from the Jaffna tropical sun. He spent his days at Jaffna Grand Bazaar, walking about or sitting under a huge, shade-giving banyan tree. The shops on the northern and western streets of this marketplace belonged mainly to the Chettiars, or trading community. Muktiyananda did not say his name, so people took to referring to him as Kadaitswami (kadai means "shop" in the Tamil language, so his name simply meant the swami who frequents the marketplace). It is common in Tamil culture to name holy men after places, for they often do not let people know any other name. History also knows him as Adikadainathan, "Lord of the Marketplace."
Saving a Fisherman
One stormy evening, Kadaitswami arrived shortly before dark at the house of a man who owned a fishing boat. The fisherman was not at home, and the swami acted strangely, so his wife was reluctant to let Kadaitswami through their compound gate. So adamantly did he insist that she relented.
Entering the front yard, he went to a tree and sat down. About two hours later, the wife, who was still waiting up for her husband's return, noticed that Kadaitswami was holding a stout pole and sitting on the ground digging in the dirt beside him as if he were trying to push himself along with this makeshift oar, all the while repeating "Ellello," a word fishermen chant when working together to pull their nets.
Yes, she thought, it looks as if he is pretending to row a boat, sitting in the mud in the dark. She went out in the torrential rain and pleaded with Kadaitswami to stop, afraid of the weird goings-on in her garden as much as what her husband would say when he came home to fi nd the yard dug up. But Kadaitswami would not desist; in fact, amid the intensity of the storm and his work he seemed not even to hear her.
Three hours passed as the lanky sage performed this strange and strenuous drama. Unable to chase him away, she kept watch from the safety of her home. Finally, the swami stopped, rose to his feet and disappeared into the moonless night.
The husband did not return until dawn, something that had never happened before. Many local fi shermen's wives had lost their husbands to the turbulent sea. The wife was waiting anxiously at the gate when her beloved approached, deeply relieved to see him but afraid of the scolding he might give her when he saw the yard. Mustering her courage, she shared the tale of the swami's visit and the wild rowing episode. Hearing this, her husband prostrated at the spot where Kadaitswami had been sitting. Only then, dishevelled and exhausted, did he go to the open well to bathe.
She brewed fresh coffee as he recounted that a severe storm had ravaged the sea just before dusk, capsizing his small boat. Struggling in the churning waters, he grew fatigued and felt death near, but wrestled with all his might to turn the boat aright. It was not working, and he grew weaker with every effort. Suddenly, one of the oars whacked him on the head, knocking him unconscious. When he came to, he found himself clinging to a plank, the boat right side up nearby in a becalmed sea.
He told his astonished wife of a vision he had just when death seemed certain, a vision of Kadaitswami rowing the boat toward him, rescuing him from the sea. He had been saved, he said, by the grace of the guru. Both marveled at the miraculous interconnectedness of their experiences.
They knew they had been touched by something rare and beyond their understanding. For the rest of their lives, they spoke of Kadaitswami's supernatural efforts to save a drowning fisherman.
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In the upcoming issue of Hinduism Today, Meghana Pisupati of Cupertino, California, tells us about the insights she received during and after climbing Tirupati hill for darshan of Lord Venkateshwara.
We begin a series of book reviews with our own latest releases, The Guru Chronicles and The History of Hindu India.
The book reviews continue with The Blood Never Dried, an honest account of Britain's past of colonization, and four more volumes, concerned with protecting our faith from outside attacks, traditions of music in the diaspora, ancient traditions of giving in Hinduism and how we can bring them forward today, and a wondrous set of tales of visits to some of the great temples of India.
Stay tuned for the Hinduism Today January/February/March 2012 issue!
Our upcoming issue of Hinduism Today covers the story of the Keralan temple whose newly uncovered wealth has attracted a storm of news reports.
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