Gurudeva tells how one may become a member of Saiva Siddhanta Church and tells about Coconut Money Tree and Hindu Heritage Endowment. Gurudeva tells a story about the value of Mantra Initiation to Aum Namah Sivaya and reads to us from Merging with Siva. Gurudeva then discusses preparation, dedication, commitment and sacrifice as being necessary prior to receiving initiation.

Unedited Transcript:

Today at Kauai Aadheenam. Our electronic cyberspace Ashram doors are open to you on October 17. Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Members of the Saiva Siddhanta Church came today and enjoyed a beautiful talk by Acharya Ceyonswami. Acharya Ceyonswami is our Jyotisha Shastri, here at Kauai Aadheenam. He helps choose auspicious dates for starting businesses, weddings, all sorts of things, as well as, personal advice on transits for members of Saiva Siddhanta Church. We don't reach out beyond our membership because members of Saiva Siddhanta Church are my true sishya. If you want to be a sishya or a chela of Gurudeva - and that's me - well, become a member of Saiva Siddhanta Church. Takes about a year of study at Himalayan Academy. We will be happy to enroll you in 'The Master Course' that is a very easy, simple study in Saiva Siddhanta, monistic path of Hinduism.

Oh ... Here I see somebody. Lakshmanan Nellaiappan, who has just entered the Internet world of cyberspace, by getting a computer and logging on. Welcome, Nelliappan. We welcome you and greet you. Lakshmanan Nellaiappan has been with us for nearly twenty years. He is our full-time India Liaison Officer. He helps with so many projects such as, arranging the carving of deities for temples that we have started throughout the United States and Europe and many, many other things.

Paramacharya Bodhinathaswami is in Mauritius with Nilakantha, our brahmachari there. He is visiting all of our missionary families and setting them up on a wonderful program that we have, called 'Coconut Money Tree'. What is a Coconut Money Tree? Coconut Money Tree is a personal income endowment. This means that if you invest in Hindu Heritage Endowment, in a private fund called 'Pooled Income Fund' and put in a little bit of money every month and in 20-30 years, you get a big amount of money back. The members of Saiva Siddhanta Church and those who wish in Himalayan Academy, are being set up for the Personal Income Endowment and Hindu Heritage Endowment, a special arrangement with the First Hawaiian Bank, in the State of Hawaii in the United States of America.

This is a very important, a very important concept, which most people do not have in today's world. That is creating a personal endowment for the future. If built up enough, it will pay month after month, an income, a Social Security kind of an income, for the rest of one's life. Then, it can be left to one's spouse or one's child and then, it returns back to Hindu Heritage Endowment, to promote the Sanatana Dharma, for succeeding generations.

So, Paramacharya Bodhinathaswami is doing that, and many other things as well, in the country of Mauritius.

We have been working on 'Merging with Siva' and came to a beautiful story which I would like to read to you. It is about the value of initiation. Many people are getting initiated these days. When we initiate someone, it is because they have been well trained and they are not struggling with the lower nature. Now, I am going to read.

"Those who are struggling with the lower nature, those who have not made a commitment to the Sanatana Dharma, a commitment which, for the newcomer to the fold, could be verified by their Hindu name on their passport, should all chant 'Aum'. 'Aum' is the Universal mantram. It is a safe mantram to chant.

To demonstrate the authority vested in the mantram, let me tell you a story.

A minister in a Hindu court was summoned before the maharaja. The minister also happened to be a brahmin priest, a kulaguru with the power to give initiation in the most sacred mantra, 'Aum Namah Sivaya'.

The king asked him, "We would like you to initiate me into the sacred Panchakshara Mantram."

The guru said, "Yes, Majesty. I shall begin preparing you for your initiation."

Then the king decreed, "No, we will take the initiation, right now and never mind the preparation."

The kulaguru objected, "This is quite impossible. My guru restricts me from giving initiation without due preparation."

The king retorted, "So, we will do the mantram without you. Or else, explain to me how the mantram would work differently with initiation and without."

The kulaguru said, "Yes, Majesty. I shall give you an explanation."

In a loud voice, the guru called to the five guards standing amidst the gathered audience, "Guards, come forward instantly and arrest this man, the maharaja. He is into wrongdoings. He is demanding an initiation into the great Panchakshara Mantra, 'Aum Namah Sivaya', without the willingness to go through the necessary preparations required by our noble sampradaya, our lineage."

The guards stood still, eyes wide, looking at the maharaja, wondering what to do. The maharaja, losing his composure upon hearing his minister's preposterous commands, was struck with awe and he thought, "What madness has overcome this holy man?" He then shouted to the guards, "Here! Promptly, arrest this minister of mine. This kulaguru is behaving in such an insolent manner against the throne. Tie him securely and take him away."

The guards rushed forward without delay, grabbing the guru and held him tight.

The guru laughed and said, "Hold on a minute! I was just answering your question, Majesty. I spoke the mantram, 'Arrest this man'. However, since I am not initiated into the court, not ordained to have that power, the guards stood idle and did not respond. You gave them the same mantram, 'Arrest this man'. Because you were carefully prepared and initiated king, the guards responded."

Upon hearing this, the maharaja threw himself at the kulaguru's feet. The guards who had been hearing the entire conversation, then released their captive, and they themselves touched the holy man's feet and returned to their posts.

In the months to come, the maharaja meticulously prepared himself for and received his initiation into 'Aum Namah Sivaya', the greatest mantra of all mantras. Now, all three worlds cooperate with him. The kingdom flourishes, crops grow, food is abundant, the rains come when needed, rivers run clear and the wells are always full, the cows are fat, the mangoes fall sweetly from the trees. The Gods in the temple provide a discipline for the king's subjects and the Himalayan rishis regularly visit the kingdom, giving of their wisdom to one and all.

Even though His Majesty chants with the proper visualizations, 'Aum Namah Sivaya', 108 times daily, one thing is missing. The king himself has not yet attained to full, complete God realization. There is a story yet to be told."

This is to all of you out there, who are tampering with mantra yoga, without the necessary preparation, without the necessary dedication, without the necessary, shall we say, complete oneness with the Sanatana Dharma, accept himself with name changed appearing on the passport. Without some kind of commitment that turns people's heads around, some kind of sacrifice, your mantrams are only words, in a restless manner. 'Aum Namah Sivaya'. Come on! Let's get real!

The Christians say, "The end of the world is coming in year 2000." I mean, that is just a little bit away. Many are going to Israel, many rules, to experience Jesus arriving there. They say the hotels are filled. They want to be there, when Jesus comes. Maybe, it will happen. I am wondering if they bought round-trip tickets. Big question mark! I am not being superstitious, but just practical. Why spend money, when it is not necessary to spend money? Why worry about money when the end of the world is coming?

But, let us make haste. Let us not hold back. Let us not play pretend. Let us not be ardha. 'Ardha' means half. Let us throw oneself into the religion. Let us throw oneself into making the Eternal Truths of the Vedas, a hundred percent part of one's life, your life as it is our life here at Kauai Aadheenam. Well, that is a deep subject. It is a deep well.

Well, I will be seeing you

Nellaiappan, in our cyberspace cafe

under the banyan tree

by the village well

all of our favorite places

I will always think of you

all day ...

All day tomorrow until I see you again in cyberspace, this time tomorrow!We will be seeing each other, darshan time.Darshan means to see and feel one another.

Aum Namah Sivaya! Prepare yourself to chant 'Aum Namah Sivaya'. Become a member of Saiva Siddhanta Church.