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Date: June_12_2001
Title: How to progress in meditation?; How to know more about Hinduism?
Category: The Spiritual Path
Duration: 2 min., 33 seconds
Date Given: May 20, 2001

Cyberspace devotee by the name of Johnson, from Salinas, California, has been meditating for quite some time and has achieved pure awareness, wanting to know how to take the next step for deeper samadhi. He is 20 years of age.

Once your awareness is well-centered and quiet, that is all you can do. Then you must wait for Siva to come to you. That is the philosophy of Saiva Siddhanta. For a better philosophical foundation, for character-building, and for more knowledge about meditation, we suggest you begin our Master Course of 'Dancing with Siva', 'Living with Siva', 'Merging with Siva', a supervised study. To get information on the Master Course, write to mastercourse@hindu.org, It is a series of 365 daily lessons, one for every day of the year and that will balance out your meditations in a very wonderful way.

A cyberspace devotee Ganesan, in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, wants to know whether he should go deeper into Hinduism or not. Some one else has advised him, "Don't bother". He wants to know the difference between Hinduism and Jainism.

Ganesan, there is a beautiful study called the Master Course, 365 daily lessons, 3 books to study everyday, 'Dancing with Siva', 'Living with Siva', 'Merging with Siva', which gives you all the foundations of Sanatana Dharma, how to live a perfect life. We are going to send you some information on it, so you can get started. The books are printed in Malaysia and are available right there. You may have one or two of them already.

The difference between Jainism and Hinduism, as well as Hinduism and all the other religions of the world, is explained very carefully, in 'Dancing with Siva'. Going deeper into Hinduism does not mean you are leaving the world. It means that you are able to function within the world, move the forces of the world, be successful in the world in what you are doing and what you are going to do.
transcription ends

This is the Vijay family from Atlanga, Georgia. They also read Hinduism Today and are on a mini world tour. Making Kauai their first stop they will be continuing on to New Zealand, Australia, Bali, India and then returning to USA. They became subscribers in 1999 and then renewed for five years.

We have placed orchids here and there among the tree trunks. Living without soil, they fasten themselves to the tree bark and live on the air and moisture in the air. This lovely one gives us the vision of "lavendar" for our color meditations.

The Remarkable Vision

Iraivan Temple Progress Update

Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders

The silpis have fixed a total of 13 stones to the foundation now. Until today they were working barefoot in respect to the sanctity of the temple, but we encouraged them to wear sandals from now on as their feet have started cracking due to the constant exposure to water and the concrete.

12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Imagine spending 12 days with one of the greatest spiritual leaders of this century. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will be leading this exotic educational and spiritual voyage himself combining the mystical path of Indian spirituality with a superlative retreat from it all. Take advantage of this one chance to be in close proximity with a living master. Come with us on an inner and outer voyage to Northern Europe and Russia. www.innersearch.org

Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee wants to know what it means when it is said that souls in the third world live in their self-effulgent form. Gurudeva says self-effulgent means full of light and that the souls energy is permeating the astral and physical bodies.

Cybertalk Ends"
For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.

Gurudeva will be happy to hold "Prasnottara Satsang" -- "Questions and Answers" over the telephone with any Hindu religious societies, Hindu youth groups, Radio talk show hosts etc. All you need is a phone with a speaker and an enthusiastic audience. Arrangements may be made in advance by sending email to Sadhaka Mahadevan

Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit.

transcription begins

Date: June_10_2001
Title: Positive Affirmation
Category: The Spiritual Path
Duration: 1 min., 13 seconds
Date Given: May 16, 2001

A cyberspace devotee, Geetha in Chennai, in the beautiful state of Tamil Nadu in South India, is reading 'Merging with Siva'. It is all about affirmations, positive affirmations that are said to strengthen the subconscious mind and improve our self-image. But, somebody told her ,"If you say a positive affirmation, you are reminding yourself of the negative." So, she wonders what to do.

Well Geetha, that is certainly a western psychological approach - if you say something positive, it reminds you of something negative. But, you are a Hindu girl. Listen to me. Do positive affirmations and you will be a very positive person.

Choose one person that you trust to listen to, and then follow the instructions in good faith. They will manifest a positive life for you, as they have manifested for thousands of people in the past.
transcription ends

Here is a wonderful photo of the priest's "working area," and the important "kumbha" pots that sit between the homa fire and in line with the inner sanctum of our Siva temple, where the main Deity is the never-to-be-photographed giant image of Lord Siva as the Dancing Nataraja. Here Natyam Tyaganatha holds his beads while leading all the temple devotees in the great mantra "Aum Hum Haum Sivaya, Svaha!"

Master Course Annoucement (cont.) The daily Master Course lesson comprises an excerpt for the day from each of the three books of the "Master Course Trilogy." Please click on the Lesson of the Day above to see the new lesson.

Note: Dancing with Siva only has 155 lessons. These run each year from January 1 to the 155th day of the year. Today is day 167 of the year 2001, and you will only find the Lessons from Living and Merging with Siva.

Thambynathan Girish Samugam is our priest's helper for the Sun One homa. Here he performs one of any temple assistant's main duties, to light the lamp just at the right time to pass to the priest for the Arati.

Master Course Annoucement (cont.) Especially historic is that today many people will see for the first time a lesson from Living with Siva, which is another historic landmark publication in the history of the Hindu Renaissance, and a cornerstone in the heritage of Sanatana Dharma for tomorrow's Hindu generations.

Now, the final Arati, which is always a blessed experience. With Fire we worship God Siva as Fire! A channel is opened wide to inner worlds and blessings pour forth to those present, the surrounding community and to the world.

Master Course Annoucement (cont.) We can only reach a limited number of people with printed matter. But with the lesson of the day on the internet people in far off countries can study the Master Course.

After the priest finishes passing the Arati, the priest's helper will then pass it to the congregation.

Here is Gurudeva with Mr Shamuganathan, from Ontario, Canada. He is vice president of the Mississauga Saiva Siddhanta Mandram.

Shamuganathan with his brother, Dr. Kasinathan and family from London.

Gurudeva is frequently asked about the issue of conversion to Christianity. His response is always "Take a leadership position in your community. We have printed many fine resources. Take these and teach the children, teach the youth."

On the other side of "hi-tech" is "earth-tech." June can be a rather damp month on Kauai with much alternation between showers and warm sun. But the plants love it! These new bean plants are thriving "like crazy." The monks produce almost all their own fresh vegetables using only organic methods. We have had to do a lot of experimentation with various species and varieties to find the little plant devas that are happy with our climate and soil conditions and can stand up to pests without a lot of intervention with "bad news" chemicals, which we don't use on our gardens at all.

The Remarkable Vision

Iraivan Temple Progress Update

Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders

Our silpi craftsmen are an inspired team. In the back is their supervisor, Shanmugam Sthapati. To his left is our temple site manager Jiva Rajasankara. Sundaram and Adaikalam are mixing a small batch of mortar by hand.

Stone leveling is tedious work. Shanmuga Sthapati decided it would be more efficient to chip out small sections of the foundation for stones that needed leveling, instead of chipping away any portion of the much harder white granite.

It may take a day or so to prepare the bed for a single stone.

As of today, stones two, three and four have been set. Our monks who work with the team say: "Shanmugam Sthapati is a remarkable man, though he doesn't himself touch a stone he guides his team with gentle precision. He also has an amazing brain for stone work and can calculate in his mind exactly what number stone will be needed in a particular position higher up on a later course."

Sthapati projects that they will be able to install all the stones much faster than our previous projections. Jiva our stone carving site manager will have to leave back for India right away, to speed up work there. The pillars needed to support the ceiling that will be adjacent to the main sanctum were projected to take over two years to carve. But Shanmuga Sthapati projects that we will get to that course in less than 1.5 years. Please give generously. It will take "all hands on deck" to make the monthly financial goals needed to keep up the pace

12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Imagine spending 12 days with one of the greatest spiritual leaders of this century. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will be leading this exotic educational and spiritual voyage himself combining the mystical path of Indian spirituality with a superlative retreat from it all. Take advantage of this one chance to be in close proximity with a living master. Come with us on an inner and outer voyage to Northern Europe and Russia. www.innersearch.org

Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee wants to know how Saivism views Krishna. Gurudeva says that Lord Krishna is looked at as one of the hundreds of thousands of Gods and that in traditional Saivism Lord Ganesha, Lord Muruga and Lord Siva is worshipped.

Cybertalk Ends"
For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.

Gurudeva will be happy to hold "Prasnottara Satsang" -- "Questions and Answers" over the telephone with any Hindu religious societies, Hindu youth groups, Radio talk show hosts etc. All you need is a phone with a speaker and an enthusiastic audience. Arrangements may be made in advance by sending email to Sadhaka Mahadevan

Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit.

transcription begins

Date: June_09_2001
Title: Adoption; How to study well?
Category: Good Conduct
Duration: 1 min., 43 seconds
Date Given: May 20, 2001

Cyberspace devotee, Darshani in Arizona, has a friend who is adopting her third child from India. She wants to know, "What is the esoteric mechanism of adoption? Even before birth, does the child know that it is being born to one mother and will be adopted by another?"

Adoption is like a marriage. It is a divine plan. The compatibility between the child and the mother, and between the child and the father should be looked into very carefully, through astrology. It is a divine happening, a happening within the karma of the birth family and the family that is adopting the child. A very natural situation and in the spirit of Sanatana Dharma, the whole world is our family.

A cyberspace cadet, 13 years old, Devananda, in Malaysia is in school and wants to study well. He does not know quite how to study.

When you are going to school, don't make friends by liking group or one person more than another. Treat everyone the same, in a very friendly way, so that you are not distracted from your studies. The purpose of school is to learn. Listen to your teachers. Do exactly as they say, make them proud of you. When your teachers are proud of you, then your parents will be proud of you. You will grow up into a very fine, intelligent, good citizen.

transcription ends

Our camera is on a special mission today so we couldn't bring you photos of today's progress, so we are going back to India for a few shots.
This is Adaikkalam in Bangalore. He is now here on Kauai with us. Here he is working on a chain carved out of a single stone.

One by one the rings are "extracted" from the stone.

The Remarkable Vision

Iraivan Temple Progress Update

Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders

We have 12 stone chains which will hang from various points on the temple. Please, you can sponsor one or more or all of these!

The final product...somethings is rarely done these days.

Be a part of preserving these ancient skills and the men and families who perpetuate them. Make a donation today!

Gurudeva's spiritual center in the island country of Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa

Children accompanying their parents to the Spiritual Park have so much to enjoy there that they never feel bored. They all enjoy walks in the many open spaces but mostly like to watch the koii fish in the pond under the Ganesha bridge. These three children here, who are regular visitors to the park wanted our web surfers to see them on TAKA.

Now that the mango branches have been cut around the mandapam we have a clear view of that beautiful Keralan architecture unique in the island of Mauritius. This is how the building looks like from the north.

Mr. Mudhoo Laxminarain and his wife drove all the way from Quatre Bornes to visit the Park. Mr. Mudhoo a retired primary school headmaster says that he is very impressed by the peaceful atmosphere pervading the park. " It's so different from the noisy school yards I have been used to". The next time he will bring his relatives to the park.

Children fascinated by the huge granite murthi of Lord Ganesha seldom fail to worship at His Feet in their own little ways. Gurudeva advises parents to encourage this practice in children. In the book Dancing With Siva Gurudeva writes: " Assuring the health and well-being of their offspring is the most essential duty of parents to their children, never to be neglected. Beyond this, parents should provide a good example to their children, being certain that they are taught the Hindu religious heritage and culture along with good values, ethics, strength of character and discipline. Sons and daughters should worship regularly at puja with the parents, and the Hindu sacraments should all be provided..."

12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Imagine spending 12 days with one of the greatest spiritual leaders of this century. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will be leading this exotic educational and spiritual voyage himself combining the mystical path of Indian spirituality with a superlative retreat from it all. Take advantage of this one chance to be in close proximity with a living master. Come with us on an inner and outer voyage to Northern Europe and Russia. www.innersearch.org

Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee wants to know what is the next thing he should do to advance his mediation. Gurudeva says that all we can do is get our awareness quiet and well-centered and then we have to wait for Siva to come to us. That is the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. A cyberspace devotee in Malaysia wants to know if he should go deeper into Hinduism or not. Gurudeva says going deeper into Hinduism does not mean you are leaving the world it just means that you are able to function within the world, move the forces of the world, be successful in the world in what you are doing and what you are going to do.

Cybertalk Ends"
For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.

Gurudeva will be happy to hold "Prasnottara Satsang" -- "Questions and Answers" over the telephone with any Hindu religious societies, Hindu youth groups, Radio talk show hosts etc. All you need is a phone with a speaker and an enthusiastic audience. Arrangements may be made in advance by sending email to Sadhaka Mahadevan

Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit.

transcription begins

Date: August_10_2000
Title: Protecting Children from Abuse
Category: Family
Duration: 1 min, 36 seconds

A question from e-mail, from the United Kingdom in England,
Wondering how to protect children from vicious parents who discipline
them through beating, pinching, hitting, locking in closets and
things like that.

Children marched in London protesting a short while ago. There
are many ways you can help, many countries in todays world have
anonymous phone numbers that you can call and report abuse to
children.
In countries and states where it is against the law to perform
these kinds of acts, you can mention in conversations that the
parents are not only teaching the children to be afraid of them but
the parents are teaching the children, that yes it's all right to
break the law, as long as you don't get caught.
You can stand up in your temple society and speak to the
congregation about this subject and we have a lot on the internet
regarding things that you can do, articles that you can read, factual
information to impress the Asian community that they are perpetuating
war. Stop the war in the home we stop the war in the community and
eventually, hopefully in the world

transcription ends

Acharya Palaniswami telling the group about the Hinduism Today workflow.

Happy pilgrims receive blessings from Gurudeva who gives out the traditional holy ash which he applies on the forehead.

This young lady is a doctor in Honolulu and joined the group for bhajan in Kadavul Temple. She is turned out to be quite accomplished at the mridangam.

Gurudeva offered shawls to several couples who were celebrating their wedding anniversary.

The Remarkable Vision

Iraivan Temple Progress Update

Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders

Our tour day group gathers at the temple site to pose in front of the foundation. Our silpis are at work in the back.

Our pilgrims were delighted to find rudraksha beads all around the west side grounds of the temple.

Many Hindus have never seen the actual rudraksha tree or the seeds themselves, so this is always an exciting discovery for our pilgrims.

Here we see the actual blue fruit which is the color of the tears of compassion that rained to earth from Siva's eyes.

12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Imagine spending 12 days with one of the greatest spiritual leaders of this century. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will be leading this exotic educational and spiritual voyage himself combining the mystical path of Indian spirituality with a superlative retreat from it all. Take advantage of this one chance to be in close proximity with a living master. Come with us on an inner and outer voyage to Northern Europe and Russia. www.innersearch.org

Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee wants to know what is the next thing he should do to advance his mediation. Gurudeva says that all we can do is get our awareness quiet and well-centered and then we have to wait for Siva to come to us. That is the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. A cyberspace devotee in Malaysia wants to know if he should go deeper into Hinduism or not. Gurudeva says going deeper into Hinduism does not mean you are leaving the world it just means that you are able to function within the world, move the forces of the world, be successful in the world in what you are doing and what you are going to do.

Cybertalk Ends"
For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.

Gurudeva will be happy to hold "Prasnottara Satsang" -- "Questions and Answers" over the telephone with any Hindu religious societies, Hindu youth groups, Radio talk show hosts etc. All you need is a phone with a speaker and an enthusiastic audience. Arrangements may be made in advance by sending email to Sadhaka Mahadevan

Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit.

transcription begins

Date: August_10_2000
Title: Protecting Children from Abuse
Category: Family
Duration: 1 min, 36 seconds

A question from e-mail, from the United Kingdom in England,
Wondering how to protect children from vicious parents who discipline
them through beating, pinching, hitting, locking in closets and
things like that.

Children marched in London protesting a short while ago. There
are many ways you can help, many countries in todays world have
anonymous phone numbers that you can call and report abuse to
children.
In countries and states where it is against the law to perform
these kinds of acts, you can mention in conversations that the
parents are not only teaching the children to be afraid of them but
the parents are teaching the children, that yes it's all right to
break the law, as long as you don't get caught.
You can stand up in your temple society and speak to the
congregation about this subject and we have a lot on the internet
regarding things that you can do, articles that you can read, factual
information to impress the Asian community that they are perpetuating
war. Stop the war in the home we stop the war in the community and
eventually, hopefully in the world

transcription ends

Acharya Palaniswami telling the group about the Hinduism Today workflow.

Happy pilgrims receive blessings from Gurudeva who gives out the traditional holy ash which he applies on the forehead.

This young lady is a doctor in Honolulu and joined the group for bhajan in Kadavul Temple. She is turned out to be quite accomplished at the mridangam.

Gurudeva offered shawls to several couples who were celebrating their wedding anniversary.

The Remarkable Vision

Iraivan Temple Progress Update

Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders

Our tour day group gathers at the temple site to pose in front of the foundation. Our silpis are at work in the back.

Our pilgrims were delighted to find rudraksha beads all around the west side grounds of the temple.

Many Hindus have never seen the actual rudraksha tree or the seeds themselves, so this is always an exciting discovery for our pilgrims.

Here we see the actual blue fruit which is the color of the tears of compassion that rained to earth from Siva's eyes.

12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Imagine spending 12 days with one of the greatest spiritual leaders of this century. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will be leading this exotic educational and spiritual voyage himself combining the mystical path of Indian spirituality with a superlative retreat from it all. Take advantage of this one chance to be in close proximity with a living master. Come with us on an inner and outer voyage to Northern Europe and Russia. www.innersearch.org

Be surprised! No new audio today.
Take this opportunity for an adventure.
Close your eyes and click to get a message
picked at random from our vast audio archives

Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit.

transcription begins

Date: August_25_1998
Title: Sadhana to See Your Soul
Category:
Duration: 3 min., 31 seconds
Date Given: August 25, 1998

In our part of the world, this is the 25th of August and it is a Tuesday. It is the day after my extended families all over the world have met in togetherness, in love and sharing, studying the Sadhanas of the Master Course, which are at this stage learning to teach children the Saivite Hindu Religion on a five to ten year old level.

We have thousands of children all over the world in classes. Like Guhan Sivalingam and his wife have 120 children in their class in Klang, Malaysia, just to mention one and there are many, many more. Classes opening up all the time.

Our beautiful children's course of lessons is an update from the lessons studied in Sri Lankan schools for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. Now it is in action again in many languages - Hindi and Tamil, English and French and French Creole, Italian, Spanish, German, to name but a few.

Today, just to let you know what we are doing just a little bit, all of the heads of the extended families called Kulapatis send in to Kauai Aadheenam, an update of what their extended family did yesterday. They are coming in right now, through e-mail. We are reading them and we are giving advise as how to proceed with their family, to move ahead into a dynamic future of teachers and leaders next Monday night.

The fortune cookie for today is that, you are a soul living in a physical body, just like I said yesterday and I want you to realize that. I want you to look into the mirror and look right into your eyes, deep into your eyes and see your soul. They say the eyes are the windows of the soul. Well, look into the window, look into the mirror, look into your soul. You see it sitting there, shining out. The light within your eye comes from God and that light can never be taken away from your soul. God cannot remove Himself from you.

Our great Vedas and all the scriptures of our great Hindu teachings tell us, that God is the life of our life. Siva is the life of our life. What does that mean?

It means our life comes from Siva. Contemplate that, think about that. It is an eternal truth. The life in your body - you are moving your hands, you are walking - that life comes from Siva and it is the same in everybody.

Today, Siva-consciousness is the fortune cookie for you, to open up and read your future. You are a wonderful soul, you can make a difference in this world. You can, just by being you.

Aum Namasivaya.
transcription ends

Krishna Raju pilgrimaged with his wife from Canada for his 76th birthday. They heard there was a Hindu temple in Hawaii, but did not know where or even which island. But Mr. Raju was very persistent in his quest and eventually found us by knocking on doors along the way.

Anja Kulovesi on the right is here from Finland. She is participating in hosting Gurudeva when the Innersearch travels through Helsinki in August. She is also collaborating wth our publications team to print in Finland "affirmation cards" which will be packed in a small box. Each box will contain 100 cards or so, each with a selection from Merging with Siva. These will be sold for individuals to use to refer to for inspiration through the day, to keep in their wallets and give to friends. Sivadevanathaswami is doing the pre-press work and our innerseach coordinator, Sadhaka Dandapani is on hand to look over the ground details for the stop in Helsinki. Click to take a look at the details of this "journey of a lifetime!"

The Remarkable Vision

Iraivan Temple Progress Update

Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders

Our silpis have been busy here at the Kauai work site. How deftly they manage these huge stones with apparent effortlessness and easy skill. A slight lift with a bar, insert a roller on both ends and the 1000 pounds of solid granite is. literally, "ready to roll" And our table top smooth "miracle concrete" foundation makes it really easy!

These are stones for the first course that are set in place, but not yet fixed. Very carefully the silpis will establish a straight edge and, with their chisels, work on the tops and bottoms of the stones in the crucial "leveling" process." The Master Architect who designed the temple said that the intention will be to achieve, wherever possible "paper fittings." Which is to say that the stones will fit so precisely together that you will not even be able to slide a piece of paper between them.

The silpis have removed most of the crating from the top and sides of all the stones we have received to date.

This is one of the stones that will form the door frame of the main sanctum. Carved in black granite, when oiled it will turn dark and display the fantastic carving that was done on the face.

This is also on the main door frame.

12 Glorious Days, 8 Enchanting Countries and One Chance in a Lifetime! Imagine spending 12 days with one of the greatest spiritual leaders of this century. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami will be leading this exotic educational and spiritual voyage himself combining the mystical path of Indian spirituality with a superlative retreat from it all. Take advantage of this one chance to be in close proximity with a living master. Come with us on an inner and outer voyage to Northern Europe and Russia. www.innersearch.org