Blog Archives
June 10, 2001 
Gurudeva meets with Acharya Ceyonswami to discuss issues of the day. Acharya is the Talaivar (head coordinator) of the Lambodara Kulam that is responsible for the coordination of the Iraivan Temple Project, hosting guests and sponsorship of the Iraivan stones.
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Title: Positive Affirmation |
Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee from India was told that if she were to use positive affirmations she will only be reminding herself of her negative qualities. Gurudeva says that this is not a Hindu concept and that she should choose only one person to listen to. Gurudeva advises her to use positive affirmations to create a positive life for herself.
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
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Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit. |
transcription begins
Date: August_23_1998
Title: The Gods build Temples Worldwide
Category:
Duration: 2 min., 52 seconds
Date Given: August 23, 1998
Greetings and Aloha everyone. This day is a very special day for us. We have just had a wonderful fire homa-puja and the date is the 23rd of August. We are in the middle of an eclipse, the energy is very high and we are feeling very good. We are using this energy to move Iraivan temple forward.
We are trying to raise $275,000 to complete the foundation. An enormous foundation, one pour of three feet of cement that balances out the tremendous weight of the hundreds of tons of white granite, beautifully carved from Bangalore. Iraivan, Chola-style temple.
So, we are doing this homa today to get the vibration going and the inspiration going, because we don't know how to build a temple. The Gods live in the temples, so they know how to build temple. They have built over 800,000 temples around the world. That is as many as Hindu temples that I know we have. But some say, there are over 1 million and if you were to include the small shrines, probably two million. If you were to include the shrines within the homes, probably 5, 6, 7 million. They say that, if you were to count, there are 3 million Swamis, sadhus and Gurus. These are the ministers of Sanatana Dharma.
Well, today is a wonderful day for you. I rambled on a bit too long, I think and we are running out of time.
Live in the eternity of the moment and express gratitude for all the goodness in your life. We hope that our electronic ashram and my speaking to you through cyberspace is something you can be grateful for. I am grateful for you tuning into the electronic ashram. Come again tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after that. We welcome you, we love you, we appreciate you. We are grateful for you that you are living on this planet and during your lifetime you can make a difference to bring in the New Age. The New Age, the Golden Age of beauty, peace and harmony, where love reigns supreme. One God, One World.
Aum Namasivaya.
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Sadhaka Japendranatha is spending sometime with his father, Mr. Ralph Whitten and his wife Steveanne Auerbach, who are here on a visit. Mr. Whitten is a Forensic Serologist with the San Francisco Police department and does high-level DNA testing of fluids that may be found at crime scenes.
Gurudeva blesses the couple with a shawl. Steveanne is also know in the big wide world as "Dr. Toy," and is a specialist in the field of "educational entertainment" for young people. You can visit her really great web site at:
Here we are with our great team of craftsmen from India at the "silpi house" which is one block down the road from the monastery. Our temple site manager, Jiva Rajasankara is with them on the right. And Chinnu stands in the middle. He is their cook and what a great cook he is too!
Here is another wonderment of the Iraivan temple. This is a drawing one of the musical pillars. For over 300 years, no such pillars have been carved other than a small one in New Delhi. There will be two of these full-sized pillars for Iraivan. Carved out of a single monolithic black granite stone, each one will have smaller pillars inside, with different shapes, which, when tapped will sound a note or "sruti" from the musical scale. In ancient days, these pillars were used by musicians to tune their instruments. We still need sponsors for each one.
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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
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Blog Archives
May 31, 2001 
Today was an historic one at Kauai Aadheenam as the first stone laying ceremony initiated the actual building of the Iraivan temple here on Kauai. It was also our regular phasely Sun One homa day and Gurudeva gave a magnificent talk in the temple describing the special unique qualities of the Iraivan temple.
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Title: Iraivan Temple Part 1 |
Cybertalk: On this most auspicious day of the first stone placing ceremony on Iraivan temple Gurudeva gives an inspired talk about Lord Siva's island home temple.
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
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Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit. |
transcription begins
Date: May_18_2001
Title: Understanding the Gods
Category: God and Lords of Dharma
Duration: 2 min., 18 seconds
Date Given: May 09, 2001
A cyberspace devotee, Arun in Colorado in the United States. He has read that God contacts the devotee. He is very fond of Siva, and is wondering though, if he worships other Gods, will they be jealous of one another?
You have chosen supreme God Siva, who pervades the Universe and is most strongly felt in a Siva temple. Just as the sun shines equally everywhere, but take a magnify glass and you can concentrate that energy and start a fire.
Contact with any of the Gods, including Siva, works both ways. You contact the God, the God contacts you. It is just like with people. One contacts another when one wants to.
You have to discriminate however, what you read because often you read puranic stories, that implicate the Gods as asuras or demons. It is the asuras and demons that become jealous and angry and do all kinds of mischievous retaliations.
Years ago, we went through our libraries, took out all the puranic stories that implicated the Gods in a wrong way and threw them in our garbage can.
We suggest you begin the Master Course - 'Dancing with Siva', 'Living with Siva' and 'Merging with Siva'. A 365-day study, year after year after year. You will get a proper perspective of Sanatana Dharma in a contemporary way.
The central tenet of Sanatana Dharma is ahimsa - non hurtfulness, physical, mentally or emotionally. That is what the Gods are trying to create among humans, who call themselves Hindus.
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The morning homa was performed with special guests in attendance. A fine young Sivachariya priest: Kandasamy Sivachariya, who is the nephew of the famed Sambamurthi Sivachariya, (President of the South India Priesthood Association,) joined us for this auspicious day. Sitting to his right is Shanmuga Sthapati, who will be our resident master artisan in residence. Working under his supervision are five trained silpis and one assistant silpi/cook, seven new residents in all... Today they have their first experience of ceremonies in our Kadavul Hindu temple.
Kandasamy Sivachariya is a wonderful, fine young priest who now serves the Hindu community in Toronto Canada. He is more than a performer of ceremonies, but as with the Sivachariyas of old he is also a teacher and counselor to his community. He said he was so happy to come to this event on Kauai and be able to enjoy the serentity of the monastery-- a break from all the problems that people bring to him at his temple. It is wonderful to see the young priesthood of Saivism coming up. Here he gives Gurudeva a gift of a gold kalasa he brought from Toronto.
After the morning ceremonies in Kadavul Hindu temple, we all paraded out to the Iraivan Temple site, which had been festively decorated for this auspicious occasion.
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Kandasamy Sivachariya came to Kauai as a devotee, to join the festivities, but of course his timing was perfect and we invited him to preside over the "Prathama Sila Sthapanam" ceremonies. (First Stone Laying) of the San Marga Iraivan temple. This homa was performed right on the foundation of the Iraivan temple in the exact location where the future yagna altar will be when the temple is finished.
Meanwhile, the Sthapati's are working at the Northeast corner of the main sanctum where the first stone will be placed. On the right, Dr. Ganapati Sthapati, our temple architect and the world's foremost expert on temple architecture and the Vastu Shastras of Hinduism. On the left his apprentice, Selvanathan who is marking the first stone with chandanam (sandalwood paste) and in the center is Sunderam Achari, who is the "line marker" on the team.
As the Sthapatis prepare for the auspicious moment, the homa ceremony continues. It was the first complete ceremony actually performed "in" the Iraivan temple. During the rites, one could feel a big change in the overall vibration. What was before just a foundation, now began to vibrate like the Palace of Siva that it will become.
Part of the ceremony requires cleansing the spirit world of negative forces before the first stone is actually set in place. An effigy of an asura (lower astral plane entity) is made of sticks and straw, and set on fire. this is dragged around the temple site and then, according to Agamic rules, must be dragged completely off the property to a place where three roads intersect. Natyam Tyaganahta here performs this rite and then took the smoking "evil spirit" off the property.
Previously, at the very northeast corner of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, at the northeast corner of the the place where the first stone would be placed, the silpis had carved out a small 4 inch square hole in the foundation. Into this tiny crypt, a the very auspicious moment which was exactly 9:30 this morning, Gurudeva placed a "Navaratna" -- a specially prepared gold piece with nine precious gems.
Here is the Navaratna, along with it were placed other gold items, coins and jewelry. According to the Vastu Shastras. the Divine energies of buildings and temples flow from the Northeast to the Southwest corner. Hence, building is commenced at the Northeast and often precious stones are placed at this spot. In 1995 during the groundbreaking ceremony many gems, gold and silver were placed at this same spot in the ground, which is now seven feet below the top of the foundation....
Then our team of silpis moved into action, with the blowing of conch shells and drumming, they deftly lay a mortar bed and moved the stone into place with bars.
Within minutes the deed was done, the first stone was laid and the building of Iraivan has begun. Gurudeva had his vision of Lord Siva walking this land in February of 1975. Now, 26 years later, that vision is becoming a reality.
Please join our family of over 6,000 donors worldwide. Six containers will be arriving from India in a few days and they contain the first six "courses" of stones for the main sanctum. In order to keep our silpis busy, we need to increase our monthly fund raising goals. So, make a pledge today! We have people donating amounts small and large, but consistency is a key, donating something every month. Don't wait! Now is the auspicious moment to be a part of this historic undertaking.
After the ceremony Gurudeva blesses Ganapati Sthapati, who designed the temple. Sthapati gave a wonderful talk afterwards to the whole group and related anecdotes about Gurudeva: "This Iraivan temple is unique in its purity and is designed in the style of the Chola temples of Tamil Nadu. The only Deity in the temple is Siva.
Years ago, Gurudeva invited me to come to the US. I had never been here before... He told me I should come and help build the Hindu temples in North America. Now, I wish to relate to you a true story. You may know about the famous Nadi Shastra readers we have in India. They have large libraries of ola leaves with prophecies. Before I met Gurudeva I went to one of these. He read my nadi reading and said: "The great King Rajaraja Chola has been reborn, he is a tall man with white hair and he will soon come to ask you to go to the west and build temples there."
"And I tell you it was only later that I met Gurudeva and realized that he was the reincarnation of Rajaraja Chola. So this temple has special significance. It is one of only three sacred temples that face South. This means the temple has the power to grant liberation, moksha."
Ganapati Sthapati also relates: "Until now all the artisans coming out of India have been masons and plaster workers. This is the first complete team of actual stone carvers to come to the west."
Please contribute generously. You are witnessing a remarkable moment in the history of the Hindu Renaissance, be a part of this great legacy which will leave a monument for Sanatana Dharma for our children centuries from today.
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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
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Blog Archives
May 28, 2001 
Gurudeva stands by an beautiful image of Lord Subramaniyam holding the Vel. Two days ago he started an "Akashic Wind" which means that the normal administration of the monastery is suspended and the Satguru takes a more dynamic role in daily affairs. This Akashic Wind is called "Akashic Wind Iraivan."
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Title: Kundalini Experiences; Attraction to Girls |
Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee from Trinidad had some kundalini experiences and now wants to know what to do with it. In order to find the control so that it does not bother her Gurudeva suggests that she grow things and blend herself with nature. A cyberspace devotee finds himself attracted to girls that he sees and wonders what he can do to stop this. Gurudeva advices that he look at all girls younger than him as his sister and all ladies older that him as his mother.
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
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Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit. |
transcription begins
Date: May_17_2001
Title: How to love the Gods?
Category: God and Lords of Dharma
Duration: 3 min., 14 seconds
Date Given: May 09, 2001
A cyberspace devotee, Rosina, wants to find the love of God, doesn't have love for God and is wondering how to bring this about.
Well Rosina, judging from your name, you are probably not a member of the Hindu religion. Therefore, your philosophy - and correct me if I am wrong - may be different than ours.
Whatever we love, we have to know where it is. It has to be identified in a place and then, we can either love it or not love it, react to it or fight with it.
Going to Sanatana Dharma, God does have a place. But it is a little more complicated than that. We have to know what God we are talking about. Now, if we are talking about Lord Siva, Lord Siva is everywhere, most strongly felt within a Siva Temple. If we are talking about God Ganesha or God Murugan or any other Gods and Goddesses, they live in the Third world and have many Devas and other Mahadevas that work and serve humanity.
Let us begin with Lord Siva. The energy in your body, and my body and everybody's body, as well as, in animals, bugs, reptiles, fish and birds is the same one prana flowing. Where does it come from? It comes from Siva. So, we can identify Siva in one of His aspects as pure energy and learn to love energy.
The light that lights up my thoughts, that lights up your TV, lights up your thoughts and all the thoughts in all the minds in the world, that light comes from Siva. So, we can identify Siva as light and learn to love light.
On another level, from a psychological point of view, to have love in your heart and love flowing through you, you have to get rid of all the things that you don't love. Maybe you are fighting with somebody in the office, having mental arguments with your family or friends. All that has to stop. So, if you are having a conflict, mentally say, "I love you, you love me" and make the energy between you and the person that you are conflicting with, flow between you in a very wonderful harmonious way.
This is a mental, six-word mantra - "I love you, you love me."
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Guest day brought some wonderful souls and some wonderful rain.
Hindu pilgrims arrived from Singapore, coming by invitation to attend the all important first stone laying ceremonies.
 The Remarkable Vision |
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At long last the historic moment has arrived. Jiva Rajasankara (fourth from the left) our temple carving site manager arrived on Kauai with seven wonderful souls from India: six silpis (stone carvers) and one assistant silpi/cook.
These men will begin the work on the temple that will last 1000 years. This is their first trip out of India.
Please help us keep them working steadily. We have new monthly fund raising goals now. Aside from continuing to maintain the carving site in India and sustain the on-going finishing of the stones there, now we must provide the salary, house payments and operations expenses involved with fitting the stones here on Kauai.
We took them first to the temple for blessings.
Soon we will be posting the exact stones that will be going into the temple and you will be able to sponsor one or more stones and you can make your payments on a monthly basis over a period of a few years.
Here is the whole team with master Architect Ganapati Sthapati in the center, the silpis and Selvanathan, Sthapati's protege on the right. We look forward to working together for many years.
Ganapati Sthapati made this important statement when the men arrived"
This is historic for a number of reasons, one is that this is the very first time that a team of trained stone sculptors have been brought to America. Heretofore, only masons have been sent from India to work on temples." Sthapati also wrote a wonderful article on the temple, elucidating the inner mysticism of a temple built according to the true Saivite Hindu Agama traditions and Vastu Shastra and few days ago which we will excerpt for you in the days ahead.
SAN MARGA IRAIVAN TEMPLE, HAWAII, USA
The Sanmarga Iraivan Temple, visualized and sponsored by H.H. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Gurudeva, of Kauai Aadheenam, USA, is a unique structure being built entirely of granite stones of white variety, procured from Bangalore, South India. The concept behind the temple scheme is based on scientific Vaastu and Agamic science. Design-wise, it is a simple structure but concept-wise it is of a very great significance. Technologically too, it is simple but spiritually it is elevating and satisfying.
The temple complex consists of
1. Garbhagriha, a harmoniously structured cubical cell that would enshrine a crystal Linga, the focal point of worship. The crystal Linga is called Sukshma Linga, subtle.
2. Mukha mandapa, an extended part of Garbhagriha, for providing space for the high priest to stand and perform puja-worship by flowers and waving of camphor and lights called Deeparadhana.
(to be continued next phase....we are going into a two day retreat...see you Sun One!)
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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
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Blog Archives
May 27, 2001 
Just when temple architecture is in the forefront of our minds and our Ganapati Sthapati is here at the Aadheenam, an elderly Indian couply who knew nothing about Iraivan were on Kauai and saw something about the temple in a local magazine. As it turns out Mr. Baidyanatha Chattopadhya who now spends half his time in New York and half his time in Rishikesh, has built 5 Siva temple along the upper Ganges river. Not only that, but he adopted a similar patten of operation as Gurudeva is doing. He had all the temples made of marble from Rajasthan and then shipped them to their sites along the Ganges.
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Take this opportunity for an adventure.
Close your eyes and click to get a message
picked at random from our vast audio archives
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Click to send Gurudeva a spiritual question he will later answer for all to benefit. |
transcription begins
Date: May_16_2001
Title: Pets in the Home
Category: Family
Duration: 58 seconds
Date Given: April 28, 2001
A cyberspace devotee wonders about pets in the home, like dogs and cats. It seems that a lot of Hindus are against having dogs and cats in the home.
In Hindu villages all over India, there are no veterinarians to take care of cats and dogs. It is rather a luxury. Western educated Hindus often have beautiful cats and dogs within their home and take care of them according to the western way - sanitation, veterinarian help and all the modern faculties to maintain the luxury of a cat or a dog.
There is nothing that I know of in Hindu scripture that prevents one from having a pet in the home, except that sanitation according to Ayurveda, is extremely important for the health of the family.
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Yesterday was the couples 36th wedding anniversary and Gurudeva blesses them with a shawl.
Another young couple from San Jose, California, Narendra and Prabha Seshadri.
David Englesby, nephew of one of our swamis, came from Idaho to visit the monastery and be on Kauai. He lives in Boise and works for a microchip company. As it turns out Idaho is the top of the wired states in the whole nation, turning out a lot more than potatoes. David got a tour of the publications facility, met Gurudeva and said he is having a great time in the water. "Kauai is quite different from the arid area I come from which has desert like conditions.... there is so much green here!"
Sadhaka Japendranatha hosts Dr. Thom Yarema (right of center) and his friends. On the far right is Summerjoy from Kauai and on the far left is Bobbie, an ayurvedic doctor from Maui, and Madhu, a Vedanta student who just returned from India. "Dr. Thom" as we refer to him, while a licensed "western" allopathic physician, also avails himself of a variety of alternative health therapies to bring healing to his patients. He helped a lot to see Gurudeva through the difficult ordeal last year when he hurt his back. Thank you Dr. Thom!
Sadhaka Tyaganatha, performing the Sun One Homa. At one point during the ceremoney a powerful japa is performed by the priest and the entire assembly of devotees. The powerful bija mantra "Aum Hum Haum Sivaya Svaha!" is sounded by everyone. The priest passes his mala (rosary) through his hands, marking the 108 repetitions for the whole group. This is always a powerful invocation, raising the energies of the whole group to a very high level.
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Discussions continued today with Ganapati Sthapati, his apprentice Selvanatha, Acharya Palaniswami, Acharya Ceyonswami and Deva Rajan. Today's focus was on the roof of the temple. A careful analysis of the water flow was made to be taken into consideration during the building process. Kauai is known for its torrential rains, as one would expect since the mountain above the temple is the wettest spot on planet earth. Being an open building we have to make sure the water sheds well and of course does not end up flooding the inside of the temple hall.
We also took Sthapati to our small Guru temple where he got to see Gurudeva's meditation hall and the shrine for our Paramaguru Yogaswami. He said "Every room of the Aadheenam is like a small temple. Through Gurudeva, the original human culture is being lived once again."
Speaking of culture! Our Kauai Mission sent in this wonderful photo series of the Ritu Kala samskara ceremonies for Priya Alahan. This ceremony blesses the important change into womanhood in a way that western culture never does. The ladies sent these captions:
"Priya resembling a youthful Parvati in the beautiful setting of nature after her ceremony of multiple blessings."
"Sitara Alahan and Selvi Katir helped with all the preparations and planning. They also provided a brief carnatic vocal concert for our guests. They were very encouraging and shared stories of their Ritu Kala experiences with Priya throughout our preparations."
"Two married ladies of the community offer a tray of tropical fruits. One of many trays presented before Priya during her ceremony."
"Priya waiting for her ceremony after her Aunty and sisters helped get her dressed up in a sari with decorative jewelry and makeup."
Traditionally, the sari is not worn by a girl until she has come of age.
"Priya with her mother,Isani, sisters,Neesha and Sitara experiencing the bliss of a celebration of the fulfillment of stree dharma."
This is Priya a few days later on her 13th birthday.
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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
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Blog Archives
May 26, 2001 
Gurudeva continues to give powerful upadeshas (spiritual discourses) every day to the monastics, guiding them both in their inner and outer life. "Living With Siva" will go to press in a few weeks. This will complete the final book of the "Trilogy" whch comprises the "Master Course." Gurudeva has been meeting with his Ekadanta Kulam staff (the swamis who manage education programs, students' progress and membership) working out the course of study based on these texts. The daily lesson will include a section from each book, for reading and contemplation. Eventually these will all be on the internet for those far away who may not have access to the printed volumes.
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Title: |
sound is coming
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: May_09_2001
Title: Group Karma
Category: Karma
Duration: 2 min., 05 seconds
Date Given: April 17, 2001
A cyberspace devotee, Rakesh, is wondering, "If a lot of people die at the same time, such as in the earthquake in Gujarat or a plane crash, where do they go? What do they do? Do the husband and wife meet one another? What happens on the inside of the inner world when this happens?"
This is called a group karma. The same thing happening to many people, in the same way, at the same time. It is a group karma.
The Devas and Mahadevas in the inner world of course know that this is going to happen and they are prepared for the arrival of the group. If you would visualize a busy airport with a lot of people in it all milling around in one building, you get the idea of what happens when the group leaves the physical body and is in the astral body. Often, they don't even know that they are dead.
So, in this big reception hall, everyone is calmed down, talked with and separated out. Husbands meet wives and they collect up their children. It is explained to them what has happened to them and then it is all sorted out. Each one goes to his respective heaven world in which he was prepared for, through his religion, at an early age.
That is one of the big problems of having a husband in one religion, for instance a Sikh and the wife is a Catholic. Each would go into his own respective heaven world and they would be separated. The strength of a good marriage is that the wife join the religion of her husband.
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The "anchor" of our daily life is the morning sadhana period which is one and a half hours to two hours long. Beginning at 5:30 with Siva puja in the temple, this is the most blessed part of our day in the Kadavul temple, which, with it's lights all on truly "shines" like the famed "hall of Chidambaram" which, besides being a real place in India is also considered the mystic chamber of consciousness in which Lord Siva dances. On the right is Lord Muruga, ready for his morning bath and puja which is held at 6:00 am. Meanwhile the monks will go to the meditation room for rigorous Raja Yoga meditation for one hour followed by a talk from Gurudeva at 7:00 am.
Today Arvindraj performs the puja, completing his "graduation" from the Atmartha Puja classes he has been taking.
Arvindraj showed an excellent command of the Sanskrit and "kriyas" or actions for the puja. He will take this into his life as a daily practice in the future for his own life and his future family.
"Arati" is the famed "waving of the lights" that is performed by Hindus of all denominations. Regardless of the extremely diverse forms of rituals and procedures, this one offering of consciousness to the Divine can be seen across all of India, in all ashrams, villages, temples and ceremonies.
After the puja the flames is offered to the feet of the Guru.
We had a busy morning with a wide array of guests. Here is Bob and Bharati Gaitonde from Texas, originally from Goa.
Shashank and Deepti Chitnis from Honolulu. Shashank is an architectural designer, working for Tower Engineering and offered his services to the temple. Deepti is a dentist, working for the US Army. She is an officer in he Dental Corps. The have two boys, Jay, 7yrs, and Om, 4yrs.
This is Marian Yee and her close friend Bruce Barnes. Marian is co-founder and Vice-President of ComTest Technologies a highly successful Hawaii based firm that is vendor for some of the printers used by our own publications office. Born Hawaiian of Chinese and Russian parents, Marian has been a reader of Dancing with Siva and Lemurian scrolls for several years and is very interested in the inner mystical teachings and purchased Merging with Siva today when she came to visit the monastery and temple and see the grounds of the future Iraivan temple.
Bruce is Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace in Honolulu where he is actively involved in the dissemination of information on nonviolence. He was recently on Kauai to work with the police force here to find ways to have citizens mediate their differences among themselves.
 The Remarkable Vision |
Iraivan Temple Progress Update |
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Intense discussions continued this morning, with Ganapati Sthapati (center) and his son Selvanathan (rear) on the building of the Iraivan temple.
Attending them is Michael Borden, an architect who lives in Fairfield, Iowa, who has studied principles of Vastu archtecture under Sthapati. Michael is promoting Vastu design in America for residential and commercial building. He came to Kauai to join Sthapati for the stone laying ceremonies.
Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati has been associated with our temple from its inception over 20 years ago. Since then he has become world-renowned as more and more temple communities in many different countries outside of India have created a high demand for his expertise. A man of vast education in the field of sacred architecture, Sthapati is not only a master builder but a master of the mystical sciences behind the outer forms. He contends that there is a hidden connection between the ancient teachings of Vastu, which are contained in books written by one "Mayan" and the Mayan civilization of Central America. He is a fitting person to build the Iraivan temple which on this island of Kauai is the center of the ancient civilization of Lemuria which would have been the link between ancient India and Central America.
Sthapati and his apprentice, Selvanathan who himself can look forward to a growing, successful career as the continuing trend to build Hindu temples shows no signs of abatement.
Please give generously to the temple. Now is the time to donate. Once it is built, your opportunity to participate in this historic project will vanish.
Gurudeva's spiritual center in the island country of Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa
Is the Spiritual Park a place for pilgrimage only? For a very nice group of Sai Baba devotees led by two dynamic youth leaders, it was the ideal place to have a spiritual retreat. This is what they did one Sunday, leaving aside all mundane activities to concentrate on their inner self. Miss Deepa Hassamal and Mr. Keshav Sobarnath, both youth wing coordinators of the Mauritius Sai Baba organisation carefully planned a one day spiritual retreat for some hundred participants at the park. Their activities, other than a tour on the park in the morning, included religious teachings, meditation and bajans.
Here the sai youth retreat participants in the midst of an animated group discussion under the shade of the mango grove that surrounds the Ganesha Mandapam. This reminds us of the traditional old days when Hindus used to sit under banian trees to attentively listen to mystical teachings from Illuminated Gurus.
Mr. Lee Lan Chong, trader from Montagne Blanche saw a film on the Spiritual Park on television. He was so inspired that he brought his whole family to see the park. He was happy to see a little Oriental style in the design of the Ganesha Mandapam roof which is artistically covered with marine blue tiles made of clay by craftsmen in a province of China.
Some people come from as far as Chemin Grenier a village on the south coast of the island, often by public bus, to spend a whole day at the park. Here we see the Koothan and Doorgiat families, long time devotees of Gurudeva who had a happy time during the day entertaining other visitors at the park. Mr. Siven Koothan, has been a pillar for Saiva Siddhanta Church in the south of Mauritius for many, many years. He is a primary school Head Teacher, and is also organizing 'Positive Discipline' seminars on parenting in his local area. Interested families may contact him on
Tel: 622 7814.
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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
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Blog Archives
May 25, 2001 
The Guru Maha Sannidhanam of Kauai Aadheenam, Satguru Sivaya Subrmuniyaswami. Gurudeva gives out vibhuti prasadam which is the traditional blessing from a holy man. It conveys the spirit of purification on the path of spiritual transformation.
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Click here to visit a random Cybertalk from our archives.
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transcription begins
Date: April_29_2001
Title: Tithing
Category: Good Conduct
Duration: 2 min., 35 seconds
Date Given: April 28, 2001
A Himalayan Academy cyberspace devotee in Baltimore, Maryland. Panchaksharam is wondering about tithing, dasamamsa, the ancient tradition of giving one-tenth of one's gross income to the religious institution of one's choice. He finds it hard to reconcile that everything is Siva's money, because he would like to keep it all for himself.
Well Panchaksharam, look at it this way. All of your money, a 100-percent is Siva's money because Siva has supplied the energy and the intelligence. He is the light that lights up your mind. He is the energy in your body. It is all coming from Siva. So, you give it all to Siva in your mind and Siva will give you back 90 percent!
That 10 percent is not giving, it is a payment. It is not yours to give. It is like taxes. You don't give taxes, you pay taxes. So if you are a member of a religious institution, you pay for that privilege.
Tithing is very fair. The widow who has a very limited income, several thousand dollars a month, pays two hundred dollars a month. The multi-millionaire, who has a liberal income of two hundred thousand dollars a month, pays much more. But both are equal, both are equal. It is still 10 percent. Once you pay your tithing, then giving comes into focus.
So, remember tithing is like a tax. Giving comes from your heart. One you have to do, the other you want to do.
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Today was graduation day for Sivaneswaran Sockanathan who has been doing wonderful work here at Kauai Aadheenam. A lover of the great outdoors he has been pitching in to the work of the Siddhidata Kulam with great energy and dedication. We all really love his perpetually positive attitude and happy mood.
Sivanewaran has been practicing for many, many weeks to get ready for this important ceremony...his "atmartha puja debut."
Sivaneswaran passes out the "tirtham" or holy water.
A picture from our Sun One Homa.
The Vedas have this beautiful hymn to the entity of Shraddha which is translated into English as "Faith" but which means much more:
1. By Faith is Fire kindled.
By Faith is offered Sacrifice.
Sing we now Faith, the pinnacle of joy.
2. Bless Faith, the one who gives.
Bless him who wills, but has not.
Bless him who gives his worship unstinting.
Bless this song I sing.
3. As the Gods evoked Faith
from the mighty Asuras,
so may my prayer for the generous worshiper be accepted!
4. The Gods, led by the Spirit,
honor Faith in their worship.
Faith is composed of the heart's intention.
Light comes through Faith.
5. Through Faith men come to prayer,
Faith in the morning,
Faith at noon and at the setting of the Sun.
O Faith, give us Faith!
 The Remarkable Vision |
Iraivan Temple Progress Update |
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Acharya Palaniswami, Acharya Ceyonswami, Sadhaka Thondunatha start their first day of meetings with Ganapati Sthapati, Selvanathan and Deva Rajan. Today's meetings focused on the preparations needed for the first stone laying ceremony.
Yesterday there was a statewide
building inspector's conference at the Coconut Beach Hotel. Gurudeva attended with Ganapati Sthapati and Professor Mehta who engineered the foundation of Iraivan temple.
Ganapati Sthapati, our architect and perhaps the most well-known of all of India's sacred spaces architects, spoke to the group about the ancient Indian science of "Vastu," and presented his new book on the subject.
Professor Mehta talked about the foundation of the Iraivan temple and the significance of the use of coal fly-ash as a building material.
This is the Nandi Mandapam of the Iraivan temple. It is a "super structure" that will stand alone outside the south entrance of the temple.
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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
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Blog Archives
May 24, 2001 
Today marks a new era for the Aadheenam and Iraivan temple. Our Architect, Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati has arrived from India with his son and assistant, Selvanathan, to join us for the first stone laying of the Iraivan Temple.
Today Ganapati Sthapati also released his new book, "Building Architecture of Sthapatya Veda" at a Building Inspector's Conference held on Kauai. Sthapati presented the first copy to Gurudeva for blessings.
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Title: Worshipping the Gods |
Cybertalk: A cyberspace devotee wants to know if he should worship all the Gods equally or is there a particular God that he should worship first. Gurudeva explains that Hinduism has four major denominations, each worshipping a different God. But what ties them together is that they all worship Lord Ganesha first.
Cybertalk Ends"
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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
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transcription begins
Date: May_02_2001
Title: Temple Prasadam; The Inner Body of the Soul
Category: Hinduism and Tradition
Duration: 2 min., 22 seconds
Date Given: April 28, 2001
A cyberspace devotee, Radharama, asks about Mahasivaratri prasadam that she received from our temple. What is it made of and can she eat it? Can she share it with others?
Well, prasadam is blessed by the Gods and contains the vibration of the entire ceremony. Yes, you can eat it. Yes, you can share it with others. Of course, non-Hindus wouldn't understand. The vibhuti is made from burnt cow dung, which represents the entire Universe will be ashes one day, when Siva has His Mahapralaya and then begin again.
By applying the vibhuti to your forehead you participate in the ceremony, just as if you were here physically.
A cyberspace devotee by the name of Girish, wonders about the soul and asks all kinds of questions from the Gita and also from the Vedas about the soul..
Girish, it is very, very simple. You are a soul and you are a soul body that has various tools. One tool is an astral body to move on the astral plane. Another tool is the mental body to move on the mental plane and another is the physical body to move in the physical world.
But essentially, you are the soul. You are the observer. You are the motivator of your mental body, of your astral body, of your physical body.
Look to the Vedas. The Vedas came from God, through the Rishis. Bhagavad Gita came from man.
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Today was our Sun One Homa and was attended by our honored guests, Sthapati, Selvanathan, Prof. Kumar Mehta, the engineer responsible for the "miracle" foundation of Iraivan temple, and Deva Rajan, who has been instrumental in coordinating many activities related to the contruction of the temple.
Gurudeva blesses Ganapathi Stapathi and Selvanathan.
In attendance was an American student of Ganapati Sthapati, Michael Borden, who is carrying the tradition of Vastu to the West. Michael is Sthapati's only western student and is now the most knowledgeable westerner on Sthapatya Veda. Michael has already designed a factory complex that was built in China according to the principles of Vastu, as well as residences in USA and India. Sthapatya Veda iin China is also known as Indian Feng Shui.
Gurudeva answers Cyber Cadet questions today. Everyone listens intently.
Professor Mehta offers Gurudeva a gift.
It is a stained glass image of Lord Ganesha... a fitting present to bless the beginning of the erection of the stones of Iraivan.
After the ceremonies everyone parades out to the Iraivan site. Another joyous event was the arrival a few days ago of Thambynathan Hurditya Deva (left in white with glasses). Hurditya Deva was born in Thailand. He is in the "Aspirant" stage of monastic life and just completed a long pilgrimage to India.
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Iraivan Temple Progress Update |
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As you can see from the above banner we are starting a "new section" on our daily page which will feature the Iraivan temple progress. Please give generously. The fund raising goal to complete the temple is 12 Million dollars.
Here Sadhaka Tyaganatha blesses the temple foundation with the water from the early morning homa.
Professor Mehta who formulated the concrete mixture for the temple, using coal fly ash and no metal reinforcement bars and supervised the actual pouring of the cement, was heard to assure Ganapati Sthapati, regarding the strength of the foundation: "This temple on this foundation will be like a fly on the Himalayas." That's very reassuring!
Acharya Ceyonswami talks with Sthapati and Selvanathan. as we make our traditional Sun One circumambulation around the foundation.
These stones are resting here only for display and have not yet been "jointed" or fitted permanently to the foundation.
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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
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Blog Archives
May 21, 2001 
Our two pilgrims from Vancouver, Canada came to have Gurudeva's darshan today.
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transcription begins
Date: February_09_2000
Title: Where do We Let Off Steam? Part 2
Category: Family
Duration:
It is really making a lot of really bad karma that will come back in its stronger reaction later on in life for some one, the husband or wife or teenager, to upset the vibration of the home, just because of certain stress at school or in the workplace. It is counter-productive to work all day, in a nice office, produce and control the emotions, be productive and then, go home and upset the vibration within the home. Why is someone working? It's to create the home. Why is someone going to school? It's to eventually create a home. It is counter-productive to destroy that which one works all day to create.
That's why I advice the professional mother, the professional father, the professional son and the professional daughter to use the manners that are learnt in the workplace, in the home and build the vibration of the home, stronger than the vibration of the workplace. So that there is something to come home to.
We have seen so many, many times, professional persons, man or woman, behave exquisitely in the workplace, but not so exquisitely at home, upset the home vibration, eventually destroying the home, breaking up the home. We have seen through the years, a very unhappy person in retirement. A very bitter person in retirement, no one wants him around, no one wants to have him in their home. Therefore, in some nursing home, they die, forgotten.
The Sanatana Dharma and Saiva Samayam must be alive in the home, must be alive in the office, must be alive in the temple for us to have a full life.
I hope that by painting this picture, that we have answered this question. The question was "Oh, where do we vent our emotions, where do we let off steam, if not in our own home?" The answer is - within the temple itself.
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Both ladies were originally born and raised in Fiji. They brought Gurudeva's Master Course Trilogy for his signiture and blessings to begin their study.
This morning Thambynathan Nutanaya, performed his "graduation ceremony" by himself conducting the morning Atmartha Puja for the whole monastery.
He did very well. He had everything perfectly memorized and his Sanskrit chanting was excellent. Normally the daily monastery morning worship service is done in the main shrine of the Siva lingam installed there. On a day like this a small altar is prepared by the one who will do the puja, just like a home altar.
Nutanaya performs the final arati to the small Siva Lingam....
"Om Sadyo jatam prapadyami, sadyo jatayavai namo namaha..."
Our sevaks from Malaysia assist in distributing the prasadam after the puja. Sivaneswaran takes the flame around to all the monks. To "receive the flame" means to pass the tips of the fingers of both hands through the flame and then touch the eyes each time. The devas who have been invoked during the puja can follow the flame as it is passed among the devotees and bless each one. The fire represents the offering of consciousness to God and is returned after ceremony to the devotees as a small spark of the Divine Consciousness of God, which they transfer, literally, to their minds through their eyes by this practice.
Arvindraj passes the next item that is given to the devotees: the sacred holy ashes we call "vibhuti" or, in North India, "bhasma." The devotee takes the vibhuti and applies it to his forehead in three stripes. They represent the purification of the ego, the purification of the effects of past deeds and the purification of worldliness : anava, karma and maya.
Next is the chandanam, sandalwood paste, which is applied to the third eye. Fragrant and cooling, it marks the third eye of consciousness and is followed by the red dot of Kumkum, which is tumeric power mixed with lime juice which turns it red in color. This is place on top of the sandalwood paste and is stimulating.
The daily application of the forehead marks, known as the "Tilak" is common among all denominations of Hinduism. The Tilak will have different meaning and is a sign of one's faith and spiritual affiliations. It is an overt and open reminder that the body is God's vehicle on earth, to be daily consecreted in the spirit of Prapatti, surrender to the Divine.
The small images are decorated with fragrant plumeria flowers that are abundant now as the warm weather stimulates all our plants to flower.
Guest day brought the unusually diverse array of guests that always come on tour day. Hindus from far away, and lots of locals today from the island of Kauai.
Guests today that got a tour of the press shop. on the left Peter Francyk who is a hatha yoga teacher from Utah. Peter is inspired by the wonderful vibration of the temple and to see the traditional Hindu context in which yoga practice would normally find itself. He hopes to take some of the spiritual vibrations back to his practice when he goes home. In front Sunni Rose, web designer, amazed to see all our Macs, optical 100 -base T Ethernet network all running underneath the mango and banyan trees! In the back Judy Peckenpaugh wife of Roger Peckenpaugh who together ran a successful tropical flower business on Kauai. The Peckenpaugh's collaborated actively with Acharya Palaniswami to help gather many of the beautiful plants on our property. She brought a dear old highschool friend of her's, Carli Steers, (on the right) an artist now living in California. Judy and Carli were inspired by the sayings of Tiruvalluvar and purchased copies of Weaver's Wisdom, Merging with Siva and Om Namasivaya bracelets.
The Nandinatha Sutras book is an historial achievement that Gurudeva has been working on for many years. It is now published as part of the book "Living with Siva," which will go to press in Malaysia in two weeks. Meanwhile Gurudeva had a copy of the Sutras made for all the Church members and monks. Here Sivakatirswami has his copy which he laminated the cover of and carries with him to read and re-read this litttle treasure chest of the "jewels of dharma."
If the only Hinduism you knew and practiced were the teachings and philosophy contained in these 365 finely crafted verses, that would be enough to guide you on your spiritual journey of self transformation. You can get your ebook version on line for free right now! Just go to:
Sannyasin Sivadevanathaswami (on the right) has returned from a wonderful mission in Mauritius. For many years before that he was a well-trained member of our publications team. He has been away for some five years. Now that he is home, he is back with his "home team" the publications group...the "Ganapati Kulam." And we are really glad to have him back as his talent and skill are really needed. Here he meets with Acharya Palaniswami (on the left) to work out design details for the annual project called the "Innersearch Study Guide." This is one of those small projects-- only 100 copies will be produced -- which will result in a really precious full color book for the participants of the annual innersearch. The cover of the book is under discussion here and always carries the Innersearch logo, in new colors for the next wonderful journey.
There are only 8 cabins left on the ship that is going to carry our Innersearch study group. Don't delay! If you are wavering, don't waver any longer. This next Innersearch will be a remarkable journey as Gurudeva takes the spirit of "Hinduism Today" to the countries of Northern Europe, teaching on the boat and meeting the Hindu communities at various ports of call.
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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
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