Blog Archives
January 14, 2001 
Gurudeva is getting out every day, fresh air, sunshine and doing exercises. In his call to the monastery today he talked more about gratitude and appreciation, saying to the monks:
Turn to the person next to you and say "I really appreciate you!"
He is editing the chapter of Living with Siva on brahmacharya (sexual purity) today.
Yogaswami says, in a song entitled "The Sivathondon" (The Servant of Siva)
"God is the life of our life.
Therefore we are His possession.
We are His perpetual bondsmen, pledged to undying servitude.
All our vibrations originate in His vibrations.
We move to His rhythm always.
We can never for a moment forget Him.
We lack nothing
We live in eternity.
We dwell in everything and art everywhere.
We are all-knowing.
Let us ponder on these exalted sentiments always and get
beyond the base qualities inherent in us, and attain the
grandeur of Divinity. "
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Title: Sacred leaves for pada puja , Should one have a Guru who is alive?, Is everything that happens good? |
Cybertalk: A cyber cadet in Malaysia wonders if it is ok to use sacred leaves for a pada puja. Gurudeva says that it is fine and that he is creating a wonderful future for himself by giving respect to his guru. A cyberspace devotee in Botswana asks if one should have a guru that is alive or does it matter if he is not alive. Gurudeva says that a guru who is not alive will not be able to talk to you and that by having a guru who is alive one can communicate freely with him and it will be of a greater benefit. Another question this time from the state of Virginia where a cyberspace devotee asks is everything that happens to you good? Gurudeva says that everything that happens to you is because you put it into action. Gurudeva also says to accept your karma cheerfully and get the lesson out of the experience and you can carve a beautiful future for yourself..
Cybertalk Ends"
For more information about listening to Gurudeva's talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.
Do you have questions for Gurudeva? Send to questions@hindu.org.
Please note: Gurudeva only responds to questions from the general public on matters that are suitable for our public cyber audience. Personal or intimate questions sent to this address are not answered.
A detailed index of past inspired talks is available here.
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Transcription of One of Gurudeva's CyberTalks
Date: January_07_2001
Title: 2001, 75th Jayanthi Talk, Part 3
Category: Change and Transformation
Duration: 3 min., 12 sec
Date Given: January 05, 2001
I am seventy-five years of age now and when I was twenty-two years of age, Satguru Yogaswami gave me some whispers in the ear, very confidential. But he said, "Go back to America and build bridges, feed thousands. You will build palaces." I was very young then, I didn't know. What? Building a bridge from Sri Lanka to America? Building palaces? I didn't know that a palace is a kovil, meaning a temple.
Now at seventy-five years of age, I can look back and see that the bridge from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, India leads to Kauai Aadheenam. From Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Germany, England and all the European countries leads to Kauai Aadheenam, the beautiful island of healing. The beautiful island where pure Saivism is maintained by all the Swamis, Yogis, Sadhakas and devotees that live here and have been here over thirty years with me serving through 'Hinduism Today', through all the publications explaining Saiva Siddhanta to the modern world.
At this very auspicious time, we must all come together very closely. We must pray to Lord Murugan that the ceasefire that was called by Parakum in Sri Lanka manifests peace talks, so that a win-win situation can occur between the two parties involved, the Sri Lankan government and the Tamilian people represented by Prabhakaran. Peace can come to this beautiful garden island, which is needed in the world today, not as a place to be withdrawn from by conflict but as a place to be visited and pilgrimaged to, for upliftment of the soul of all the Tamilians and all the Saivites of the world.
We invoke Lord Murugan to forgive all the sins of the past, that has created this conflict, lived through this conflict and to use His Divine powers along with Lord Ganesha and Lord Siva to create a paradise. A beautiful paradise in Sri Lanka, in Mauritius, in Kauai, this beautiful garden island where we exist as Kauai Aadheenam. These three islands are places of pilgrimage, places of peace, places where we can see our future bright, wonderful and fulfilling.
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We will continue to share some photos from the Young Ladies retreat. Here is Anusha Samugam on the left from Singapore and Darshani Alahan from California. One of the lovely things about having the retreat on Kauai is that it draws people from different countries and builds the all important spirit of "hands across the oceans."
The timeless wonder of the sea. . .that constantly reminds us of the Source. And a beautiful place to practice the ancient tantric meditation on the five elements, sitting absolutely still, rotating in turn, one's focus on, earth, water, fire, air and akasha, until you melt your very being in the primal stuff of creation and step up close to the very edge of the Absolute. . . ready to dive in and dissolve in the sea of Satchindananda, and re-emerge fresh and whole and new.
Yogaswami said:
"Look, you and I are one, like waves on the same ocean."
As promised we are featuring here the latest and great in the Jnana Dana series. These are small tracts, the highest quality printing. Size: 5 1/2 inches by 8 1/2. This one is called "Nine Beliefs of Hinduism." We have printed 10,000 of these and they are ready for distribution. If you would like 50 or more of these tracts to pass out in your community, Hindu class, high-school comparative religion seminar, youth camp etc. Please email a request, stating quantity with your address to:
Four Facts of Hinduism, also available in quantity.
Please email a request, stating quantity with your address to:
An eleven acre site in Bangalore, India, where 75 Indian families live and daily carve the sacred white granite edifice of Iraivan Temple which will soon begin to be assembled on the island of Kauai
This is another chain set being carved by silpi CT. Kanna .He is just working on the first two rings on a set of seven that are oblong in shape.
The chipping is so delicate that the stone is buried in a pile of sand so that the rings do not break.
A close up side view shows how this set of chain is carved.
Gurudeva's other monastery in the island country of Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa
A few days ago the monks and Brahmachari Navind went on pilgrimage to the oldest Hindu temple in Mauritius. This temple is located in a small village called Clemencia about 20 kilometers south of our monastery. It was here that a large group of sugar cane laborers from Tamil Nadu in Southern India founded the Dandapani Aallayam 158 years ago. Pictured here: red and white steps leading up to the temple are vaguely reminicent of the steps leading to the famous Palani Hill temple in Tamil Nadu.
An idylic setting amid mango and banana trees and sugarcane.
While doing pradakshina (circling the outside of the temple) the monks pause to get a snapshot of the temple priest, manager and temple vimanam. That's the priest, Rajen on the left and Krishna the manager on the right.
Dandapani Muruga -- the renunciate holding a staff-- is the Lord of this temple.
Thank you, Rajen, for opening the temple and doing a special arati just for us!
A brief meditation. We felt right at home in this temple. The shakti power is very similar to that of the Murugan Temple that Gurudeva founded in California.
Click here to view this day last year.
"How to Become A Hindu"! Gurudeva's latest book release is now available Hot Off the Press! Visit the Himalayan Academy Book Store Web Site get the book and read the incredible testimonies of the early pioneers from the west who chose to make a full and complete conversion to Hinduism, legally change both their first and last names to Hindu names, change their lifestyles, sever their formal connections to previous faiths and joyously face the challenges in joining the tribe of the Sanatana Dharma
Visiting Kauai's Hindu Monastery
If you are planning to visit Kauai, please go first to our our visitor's page. Thank you.
Click here for information about Gurudeva's travels. He is presently staying on Kauai and has not immediate travel plans.
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