Blog Archives

Cybertalk: This is part six of a radio interview conducted by Loni Petranek with Gurudeva. The interview gives an overview of Gurudeva's worldwide mission. Today Gurudeva shares with Loni about the San Marga Iraivan Temple and the crystal lingam which will be the temple's central icon.

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 Sivadevanathaswami

Click here if you have a question Gurudeva answers questions from CyberCadets, and welcomes your spiritual queries. However, he responds only to matters of general interest and not to personal or intimate matters.

transcription begins

Date: February_27_2001
Title: Disciple's Best Gift to a Guru
Category: The Guru
Duration: 1 min., 15 seconds
Date Given: February 24, 2001

A cyberspace devotee in White Plains, New York wonders, "What is the greatest thing a sishya, or devotee of a guru, can do for the guru?"

At this day and age, in our technological age, the best in working with the guru is intelligent cooperation. There are many, many things to do that we could not do even 10, 20 years ago.

Intelligent cooperation, responsiveness to the guru, and the sishya all working together in harmony. Settling their differences before bedtime, so that they don't pile up and become a mountain of problems to be solved, deterring each one involved from his particular path.

So, intelligent cooperation is the best way to serve your guru.
transcription ends

Zack and Zachary filming Gurudeva at work for their documentary on the monastery.

A look inside our newly renovated Ekadanta Kulam office. The ceiling has been redone in a beautiful white textured paint.

Martine Thom the producer and director for the documentary film meets with Acharya Palaniswami and his assistant Sannyasin Sivakatirswami, each day for the documentary film. The film crew has worked out a careful plan for all the shots of the day.

Sannyasins Arumugaswami and Skandanathaswami took our Siva Sevaks, Arvind Raj and Sivaneswaran Sockanathan and Thambynathan Nutanaya on a long hike to continue the assessment of the huge system of waterways that will soon be under the supervision of the East Kauai Water Coalition, a citizen's group that includes Saiva Siddhanta Church.

They hike up towards the slopes of Mount Waialeale, the source of our water, which is the life of the land. This is the river bed up the Wailua River from our monastery.

Here and there wild flowers dot the landscape with splashes of color. At times when the rains are heavy on the mountain these river beds will be raging and full.

Approaching the slopes of the lower foot hills of the mountain one finds a pristine area of great beauty and serenity. This is one of the lower ridges of Mount Waialeale.

We are looking now into an area that was once, billions of years ago, a fiery volcano. One side of the giant crator has long eroded down, leaving the other side as a mountainous ridge that serves to catch high moisture and deliver it to the rivers below. Above us is the rainiest spot on planet earth.

Lush ferns stretch across the face of the canyons.

Here is a typical man made structure to harness and utilize this precious resource. We are looking at the Waikoko Stream diversion. The team took a dip here. It was freezing! The river comes into this small man made pool to collect the water which during high flows or drought times can be diverted to other streams, delivering water as far away as ten miles from this site.

Wild delicate orchids dot the landscape, roots perched in a few rocks, nurtured by the moist air and sun.

This is the typical coloring of the most abundant variety of wild orchids.

Another orchid we are growing at the monastery in the crooks of trees. We close our photo section from Kauai Aadheenam with Section Three of Yogaswami's "San Marga" Natchintanai song series:

Aum Tat Sat Aum

San Marga III.

We are the servitors of Lord Siva. We lack nothing. Our duty is to serve the Lord. It is the fundamental goal of our life in this world.

The moon fulfils the will of Siva. The sun and other planets also carry out His bidding. The gods and demons, and all other beings are also engaged in the performance of the Lord's work.

In everything do we see the will of Siva at work. Not an atom moves but by His will--nothing gained and nothing lost. We continue to be ever the same.

There is no one above us or superior to us; good and evil cannot affect us. There is no beginning and no end for us. We have no likes or dislikes; we have no desire for material goods. The spectre of the mind does not haunt us; neither are we bound by the limitations of place, time or causation. We simply bear witness to everything around us.

Aum! Tat Sat Aum !

Natchintanai

The center of a bromeliad.

Our 11-acre village in India is home to 75 Indian master craftsmen who live there and work each day on the carving of the sacred white granite Siva Temple which will soon be shipped soon to Kauai and assembled. See our latest February 2001 Building Fund Progress Report and join our family of contributors today!

The news from Bangalore is that our silpis there have received their passports. Meanwhile crated stones continue to be loaded into the containers for their journey to Kauai.

We are going to share with you over the days ahead photos from our collection. Here we see the rough cutting of large pieces of white granite that have arrived from the quarry.

This is the exquisite "Gomukai" just after it was uncrated on Kauai. It now sits in our "Bangalore Gallery" and one day it will be attached to the side of the main sanctum. When the giant crystal Sivalingam receives its daily bath, the waters and milk will flow out and down this "spout" where devotees can come to drink and capture the sacred tirtham.

Gurudeva's other monastery in the island country of Mauritius
in the Indian Ocean near South Africa

A few of Gurudeva's devotees did a little tree trimming yesterday. Some of the lower branches were removed from several trees to make shady places to walk and sit for meditation.

Or for savoring one of the custard like fruits that grows in the Spiritual Park!

March 12th is the celebration of Mauritius' independence from Great Britain in 1968. National Day, as it is called, is actually a two day holiday for all workers. Pictured here is Jayamini Fonseka (kneeling third from left) and her co-worker friends from Star Knitwear Ltd in Riviere du Rempart. These ladies are part of the 25,000 foreign workers (mostly Chinese) in Mauritius who are helping to power a vibrant textile export industry. (Perhaps a pullover that you own was made by them!) Jayamini and her friends are Singhalese speaking Buddhists who, as our Sri Lankan readers know, also love Ganesh. Most of these ladies come from the Colombo area.

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