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Please take time to view today's video. This is one of the temples that Gurudeva is planning to visit during this year's Innersearch voyage in August where we will meet with Hindu communities in Europe�visiting the temples that they have erected and join in the grand celebrations as they welcome Gurudeva to their home. Join him on this pilgrimage travel-study program and take this rare opportunity to spend precious time with him. For more information please visit www.innersearch.org

Title: Wedding Protocols Part 1 Category: Hinduism and Tradition Duration: 2 min., 57 seconds Date Given: 03/21/2001 Date Posted: March_28_2001

Today's video shows the annual chariot event that takes place at one of this year's Innersearch destinations--the Abirami Temple in Denmark.

Cybertalk: Cyberspace devotee Mahendran from Nepal wants to know why his divorced parents cannot attend his wedding. In the first part today Gurudeva says the reason that they would not attend the wedding is so that the wedding couple would only have good impressions placed in their minds on that day. Not seeing a divorced couple during this sacred time means the couple would not have in their minds that divorce is an option at some time in the future.

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.

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Date: March_19_2001
Title: Gurudeva Interviewed by Loni Petranek Part 11
Category: The Guru
Duration: 3 min., 23 seconds
Date Given: August 20, 2000

Gurudeva: Hinduism is matriarchal, patriarchal and a combination of both. In fact, in the State of Kerala, India, the women own the land, they run the home and they are treated like Goddesses. Other places, it is just the opposite. So, it is a very flexible religion.

Here is something very interesting about the temple that we are building. You will like to hear this, Loni. We were working for years to get the temple started. We went to the God Ganesha; that is the Hawaiian God Lono. We went to the God Kumara, Hawaiian God Ku. We went to Siva, Himself. Nothing happened until we went to the Goddess Raja Rajeshwari, in India in a big temple, asked the Goddess to get the temple started and it happened. We had a tremendous big ceremony, invoking the Goddess and the first stone was chipped at that particular time. From then on, very smoothly, the temple came up. So, it took that mother energy to bring the temple to earth.

Now in 'Hinduism Today', many, many of our writers are very astute ladies who understand the man's world and the woman's world and their part within each. We are working very strenuously in Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius. Especially in the country of Mauritius, with lady Ministers of the Government, for woman abuse and child abuse. The purpose is to stop it. In our religion, this is the very first time these subjects have been talked about, since we have been publishing about wife abuse and child abuse in the magazine. It has never been talked about, it has been going on and the women are taking a role now, to stop that happening in their homes. They are realizing, more and more that the mother's place is in the home, to raise the next generation and that her biggest boy is her husband.

Loni: That is putting it mildly! Biggest boy, biggest child.

Gurudeva: That is a full-time job, for a happy home. I just did an article, 'Is your home a house or a hotel lobby?' You know, for a home to be a home, it needs that mother spirit. You need to feel mother at home, you need to feel that warmth. It should be a place that is difficult to leave and you always want to get back as fast as you can, because mom is there. So, we are trying in our religion to recreate that. We have been under the Church of England in India, for such a long, long time. A lot of bad habits have crept into the Hindu community around the world. We are trying to correct those bad habits and replace them with more traditional habits of the Vedic time and so forth.

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Sri Dada arrives at the monastery gate and worships the Nepalese Ganesha. He is the successor to his uncle Sadhu Vaswani who began the Sadhu Vaswani mission.

Sri Dada is delighted to be greeted at the temple by Acharya Palaniswami. Dada has met Gurudeva and Acharya Palaniswami at several Global Forums in Moscow and London, and also recently at the Millennium Summit of World Spiritual Leaders held at the United Nations last year. A reader of Hinduism Today, this is his first visit to Kauai Aadheenam.

Sri Dada meets Gurudeva in the Guru Peedam. Gurudeva talks briefly about his world campaign to stop domestic violence, stressing that the Hindu spiritual teaching of ahimsa, non-violence, which is the foundation of the Sanatana Dharma, gives Hindu families a solid foundation to become examples of non-violence in their homes.

Gurudeva passes out his United Nations paper, "For World Peace, Stop the War in the Home" to the guests who are with Sri Dada. His traveling companions are very focused, taking video of the entire meeting.

Sri Dada then gave a wonderfully inspiring message to the monks and family members who were assembled.

His humble demeanor and angelic presence belies the powerful, articulate orator that he is. Sri Dada gave a talk based on the Bhagavad Gita, stressing basic principles: performance of duty, leading to concentration, the importance of inner purification and seven practical points to achieve the goal. Here are some points from his powerful and beautiful message:

Time, make good use of every moment, every minute; silence, keep a daily appointment with God at least twice a day for 20 minutes; noble thoughts, always think of noble thoughts; always seek the lowest place--if you are called to perform a task that puts you in some position, do so out of obedience but otherwise always seek the lowest place; seva--serve others. Dada explained that eventually one will see a light in the head and that light would begin to illumine you from within and then you would come to the place where you would see God. With an impassioned voice he said that if we could plant such people in places around the world, then perhaps in our "tortured modern world" we will be able to bring some solace to others.

Gurudeva signs some books to give to Dada.

Dada said about Gurudeva that "He is one of the great lights, everything he says and touches is full of the love of God."

Gurudeva blesses the great soul. The confluence of two great holy men is a highly auspicious occasion.

Dada greets the monks. It was a joy to be with him. Through Hinduism Today we have been following the Sadhu Vaswami mission for many years and have been constantly inspired by the great work of Sri Dada Vaswani.

We are also honored by the presence of some of Gurudeva devotees from Malaysia. On the right is Mrs. Thamaraveni Sivanesan who is here with nephew on the far left. They came to get blessings for the Tali for her daughter who will be married in California soon. Next to Gurudeva is Bala Sivaceyon, father of Thambynathan Nutanaya, who is studying here at the monastery for a six months to a year before going back home to Malaysia.

Sri Dada J.P. Vaswani and his entourage only had an hour and a half to spend at the monastery. Such a high minded pure soul --Dada always fires the spiritual aspirations of anyone he comes into contact with.

He is especially beloved by the Sindhi people, the community from whence he hails. After the formation of Pakistan, the Sindhi people were forced to emigrate to lands far and wide around the world. And wherever they went, Sadhu Vaswani missions followed. Now.... the "five minute" tour of the San Marga Sanctuary land.

And a brief moment in the Hinduism Today offices.

Hinduism Today and Dada have many common goals in terms of service. One example is the promotion of vegetarianism, of which Dada is a articulate world advocate.

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

Indrani Veerasamy (center) brought her sister Jaya (left) and her couisin
Ruby Mooneegan (right) who is visiting Mauritius from the UK.

Postcards from Mauritius:
The Poudre D'Or Hamlet post office represents the old.

Postcards from Mauritius:
The Mauritius Telecom tower in Port Louis represents the new.

Vivekanand Ubheeram and his daughter visit the Spiritual Park from Bon
Accueil.

Her sister and cousin have brought a nice yellow verthi for Ganesh.

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