Blog Archives

Bodhinatha with the mission in Singapore at Dohadeva's home where Kulapati Dohadeva performs the pada puja. Sivakumaran assisting.

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Opens in separate Window. Quicktime 6.0 required to view this 30 minute MP4).

No Audio Today

				Live Web Cam Pix!

Today at Kauai Aadheenam was Sun One...

Saravananathaswami performs the homa.

It is hard to convey the inner power of these rites in our temple. In the silence between the moments and the chanting it feels like an avalanche of amritam (Divine Nectar) is falling into the top of the head.

Off we go to Singapore and Malaysia, thanks to Sannyasin Arumugaswami's diligent efforts to keep us posted.

Here is Bodhinatha at the air port in Hong Kong.

Arumugaswami writes:

"This is a new airport... huge, look it up on the web, must be the biggest in the world. concourse we were in was possibly 1 mile long, and there were three hubs like that.

Devotees welcome us at the Singapore airport.

The ladies of the Singapore mission perform the traditional welcoming arati for the arriving Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

Gurupuja by Dohadeva and Sivakumaran.

Bodhinatha talks with the members and students.

Thambynathan Girish is growing up and has renewed is aspirant vows just recently.

With Sivacharya priest at the hotel. He's working on Agama publication in Sanskrit with Tamil translation.

He just wrote us after the visit:

G. Karthikeya Shivacharyar
Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple
"Dear swamiji, Greetings from Karthikeyasivam. I was deeply honored to meet Sri Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and �Sri Arumugaswami who were in Singapore. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to meet them. Swamiji, I am lost for words to express my happiness to have met them. I feel very happy that our beloved Gurudeva and the ashram has done and is still doing great deeds for Hinduism which are beyond the imagination of many others."

Going back in time to the retreat. We held Chitra puja on Star One. of our calendar.

Yogi Japendranatha and Sadhaka Tejadeva were the priests.

Jai Gurudeva! We all feel him powerfully on the inside as do many others... One mission member from Malaysia wrote yesterday:

"Today, we had Chitra pada puja done. Last night we were talking about Gurudeva, when suddenly the whole house had the plumeria fragrance. Can't explain!"

The beautifully carved pada peedam...

Coming forward to prostrate.

Our silpis join us for this puja...

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
	Order Sacred Rudrakshas or Gorgeous 2003 Iraivan Calendars with Hindu festival days on them. Great for Gifts! All proceeds go to the building fund.

The setting of the bases for the pillars is proceeding well.

Mr. & Mrs. Annamalai from Chicago. Their first visit to Kauai Aadheenam after having heard about the temple from a relative who insisted that they have to go see this "beautiful temple".

Here they talk to Shanmuga Stapathi and discover that they are all from the same town in South India - Karaikuddi.

The ladies are from Kauai and the couple from the mainland.

Meanwhile another important event on Kauai, a small Gurudeva Memorial was held at Lydgate two days ago and drew a group community leaders whose lives were touched by Gurudeva.

Paramacharya Palaniswami who attended on behalf of the monastery, writes:

"It was a wonderful event. About 40 were there at Lydgate, under a tent John Isobe arranged for, installed by volunteers from the new mayor's office including two of his department heads."

They set up a table on which they had Gurudeva's photo and lots of flowers and leis. Yogi did a brief arati and I spoke for 2-3 minutes.

Then former mayor, Maryanne Kusaka, speaking on behalf of the present mayor, Brian Baptiste, read the new mayor's proclamation and part of it was his naming January 25th as "Gurudeva Day" henceforth on Kauai.

Maryanne Kusaka shared her testimony of Gurudeva's influence on her life.

The county council surprised everyone by sending the freshman member, Mel Rapozo, (pictured here) with a second formal proclamation, signed by all the members of the council.

The testimonials were prolific, as all were eager to say something. Ron Kouchi (left) gave a moving statement of how in his adult life his two children and Gurudeva have been the primary influences, admiring how one so well known around the globe lived among Kauaians so quietly and anonymously.

All praised the monastery's contributions past and present, and told stories of how transformative and peace-evoking the property is. Barbara Bennet here speaking here... a key leader in implementing Gurudeva's vision for uplifting Kauai with special events.

We then all drove to the entrance to Lydgate and held a brief inauguration of the new sign. It's quite a sight, larger than I had imagined, and totally impressive. The Tongans are doing all six sign installations as a gift to the island, and two are finished so far.

Breaking the coconut. It took the ladies three tries.

John Lydgate broke his coconut in one go. Despite having had quadruple by-pass heart surgery just 7 days ago, he made a point to be here today to honor Gurudeva!

Six of these signs were carved in India and given as gifts by Gurudeva to the island of Kauai. There's Barbara Curl on the right who has been instrumental in bringing the "Vision Kauai" process into fruition over the years and connecting Gurudeva and the monastery to the community.

At Gaylord's they had a sandwich buffet in a non-restaurant room, and the two Barbaras initiated an even more impressive testimonial session, which went for about 2 hours, each one present speaking of Gurudeva's influence in their lives over the years. Around the room they went, speaking of his greatness, his light, his ability to see to the heart of people. Curl's eyes. Deva and Tara came, as did Deva Seyon and his mother and Lila Shakti Devi. All enjoyed meeting the "bright new monks," Mahadevan and Shailesh.

Meanwhile we sometimes look out and feel that Gurudeva, like the Guru Gita says, is present now throughout all things, speaking to us, here through the river to flow on and on to merge with the ocean...

And from the mountain tops he calls us to look up, to aspire to achieve the evolution of the soul that is our destiny.

transcription begins

Date: January_21_1999
Title: When are We Ready for Initiation?
Category: Hinduism and Tradition
Duration: 5 min., 24 seconds
Date Given: January 21, 1999
Given By: Gurudeva

Today at Kauai Aadheenam, January 21st.

Greetings to each and everyone in cyberspace. Our ashram doors are open. We are talking with you, loving you, appreciating you and feeling that you are an ashramite, because you have been here more than once.

To all our new-comers, this is your first time coming to Cyberspace Ashram. We are on the Garden Island of Kauai, in the middle of nowhere. Thousands of miles from the United States, thousands of miles from Japan, thousands of miles from Australia. Sitting here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, secluded, we have this beautiful ashram with Mathavasis, or monks, from Asia and the United States, Australia, Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia. We are here printing 'Hinduism Today', an international magazine. We are here, up at four o'clock every morning, in the temple, in deep meditation. We are here preparing books that clarify the Hindu religion for all Hindus in the modern world. That is what we do and we do it very well.

For those of you who have been coming into the ashram every day, we have a message for you today. If you have a question, send your question right to 'Today at Kauai Aadheenam' in the little question box, at the bottom of your computer screen. Don't send your question to the 'Daily Message' that you receive on the screen through Sadhunathan. It is a lot of work for him to send it to us here and we are not so sure that you are watching or listening to Cyberspace Ashram. We want to be sure that we answer each question pragmatically and thoroughly.

We have a question today. "When are we ready for initiation?" This is from Honolulu.

A person is ready for initiation after he has prepared, well-prepared philosophically, socially and culturally, and has done the various sadhanas that lead up to the initiation. Sometimes, it takes a year. Sometimes, it takes two or three years and if he is a western person, even longer because the cultural habits and protocols have to change. In other words, he or she must remold their entire life according to the beliefs and practices of their new religion. Every religion has initiations. They are often called 'entrance' into the religion itself. In the case of Hinduism, it is the 'Namakarana Samskara', the name-giving ceremony, that makes one a Hindu. Sometimes, people give their own self a name, and that is becoming a member of the religion by choice. Who can better tell a person what he is on the inside? He has the right of self-declaration to do so, himself.

So, those wanting initiation, find a good preceptor. One you can love, one you can trust. Then, go through the study that preceptor prescribes and receive the initiation. After the initiation, that is not the end. That is the beginning of more study.

We have six young men that were born for being the priests of our beautifully carved stone Iraivan Temple that will soon be coming from Bangalore, India, here on the Garden Island of Kauai. They are between eight and twelve years of age. All six of them received an initiation called Upanayana, which is the beginning of scriptural study in Bangalore, just yesterday. We are very proud of them. They now have their heads shaven, they are dressed in yellow. We call them balayogis. They will learn to be traditional priests of a traditional temple. In five or ten years, they will be here, conducting all of the ceremonies and pujas for pilgrims to enjoy.

We are very happy to be with you today and looking forward to being with you tomorrow. Ashram doors are always open.

Aum Namah Sivaya.

transcription ends

MORE UPLIFTING THINGS		Innersearch 2004 in India! Bodhinatha will lead the next Innersearch to India, January, 2004. We will visit Bangalore and the Iraivan Carving Village, and settle in the South in Tamil Nadu, Click on the above for details on what will be an inspiring journey to our holy land of Bharat!
	Check our children and youth section for new items for the young and young at heart!
1. SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK and receive a FREE GIFT
2. Newest Book: LIVING WITH SIVA
3. Visiting KAUAI'S HINDU MONASTERY
4. Contribute to THANK YOU, GURUDEVA FUND