There is a kind of James Bond unbelievability to the fact that Hinduism Today magazine continues to be published each issue from Russia. The small team there translates, retypesets, prints and distributes it every three months—a lot of work for a small team. We just received the latest Russian edition PDF and posted it to the HT site. If you have Russian speaking friends, they can download it here: https://www.hinduismtoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/HT-russian_No3.2024.pdf
Here is a short email that Dinanath Bodhiswami, the Russian editor, sent two days back:
Jai Gurudeva! Jai Satguru! Jai Kauai Aadheenam! Om Namasivaya!
Dear Sadasivanathaswami, Namaskar!
Today we celebrate the Day of Mahasamadhi Gurudeva (according to the Solar calendar).
We are sending the link to the Russian PDF. Thank you so much for supporting our publishing activities.
Every few years it is necessary to change our server which is hosted by a professional company. On November 11 and 12 they will be porting our extensive data to new hardware and we will not be able to post TAKA for those days. We will return.
Following the model of another free resource, Wikipedia, today we begin our annual November-December appeal for support of our publications development. The success of this drive defines the scale of our digital work in the months ahead.
From the moment he personally produced his initial yoga lessons using a Mimeograph in the humble confines of a San Francisco Temple back in the 1950s, Gurudeva showed a remarkable affinity for embracing technological advancements. On a memorable afternoon in 1984, in a little green Apple store nestled in the tranquil town of Kapaa, he encountered a Macintosh for the first time. Having never before engaged with such a device, he was captivated by its novelty and simplicity of use. After a mere quarter-hour experimenting with MacPaint and MacWrite, he emerged, a pioneering Macintosh 128K cradled under his long arm. This marked the beginning of the monastery’s digital evolution; soon, he provided each monk with a Mac, transitioning to digital typography—a nostalgic nod to the (then amazing to us) era of the LaserWriter.
As the digital tide reached Kauai’s shores in 1997, Gurudeva was quick to seize the new possibilities, encouraging his monks to maintain a daily blog recounting life at the monastery. Thus was born “Today at Kauai Aadheenam,” or TAKA, a trailblazer among blogs, which has since been published with near-daily regularity.
Gurudeva would celebrate where we have come today. He would love the ease with which his books are available, at no cost, to everyone who owns a mobile device anywhere in the world. The Capricorn in him would love the lack of massive investment costs that are required for major books to be put on printing presses, tens of thousands of dollars for each title. Then come the inventory costs, the shipping, the returns. All of that has been largely rendered unnecessary in the age of digital publishing. In our case, we are doing both, printed editions of the magazine, for instance, and then digital editions based on the elegantly designed PDF pages. Our Hinduism Today app, available to anyone with a mobile phone, anywhere in the world, is an example of the best of the Web.
Gurudeva would love that we don’t have to charge struggling Hindu students and seekers for the spiritual teachings, but can make them available for free. In the last decade, our resource-building efforts have shifted massively toward the Web, following the fast-evolving world of communications and publishing. It takes a deft team to gather and sculpt the needed tools and stories for Hinduism Today and our Web resources. Creating and sharing an articulate and graphically elegant repository of Hinduism is neither easy nor without costs. Hindu youth are learning their spiritual ABCs online, and millions of seekers are discovering Hinduism digitally. What they encounter should be thoughtful, lucid, elegant and authentic. Not to mention relevant in fast-moving times. That’s what compels our annual fundraising campaign. It’s a chance for you to help us to help explain and share Hinduism globally. In order to provide information without charging for downloads, without showing advertisements on our sites, without commercializing our mission, we turn to you for help.
Yes, we could (perhaps) meet our costs by charging for the online books and magazine, but we are determined not to do that. We ourselves are seldom motivated to pay for online information. We like it when needed information is available without cost. We have come to expect it. But free to the world is not free to those of us who create it. Running our websites entails significant costs, especially when we have to reach out for expert help and skills. A good example of current use is our support of a dedicated team in Moscow which, despite great difficulty, continues to translate, print and distribute Hinduism Today magazine in Russia. The goal for 2025 is $75,000. Our Digital Dharma Drive will end at midnight on December 31, 2022. We hope you will join in helping us meet our goal. In the right hands, and leveraged by the unsalaried work of the monks, these funds will have a profound impact on the future of Hinduism around the world. Please make a generous donation today.
With much aloha from the far islands and warm greetings during the 2024 holiday season,
The Editors Kauai’s Hindu Monastery Himalayan Academy Publications
The Great Sage seated beneath the holy Bilva tree at Nallur Temple, where he lived in austerity for many years.
Before the opening portrait, this was the only painting of Chellappaswami made by a devotee many decades ago.
Yogaswami’s guru, Chellappaswami (1830-1915), was a remarkable sage, living according to nobody’s expectations, immersed in Siva day and night. He was a bit disheveled, ate among the crows and would often break the terracotta bowl that held his meal (which was known as “Chellappa Stew” since he always mixed the various items together). He is known to have spent a full year or more saying a simple truth to all who came before him. Imaging the discipline. One sentence, unchanged, as his entire vocabulary for extended periods. Talk about non-discursiveness! Four of his cryptic sayings are explored in this post.
Devotees in Sri Lanka recently approached Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami wanting his discourse on the four sayings which are notably terse, profound and sometimes difficult to comprehend. Today we share Satguru’s response to the Sri Lankan community. We believe it is the first time the Mahavaciams have received such careful scrutiny.
மஹாவாக்கியம்
மஹாவாக்கியம் Mahavakkiyam Great Sayings of Chellappaswami
ஒரு பொல்லாப்பும் இல்லை
#1: ஒரு பொல்லாப்பும் இல்லை Oru pollappum illai “There is not one wrong thing.“
The ordinary point of view regarding events in our personal life and the lives of our family, community, nation and the world is that some things should not be happening, such as violent conflicts between nations. These events, however, need to happen as they are the fruits of mankind’s past actions—karmas working themselves out.
The mystical know that Siva, a perfect God, created a perfect world. If we accept that as true, then we see all things as His work, His divine creation. Not only the larger things (think global hunger, national poverty, devastating storms and droughts), that the rational mind can interpret as flawed and out of order, but the smaller matters: an uncle’s untruthfulness, a child’s early death, a friend’s terminal illness. While it is quite natural for the mind to interpret these as wrong, in the deepest sense, Chellappaswami was assuring us that all is Siva, all is good.
Gurudeva said: When through meditation, we view the universe from the inside out, we see that there is not one thing out of place or wrong. This releases the human concepts of right and wrong, good and bad. Our benevolent Lord created everything in perfect balance. Good or evil, kindness or hurtfulness return to us as the result, the fruit, of our own actions of the past. The four dharmas are God’s wisdom lighting our path. That which is known as evil arises from the instinctive-intellectual nature, which the Lord created as dimensions of experience to strengthen our soul and further its spiritual evolution.
#2: எப்பவோ முடிந்த காரியம் Eppavo mudintha kariyam “It was all finished long ago.”
There are people who have knowledge of what will happen in the future. They know because they are able to look into the subtle planes where these events already exist to manifest in the physical plane in the future.
There is a place in the mind where time is not linear. Instead of the ordinary experience we have of past, present and future, all time exists together, and the mystic can move through past and future in deep samadhi. From this lofty vantage point, Chellappaswami saw the fullness of time-bound existence. He could see how the past, even the distant past, gives rise to the present and the present determines the future. From that superconscious vision, he spoke these words.
Gurudeva said: Lord Ganesha, the God of time and memory, strategically seated on the muladhara chakra, poised between the higher and lower chakras, stabilizes all sentient beings. He holds the architect’s plans of the divine masterpiece of universal past and future.
#3: நாம் அறியோம் Nam ariyom “We do not know.”
The part of us that “knows” is the thinking mind. The thinking mind is good at analyzing external events and issues. However, the deepest spiritual truths are in a realm that is beyond the thinking mind’s ability to describe. Acquiring clear intellectual concepts of the nature of God is good, but these concepts must eventually be transcended to actually experience God.
Young souls, knowing precious little, count themselves knowledgeable and wise. The wise among men know the limits of knowledge, know how much they do not know. They realize the vastness of Siva’s universe; they have glimpsed its unfathomable complexity and mystery and they are self-reflective enough to concede that their human brain cannot contain even an iota of Sivaness, so great is He. So it becomes easy for them, in true humility, to say, “I don’t know.”
Gurudeva said: The dedicated student who has applied himself seriously leaves college not with a “know it all” feeling but with an awareness of the limits of the intellect, and profound respect for the vast amount of knowledge that he has yet to discover or unfold. Conceit is a sure sign of insecurity; humility denotes awareness.
#4: முழுதும் உண்மை Muluthum unmai “All is truth.”
The ordinary point of view is that the world is made up of physical matter and the objects in it are separate from one another. People are also separate from one another. However, from the point of view of God Śiva, He is everything—all physical forms and all people. Advanced yogis can experience this oneness or Truth.
Chellappaswami is returning to the idea that the fullness of existence, the whole, is a divine reality. It is not mere maya, an illusion to be overcome. It is the opposite of an illusion. It is Sivamaya, God Siva’s essence and expression. Awakened siddhars like him see the world differently than others. They see it in multiple dimensions, and they see all things connected, all things sacred. Where most see duality, they see unity. Where most see ordinariness in the things of everyday experience, they see a miracle at work. To them, water is life-giving ambrosia, flowers are awesome creations, a butterfly is a cosmic wonder.
Yogaswami said: Night and day in Nallur’s precincts, Chellappan danced in bliss. Even holy yogis merged in silence do not know him. He keeps repeating, “All is truth,” with radiant countenance. Night and day in Nallur’s precincts, Chellappan danced in bliss. To end my endless turning on the wheel of wretched birth, he took me ‘neath his rule and I was drowned in bliss. “There is nothing in the objective. All is truth”—His grace made maya’s shrouding darkness to depart. In that state, my body and soul were his possessions. O wonder! Who in the world is able to know this? Night and day in Nallur’s precincts, Chellappan danced in bliss. Aum Namasivaya!
Mauritian members and students gathered in the new mandapam to wish our Satguru a joyous 82nd
Under a beautifully crafted wooden ceiling, good souls pose for a family portrait following the jayanthi celebrations
A small shrine is built for the event
Rajen Manick sent news from one island to another:
Mauritius sishyas met at the Spiritual Park on Sunday 13th to celebrate Guru Jayanthi in a very devotional spirit enhanced by Natchintanai singing, pada puja and cake cutting for Bodhinatha. Everyone present felt uplifted. Bodhinatha sent the following message to be read to the shishyas: “Certain times of the year cause us to be more reflective about our lives. For some, it could be the new year and the idea of a new year’s resolution. For others, it could be their birthday. For married couples, it could be their anniversary.”
Bodhinatha’s Message: I often mention the importance of practice for making spiritual progress. Patanjali uses the term abyasa for consistent daily practice. Gurudeva, of course, prefers the term sadhana and stressed we are on the sadhana marga which our lexicon defines as: “Coined by Siva Yogaswami to describe the way he urged serious aspirants to follow—a path of intense effort, spiritual discipline and consistent inner transformation, as opposed to theoretical and intellectual learning.”
In Hindu organizations that focus on spiritual advancement, a trend for devotees is to be dynamic in their practice at the beginning but over the years to put less and less effort in their inner work until they reach the point where the organization is more a social group of like-minded individuals. Gurudeva strove to offset this trend by the practice of an annual rededication to the sadhana marga. A second trend again, for those who have been with an organization for many years, is to maintain their current level of attainment without an effort to deepen it. For example, you see the inner light as a faint glow in our head and that is good enough. There is no effort to go more deeply into it.
This is where the idea I mentioned at the beginning comes into play—taking advantage of the days of the year we are more reflective about our life. On such a day, it is good to think about where we are on the spiritual path and choose one or more areas to improve during the coming year.
This is taking the idea of regular practice once step deeper. Not only are we practicing regularly, we are working on our nature. We are changing who we are. We are refining ourselves. We are committed to the serious process of becoming a more spiritual person. As Gurudeva said, even if you are a guru, even Chellappaswami, Yogaswami, they never stopped becoming a more spiritual person. Even Gurudeva kept becoming a more and more spiritual person, developing new abilities.
Have a wonderful Jayanti celebration. Om Namasivaya.”
Bodhinatha’s special message is read aloud. See full text above. Vel Mahalingam performs the aartiAarti flame is passedAll prostrate to the SatguruThe young ones sing special songs written for the occasionKulapati and Kulamata cut the cake togetherThe cake that says “Happy Birthday”
The 13-foot-tall bronze Anjaneya was moved to his hillock in 2018 and gardens planted around Him, but we never placed stone on the platform He stands on, until now.
Fitting the quartzite stones. This stone (from Brasil) is thin and quite hard, hard enough that it provides few footholds for mold or lichens, which in the tropics commonly populate paths and cause slipperiness. Doug is a master mason and makes short work of the task.From the visitors’ point of view. Doug notes at other worksites nobody comes by to chant Sanskrit hymns (Hanuman Chalisa) for ten minutes as he works. There is no water or electricity out here by the Rudraksha Forest, so it has to be done the old fashioned way.Being careful as he approaches the bronze. The finished work just needing a little washing
This code (or this link: https://express.adobe.com/page/AUN0dtdRtcuFA/) will take you to the amazing story of our Hanuman, a story with 11 illustrated chapters and a life-lesson from Gurudeva
