Puna Dawson, whose full first name is Keikilaniwahinealiiopuna, has had a close relationship with Gurudeva and the monastery for many decades. She is one of Hawaii's most distinguished kumus and travels extensively to share Hawaiian culture, dance, and spirit. Last week, she visited the monastery with over 60 members of her Honolulu group, many of whom had never been there before. Sadasivanathaswami welcomed them on behalf of Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, received their traditional gifts, and guided them through the gardens. At the Iraivan Temple, they were inspired to offer a divine oli, a chant in the Hawaiian language. Their powerful, unified voices resonated against the granite walls, creating a profound experience, especially for Pravinkumar, who had never heard a Hawaiian chant delivered with such potency. They toured the sacred gardens, rang the Bell of Dharma, and left with wide smiles of gratitude.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Satguru Śivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Śiva. (Video was not captured this time due to technical challenges.)

"Have you ever had people come to you and tell you all of their problems? What did they do? As a pure state of awareness, they came to you as a pure state of awareness. You were not identified in the area of the mind that they are living in. So, they came to you, because they want to get out of the area of the mind that they’re living in. They’ve been living in it so long, they think they are that area of the mind, like somebody that has lived in a house so long and is so attached to it that they would rather die than move from the house. So then, they come to you and start telling all the problems. First they start with the little ones, and then they start with the big ones, and all their complaints, heartaches and everything that that area of the mind involves. Now, you can do one of two things. You can gently talk with them and bring them out of that area of the mind into your area of the mind, or they can move your awareness right into that area of the mind, too. And when they go away, you are feeling terrible. You’re feeling just awful.”

We are teaching monastic Aspirant Brahmachari Kodiswara how to turn the current July/August/September Hinduism Today printed issue into online articles at hinduismtoday.com.

He re-sizes all the images for quicker viewing, uploads them to our WordPress Media Library, then copies the article text and photo captions from Adobe IndDesign into new posts in WordPress. He formats the headers etc. to look similar to the printed article. The posts are scheduled to publish one after the other in the early morning of July 1st.

Kodiswara is a very quick learner and finished it within a few days.

Aum Namah Sivaya.
Recently Kodiswara has been exploring some new web tools during his seva with the monks of the Ganapati Kulam. One such tool is Adobe Express, with which he made this nice presentation for us all to enjoy!

Yesterday Rajkumar Manickam sent us this creative expression of Gurudeva's classical upadesha on Parasivam, the Self in all. The original talk was recorded in his San Fransisco Ganesha Temple on October 3, 1959, on vintage audio equipment so the fidelity is not great, but the message makes up for that. Click on the Adobe link to mouse through Rajkumar's artful photos (he is a pro) and Gurudeva's remarkable talk. Then click on the second link to hear the original unscripted and unedited recording.

Rajkumar's Presentation

Gurudeva's 1959 Recording

Satguru continued with activities in Malaysia. He writes about this noteworthy event-- "We attended the Friday religious class at Siddhi Vinayaga Temple in Brickfields. It is one of three temples involved in a pilot program to create a nationwide activity on Fridays. The lunch break is quite long on Friday to give Muslims time to go to and from a mosque. This applies to schools as well as offices. This program gives Hindus an option for what to do with that time. The program we attended consisted of singing of Thevarams, explanations of Thevarams in Tamil, my talk on Gurudeva's idea of Hindu education for youths and a summary of my talk in Tamil."

As many know, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami (who is in Malaysia today) has been working in the early hours before dawn for many months on a new edition of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. It is historic because it is an interpretation of the classical 195 sutras from a Saiva Siddhanta point of view. Most editions follow the Advaita Vedanta take, so this one is unique in that it gives monistic theism exposition. We share here below a verse from the third canto, so you can enjoy the progress and the style. You will note we are including Gurudeva's writings on the topic at hand. In the slideshow we share one of the ten works of art done in Kerala for the book, which will be highly illustrated, as is our style.


vyutthna-nirodha-saskrayor-abhibhava-prdur-bhvau nirodha-kaa-cittnvayo nirodha-parima .. 3.9..

nirodha-parima = the development of/transformation toward (parima) restraint (nirodha) | abhibhava-prdurbhvau = is both the manifesting (prdurbhvau) and subjugating (abhibhava) | vyutthna-nirodha-saskrayo = of the subtle impressions (saskrayo) of restraint (nirodha) and going out (vyutthna) | nirodha-kaa-citta-anvaya = connected with/following (anvaya) the mind (citta) at the moment (kaa) of restraint (nirodha) |

Sutra: Restraint develops when the externalizing samskaras are subdued by the restraint samskaras, which appear in the mind at the moment of restraint.

Bhashya: The yogi through his inner work and discipline develops new samskaras which neutralize and subdue the worldly samskaras which are the common man's lot. These yogic impressions are brought to bear and further strengthened each time he strives to control the mind, to quiet the mental noise. Slowly his controlling impressions become stronger than the instinctive impressions that normally dominate and he is able to use the one to be rid of the other. This subtle interaction between the control and the controlled is a major discussion in the sutras, to be understood through practice and more practice.

Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
As you sit to meditate, awareness may wander into past memories or future happenings. It may be distracted by the senses, by a sound or by a feeling of discomfort in the body. This is natural in the early stages. Gently bring awareness back to your point of concentration. Don't criticize awareness for wandering, for that is yet another distraction. Distractions will disappear if you become intensely interested and involved in your meditation.

Aum Namah Sivaya

This afternoon, Kodiswara took a walk through the Aadheenam's jungled pathways, taking photos as he went. We have many flowers in bloom right now, including orchids, naga pu, hoya vines and more. Enjoy the photos, and the wise sayings included. Aum.

Satguru is currently in Malaysia and Singapore to visit sishyas, students, a HHE orphanage beneficiary and distribute Path to Siva books.

Jai Gurudeva!

Yesterday we observed our monthly Chitra padapuja for Gurudeva. In the early evening, monks and local members gathered to honor Gurudeva and receive his blessings. Sannyasin Mayilnathaswami and Nirvani Tejadevanatha performed the abhishekam as other monks chanted Sri Rudram. Upon completion of the Rudram, the rest of the puja continued in silence. Aum Namah Sivaya.

"We may say that love is the heart of the mind. Anything that comes before you in life can be conquered through universal love, a force which is a demonstration of the soul." Gurudeva