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Read these words of Siva Yogaswami and see the river of the Parampara the flowed from him to Gurudeva to Bodhinatha… as they all speak with one voice:
SON! THOU ART NON-PAREIL.
Son! Thou art fused in all life;
Know this and live and let live.
Chant thou the auspicious Name
Not forgetting even for a split second.
Conquer friction caused by action;
Than That there’s no other Reality.
Even the Three will render you service
If you’ll overcome the ever sprouting anger.
There’ll not be anyone in this wide world
Who can measure up to thee in goodness.
Let your acts be spontaneous and free
And link thyself to contemplation true.
Realise that Atma has no origination,
Neither can it suffer dissolution.
Know that devas and seers shed lustre
Indwelling in thy consciousness.
Son! Intrinsic evil there is not,
Truth alone is perfection absolute.
These are the words of Gurunathan,
worship with devotion and rejoice.
–Natchintanai. 139.
Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Attained Maha Samadhi on November 12th, 2001
Click to read for Details.
Click here to read
Gurudeva’s statement on September 11th
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, Paramacharya Palaniswami, Sannyasin Arumugaswami hold the recently received Memorial issue of Gurudeva. It turned out to be a very powerful vehicle and we are regularly getting messages now from readers who have been inspired by the issue.
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“Thank you so very very much for the most comprehensive, masterful and loving tribute issue to Gurudeva. What a monumental achievement! It is without question the most beautiful of all. I read it with cheers and tears, not noticing the clock that ticked late into the night–and I had not even finished. Thank you for sharing all the archival photographs and fact time-line, and especially the most poignant farewell photo. These helped me connect with all the years before I met Gurudeva, in 1999, and comprehend the incredible breadth of the His life. I will treasure this issue always.”
We have printed a large quantity of extra copies. If you want to get a few more in to distribute to your friends, please contact Sadhaka Jothinatha for the “non-commercial one time order price list.”
For a preview see PDF s on line of two key articles:
- Founding Rishi pgs 34-41(hi bandwidth: 1.2 MB download)
- Milestones pgs 68-69 (lo bandwidth: 300 K download)
Cybertalk: In Part 2 of his Mahasivaratri talk for 2002, Bodhinatha speaks
more on both being Siva and being separate from Siva, the crux of monistic
theism, our wonderful and ancient Saiva Siddhanta philosophy. Gurudeva gave
us the concept of the soul body and the essence of the soul. Our soul body
is maturing and is separate from God Siva’s soul body. But in its essence as
Parasiva–the Self–and Satchitananda–all-pervading energy and
consciousness, our soul is identical to God Siva.
Cybertalk Ends”
For more information about listening to Gurudeva’s talks online and to hear them in other formats, click here.
And click here for an Index to All Past CyberTalks.
Study Gurudeva’s teachings
every day. Visit the Master Course site!
Bodhinatha 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 Sadhaka Mahadevan
If you are experiencing any problems listening to the audio, please to go our Audio FAQ page for sound geeks and follow the directions there.
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Sadhaka Thondunatha hosting Mr. T.S. Venkataraman (in center) with his wife Padmini, son Karthik and daughter Vidya from Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
Sadhaka Jivanandanatha is our assistant managing editor and usually the man behind the camera. Right now he is actively working on his share of pages for the next issue of Hinduism Toda. He also manages the sevaks who put Hinduism Today on the web, is one-half of our two man network administration and technical team, is in charge of our digital photo archive and is spearheading the move to get all of Hinduism Today on the web in article form among other things.
The Tiruneri path leading to Kadavul temple and the monastery. Lined with pots from India.
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Study Gurudeva’s teachings.
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transcription begins
Date: March_15_2002
Title: Playfulness in Children
Category: Family
Duration: 7 min., 50 seconds
Date Given: February 25, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha
I will share a story to open up the next subject. Many, many years ago we had some young men on task force, very young boys. Not men, boys who were probably twelve years old or so, maybe a little bit younger. One day while they were here, I went into the office and one of them was hiding under the desk from another one. It made me laugh so much because here to me, this is a very serious object. This is a desk, you know, where someone sits down and works very efficiently. There are very important papers on it. But to this child, it was something to hide under, play hide-and-seek!
It reminded me of the playfulness of being young. Even if we are not young, the element of playfulness and fun is part of human nature. A part of human nature we don’t want to ignore particularly as we get older. We don’t want to forget about it, take things too seriously.
It also needs to be a part of the nature of our activities, members’ activities. I was looking up in ‘Saiva Dharma Shastras’ to see what it said and found a list. Gurudeva loves to make lists. Here is a list of suggested activities for Missions.
First activity of course you would imagine, is the weekly Satsang in a mission house or at a monastery.
Second activity, doing karma yoga to help maintain monasteries or temples. So everyone does those pretty well. Those are under control.
But the third activity, providing for social events and activities such as picnics, field trips, youth retreats, group outings, sewing circles, hiking, skating, family nights, breakfast gatherings and noncompetitive sports and games for youth and adult members.
It is number three. Right after the two that we do very well, there is number three. How many picnics have we all had last year? How many hikes? Probably not enough.
I was reminded of this by the success of the activity in Malaysia, you all read it on Satellite News. They had a family gathering for a few days in Port Dixon in Malaysia and everyone really enjoyed it. Particularly the youth found it very inspiring to have fun with one another and see their parents have fun together. A nice big social gathering, very relaxing. It definitely released tension and created a spirit of greater inspiration, particularly in the younger members and children. So it is a good example of the need for fun and the need for social activities of that kind.
Having that in mind, we put it in the ‘Parenting Guidelines’ we are developing. We have nine guidelines for the first gurus on qualities they want to cultivate in their children.
One of them is ‘Playful self contentment’. “Playful self contentment is when a child’s usual mood is fun-loving, happy and satisfied. How is this developed? It is through the parents living and verbalizing the philosophy that life is meant to be lived joyously.”
So, that would certainly be one of Gurudeva’s messages, both verbal and just through his demeanor, just the way he looked. You saw him and you saw him smiling! You felt that he was joyous and you felt a little more joyous. That was, “Life was meant to be lived joyously.” He really reflected that quality beautifully.
“It is by holding the perspective that happiness does not depend on external circumstances but is a consciousness we can claim, whether life is free of or filled with challenges.” That, of course, is our Shum perspective. Happiness is always there, right? It doesn’t go away. We just have to move awareness into that state of mind. We just have to have the discipline, the self control to not look outside, get upset about something and feel unhappy. To look outside, see something and remain happy. Why should life control our happiness? Why shouldn’t we control our happiness? It is just a state of mind, state of consciousness that we can claim. Passing that philosophy on to the children is the idea.
“It is by teaching the children to be satisfied with what they have in the present rather than what they desire to have in the future.” Planning for the future, acquiring things in the future, thinking about the future is good. But we don’t want to get in the state of mind that until we have this, this and this, we are not content. Until we have a bigger home, until we are retired, that we have a new job, until we have more money, we are not really content. We can be content right now with what we have.
“It is nurtured by the family spending times together filled with play, fun and laughter.” That is important.
“The ability to remain fun-loving, joyful and content enables one to face with far greater equanimity, the ups and downs of life.” So that is the benefit of the quality, that we can hold this state of mind as different experiences come to us in life, some of which are always difficult. We are not as disturbed by them. We can hold on to this fun-loving, playful, joyful, satisfied perspective. That is the goal of ‘Playful Self Contentment’.
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MORE UPLIFTING THINGS |
Innersearch 2002 in Hawaii!
Our next Innersearch Travel-Study program will be held right here on the island of Kauai in the summer of 2002. It’s the first such program on the Garden Island since 1974! From July 17 to July 22 we will enjoy daily classes with the swamis, join in the annual Guru Purnima festival, be inspired by local culture, explore the lush tropical island in exciting and non-touristy ways, and more. Be prepared for a wonderful spiritual experience in paradise with meditations, seminars and sacred ceremonies at the Siva temple of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. Many have applied already, and there is a limit of 50 participants, so we recommend everyone apply as soon as possible. Interested? Please request an application from pilgrim@searchbeyond.com |
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Check our children and youth section for new items for the young and young at heart! | |
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1. SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK and receive a FREE GIFT |
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| 2. Newest Book: LIVING WITH SIVA | ||
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3. Visiting KAUAI’S HINDU MONASTERY |
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4. Contribute to THANK YOU, GURUDEVA FUND |
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From Our Gurus' Teachings
Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.
