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“Never have there been so many people living on the planet wondering, “What is the real goal, the final purpose, of life?” However, man is blinded by his ignorance and his concern with the externalities of the world. He is caught, enthralled, bound by karma. The ultimate realizations available are beyond his understanding and remain to him obscure, even intellectually. Man’s ultimate quest, the final evolutionary frontier, is within man himself. It is the Truth spoken by Vedic rishis as the Self within man, attainable through control of the mind and purification.”
—Gurudeva
Bodhinatha with Sadhaka Jivanandanatha working with his on-going training in the financial administration for the monastery, Saiva Siddhanta Church and all our organizations. Our Pilliyar Kulam is doing a fantastic job on all fronts.
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Click for most recent TAKA page with an Iraivan Temple progress update. |
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Stepping back a bit.. we try to get a full picture of the Pilliyar Kulam “Information Center” we call it. Talaivar for the kulam is Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami there in the back left… Sadhaka Jothinatha used to have his desk up front by the door, but….
Now he has a bigger area in the back room with more space and privacy. His cat, named “EE-reh” is helping him with phone calls regarding advertising in Hinduism Today and distribution of the new 10 Questions brochure. Sadhaka is a master of the telephone and does a lot of outreach work, calling people all over the country.
In the same room, on the other end, Sannyasin Muruganathaswami who handles all travel matters and a variety of accounting tasks related to the distribution of our books and our internet book store.
Sannyasin Arumugaswami, managing editor of Hinduism Today has been master-minding the coverage of the current Ujjain Kumbha Mela that is in progress in India. After several months of work to get permits and make arrangements, our team made it through to the mela as official media people. What makes this picture unusual is that normally we lose all contact with our reporters and photographers when they get submerged in the sea of millions at the melas. But last night with the magic of a cell phone in the camp we connected and got a first person report, which Arumugaswami summarized in http://Hindu Press International today:
“UJJAIN, INDIA, April 21, 2004: Hinduism Today correspondent Rajiv Malik and photographer Thomas Kelly reported by phone from the Kumbha Mela grounds yesterday to the Hinduism Today office in Kauai, Hawaii. Rajiv said the 3.5 million devotees for the bath on the 19th was by far the largest crowd ever in Ujjain. “There were so many people,” he said, “the police were asking them to immediately leave the city after their bath, to not even stay in the Mela area.” With help from Sri Swami Pragyanand Maharaj, Rajiv and Thomas had witnessed the initiation of 1,000 sadhus at a ceremony on the 19th. “In my twenty plus years in India and Nepal,” said Thomas, who specializes in photographing sadhus, “I have never witnessed such an initiation.” Today, the 21st, is to be the biggest bathing day of the Mela, and Rajiv and Thomas were headed for the main ghats.”
If you would be interested to receive short news summaries in your email every day… 20 times a month… don’t hesitate to http://subscribe to HPI at this web site.
It rained hard this morning… this picture is from another day, but gives the feeling we get here in the moments between showers.
A walk away from our computers brings us into the wonderland that is Kauai Aadheenam.
A peek back at the temple beam raising that occurred a few days ago.
Faces of the four rishis who are each being instilled with the knowledge of the Vedas by the Silent South-Facing Teacher, Lord Siva as Dakshinamurthi
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Images from the Recent 2004 Indian OdysseyJanuary 19, 2004 – February 5, 2004 Bangalore, Madurai, Tanjavur, Chennai and |
Soulful looking lady of India.
Carrying offerings to the temple for a special archana.
Joyful fellowship in the bright sun of the south.
While we drive to Palani Hills, others taking vows, walk the entire distance, sometimes more than 100 miles, from their homes to Palani
Having arrived at Palani, joyful contentment fills the air with a spiritual satisfaction known only by those who come here.
After the puja…
Back in Malaysia… look up through the top of your head at Batu Caves.
Carole and Jutika at the top of Palani Hills.
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Date: February_25_2004
Title: The World Is an Ashram in which All Are Doing Sadhana
Category: The Spiritual Path
Duration: 8 min., 31 seconds
Date Given: February 18, 2004
Given by: Bodhinatha
Good Evening, everyone! I listened to a wonderful message from Gurudeva from 1961. That is 43 years ago, a timeless message. I guess that is the nature of the eternal now. I am all right right now, certainly a key.
One of the things that Gurudeva has given us in helping us to study the material, is he has organized it into daily lessons. Of course, most of us know that but some of us don’t. So I am mentioning it for anyone, any of our guests present tonight who aren’t aware. Every day we have one lesson from ‘Dancing with Siva’, one from ‘Living with Siva’ and one from ‘Merging with Siva’ and the sutra that we can study. They come on e-mail. So, first thing in the morning when you come in, there it is staring you in the face. I was looking at that today. I was looking at all the mail that came in and thought that it is a nice message to read tonight, to start my talk. It is a short talk.
It is actually Sloka 2. We are starting over with ‘Dancing with Siva’ and it is Sloka 2. “We are all growing toward God, and experience is the path. Through experience we mature out of fear into fearlessness, out of anger into love, out of conflict into peace, out of darkness into light and union with God.”
Gurudeva has a Bhashya on this. It says, “We have taken birth in a physical body to grow and evolve into our divine potential. We are inwardly already one with God. Our religion contains the knowledge of how to realize this oneness and not create unwanted experiences along the way. The peerless path is following the way of our spiritual forefathers, discovering the mystical meaning of the scriptures. The peerless path is commitment, study, discipline, practice and the maturing of yoga into wisdom. In the beginning stages, we suffer until we learn.”
That is an important point. It comes up later. I will read it again. In the beginning stages, we suffer until we learn. That relates to Gurudeva message there about anger, worry, doubt.
“Learning leads us to service; and selfless service is the beginning of spiritual striving. Service leads us to understanding. Understanding leads us to meditate deeply and without distractions. Finally, meditation leads us to surrender in God. This is the straight and certain path, the San Marga, leading to Self Realization – the inmost purpose of life – and subsequently to moksha, freedom from rebirth. The Vedas wisely affirm, “By austerity, goodness is obtained. From goodness, understanding is reached. From understanding, the Self is obtained, and he who obtains the Self is freed from the cycle of birth and death.”
I just want to share a portion of the previous day’s ‘Dancing with Siva’ lesson because it ties in so beautifully.
This is Sloka 1. “Rishis proclaim that we are not our body, mind or emotions. We are divine souls on a wondrous journey. We came from God, live in God and are evolving into oneness with God. We are, in truth, the Truth we seek.”
The first line of Gurudeva’s bhasya, “We are immortal souls living and growing in the great school of earthly experience in which we have lived many lives.”
There are two statements in Paramaguru Yogaswami’s. ‘Words of our Master’. This is a collection of his statements throughout his life. ‘Words of our Master’ beautifully echo Gurudeva thoughts.
The first is, “The world is a training school. Some are in kindergarten, some are in the B.A. class.”
The second is, “The world is an ashram, a training ground for the achievement of freedom. Each one does his part according to his own measure. There is nothing that is evil.”
The first point that both Gurudeva and Yogaswami are making is that we need to look at the world as an ashram, a training school for spiritual advancement. Why is this important?
It is important because many Hindus do not look at the world from this perspective and therefore are not making as much spiritual progress as they could in this lifetime. This is apparent when they explain to you, which happens to me quite often, that they are so busy with the activities of raising a family and pursuing a profession, that they have almost no time to pursue spiritual life.
Have you ever heard anyone say that? Have you ever said that? I have heard it a lot.
Their perspective is that the time devoted to family and profession has nothing to do with their spiritual life and progress. That the only time that counts for spiritual time is the time at the temple or in the family shrine room. Clearly, life is being divided into secular activities and spiritual activities. Family and profession are secular activities. Temple and shrine room are spiritual activities.
This, of course, is not the perspective of Gurudeva and Yogaswami. To them, all activities of life are spiritual activities, when we view them as such. What exactly does this mean?
It means we can benefit spiritually from our family and professional activities, just as much as we do from the time we spend at the temple and in the home shrine room if we simply hold the right perspective.
Another view of the world held by some Hindus is the perspective that the world is an illusion. That for spiritual progress to occur, the world must simply be renounced. You have heard that one?
For advanced renunciate monks, this can be a helpful perspective. For the rest of Hindu humanity, it is definitely not a helpful perspective as it keeps us from engaging in the world with a positive spiritual attitude toward it.
The second point that both Gurudeva and Yogaswami are making is that to progress spiritually, we need to learn from our experiences in the world. As we emphasized earlier, Gurudeva’s statement is that we suffer until we learn. This, of course, means that as long as we keep making the same mistakes, we will experience the same consequences and continue to suffer. We need therefore, to learn from the mistake in order not to repeat it.
This is a common theme in my talks and on the recent India Innersearch program I mentioned at one point in a series of classes on, ‘Becoming a More Spiritual Person’. If you are going to only remember one point from these classes then it is this. When you make a mistake rather than saying, “I should not have done it,” and feeling sad and depressed, learn to say instead, “I should not do it again.”
So we change the emphasis. We want to learn from the mistake. In other words, learn to be self-reflective enough, to figure out how you can avoid repeating this mistake in the future. Pin point exactly what you need to do differently to get the results you want, next time. Focus on improving your behavior and becoming a more spiritual person.
Remember Paramaguru Yogaswami’s statement. “The world is an ashram, a training ground for the achievement of freedom.”
Aum Namah Sivaya.
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MORE UPLIFTING THINGS |
Color Trilogy Complete! We are happy to announce that the new edition of the enormously popular Dancing with Siva is now available in hard back with all new color artwork. It’s truly an amazing and beautiful work, with more art than any of the collection. This completes the fulfillment of the vision that Gurudeva had of his Master Course Trilogy being produced in full color. In addition, Bodhinatha is taking pro-active steps to bring Gurudeva’s teachings out in a new forms that can be broadly disseminated in the mass mind. With this in mind we, are also pleased to announce that the Dancing with Siva pocketbook is also available. Keep the three-pound book in your shrine room, and take the little one with you on the airplane or subway! How little? It’s just 3″ by 4.5″ — truly pocket-sized, and just over half an inch thick. Yet it is a full 375 pages, containing ALL of the 155 sutras. Available now at our online store. The complete Trilogy is being offered at a discount. |
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