Jai Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami! Happy Gurudeva Jayanthi: Today is Gurudeva’s Jayanthi and we are filled with bliss and gratitude for all that he has given us… As Paramacharya Ceyonswami wrote when he email the above photo around to everyone today:

Gurudeva didn’t go anywhere; he didn’t leave us…He’s right here all the time!

Here is Bodhinatha at the home of the Nagaratnam’s in Australia… the Guru puja for Gurudeva’s Jayanti was done last night there on the eve of Innersearch… more news below…

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dasami Tithi, Sun One, Sunday, January 8th.

p.s. The Aadheenam is experiencing some issues with email security and while we sort this out you may not get any emails from us. Stay tuned.

Today is the auspicious day of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniya Jayanthi, celebrated here with Pada puja.

We offer the words of Siva Yogaswami on this sacred day of remembrance of our beloved Gurudeva:

“He is the Sat-Guru, who is Self-luminous.
He is beyond the plane of objective consciousness.”

“It is the Guru’s grace, his infinite grace, his ineffable, perennial fount of grace, that alone can endow man with a deep insight into the soul of things.”

“He illumines everyone to see by the light of grace radiating
within each being. His rays also lightens the universe which
is constructed of the five elemental powers. Who can see if
he Luminous One wills it not?”

“By the grace of my Teacher, subdued is my Ego.
By the grace of my Teacher, exhilarated is my self.
By the grace of my Teacher, intensified is my Love.
The grace of my Teacher betokens his veiling Power.”

“I see Him and yet I see Him not,
This is the annunciation of our Guru,
That wheresoever thou art, there I am–Siva, Siva.”

“By the grace of my Guru was overthrown my pride.
By the grace of my Guru, showers of grace were mine.

By the grace of my Guru, bliss infinite was mine.
By His grace myself and Guru commingled as One.”

He was Life of my life, Essence of Self in self.
He granted me the beautitude of a goodly life.
He placed his Feet on my head and protected me.
Away with spurious doubts! Such grace was mine!
He illumined me with one word Aum.
I understood the world and myself.
He gave me the experience of Oneness.
He was all pervasive like the letter A
Salutation to the feet so fragrant.

Thus did he save me from a life of allurements,
He who was beyond the reach of the See-ers,
He came like me in human form.
And enticed me by love supernal,
I learnt to walk with him on the right path.
Hail omniform light of Nallur that captivated me!
Salutation to the Holy Feet of my Guru!
“Shed all your supporting ties and bonds,” so saying
My benevolent Guru vouchsafed such grace.
His Blessed Feet Hail. All Hail.

“Salutation to the Holy Feet of my SatGuru!
He enlightened me with supra-mental consciousness,
Beyond the avenues of sense experiences.
He initiated me to know my inner self.
Look inward and realize, was his benediction.
He showered greater love than that of a mother,
And I consecrated my all at his Feet.
Salutation to the beauteous Feet of Grace!

It was also guest tour day today and just as everyone arrived a slight drizzle, then a rainbow over the temple.

About 80 guests today!

This is also the traditional day when the Annual State of the Church address is given. Bodhinatha gave this talk a few days before leaving for Australia. We share with you the text of this talk here and the audio will come on line later… watch the side bar links…

“In the membership area we will be finishing up the special study course of preparation for Vishesha Diksha which we started last year. We will then be able to give Vishesha Diksha to members who complete the course starting either later this year, or early next….”

“In the publication area, for the Saivite Hindu Religion Children s Course, Book Four is done except for the French translation which we will be receiving soon and then sending Book Four off to the printers. It is the first Saivite Hindu Religion Children s Course to include color paintings and photographs and is quite impressive. The revised artwork for books one and two from Manivel in Chennai will be completed soon and then we can print new editions. Book Five of the Children s course is already underway in English. Our Malaysian printer is about to begin printing a Lemurian Scrolls Color edition which utilizes the new color paintings of our Balinese artist Iwayan and will provide a major upgrade to this text.”

“Hinduism Today Magazine will be formally launching a digital edition by April 1, 2006. Though we have had an HTML version of the magazine on the web for many years, it lacks the color photos and attractive layouts of the print edition. The new digital edition will provide all of that plus additional features not contained in the print edition such as rich media audio and video files. Articles and ads will also contain links to websites which can be conveniently accessed if you are connected to the internet when reading the digital edition. There is no charge for the digital edition and our hope is that it will become quite popular among Hindu youth and children.”

“In the realm of Innersearch and retreat programs, we depart tomorrow for our two-week Australia/New Zealand Innersearch program with some 46 participants. It is followed by eleven additional days of temple talks, half-day seminars and attending the Tenth World Saiva Conference where we will be giving the keynote address. Additional seminars for later in the year are a one day program in Malaysia, two day program in Singapore and a two or three day program in Mauritius. An important aspect of our seminar presentations are the digital keynote presentations which have been found to be quite effective in helping the participants stay concentrated on the topics and therefore absorb more of the material.”

“As to travel, we have a September trip to Malaysia and Singapore and a December trip to Mauritius already scheduled. We tentatively have a trip to Toronto scheduled in April for the celebration of Yogaswami’s Mahasamadhi day. The date for our journey to California is the weekend of October 14-15 which will repeat last year s pattern of the fourteenth being a donor reception in San Diego and the fifteenth a donor reception in Sausalito. Invitations for 2006 kumbhabhishekams are already starting to arrive. The Montreal Murugan temple has rescheduled their kumbhabhishekam for the weekend of May 28 and the San Antonio Ardhanarishwara temple is scheduled for May 6 and 7. Additionally we are planning to attend the annual festival of the Maha Ganapati Temple in Edmonton, Canada the weekend of July first and second and the Maryland Murugan temple s Nallur Kataragama festival on May twelveth and thirteenth.”

“On the Aadheenam property, the main activity continues to be the Iraivan temple jointing. The west chinna gopuram will be completed and then work will shift to fitting the pillars, beams and ceiling stones. A capital and endowment fund raising campaign, which has the goal of raising $13.6 million in six years, will be continued. This is being coordinated by Deva Rajan with the help of Easan Katir, Dr. Shan Sunder and K. Suriyakumar. “

“We will also continue to develop our four hundred acre parcel across the river, Himalayan Acres, mainly by planting additional trees for fences, windbreaks and fruit production. Our plans for 2006 include additional ironwoods for windbreaks, Noni trees which grow quite well, and trial plantings of broad leaf Mahogany trees.”

This is Halekote N. Kumara from San Antonio Texas, a life time subscriber of Hinduism Today here on pilgrimage.

He is one of the founders of the Ardhanarisvara temple in San Antonio which will be inviting Bodhinatha to attend the Kumbhabhishekam of the temple later this year. He reviews our children’s course with Arumugaswami.

Mr. & Mrs. Manickam Ganesan from Anchorage Alaska, also lifetime subscribers of Hinduism Today, here on pilgrimage.

Jan 4th 2006 – Bodhinatha poses in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The famed Opera House of Sydney, Australia.

The bridge is spectacular and there are tours that take people on a walk on the upper arch frame of the bridge.

Bodhinatha takes a stroll in a park just at the base of the harbour bridge.

A day to rest after the long flight. We took a leisurely walk along Circular Quay and The Rocks, the wharf promenade that spans from the harbour bridge to the Opera House.

A self portrait.

An Aboriginal man entertains the crowd on the wharf with some fine playing of the didjeridoo. We had a nice chat with one of them and he explained the markings on the body. The 3 lines that are shaped like a tripundra denote purity of water.

Bruce, another entertainer on the wharf, drew a big crowd. If you want to know what he is about to do you have to make your down to The Rocks here in Sydney.

Palaniswami examining the tiles that cover the roof of the Opera House.

A view of Sydney city.

A relaxing day today before all the big coordination begins tomorrow for our Innersearch.

Jan 5th 2006 (Gurudeva Jayanthi) – we were picked up this morning by Senan Nagaratnam and taken to his parents home to celebrate Gurudeva’s jayanthi (birthday). Approaching the harbour bridge.

Dr & Mrs Nagaratnam knew Satguru Yogaswami personally and are strong devotees of his and now Gurudeva. They welcome the current guru in the lineage to their home in the traditional manner.

A beautiful shrine is set up with a photo of Yogaswami & Gurudeva. At the base of the shrine is Gurudeva’s tiruvadi.

Yogaswami had visited their home in Jaffna many times and Gurudeva had visited their home in Sydney in the mid 90’s. The Nagaratnams feel blessed to have Bodhinatha now in their home.

Sadhaka Dandapani performs the morning pada puja to Gurudeva.

Palaniswami prostrates before Gurudeva’s tiruvadi.

The shrine is beautifully decorated.

Everyone comes up to offer their love and respects to Gurudeva.

Bodhinatha have a talk and answered some questions. The first question being “Why does Ganesha have an elephant head”?

A photo with the entire family. There were about 30 of them. Some came from out state. That is a long when you are in Australia.

Ganan Nagaratnam and his daughter Nadia.

Mrs Nagaratnam with her niece, Nandini, who drove up from Canberra.

Sadhaka Dandapani with his cousin Senan Nagaratnam and his wife Shenuka. The Nagaratnam family are all part of Sadhaka Dandapani’s family.

With another cousin, Panjan Nagaratnam and wife Dushyanthi, her mother, and daughters Manisha and Shanuka.