Blog Archives
Happy New Year! Today is the Hindu New Year based on the Vedic Jyotisha calendar… when the Sun moves into the constellation Mesha (Aries).
Gurudeva is in the inner worlds and Bodhinatha is in California… in the absence of his physical presence of the we worship the Holy Tiruvadi — the sacred sandals of the Satguru.
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
Bodhinatha is in California with Skandanathaswami. Today Bodhinatha met with the members and students in the area and others who flew in from out of state. They also had a powerful puja at Easan Param’s home where Bodhinatha gave an hour-and-a-half talk on his nine parenting guidelines.
No Audio Today
|
Take this opportunity for an adventure. Close your eyes and click to get a message picked at random from the vast audio archives of our Satgurus’ discourses |
And click here for an Index to All Past CyberTalks. Study Gurudeva’s teachings. Visit the Master Course site! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Today marked also the change of seasons from the Moksha to the Nartana Ritau… so we had our simple but joyful changing of the Flag of Hindutva ceremony. Everyone here is parading out to the flag pole after the morning homa.
The coral pink flag of the Moksha Ritau is lowered.
The monks ready the bright orange flag of the Nartana Ritau season. This is considered the first season of the year and our Saiva Dharma Shastras outline the kinds of actitivity we should focus on:
“Nartana Ritau, the season of Dancing with Siva, begins on Hindu New Year. This is the period of creation, the warm season, from mid-April through mid-August. The teaching is Dancing with Siva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, Sivena Saha Nartanam. This foundational text is featured in all mission satsangas. The key word of this season is planning. The colors are orange, yellow-gold and all shades of green�orange for renunciation, yellow-gold for action, and green for regeneration.”
” High above, the main Hindu flag flies the color orange, heralding the Nartana Ritau throughout this season, symbolizing sadhana and self-control. The other colors adorn smaller flags. This is the season of giving special attention to those in the grihastha ashrama. It is a time of awakening, renewal, review.”
“The emphasis is on seeing ahead, planning for future years. It is a time of planning retreats and other activities for youths and adults for the entire year. During this time of looking forward, the Church’s six-year plan is updated by the Guru Mahasannidhanam and stewards and another year added. The Saiva Dharma Shastras are studied; and any needed additions in supplementary manuals, representing new growth, are made.”
“The practical focus is completion of unfinished projects. Secular holidays to observe among the families include Mother’s Day in May, Father’s Day in June and Grandparent’s Day in August. In the monastery intensive cleaning of monastery buildings and grounds takes place. The special dietary adjustments for the season come into effect and new menus are established. New clothing is issued and old garments mended.”
“This season of harvest and new growth is also the time to review and reestablish picking and planting routines for the gardens. It is a time for ordering seeds and plants for the year, of planting trees, fragrant vines and the annual crop. Review is made for scheduling the care of all nine realms of the Aadheenam’s 51 acres. Kadavul temple and the Guru Temple are cleaned and renewed during this season, and the adjacent grounds receive special, abundant attention. Karma yogis are invited to help in this and other areas with planting and weeding, digging, fertilizing, fence repair and more.”
Paramacharya Palaniswami and Shanmuganathaswami watch the flag… Iraivan temple stands at a distance. It is an absolutely beautiful morning.
Earlier we had our Sun One Homa at which Deva Katir was honored, as this is his 60th birthday.
The final offering to open the doors between the worlds.
Outside the temple Deva sits with his wife Tara and Sadhaka Tyaganatha pours the kumbha water on his head and shoulders.
The water had been in the pots during the homa… this is a powerful blessing.
All the devotees bless Deva by throwing flower petals on his head. Paramacharya Ceyonswami explains that this is a very significant day as it marks the point in time when Jupiter and Saturn have returned to the same position as they were at birth, thus marking a new beginning for a new future.
After being on retreat for two phases, the Nartana Ritau opens with many wonderful pilgrims and guests.
Here is Dr. V.S. Shankar who runs an ashram in Texas (2nd from right), next to him in red is Mrs. Kalpana Dave from London who has read Hinduism Today for many years and is quite inspired by it, On the far right is retired Mahendra Sharma and on the far left his wife from California, and Dr. Kavita Sharma of Honolulu.
Shankar Nathan (in the back) meets with our editorial staff for an interview on the Sabarimalai pilgrimage to the famed Ayyappa temple in Kerala. Sannyasin Natarajnathaswami is writing an article for the next issue and Shankar has just returned from India where he and his wife Vidya and their children performed the pilgrimage. This is a perfect opportunity to get a “first person report” on this famous yatra. On the right is Shankar’s father… a yatrika (pilgrim) of serious dedication. He has done the rigorous Sabarimmalai yatra 18 times in 18 consecutive years. This is a rare feat and marks a kind of dedication that one rarely sees these days among Hindus. Don’t miss the great story in the next issue of Hinduism Today.
|
Study Gurudeva’s teachings.
|
transcription begins
Date: April_01_2002
Title: Expressing Our Soul’s Divinity
Category: Soul
Duration: 5 minutes, 31 seconds
Date Given: March 14, 2002
Given by: Bodhinatha
Today’s ‘Master Course’ lesson is interesting in the terms of what it has combined. As you know, ‘Dancing with Siva’ repeats a few times because it is short. So we go through the ‘Dancing with Siva’ lessons multiple times while we are going through the ‘Living with Siva’ and ‘Merging with Siva’ lessons just one time. You never know how ‘Dancing with Siva’ will combine with ‘Living with Siva’ and ‘Merging with Siva’, unless you went through it once.
Today, ‘Dancing with Siva’ is all about the soul body and ‘Merging with Siva’ is all about the soul body. Both. Different statements but reinforcing one another, so powerfully. I was very surprised. I think you will enjoy it, if you haven’t read it yet.
I couldn’t help but think about the soul body after I read that this morning. Gee, I have to say something about the soul body in the talk this morning because it is really in the message of the day somehow and it is so powerfully reinforced.
I think that the soul body gives us an attitude toward life that is very important, both regarding ourselves and others. As you know, when it comes to President Bush and his perception of evil, it differs from our theology. He sees evil in certain people. That person is evil whereas I am good. That person is evil. So, it creates this dualistic sense of the world, this conflict sense regarding the world that some people are evil and some people are good.
I like our perspective much better. Everyone is good, intrinsically. It is just that some people express that good and others don’t. But it is in there, everyone is good. To me, it is more hopeful. The fact that the good is in there. Just for some reason, it is not coming out at this particular point in time. But it will eventually. So all people are intrinsically good. You relax about the world in a different way when you see it in that sense. It takes out the sense of conflict and opposition, when we see everyone as the soul. It also helps us understand what they would need to do to make future spiritual progress, what lessons they would need to learn from the experiences they are going through in order to move up to a higher level of consciousness in a future life to express more refined qualities.
The concept of the soul when we apply it to our selves is even more relaxing because we say, “Gee, I am a divine being! This is pretty good.” Any sense of inferiority, any sense of serious flaws that we may have picked up along the way goes away. It is not our essential being that has those flaws, it is just our outer nature. We are a spiritual being, a divine being that learns through experience. No matter what experiences we have gone through, we are still a divine being. It does not touch us spiritually. We are a spiritual person. We need that sense to move forward. The fact we are a spiritual person gives us the strength, gives us the motivation to move forward spiritually.
If we don’t have that, where does our direction in life come from? It comes from external motivation which comes and goes. If our external motivation is money and we lose our money, our life could be pretty meaningless. If our external motivation is to have a big house which a hurricane blows down and we were not properly insured, we can get pretty discouraged.
Having a spiritual identity helps us give spiritual meaning to life. The soul body cannot go away. We can’t lose it in a hurricane. We can’t lose it when the stock market goes down. We can’t lose it by mistake. It is a permanent possession, it is us. We can’t give it away. It is us. We are that. So, it is our permanent reality which is worth refining and refining, from life to life, a permanent possession.
Those are just some thoughts. I think you will all enjoy, if you haven’t already, reading these lessons on the soul body. I am sure, it will inspire additional thoughts in all of you. Have a wonderful day!
Aum Namah Sivaya.
transcription ends
|
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 |
|
|
Check our children and youth section for new items for the young and young at heart! | |
|
1. SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK and receive a FREE GIFT |
||
| 2. Newest Book: LIVING WITH SIVA | ||
|
3. Visiting KAUAI’S HINDU MONASTERY |
||
|
4. Contribute to THANK YOU, GURUDEVA FUND |
||
From Our Gurus' Teachings
Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.
