Blog Archives
Sun Three….
“To be awake on the inside means waking up early in the morning. You woke up early this morning. That may have been difficult. But you got the body up, you got the emotions up, you got the mind up, and your instinctive mind did not want to do all that. Did it? No! Spiritual life is a twenty-four-hour-a-day vigil, as all my close devotees are realizing who have taken the vrata of 365 Nandinatha Sutras. It means going to bed at night early so you can get up in the morning early. It means studying the teachings before you go to bed so that you can go into the inner planes in absolute control. It means in the morning reading from my trilogy, Dancing with Siva, Living with Siva and Merging with Siva, to prepare yourself to face the day, to be a strong person and move the forces of the world.” — Gurudeva
Don’t Miss the Show! Join Us for the
Gala Cultural Iraivan Temple Benefit
Click for more Info…
Bodhinatha arrived home this afternoon with Yogi Japendranatha after a wonderful trip to Texas. We have another great photo series and report from Yogi…
TRAVEL NEWS! Bodhinatha’s next visit is July 23-27 to Houston, Texas. See travel page for more information.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
Click for most recent TAKA page with an Iraivan Temple progress update. |
||||
Bodhinatha with Dr. Mehta, concretologist who designed the concrete for the foundation of Iraivan and then he applied that same technology to the foundation for this temple in Houston.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Yogi Japendrenatha’s report from Day Three in Houston]
It’s hot here in big sky country. Temperatures have been about 100� during the day, mid-high 80s at night, although it’s overcast tonight, we got a little lightning and rain, and it’s cooled down to the mid 70s. Also, it really is “big sky country.” Wide open spaces everywhere, vast open spaces even between the buildings! Huge housing communities, which are kind of packed together, but then there are these giant cleared areas with roads that seem to be set up to become industrial parks. There are usually a couple buildings, really far apart, with most of the space open for leasing, and giant fields with land for sale signs on them. The highways are giant too, and it looks like they run far below capacity. Everything is just big, really big, Texas big.
On stage during the diksha ceremony.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
We had a wonderful day at the Swaminarayan Mandir in Houston today. The morning began a little earlier than usual, at around 8:00, with the sadhu diksha ceremony in the giant event tent (did I say this tent is huge? must be something like 100 x 250 feet). A bit of background first on their dikshas: They first go to Sarangpur for one year, equivalent to our premonastic program, to live and experience sadhu life before making a firm decision to become a sadhu. During this time they are called Sadhakas. If they decide it is right for them, they take Parshadi Diksha, where they are given the white robes and hat, and they begin 3 or 4 years of training at Sarangpur in preparation for sannyas. During this time at Sarangpur, they are watched carefully by the senior swamis, and if all feel that sadhu life is truly for them, then they take Bhagavati Diksha, receive their sadhu name and don the orange robes as full-fledged sannyasins.
Our Satguru in a joyful mood during the monastic ceremonies…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
Five sadhus took Parshadi Diksha (white) and one sadhu took Bhagavati Diksha (orange) today in Houston. The ceremony is interesting. Each sadhu, accompanied by his father, went up on stage, already dressed in his new dhoti but bare-chested. Two senior swamis, Dr. Swami and the senior swami in charge of the Sarangpur training center, shared the duty of putting the shawl and hat on each new sadhu, and then one by one, accompanied by dad, they went up to Pramukh Swami for blessings. The father officially handed off his son to his second guru, Pramukh Swami gave his blessings in several ways such as touching him on the head, then looked him in the eye and spoke with him for a minute, apparently giving specific directions. The father then touched his son-now-sadhu’s feet, stood together with him and Pramukh Swami for a photo, and turned around and left the stage. The emotion of the parents was noticeable and touching. Some may not know that the Swaminarayan Sanstha is very strict in that, after diksha, sadhus never again have any contact with their family. They are not even allowed to acknowledge them should eyes fall on each other by happenstance.
The audio-visual and lighting setup here was nothing short of a rock concert setup.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
This was clearly a very big day for the BAPS congregation, sadhus and grihasthas alike. After the diksha ceremony in front of thousands of devotees and all the other sadhus present here in Houston, we sat for a while up front in front of the stage as most of the sadhus went off and prepared for the temple’s murti pratishtha ceremony.
One of the temple shrines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
The murti pratishtha ceremony began, and we, along with most of the devotees, were watching it on the big screens. We think only the sponsors were able to fit in the temple itself. It’s not a very big temple, maybe the size of Iraivan plus a little more width. After a while one of the sadhus walked up and asked Bodhinatha if he’d like to go to the temple and participate in the ceremony. Yes, of course, and we were on our way. Going out of the AC tent into the Texan mid-day height-of-the-summer felt just like being in India. We were escorted as VIPs to the temple, entering from the back, and up right in front of the shrines. Bodhinatha was seated on a comfortable chair right in front of the right-most shrine. I was on the floor next to him amongst many sadhus, cameramen and some very hot lights. It’s amazing being around these swamis, because they interact with me just like I’m one of them. With Bodhinatha it’s a little different; they show him great respect and treat him like the great guru that he is.
Bodhinatha give his speech which is going live to 160 nations!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
Pundits were chanting the puja chants while an elaborate little tabletop shrine was setup in front of the central shrine (doors were closed). Pramukh Swami arrived with great pageantry beneath colorful festival umbrellas amongst an entourage of his sadhus, and the beautiful wooden shrine doors were opened so he could have the first darshan of the newly installed Deities. After that, he got settled in his elaborately carved chair and performed puja for the little Harikrishna Deity, which seems to be something he does to begin most ceremonies. He then gave a talk, then the naivedyam offering, then the arati. Bodhinatha was given an arati tray to perform arati for the Deity he was positioned in front of, and Pramukh Swami did the arati for the Swaminarayan Deities, other swamis such as Dr. Swami and another senior swami performing arati for the other Deities. It was a remarkable ceremony, beautiful.
Bodhinatha greeting Swamishree following his speech.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
As Pramukh Swami made his way out after the puja was finished, he walked by and paid his respects to Bodhinatha. It is quite clear to us that he is really happy Bodhinatha is here.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay greeting Swamishree after his speech. They actually hung out there and talked for a few minutes, with Atmaswarupswami translating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
Not making our exit soon enough, we found ourselves quickly surrounded by devotees in one of those shoulder-to-shoulder mob scenes thought only possible in India. At first we just went with it, and we ended up in front of the main Swaminarayan shrine, where we noticed a powerful darshan and paid our respects accordingly. It was evident that we needed to begin pushing, as others were, so we squeezed our way through slowly and popped out of the crowd at the edge of the temple, where we ran into Dr. Mehta, who was delighted to see us at his new masterpiece of concrete engineering (he did their foundation with fly ash sans rebar, just like ours, which was the first). Soon after walking down from the temple to the ground level, we were met by some grihastha men who took us back to the main tent.
Beautiful, energetic dance on stage by a group of boys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
A wonderful collection of talks were given, most in Gujurati or Hindi, as were most of the talks and announcements during this festival. Sadhu Atmaswarup Swami from the London center was the only sadhu who spoke in English. His English is very good. The head County Judge of North Bend Country was introduced, and gave a very nice talk with much admiration of BAPS for the temple and how he sees it influencing Texas and America. Next, to our delightful surprise, was House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (who hails from this part of Texas), who gave a fantastic talk beginning with “Jai Swaminarayan!” He began by speaking of religious freedom in America, and how that promise was extended to BAPS without restraint, and how when a religion lays down its roots here, it is a great day for all Americans. He made some absolutely amazing comments in praise and support of BAPS, something I know I wasn’t expecting. It was truly inspiring to see such an important congressional leader saying such things about our religion, our spiritual brothers, our American Hindu population.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
Bodhinatha was invited to give a talk, which was one of the most clear presentation and most audible of them all. Everyone listened carefully and absorbed his message, which was all about the Swaminarayan group. All the events today were being live webcast and telecast on TV to 160 countries, in the US on the channel called TV Asia, and in India on Ashta, the major religious TV channel there. Hopefully somebody will send us a tape. We’ll ask the swamis tomorrow also…
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay with Jnanpurushswami and the kumbha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
All in all, at the official end of the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir Mahotsav, we can say that we have had a very wonderful time at a great festival inaugurating a truly awesome temple, a major architectural masterpiece that is really a statement of Hinduism to not only the greater Houston community but also to the entire American community, much in the same way that the BAPS temple in Neasden was a great statement of Hinduism’s greatness to the UK.
A representative from the Indian government, who also spoke, Tom DeLay, Swamishree, and the head County Judge.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[report continued…]
Tomorrow, in a more post-festival relaxed mood, we are going to meet again with Dr. Swami, who has requested some more discussion time with us, as well as some of the other swamis for interviews about various topics for the Hinduism Today article we are doing, including one or two of the just-initiated sadhus. We hear that we may also get a chance to sit with Pramukh Swami Maharaj for a few questions. We’re really looking forward to that.
(End of today’s report… more tomorrow…)
Center, a couple of representatives from NASA Mission Control in Houston, who accompanied DeLay.
One of our new sadhus, left, with the swami in charge of the Sarangpur training center and Bodhinatha.
The looks magnificent from a distance… still some landscaping to do.
Out-of-town devotees having lunch in a tent specifically set up to serve them.
The satellite uplink truck. Which completes our series of photos from Houston. Stay turned to your copy of Hinduism Today, as a future issue will do an in-depth feature article on the growth of the Swami Narayan Fellowship in North America.
Back at home at the Aadheenam this morning:
Chaluvadi & Vasudha Sridhar from Cleveland were our guests today.
It was their 3rd visit to the Aadheenam and they were amazed by the progress on Iraivan Temple. They said the last time they were here work was being done on the sanctum only.
Saiva Siddhanta Church
Malaysia Mission
We continue now with the wedding ceremonies of the new union between Sivaram Eswaran and Devika Ajaya.
Today’s photos are from the Engagement Ceremony on June 27, 2004 at the Nattukottai Chettiar Thandayuthabani Temple, Penang.
Devika arrives at the temple with her parents and the bride’s maid
Procession of offering trays for the bride
Engagement rituals between the family of both sides.
Devika seeking Lord Ganesha’s blessings
Devika on the way to change into her engagement clothes
The Ganesha pooja continues with Sivaram
Devika returns after changing
Engagement rituals continue with both the families
Exchange trays
Sivaram gives Devika her engagement ring
Devika gives Sivaram his engagement ring
Sivaram and Devika thanking all for attending the engagement ceremony
The engagement ceremonies are complete. We share these word of wisdom from Gurudeva for the new couple to be:
“If both husband and wife are on the spiritual path, the householder family will progress beautifully and deeply. Their love for one another and their offspring maintains family harmony. However, the nature of their sadhana and unfoldment of the spirit is different from that of the sannyasin. The family unit itself is an odic-force structure. It is a magnetic-force structure, a material structure, for they are involved in the objects and relationships of the world. It is the family’s effort to be “in the world but not of it” that gives the impetus for insight and the awakening of the soul. The struggle to maintain the responsibilities of the home and children while simultaneously observing the contemplative way, in itself, provides strength and balance, and slowly matures innate wisdom through the years.” –Gurudeva
Engagement rings with Sanskrit initials of “De” for Sivaram and “Si” for Devika
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! |
|
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. |
|
|
View the fabulous full-color PDF’s of the latest edition of Island Temple Magazine, and order copies if you don’t have one. | |
|
1. SIGN OUR GUESTBOOK and receive a FREE GIFT |
||
| 2. Newest Book: DANCING WITH SIVA — Pocketbook | ||
|
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.
