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“In contrast, children who are born into Earth consciousness from the Devaloka do respond to meditation, yoga and all kinds of methods of self-control. These are the gentle people. Self-control and personal advancement are the reasons they have taken a birth. There are ways to tell the difference between these two types of people. The mere fact that someone becomes penitent would show us that he is really a Devaloka person. This is because Narakaloka people don’t become penitent. There is another way to tell the difference, and that is by looking into the eyes of the person. Narakaloka people generally have dull or sullen eyes, whereas Devaloka people have bright, clear, wide-open eyes.”
–Gurudeva
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We have another set of photos that were taken by Saravananathaswami from the day of initiations at the Pudu Pillaiyar temple in Malaysia… Here the priest of the temple presenting Bodhinatha with a picture of the Deity of the temple.
TRAVEL NEWS! Bodhinatha’s next travel is October 8-12 in San Francisco Bay Area, California. See travel page for more information.
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At home at the Aadheenam… today.. Mr. and Mrs Chandrasekaran are here on pilgrimage from Chennai. They had always longed to come to Kauai Aadheenam and took this opportunity while visiting their son, Shankar, in California to pilgrimage to Kauai.
It’s a bright day for us because Shanmugam Sthapati is arriving back from his break in India and will be back on the job at Iraivan soon…
Now we are at the Kotu Malai Pillaiyar Temple in Pudo district, downtown Kuala Lumpur where Bodhinatha is about to bestow samaya diksha, or mantra diksha, on four Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas. This diksha is the initiation into daily chanting of the Namasivaya mantra. A crowd is packed tightly around, watching the proceedings intently.
Though the temple and Ganesha murthi are small, the vibration is strong. Bodhinatha commented that it feels like Ganesha is really large here, enveloping the whole temple and beyond
Balu Devado receiving diksha, just after Gunasegaran Chitravelloo who is third from left in the photo
Next diksha recipients eagerly awaiting their turn–Annapoorani Ganesan on far right, and Sarkunavathy Sockanathan second from right.
Sarkunavathy Sockanathan receiving her diksha
Blessing at the end of diksha
Bodhinatha signs their official diksha booklet, noting the date and place of the samaya diksha
Vibhuti blessings for all other devotees present on that special occasion at the Pillaiyar temple
During this time of blessings, a young man approached us, asking for more information about our monastic life…always refreshing to hear of this rare interest.
Gurudeva wrote:
“All must always remember that it is a family’s greatest blessing for a son to become a sannyasin. But a word of caution must follow. Though a young man may be raised and trained to one day become a monastic, it is he himself who must have the burning desire for ultimate, transcendent realization of Parasiva. It is he who must have a heart full of selfless service and vairagya, the spirit of renunciation. It is he who must have the prarabdha karmas that would allow him to be the ideal sannyasin his parents would hope for. Becoming a monk is not simply a matter of moving from his family home into a monastery. Various tests must be met and passed. The entire monastic community has to be convinced of the young man’s sincerity and strengthened by his presence. Such potential sannyasins are watched closely and expected to dissociate themselves from grihastha impulses such as claiming “my things, my space, my career, my advancement and my exclusive duties.” They are examined for the qualities of true sannyasa, tested often as to their flexibility, their ability to instantly renounce attachment to position and job security without residual resentments, the fluidness to release awareness and move transparently from one area to the next as needs arise.”
–Gurudeva
A group lunch afterwards at a nice Chinese restaurant in Petaling Jaya town
Sishyas gather at various tables to mix and mingle
These are members of our dynamic “Core Youth Committee”, or CYC, of Saiva Siddhanta Church who have recently begun a series of official seminars on the Master Course trilogy. Here, they have just finished updating Bodhinatha on the retreat in December where Bodhinatha will teach for five days at a resort area in Malaysia. They already have about 80 participants registered, with many more clamoring to join in. It will be our first teaching retreat in Malaysia in quite some time.
Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas, Kulapati Selladurai family visiting Bodhinatha with Kulamata Vasanthy’s mother.
Newlywed couple Sivanathan and Puvana Batumalai reading their comprehensive marriage vows to Bodhinatha.
Sivanathan is becoming an Arulsishya (one step before official membership in Saiva Siddhanta Church) and signing the special vows of vegetarianism, tithing, ahimsa and loyalty to our guru lineage.
Bodhinatha signs a copy of their marriage vows.
The very happy couple
Bodhinatha displays a copy of the new Panchakshara Mantra booklet, wherein he assembled all of Gurudeva’s teachings about the Namasivaya mantra, including how, where, when and why to chant it. A copy of this booklet is being given on this trip to every sishya who has received samaya diksha.
Another recently wed couple, sishyas Aravindraj and Renu from India.
Bodhinatha visits the Gasing Hill Sivan Temple in the evening. It’s a powerful temple, on top of a nice hill overlooking the Klang town below.
The crowd eagerly listening to Bodhinatha’s talk about the nature of God Siva. Bodhinatha made a point to clarify common misconceptions about God Siva, especially stressing that Siva is a God of love, never angering or being wrathful.
Vibhuti blessings for a local swami
Bodhinatha signing the official guestbook of the Gasing Sivan temple
Farewell at Kuala Lumpur airport, leaving for Singapore.
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transcription begins
Date: March051999
Title: Making a House a Home
Category: Family
Duration: 3 min., 45 seconds
Date Given: March_05_1999
Given By: Gurudeva
Today at Kauai Aadheenam. March 5.
Yesterday we talked about a home, a house, a hotel lobby and people’s lives. We discussed what makes up a home. People in it that love each other, people in it that are harmonious, people in the home that are closer to one another than they are to people in the work-place, people in the University, or in any kind of a school.
Home is a place of companionship. Home is a place that is so magnetic, you want to go back to it again and again and again. That is a home and everything else is just a house or a hotel lobby.
Everybody is thinking now, “We have to have two incomes, three incomes. We have to become wealthy.” Money is gained and lost, sometimes rather quickly. It is quickly gained and it is quickly lost.
What is wealth? Wealth is a diamond with many facets. One, of course, is money. But that is not the only one. Happy family, family that enjoys each other – that is a great wealth. Doing things together and enjoy doing things together is another great wealth. Rushing home to be with one another, if you can create that in your family, you are wealthy.
Another great wealth is living within your income. Even multi-millionaires are poor if they do not live within their income. They are always worried about debt, payments, responsibilities and are often very lonely people because in all the effort to gain those millions, they have to sacrifice their family, their children, and their own happiness. Many content themselves, building great, big multi-million dollar homes. To benefit whom? A gardener, maybe a cook, a maid or two, who get to live there all the time, while they are traveling around the world, coming in late and leaving early.
That is not wealth. That is also not wisdom. That is a good way to die young.
Well, everybody in cyberspace, I don’t know how we got on this subject. But it did start with some questions about home, family and togetherness. We’ll be back with you tomorrow in cyberspace, having darshan in our beautiful Ashram.
Think about your home and see if it compares to the ideal that we talked about today.
Aum Namah Sivaya!
transcription ends
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