Today is the monthly Ashram Sadhana Day at the Aadheenam, monks were out and about all morning cleaning, taking care of areas and putting up artwork on walls…

We were busy yesterday and did not have time to post our usual excerpts from the Saiva Dharma Shastras on the annual Ritau (seasonal) changes. We have entered Moksha Ritau and excerpts follow as a useful reminder to all sishya of the sadhana and flows to follow for this season

Meanwhile, for listeners of Bodhinatha’s talks: a new one is linked here today. And you can always go here to book mark and see the complete list of his current talks that are online. We are gradually catching up to the point where we will post his weekly upadesha shortly after he gives it here in the temple.

From the Saiva Dharma Shastras. The complete book is on line as a single large PDF file here.

112 Introduction

Beginning with Hindu New Year in mid-April, three seasons of the year divide our activities into three great needs of humankind: the learning of scripture in the first season, Nartana Ritau; the living of culture in the second season, Jivana Ritau; and the meditating on Siva in the third season, Moksha Ritau. Thus we are constantly reminded that our life is Siva’s life and our path to Him is through study, sadhana and realization. In ritau one, we teach the philosophy; in ritau two, we teach the culture; and in ritau three, we teach meditation.

120 The Third Season: Moksha Ritau

The third period of the year, Moksha Ritau, the cool season, is from mid-December to mid-April. It is the season of dissolution. The key word is resolution. Merging with Siva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Metaphysics is the focus of study and intense investigation. The colors of this season are coral-pink, silver and all shades of blue and purple coral for the Self within, silver and blue for illumination, and purple for enlightened wisdom. High above flies the coral flag, signaling ParaSiva, Absolute Reality, beyond time, form and space. Moksha Ritau is a time of appreciation, of gratitude for all that life has given, and a time of honoring elders, those in the sannyasa stage of life. Moksha Ritau is excellent for philosophical discussions, voicing one’s understanding of the path through an enlightened intellect. In finance, it is the time for yearly accounting and reconciliation. On a mundane level it is a time of clearing attics, basements, garages, sheds, warehouses, workshops and desks, getting rid of unneeded things, of pruning trees, of streamlining life on the physical plane of reengineering.

122 Festivals and Realms of the Third Season

The major festival of Moksha Ritau is MahaSivaratri. It is at Kauai Aadheenam, as are all other gatherings, not a public event but a private one, due to the special sacredness of this sanctuary and its Iraivan moksha koyil. Church members, Academy students and special guests by invitation are all who attend. This and all other gatherings at the Aadheenam are restricted in size in keeping with a covenant with the county of Kauai in respect to the surrounding residential area. From December 21-25, the Pancha Ganapati festival is enjoyed in Church family homes worldwide, and the resulting joy and peace is felt even by strangers. The Aadheenam realms of this season are: 1) San Marga Iraivan Temple, a hand-carved, white-granite edifice seated upon a lava-rock plinth, golden tower shining in a rainbowed sky; 2) Tamil Nayanar Neri, the 1,300-foot-long path that winds around ponds, banyan trees, tropical plants in seven distinct botanical habitats, with seven shrines to the great Saiva saints of South India, and 3) Kauai Aadheenam central, with its offices, publications facilities, kitchen, library, workshops, monks’ quarters, aviaries and cloistered gardens.

396 Seasonal Changes for Satsangas

The format of the satsanga changes slightly three times per year in accordance with the three climatic seasons experienced on the Garden Island of Kauai. The three seasons are: Nartana Ritau from mid-April to mid-August, Jivana Ritau from mid-August to mid-December and Moksha Ritau from mid-December to mid-April. Each season emphasizes one of the three great books of the Kailasa Parampara. Also, during each ritau, a different group is honored: those in the grihastha ashrama during Nartana Ritau, those in vanaprastha ashrama during Jivana Ritau, and those in the sannyasa ashrama during Moksha Ritau. All satsangas begin and end on time and last for approximately three hours.

401 Moksha Ritau Bhajana Satsanga

Moksha Satsanga is held from mid-December to mid-April. This is the season when those in the sannyasa ashrama are especially honored. All turn their attention to those special grihasthas in life’s fourth stage, and to the sannyasins of our order, who have renounced the world to follow the path to moksha and Self Realization. We listen to their insights, to their yogic revelations and their sweet encouragements. When possible, we invite them to our satsanga so we may enjoy their presence and their words, and we prepare special garlands to show our admiration for their courage and commitment, their example of detachment and inwardness as exemplary members of the sannyasa dharma. If no exemplars of this ashrama are present, the eldest vanaprasthas take their place in extolling the merits of this stage of life, reading from the Holy Orders which express all of the renunciate ideals and the need for young men to qualify themselves as mathavasis. This is a time when the families talk about and plan the future of any young men who may be potential monks and arrange for their training. It is also a time to think of the future of any family persons approaching age 72, to determine how and where they will live out the fourth stage of life.

1. Activities begin with Ganesha arati by the padipalar of the day. He then leads the group in chanting the Gurudeva Namaskara Veda Mantra.
2. Then the padipalar conducts satguru padapuja.
3. Meditation: The teaching period for this season stresses Merging with Siva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Metaphysics. Therefore, everyone enjoys a 30-minute meditation on the Shum mamsane guided by the pechalar. One of the twelve mamsane is the subject of meditation each week. Soft vina music may be played during the meditation. All strive to follow perfectly the meditation map through the areas of consciousness named in the Shum language. All merge with Siva in Satchidananda samadhi. All see the end of the path moksha and ultimately vishvagrasa merging with Siva.
4. Vasana Daha Tantra: After the meditation, everyone writes confessions on paper to clear the subconscious mind of unwanted vasanas. The confessions are then burned in an unauspicious fire, such as a fireplace or trash can. They are not burned in the havana or temple because they are not being written as prayers to the devas. Next is the time for giving testimony as to how confession, repentance and reconciliation have helped in clearing unwanted vasanas that have accumulated in the subconscious and sub-subconscious areas of the mind during the year. However, this does not require revealing the details of one’s actual confessions. The writing of confessions and giving of testimony constitute the 45 minute study period.
5. Announcements are then given by the pechalar, focusing on the goals of this ritau, the areas of emphasis indicated for the season.
6. Next is a 30-minute time for cultural events, videos, recordings, singing Natchintanai, dancing, seminars and classes on the myriad cultural arts, including the 64 kalas.
7. The satsanga concludes with a 30-minute period of socializing and sharing prasada.

434 The Four Steps of Atonement

The four petals of the muladhara can be described as unrestrained devotion, confession, repentance and reconciliation. When penance is given, it must be fulfilled, especially when requested. Otherwise, the life of the penitent is vulnerable to the company of asuras. Penance is given after a certain amount of remorse is shown and the urgency is felt by the individual to rid his mind of the plaguing matter. All help is given by the divine devas to those seen performing a sincere penance. These devas that oversee those in a penitent state of mind are similar to doctors and nurses gathered to help their patient become well again. The angelic helpers surround their “patient,” assisting in the relief of mental and emotional illness caused by transgression of dharma and the guilt that follows. When the penitent is undergoing penance, it is a form of tapas, described by some as psychic surgery performed by the devas working together to bring the soul from darkness into light. It truly is a happy event, but only long after it is over. The guru of every pitham receives the verbal confession of shishyas and gives out the appropriate penance, prayashchitta. He recognizes Divine absolution, knowing the penance has been fulfilled, when the inner aura is bright as a new-born child, the face happy and the testimony on the result of the penance discloses true atonement. In our Church, the period specifically dedicated to confession, repentance and reconciliation is the third season, Moksha Ritau.

Bodhinatha looks up at the newly raised coral pink flag that marks the beginning of the Moksha Ritau.

Today was doubly auspicious as we had Chitra puja in the morning on this same day.

The pictures need no captions. They tell their own story.

Bodhinatha attended a meeting of the Kaua’i Aloha Endowment Board. They reviewed grants to decide who should receive the first fund grant to be made by the endowment since it’s inception.

It is an historic meeting, because it brings to fruition yet another one of Gurudeva’s initiatives to help the Kauai Community.

Meanwhile watch closely for new talks by Bodhinatha which will be uploaded every day for a few days.

Stepping back in time. This is Subramania Gurukkal, Edmonton Ganesha Temple, who came to Kauai to do a wedding a month or so ago. Since this is a monastery we do not hold wedding ceremonies at the monastery temple itself.

Kauai is famous as host for wedding parties and the wedding was held a nearby facility. There are many companies which will arrange a wedding in Hawaii, just Google “Hawaiian weddings.”

Before and after the wedding the parties will come to Kadavul to pray and get blessings. Photos here and below are all at a special facility the families chartered for the event.

Gurukkal writes:

“Thanks for your wonderful hospitality during our visit to Hawaii.We enjoyed our time in Hawaii. It was a blessing for us to see the Kadavul Temple and to see the breath-taking surroundings of where Lord Siva resides.”

Bride’s name is Rathini Pillai and the groom’s name is Mark Woodworth from Calgary, Alberta. The groom placing a toe ring on the bride.

This is a cross-cultural marriage between a Sri Lankan girl and a Canadian man whose family is right at home with Hindu culture. The parents of bride ‘s and bridegroom’s names follows respectively, Mr Raj Pillai and Mrs. Pathmini Pillai and Mr. Darrel Woodworth and Mrs. Barbara Woodworth.

There is a swelling stream of holiday season visitors. It’s always the time of year when whole families come. With schools closed, this is quality time together in a holy place.

This is Selva Subramaniam with his wife, daughter and grandchild. They all live in Toronto. His father was a companion of Kandiah Chettiar.

~~~~~~~~~~~
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, Thursday, December 14th.

Thondunatha is here for a visit after being away for nearly five years. He served as a Sadhaka for about 12 years and now, while working to support his mother and father in Sri Lanka, continues to do good work teaching Tamil children and visiting the elderly in the Sri Lankan community. He had a good long talk this morning with Bodhinatha.

While Yoginathaswami is on pilgrimage to India, the silpies are focusing on some fine detail ornamentation.

There they are detailing the fifth course of the main sanctum.

This is a marvelous new addition…

See the video below for a live show of their work.

The primary focus of the recent trip to India was to move forward the Saiva Agamas project. The main thing that Bodhinatha and Arumugaswami realized was that the first order of business was not to worry about translations just yet, but to get the ola leaves digitized. This and the following photos are of a leaf from a manuscript we have at Kauai Aadheenam, we’re told it is a medical text. We’re experimenting with lighting and focus.

Despite carefully maintaining their condition, deterioration is inevitable and this precious treasure is housed right near the ocean in Pondicherry.

So the next initiative will be a focus on taking digital images of these for posterity.

That’s it for this. We will see you all again in a few days.

Om Namasivaya!

Sadhu Paksha Day 10

This is a quiet Sunday morning and several Hindu visitors arrived for the morning Abishekam at the very beautiful Kadavul Siva Temple. Sevla Subramaniam and his wife Saro.

Their daughter and son-in-law Thanuja and Ragulan Sinnarajah, and their two children, Ishani age 4 1/2 and Malika just a year and a half old. Following the puja the whole family went on a tour of the Iraivan Temple.

Selva Subramaniam was born in Alaveddy, Sri Lanka near Gurudeva’s Ashram. He grew up knowing Gurudeva. Also Kandaiya Chettiayar was a family friend. Selva and his family now live in Toronto, Canada.

Another surprise visitor was one of Gurudeva’s beloved devotees, Thondunatha who served Gurudeva as a Sadhaka for many years before returning to the world to earn funds to care for his aging parents in Kopai, Sri Lanka.

Sivanadiyar Satya Subramaniam is in a month long intensive period of preparation to enter the monastic order, sitting by the wall daily, working on his “life story” which we call the Ten Documents which each monk writes and submits to the monastery before entrance.

The November Bodhinatha’s MC students Gathering was held at Montagne Blanche at the residence of MC student Bala Krishna. The schedule for the day was:

• Arati to Lord Ganesha
• Testimonies on how Bodhinatha’s Talks and Trilogy teachings have been applied in one’s life
• Bodhinatha’s Talk on Enlightenment Part V: Ashtanga Yoga
• Guided Meditation
• Progress on Master Course work sheets for Kauai
• Questions/answers based on Trilogy and the Master Course

A nice group turned up. The place was very quiet and fine for meditation.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami’s talk emphasizes the precise meaning of Yoga, not exactly what modern media attributes as below :
“In modern times, in both the east and west, the term yoga has become more or less synonymous with the yoga asanas or postures. And the goal of this approach to yoga is quite often simply the health oriented benefits. A typical description from one yoga studio website states that yoga “increases the circulation of oxygen rich blood, nourishing and detoxifying the internal organs, musculature, cardiovascular, immune, endocrine, digestive, reproductive and nervous systems.” Sometimes mental benefits are also mentioned such as improving concentration and clarity of mind.”

Bodhinatha says that “However, it is crucial to remember that the goal of ashtanga yoga in its classical sense is samadhi, oneness with God. And that the deepest Samadhi is the state of enlightenment….. Esoterically, it dawns when the kundalini resides coiled in the sahasrara chakra. ”

Ashtanga Yoga, it consists of eight limbs which describe progressively more advanced practices.

The eight limbs in Sanskrit and English.

• Yama – restraints
• Niyama – observances
• Asana – yogic postures
• Pratyahara, sense withdrawal
• Dharana, concentration
• Dhyana, meditation
• Samadhi, enstasy, Or oneness with God

In Saivism, the spiritual path is divided into four progressive stages, called padas. These four stages, are called:

• Charya, service
• Kriya, devotion
• Yoga, meditation
• Jnana, wisdom

Following the meditation on Siva’s five states of consciousness and questions on the MC worksheets, the group shared a lunch together….

We had some ‘buryani’ with pickles and salad

Some of the ladies preparing juice …. After the introduction on Astanga Yoga, the next series of MC Gatherings will be looking deeper at each of the eight steps as explained by Satguru Bodhinatha. Should you wish to have a complete copy of Satguru Bodhinatha’s introductory Talk on Astanga Yoga, kindly email us at iceberg@intnet.mu.

Sadhu Paksha Day 3

It’s a very quiet, sublime day at the Aadheenam. A cool gentle breeze.

Our three monks in India are text messaging from their cell phone:

“Aum Sivaya Bodhinatha, we assume everything is well in the Aadheenam.Yesterday we when to Murukuruni Vinayakar shrine. Large deity about 7 feet tall. This morning we will be heading to the first Padai
Veedu-Tiruparankundram. We all are well. Aum Sivaya.”

We take this opportunity for some retrospectives.

More great silent movies! Yogaswami taught the value of silence. So we find these movies in perfect harmony with his teachings on that matter (smile).

This one is done by Arumugaswami from clips he took on the recent journey to India, Singapore and Malaysia.

Here we go back to October, when the young taskforcers and monks adventured to the North Shore of the island. That’s Teja Falzone, Nilakantha, Tandava Brown and Dharmaraj standing at the cliff’s edge.

They stopped at the lighthouse, which is situated, as lighthouses tend to be, on a spectacular outcropping exposed on all sides to the sea.

They took a few seconds of video, one is a 360-degree pan of the area which you can watch below.

Back home we show, from a few weeks back, the team working on Archive Day, organizing and filing all of Gurudeva’s lifetime legacy of talks, videos, photos and more.

Japendranatha and Satya team up on a video project.

Tandava sorts through our photo archives.

He gets to explore the history of the monastery from day one.

There are over 75,000 photos in the archive.

Today we are working on the first phase of having all of them digitized and saved on our server, where they will stop disintegrating and be preserved for the future.

We pick up the thread today of Bodhinatha’s last days in Malaysia before returning home. Here he is at Kulapati Appasamy Kuppusamy’s home for Pada puja and a big satsang with sishya and other devotees.

The directors of the Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam want to send all their thanks and appreciation to generous donors who help fund the rebuilding of the orphanage after the Tsunami. The project is proceeding well…. Here are photos of some recent activities.

Sadhu Paksha Day 1

We begin our winter retreat today…TAKA captions may be very quiet during this period.

Now we go back a few days.

This is Sivalayadeepam or Krittikadeepam, the great day when Siva is worshipped as an Infinite Pillar of Light. The monks have placed lamps around Nandi.

Inside Kadavul the crystal lingam is bathed in light.

Light, light! Everywhere light.

And more light.

Small clay lamps are placed on the shrine steps.

Their glow a reminder of the spiritual light that illumines our thoughts.

The clear white light that is within.

The blessed light that is Siva’s presence in all.

Out at the temple site the new pillars begin to show the shape of the Maha Mandapam.

Giving a sense of the overall shape of Iraivan Temple.

Nearby many stones wait their turn.

Sheltered by his stone and tile pavilion, Nandi sits near the Kadavul pool on a retreat, kneeling before His Lord Siva, ever watchful.

It is the day of Bodhinatha’s return from his journey to India, Singapore and Malaysia. It is also the day of the departure of three pilgrims to India for six weeks. The silpis have all come to see our team off to Tamil Nadu, their homeland.

Yogi Japendranatha waits near the car for the ride to the airport. He and the other two say a few brief words in today’s video clip of the departure.

Sannyasin Yoginathaswami arrives next, ready for his first-ever pilgrimage in India. He has been working hard for several months to prepare for this moment.

Part of the preparation was to work out six weeks of carving for the silpi team.

Sadhaka Jothinatha arrives, ready for his journey. He was last in India in 1989, so this is an important pilgrimage.

The silpis offer their “Nala pasanam,” to our three wayfarers.

Only a monk could travel for six weeks and take only a carry-on case.

Bodhinatha who arrived back from Singapore earlier in the day…. blesses the journey. He has been aware of every tiny detail of their itinerary and has given personal inner instructions to each one.

Below is a video of our departing yatrikas.

We have a few more sets of photos from Arumugaswami who is back home now and has more to share from the trip. Here we are in Johor having come over from Singapore for a big event.

Bodhinatha is greeted for the evening program in Johor Baru arranged for students and the public.

About 200 people attended the well-organized program which included a lengthy introduction to Bodhinatha and the Iraivan temple project.

A renowned Chinese flute player performed for the event.

Bodhinatha’s talk on spiritual life.

A traditional parting gift if given as the evening ends and we return to Singapore for the night.

Sunrise on Kauai

We continue today with the documentary of Bodhinatha’s mission and travel events. As we write today, he is in Kuala Lumpur, preparing to leave soon to come home. Meanwhile we pick the end of the story of his meetings in Chennai and then on to Singapore.

In this photo, he is having Pada Puja at Kulapati Dohadeva’s home, attended by about 40 people.

But, first we start today’s photos with a little story of a significant life transition in progress for one of our young pre-monastics. It is rare that we share the inner workings of the monastic order…

There is a tradition, going back to days of old, for monks to beg entrance into a monastery. This was done in India. It was even done in Greece, where the mystical mathematician (who is reputed to have had magical powers) required novices to sit at the entrance to his mystery school for three days, to prove their determination to learn once inside.

One of the very few commentators on old Greek and Latin authors, who have given their just dues to the ancients for their mental development, is Thomas Taylor. In his translation of Iamblichus’ Life of Pythagoras, we find him remarking as follows: “Since Pythagoras was initiated in all the Mysteries of Byblus and Tyre, and also that he spent two and twenty years in the adyta of temples in Egypt, associated with the magians in Babylon, and was instructed by them in their venerable knowledge, it is not at all wonderful that he was skilled in magic, or theurgy, and was therefore able to perform things which surpass merely human power.”

In Gurudeva’s own Lemurian Scrolls which speak of man’s life on Earth ever so long ago, it is said: “High stone walls protected the monasteries. Those who sought admittance sat for long periods there, humbly begging entrance. Expert devonic guards watched over the process, and it was to them that seekers prayed for permission to enter. Monastics passing by on journey to another monastery sat by the wall, facing out, for short periods. They were lovingly served prasadam as they basked in the sunlight and darshan. It is by the wall that the destiny of the birth karmas of each was evaluated. The gurus and senior minority group considered well who, why and when one entered. While one was admitted, another was sent here, and another there. All this was preceeded by thoughtful study of their patterns of behavior and accomplishments since entering the first wall as young novitiates. Aum.”

This tradition of begging at the wall is fully incorporated into the life of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. Gurudeva called our wall “the Wall of Rain.” Whenever the monks are gone for more than 9 days, they return and sit each day for hours at the wall (an exception is made if traveling with the satguru).

This allows them to reenter into the spirit of the monastery, to connect with the subtle vibrations that exist here. After 30 days, provided they are sincere, they are asked to fully enter the monastery again.

Sitting at the wall also happens, and perhaps more importantly, when a monastic candidate is qualifying himself to become a full-fledged monk, a Postulant. Here Satya Subramuniam sits diligently this morning at the Wall of Rain (even though it did not rain today!).

He will work within himself for this month, striving to connect his inner nervous system with all those who are living here.

He will seek harmony of mind and thought with all that the monastery represents, knowing its strength comes from one-mindedness and shared ideals and efforts.

He will eat all of his meals here, too.

Each day, after an hour or two of begging entrance, he will be invited into the monastery to serve for that day.

Even in this service, he is ever vigilant to feel the unity of purpose, the one energy that flows throughout Bodhinatha’s home. He will strive to enter the inner plane schools at night during his dreams, there to learn more. Then, the next morning, he will return to the wall and strive again to become one with the divine purpose of the monastery.

We want to thank Tandu Sivanathan for offering to let the monastery display some of his precious Bonsai collection. This little tree is 30 years old! After going through a dormant cycle it is experience it’s own microcosmic spring time with new buds and leaves coming out.

Stepping back in time we bring you today a 15 minutes video of the installation of the yalli pillars, with music!

Now, back to the story of Bodhinatha’s journeys. We pick up at the final meetings in Chennai and then move on to Singapore and Malaysia. Arumugaswami has the story.

“Here we are back in Chennai, meeting with Shanmugam Sivachariyar. He always greets Bodhinatha with prasadam from the morning worship at the Kaliambal temple of which he is the chief priest. We discussed his project to get the priest manuals back in print, as well as a possible Hinduism Today story on Madras Sanskrit College, which would be done with Anantha Krishan, one of our Chennai HT correspondents.”

Our wonderfully prolific artist, Manivel, with his family and two sons. We talked about some of the art projects for the future.

This is Sheela Venkataraman and her relatives.

Dr. Thiagarajan, friends, family and students. He is the Sanskrit chanting expert who has made several recordings for the Aadheenam, for example, of the 108 names of Gurudeva, Bodhinatha and Yogaswami. He’ll be visiting Kauai sometime in the near future.

We met with Sripathy Acarya, a fine Chennai artist who produced the cover of Saivite Hindu Religion book 3. This is his first draft sketch for the April 07 cover of Hinduism Today, which will depict the teaching of Hinduism in a California school. This is to illustrate our Insight section for that issue, which is a 6th grade lesson in Hindu history.

This is the Chennai airport where we noted this thoroughly fool-proof exit door: Take hammer, smash glass, jump out, run…

Singapore arrival brought 15 plus devotees to greet Bodhinatha. Our arrival was late in the evening, so we headed straight for our hotel.

We were off early the next morning to visit the Sree Raghavendra Swami Peedam, in Ulu Tiram, across the bridge from Singapore to Johor Baru. We had written about this ashram and its head, Swami Shankarananda, in Hinduism Today. Here Bodhinatha is welcomed by their priest.

Swami Shankarananda, at left, brings Bodhinatha into their temple.

One of the ashram swamis does puja at their guru shrine. It has Ganesha on the left, Muruga on the right and their guru’s guru, with Sivalingam in front.

They set up a shrine to Gurudeva and did aarati.

The boys in front in blue are part of the 40 or so foster children the ashram cares for. This is just one part of their social programs, which include free feeding and food distribution.

A very large number of people came for Bodhinatha’s darshan, between 300 and 400, which was remarkable for an event held midday on a Wednesday.

Vibhuti darshan took over 45 minutes.

The swami had several very nice portraits of Lord Hanuman on the walls. We’d never seen several of them before.

There is also this powerful Lord Hanuman murthi facing the main shrine.

A Sri Chakra at their Kali temple.

The Dakshina Mantralayam, as it is called, is located in five adjacent storefronts in the center of town.

Two young ladies, including this one, gave a short vina performance.

Which was followed by an excellent lunch.

Three swamis of the ashram.

We couldn’t quite get this picture to work right in one try, so this one is of Dohadeva and our driver…

And this of our members inside who came along from Singapore…

Nov. 30 afternoon we met with two teachers of the Hindu Centre.

We will continue with the story of the trip next phase.

Bodhinatha spend December 2nd in Kuala Lumpur having darshan meetings with devotees and then attending a forum in the evening. He writes:

“In the afternoon and evening we attended the forum on “Creating Spiritual Awareness in Business.” Our role was the introductory religious speech and closing summary. Vijay Easwaran gave one of the talks. His style is motivational in nature, getting the audience charged up about being successful in business. Vijay mentioned his initial meeting with Gurudeva in San Francisco and described Gurudeva as a rishi. Additionally, there were 4-5 other excellent speakers. About 250-300 attended.”

[Another Bodhinatha Inspired Talk was posted today… see the side bar to the right.]

Kulapati Easan Katir who traveled to join Bodhinatha in Malaysia along with Kulapati Deva Rajan, sent this photo from KL moments before we went live today… Easan writes:

“Om Sivaya!
The Malaysia Hindu Sangam produced a forum on Creating Spiritual Awareness in Business, under the patronage of Bodhinatha. Well-attended by several hundred people.
Speakers pictured attached:
HH Satguru Bodhinatha, YB Dato S. Veerasingam, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs, and Datuk A. Vaithilingam, President of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam.
Other speakers included :
Dato Vijay Easwaran, CEO of the Qi Group, author of “In the Sphere of Silence,” and sponsor of Iraivan’s Nandi Mandapam.
Mr. R. Shanmugam, Entrepreneur and Saiva missionary for 25 years in Malaysia.
YB Dato B. Sahadevan, CEO of National Land Finance Co-Operative Society, a large palm oil estate.
and others.

Visitors arriving today included friends of Kulapati and Kulamata Easan and Sundari Katir of California, Dr. Rashree Gaitonde who is here attending a medical conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, her husband Mr. Surendranath Gaitonde who is very well versed in temple architecture. They enjoyed the sanctity and darshan of the morning Siva Abishekam in the Kadavul Temple, after which they were taken on a tour of the grounds and the Iraivan Temple. Here they hugging rudraksha trees in the sacred forest.

We pick up the photo documentary of Bodhinatha’s travels to India with the second half of November 27th, their day in Pondicherry. Arumugaswami has the story:

“That evening we visited the International Centre for Yoga Research and Education under the direction of Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani.”

Here we have dinner with Meenakshi and a group of mostly European devotees taken a several week course at the Institute.

The group gathered for a simple dinner.

Later we met with them for satsang and questions and answers.

They were a pretty tough group of questioners.

There was also a meditation.

Here we visit Meenakshi’s son, Ananda, at their city center. They conduct yoga and cultural classes for hundreds of local children each week.

From here we went to Auroville. This is their exhibit hall.

Pictures of tree planting–they’ve planted two million trees in what was once a barren land.

Town plan of Auroville.

Still photo of a video on the project.

Ashok Chatterjee, our host, organized a meeting of teachers from the community. Mostly they were working in schools set up for children in the local villages.

They shared with us their methods, which began with a deep commitment on the part of each teacher to a spiritual life. This commitment and inner understanding rubbed off on the children through their teaching and daily interaction.

So strongly were they impacting the children, the parents were in turn becoming more religious. In fact, the schools have sparked something of a Hindu renaissance in the area. The local villagers discovered that one of the their temples was sung about by Saint Sambadar centuries ago. They’ve renovated this temple and are promoting it.

This is a great banyan tree at the exact center of Auroville. They’ve trimmed it in a way that allows grass to grow under it (unliked our Kauai Aadheenam banyans), so it is an ideal meditation place.

The huge Mantri Mandir sits to one side of the banyan.

This is a graceful amphitheater nearby which has a huge gas fed torch in the center for a kind of bonfire. Two thousand people gather here for special events.

Closeup of the discs covering the mandir. They are gold tiles mounted on stainless steel.

We transit now back to the worksite where our own Hanuman statue is being carved. Photographer Devrayan’s took this series on the carving of Hanuman. As you can see, he is a much better photographer than I am.

The elephant in progress. There are two like this, plus many other unusual carvings which will one day grace the Aadheenam temple grounds.

The Hanuman clay model.

Presentation of the kodimaram to Bodhinatha by the sthapati responsible to create it.

As we headed back to Chennai, we stopped at this fishing village which has been rebuilt by the BAPS Swaminarayan organization.

Volunteers met us and showed us around the project. Each family was provided a free new house. Another organization provided them all with new boats and nets lost during the tsunami. This was rebuilt on the same site. The water came in 6 to 8 feet deep. There was only some loss of life, all among elderly people, as these sturdy fisherman could deal with the water.

Each house is about 16 by 20 feet, three rooms, with a roof that can be built on for a second story.

We are standing on the edge of the beach here, looking back at the village.

We stop to meet with the main BAPS organizers from Chennai.