“The river is the esoteric symbol of life’s force, and as it flows it tells us how those cosmic currents flow through the physical body, quieting the emotions and awakening the willpower so that we can keep the mind under our control. This all happens, of course, providing we are in tune and and flow with that life force, that illimitable power within us…”

“The birth of this river high in the Himalayas we can liken to our own conception and entrance into physical consciousness…”

As the river flows to meet the sea, it drops off many disturbances, …”

just as our life absorbs many of its hindrances…”

“The rapids smooth out, the waterfalls become smaller, …”

…the mouth of the river broadens, …”

…”and as the river flows into the ocean we can see this esoteric symbol of life ending its manifest physical form…”

Yogaswami sang:

“After wanderings far in an earnest quest, I came to Kasi and lo, I saw the Lord of Kasi–Viswanathan within my heart. Let not your hearts be troubled by wearisome pursuits. There is a fine saying that the herb that you have been searching assiduously lies at your feet within easy reach. In this place too, men live very much in the same manner as our people. There is nothing wonderful, nothing mysterious in this world. In this holy city of Benares, I have performed the rites and obsequies most solemnly for my countrymen who have lived in bygone yesterdays, and to those of today and even of the morrow. From henceforth, live in obedience to your inner spirit imbued with love for one another; and live in harmony with the world under the protecting shelter of His Feet.”

–Nathchintanai. 373

Silpi helper Kumar

The worship of Pancha Mukha Ganapati at the Spiritual Park is now a major event on the first Sunday of every month. Devotees from all over the island of Mauritius pilgrimage to this sacred place with their offerings of fruits and flowers.

The Ganesha Homa is the main religious ceremony of the day. Members of Saiva Siddhanta Church are there early to set up everything for the fire ceremony which usually starts with bhajans to Lord Ganapati.

An arathi is performed to Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati and the camphor flame is then placed into the homa kundam. Four kulapaties sit around the fire and make offerings to the inner worlds while everyone present happily joins in to chant the sacred mantra.

Vamadeva and Saravan Thungavelu of the membership taken by surprise by our TAKA photographer…

Kulapati Siven Koothan is dipping written prayers in ghee before offering them to the devas or angelic beings through the sacred fire. The Mandapam is already packed to capacity and devotees are seated on the front steps and on the wing of the Mandapam.

This lady from Russia, now settled in Mauritius, a grand worshipper of lord Ganesha gave a very uplifting testimony about how Lord Ganesha helped her obtain a visa easily at the Soviet Embassy despite tough official constraints. “Things happened like a miracle for me and my husband”, she said.

Kulapati Siven Koothan gave an introduction to Gurudeva’s Book Loving Ganesha and invited every Hindu household to have a copy of it.

Kulapati SK Moorghen talked about the Park and thanked all the supporters who are lovingly helping to maintain it.

After the ceremony devotees would come forward for the arathi where they gently touch the sacred flame with both hands and touch their eyes. They feel inwardly very close to Lord Ganesha….

Serving food is no hectic work after the ceremony. Everyone voluntarily joins in to help. Our Amma is nicely being served orange juice by a foreign visitor…

At another food serving station it is the same enthusiasm…

Here is our newly enrolled Himalayan Academy student, Amba Mootoocurpen with his wife and little son.

The Patten family from Rose Hill sponsored the food on that day. Everyone in this family looked bright and happy to have performed this wonderful seva.

Greg Holland has been studying with Gurudeva and then Bodhinatha for several years and making great progress. He recently made his new Hindu name “Dharmalingam Siddhan” legal. Here are the court documents.

With his mother and daughter…

And wife and daughter…

As per the guidelines Gurudeva set up for adopting or converting to Hinduism. The person should make a public declaration of his new chosen faith by announcing the legal name change in a local newspaper and also by notice to friends and relatives. We are helping him here on TAKA to get the job done.

The document says:

“Order of Court

And now, this 23rd of November 2004, it is hereby ordered and decreed that the name of Greg Alan Holland is hereby changed to Dharmalingam Siddhan.

It is further ordered that the Recorder of Deeds is to note upon the record of a mortgage found at Instrument No. 200306120048844 the granting of this order for a change of name.

By the Court:

Signed:
Gary P. Caruso, Judge”

Congratulations and welcome to Dharmalingam Siddhan!

Yogaswami said:

“

GOD IS ONE AND WORLD OUR KIN
We see the Truth that God is One,
And behold the whole world as our kin.
We’ll not swerve from the path of Dharma,
Nor shall we disown parental dictum.
Whatsoever comes and goes affect us not,
For no longer are we enticed by worldly gains.
We’ll wear the badge of service in humility,
And shall never forget the Feet of the SatGuru.
The law of the land shall we not violate,
Nor will we waste our moments idly.
Fear and anger have we subdued,
And to none shall we bow in deference,
We’ll not submit to false doctrines,
Neither will we spurn the creed of others.
We’ll not pursue sense-enjoyments
But keep ourselves above unrighteous acts.
We shall master the psychic science and arts;
And restrain anger with the mind under control.
We shall till the soil and harbor not ill-will.
We’ll go far and wide and spread the gospel fine.
In exaltation will we soar from earth to heaven,
And rejoice in the infinitude of Siva.
Benevolent shall be our deeds without any taint,
And equity will be our motto for all creeds.

–Natchintanai. 255-256

It’s been a quiet day at the Aadheenam, everyone focused within and on their duties. The Pillaiyar Kulam gave their weekly report today, Talaivar Shanmuganathaswami highlighted his efforts to expand the marketing of Gurudeva’s books and Hinduism Today. Sadhaka Jothinatha gave details of his distribution of a professional TV ad, which is even now playing regularly on a station in Canada.

Sadhaka Jivananandanatha surprised us to tell about a one and a half foot tall solid jade Pancha Ganapati that has arrived from India, a most incredible artifact.

Here is Paramacharya Palaniswami working on the full-page tabloid layout of Bodhinatha’s page that will be printed in the newspaper “Vanakkam” in Mauritius.

Potriyan at work in the Ekadanta kulam office on a Kauai Aloha Endowment mailing to all donors. He and his mother have extended their stay for another week.

Note: Sadhu Paksha Begins tomorrow. TAKA may be simplified during our ten day retreat…

Bodhinatha meets with some interesting guests today.

David McAlpine flew all the way from London to meet with Bodhinatha this morning. David is interested in reincarnation especially in investigating the possibility of predicting future births. So he wanted to get Bodhinatha’s advice and guidance on the matter.

Here is the Vishi and Chitra Iyer family with their two boys Anirudh and Siddharth, from California. Their friends had been here and recommended it. They really enjoyed the Iraivan Temple and now they are sure about re-visiting Kauai in the future.

Shankar Subramanian is from Georgia. He has been studying Gurudeva’s Master Course lessons online for almost a year now. He is planning to start some sort of healing center in Georgia and he got many ideas from our Aadheenam grounds.

Master Course student Viji Vasudevan in Malaysia following the sadhana suggested in Monk’s Cookbook of making the Ganesha with herbs and spices.. and sent this photo…

Sun One has come again… Bodhinatha gave a wonderful discourse, an upgrade of his earlier upadesha on the Hindu principle of tolerance. It was a master piece…

Sadhaka Jivananandanatha performs the homa today.

It seemed there was a remarkable inner peace today…

” Diffusing glory with your rays,
you have scaled the shining realm of heaven.
By you are supported all things that are,
O God All-Creator, essence all-divine.

Rig Veda, X, 170, 4

“That splendor which is from the sun, which illumines
this whole world, which is in the moon and in fire–know that splendor as also mine.”

This is Nilesh and Koki Kotak with their sons Harsh, Rudra and Neel. They recently moved from Chicago to Honolulu.

Since they used to attend temples in Chicago area, they are missing it because there is no real Hindu temple in Honolulu.

They are very happy to discover Kauai Aadheenam/Iraivan Temple as their new local pilgrimage destination.

Stepping back to our three day retreat. Bodhinatha met with the Shah family again before they departed back to the mainland.

Mr. and Mrs. Suresh also came to see Bodhinatha…

Each retreat Sannyasin Arumugaswami will put time in on the on-going, giant task of nurturing the Himalayan Acres land across from the temple. It is a challenge at times as the forces of nature sometimes see to work in opposite directions from where you want to go… but there are surprises hidden in the tall guinea grass weeds… What’s that over there. Some tree has popped above the weeds…

My goodness! It is a Koa tree, one of the most valuable wood trees of the Hawaiian islands… Look how much it has grown in just the two years since it was planted.

And there are more, over there…. The Guinea grass is so aggressive, easily topping 12 feet in a year’s growth, that we feared this planting of Koa, Milo and Mahogany trees had been lost.

“This is a new tree in the temple grounds, called Sesbania grandiflora or the “Hummingbird Tree,” since the birds feed from the large flowers. This tree was lovingly planted by Yogi Japendranatha’s family during their visit this spring. When they all joined together to put it in the ground, it was less than four feet tall. Now, just a few months later, it’s 20 feet tall. It’s flowering for the first time.”

We recently asked for a photo of the work in progress in Mahabalipuram on our newest masterpiece for Kauai Aadheenam, the 7-foot Arumugam that will grace the entrance under the ancient and truly giant banyan tree on the left as the path approaches Kadavul Temple. It is proceeding swiftly at this point, and Tiru Nellaiappan informs us that it may be completed in January and ready to ship to Kauai.

As you can see, the main forms are revealed and ready for the refinements of the sculptor’s art.

It will be the first six-faced, 12-armed Murugan on the property.

The Sacramento Shri Sai Baba Satsang group invited Kulapati Easan Katir to give a 2-hour class on “10 Questions about Hinduism” to celebrate their one-year anniversary of conducting satsang each week. This is a harmonious, mystical group.

Here are the ladies of the Golden Gate Mission involved in the greeting card project. Cards are sold at the Kauai Aadheenam Mini Mela, and by going here, online at our Himalayan Academy store.

Left to right: Kulamata Devi Param, Kulamata Savitri Palani, Kulamata Chandra Shankara, Gowri Shankara, Chidambaram Sendan sitting on Kulamata Valli Sendan’s lap, Punita Ajaya, Sahana Param, Yatrika Ajaya, Mira Sendan. Not in this picture, but also very involved are Kulamata Asha Alahan and Kulamata Sundari Katir.

Such a wonderful seva… thanks to all the ladies from Iraivan!

Greater than life itself is good conduct. Those who conduct themselves with rectitude possess everything that is worthwhile. Non-killing, non-stealing, non-vituperation, non-covetness, truthfulness and humility–these are useful assets for virtuous living.

In whatever pursuits you are engaged, you should train yourself to work with zeal, keenness and delight. Such a discipline will lead you to acquire steadfastness of the mind. It is then that the mind develops the power of one pointedness, which in turn will lead you to enjoy an abundance of anma-sakti. Thenceforth everything will be bright, and you will not be disturbed by the agitations caused by seeing the difference in objects, as friends and foes, light and darkness.

“Everything originates in me; everything finds permanency in me; in me everything revolves in dissolution.”–So must we become suffused with such pure thoughts. Further, we must frequently meditate as follows: “Nothing do I lack; everyone loves me and I too love all.”–Meditating thus, one should endeavor to live up to this ideal. If one can practice spiritual sadhana in this way, the capacity to know everything and the power to do anything will develop spontaneously.

A mystic morning at the monastery, temperatures dropped last night below 60 degrees fahrenheit, making for a mist in the early morning sun….

Always a stunning site to see Waialeale reveal itself as if God was pulling down some cosmic shade…

“The next time the same experiential pattern appears, we approach it from a mountaintop consciousness, because we have conquered those instinctive elements. Our intellect has been trained by family and friends, schoolteachers and business acquaintances. We have to build a new intellect, an intellect from the soul, out into the intellectual mind rather than from the instinctive area of the mind into the intellect to be successful on the path of enlightenment.” –Gurudeva

It was a perfect last day of the phase for our crowd of tourists and Hindu pilgrims… Lord Siva came in the form of 50 souls.

After the 9am puja we hosted the Ramamurthy and Suresh families, from Texas and Washington D.C. respectively.

We went to see Iraivan Temple and surrounding
grounds….

They enjoyed trying their hand at carving stone…

hugging our healing rudraksha trees…

and walking around our giant Dakshinamurthy.

Toward the end of the morning Ajay and Lata Shah, their children Kavita and Rohan, and relatives all visited together. It has been a couple years since they were here last and they were impressed with the progress on the temple.

Steve and Karen were among our tour day guests today. They are celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary and joining them on the island is their daughter, Jessica. Congratulations on your 32nd year from all of us
here at the monastery and thank you for being a wonderful example of a happy together family.

We are upgrading our publication tools with a new color printer/copier from Xerox. Two trainers came today and met with Yogi Japendranatha for several hours on the high end technical features of the new machine. Then he took them for a tour of the temple.

Mark Tindall is from Honolulu and Laura Frailey is from Kauai, wife of the salemans who helped us get the new machine.

Dakshinamurthi looks amazing to guests.

Work at the temple is focusing for the past week and coming weeks on the west Chinna Gopuram.

The challenging task is the installation of the jalakam lattice pieces.

Painstaking measurements are made….

The first pieces are inset at the base.

The afternoon sun cutting across the carving brings out the beauty of Iraivan.

Pillar carvings….

Remarkable ornamentation of the Bhadra pillars….

This jalakam is
just a bit too tall and the silpies will need to remove a layer stone, evenly across the whole top surface.

The golden capstone shining in the setting afternoon sun..

Meanwhile the Aadheenam’s plant and agricultural side is moving along in a dynamic way. Sadhaka Adinatha has been taking the lead in tree planting initiative on the Himalayan Acres land across the way. As one way to support the cost of those plantings, he acquired some teak tree seeds and raised the seedlings up and sold them to another tree farmer. The seedlings were ready today and went off to their new home.

Hanging yellow jade flowers….

Another quiet day at the Aadheenam….more thoughts from Siva Yogaswami:

We are the servitors of Siva;
Siva’s servitors are we
We are Sivanadiyar;
Sivanadiyar are we.
This is Chariya–moral excellence
This is Kriya–service
This is Yoga–harmony
This is Jnana–wisdom.

This is the sacred mystery. In this Truth lies the sovereign remedy.

Steadfast contemplation leads to the bliss of serenity.

A contemplative is not swayed by rules of conduct. An ascetic life of fasting and norms of discipline have no impact on these ardent servitors of Siva.

These noble legion have so lived, and do live and shall continue to live in the world ever so spontaneously. No one can fathom their greatness. The sweetness of sugar-candy can only be relished by those who have tasted it.

1. Oru Pollappumillai–Intrinsic evil there is not.

2. Eppavo Mudintha Kaariyam–That is what it is–
Accomplished is His Will.

3. Naamariyom–We know not.

4. Muluvathum Unmai–All That IS, is Truth Abolute.

–Natchintanai. 371

Sadhaka Dandapani has been working hard on a major upgrade to the Himalayan Academy Travel Study Program’s Innersearch web site. Click here to visit the new site and make plans to join Bodhinatha on the Spectacular Journey Down Under in 2006.

We are clearing out old library books from the Lambodara Kulam, cookbooks, books on Ayurveda… Ceyonswami is checking on what he wants to keep and what will be given away…

Another clear and beautiful day in Paradise…

Sadhaka Haranandinatha at the Iraivan temple fund-raising desk. He also sees over the silpies personal needs, food ordering, hosting guests and many other duties.

Sannyasin Saravananathaswami in the “EK” as we call it… the Ekadanta Kulam… taking care of communications with the sishya around the world, coordinating ground arrangements at distant locations way in advance of Bodhinatha’s travels, working out details for festival schedules, himself doing many pujas in the temple, and on his days off, working hard outside raising flowers for the temple… and more….

We share with you section three of the amazing Natchintanai called “The Word of the Guru,” “Guru Vacagam.” This work is comprised of various selections by Siva Yogaswami that appeared in his printed journal, the “Sivathondan.” The complete collection can be read at our web site, click here.

We are the servitors of Lord Siva. We lack nothing. Our duty is to serve the Lord. It is the fundamental goal of our life in this world.

The moon fulfills the will of Siva. The sun and other planets also carry out His bidding.

The gods and demons, and all other beings are also engaged in the performance of the Lord’s work.

In everything do we see the will of Siva at work. Not an atom moves but by His will–nothing gained and nothing lost. We continue to be ever the same.

There is no one above us or superior to us; good and evil cannot affect us. There is no beginning and no end for us. We have no likes or dislikes; we have no desire for material goods. The specter of the mind does not haunt us; neither are we bound by the limitations of place, time or causation. We simply bear witness to everything around us.

Aum! Tat Sat Aum !

Puli is supervising his human slaves today, making sure they do a good job cleaning. He’s telling one of the monks that this pot needs polishing and should be moved to a different location.

At the monthly Satsang of the Golden Gate Mission, Kulamata Valli Sendan presents the mission ladies’ hand made greeting card project to the mission members.The proceeds from the sale of the cards go to the Iraivan Temple. The notice on the board says: “10 Ladies, 4 Weeks, 400 Cards.”

Many members eagerly buy some cards for the holiday season. You too can get some of these. Go here on our web to see some samples and purchase directly from our web store. Buy some cards to send to your family and relatives and help Iraivan at the same time!

Bodhinatha at Guru Purnima this year.

It’s another very quiet day at the Aadheenam… one lady who has been coming here for 16 years and lives on Kauai, came to the temple this morning, and as she was leaving met one of the monks on the path to the temple and stopped and said:

“Thank you so much, for keeping the vibration here, of such a profound peace, from the heart.”

One pilgrim remains, Amma Saraswathy Sivanathan, Potriyan’s mother who is living nearby the temple, coming every day for worship and quiet karma yoga. One of our “super mom’s” Saraswathy said, having almost completed the raising of all her children, “I have done everything… I think it is time for me to just be close to Kadavul now….”

After serving others diligently for so many years she has time now to work on her inner life.

Sadhaka Jivanandanatha writes today about a recent shipment of items for our Mini-mela gift shop.

“Here are some rare items from India that arrived not too long ago. We have two people in India who scour the high end shops and craftsmen’s studios to find these remarkable pieces. The first is our wonderful Nellaiappan who lives in Chennai. The second is Anil Gupta from Haridwar. Both have an eye for the special.

“The quartz crystal dancing Ganesha was found by Nellaiappan. Most crystal Ganeshas are in a sitting form because it is easier to carve (not as many delicate parts as in a dancing Ganesha). I’m told that most crystal is quarried in South India, then shipped to North India where it is carved. Then it is shipped back to South India for sale.”

Sadhaka Jivanandanatha enjoys ordering these and opening up the packages. It’s always a surprise since each piece is unique.

This clear quartz crystal Nataraja was also found by Nellaiappan. It took a very large piece of high quality quartz to carve this one. Artists that carve these types of deities, hardly ever do some thing so delicate. The chance of breakage must be huge. A very rare item indeed.

The large dark green Jade Ganesha and the light green Ganesha both came from Haridwar.

Weighing in a over 300 grams these are truly amazing pieces. Potriyan is helping with the photo shoot today providing the hands that hold the pieces.

If you are looking for something more substantial here is a robust carving of Lord Muruga in granite

If you are interested in any of these items, please write Sadhaka Jivanandanatha: minimela@hindu.org

Prabhu and Radhika Ambatipudi (left) returned today with their Guru, Sri. N.V. Raghuramji, to join us for the early Sun One homa and later to have darshan with Bodhinatha

We skipped photos of the homa today which you have seen many times in favor of a beautiful picture from our doorstep. We reveled in the dry night and perfectly clear morning when Mount Waialeale revealed itself in all its’ majesty…

“We have to go in and in and in and reach an expanded state of awareness and gain that mountaintop consciousness where we perceive that there is no injustice in the world. There is not one wrong thing. All is in perfect order and rhythm in Siva’s cosmic dance.”

–Gurudeva

with all the pilgrims returned home and with the work on our roof almost complete, the Aadheenam was very quiet today… that feeling of a cloistered monastery has returned…

“You have to be very firm with yourself in meditation sessions. They are serious, not ponderous, but serious applications of life’s force. They are moments of transformation and discovery, and the same care and earnestness of a mountain climber must be observed constantly if real progress and not mere entertainment is the goal.”

–Gurudeva

This is the “lull before the storm” as all communications we are receiving lately indicate that the December and New Year Holidays will be bringing a grand torrent of joyful yatrikas to Kauai this year.

Iraivan shines in the morning sun….

It is a awesomely beautiful morning….

Sannyasin Muruganathaswami assisted by Potriyan are filling up Honey Bears

These will be given out during Pancha Ganapati time.

We will take them personally to visit all our friend and those we conduct business with as we do each year to extend our friendship and appreciation to everyone in the Kauai Community.

On the Himalayan Acres land across the from the temple we have had our third major corn harvest today with help from Marcheta (seen here), her husband Augusto and son John, hired for the job. They wanted some extra money to send John to the Rose Bowl this New Years as part of Kauai’s excellent all-island marching band. The corn had suffered mightily from the torrential rains of last month, with the harvest below what was expected.

Ears of corn are being clean and prepared for delivery to Esaki’s produce. The discoloration on the husks is a result of the wet conditions. Finally the land is producing a small revenue stream thanks to all the hard work and persistence of Sannyasin Arumugaswami who is taking the lead on the management and development of that parcel. In order to maintain our lease, we must continue to fulfill the mandate to develop diversified agriculture there…