Today marked the first day of our 2014 Gurudeva Mahasamadhi festivities. About 40 pilgrims flew in from off-island to join our monks and island devotees for four days of worship, classes and sadhanas. This first day began with a homa, followed by breakfast and then a hour and a half class with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, at which he gave a powerful dissertation on the first few verses of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, looking at their similarity with the Shum language and unraveling their experiential depths. After having lunch together the pilgrims will end their day with a class with Shanmuganathaswami.

It is up to you to put your religion into practice. Feel the power of the Gods in the pūjā. If you don’t feel them, if you are just going through ritual and don’t feel anything, you are not awake. Get the most out of every experience that the temple offers, the guru offers, the devas offer, that your life’s experiences, which you were born to live through, offer. In doing so, slowly the kuṇḍalinī begins to loosen and imperceptibly rise into its yoga. That’s what does the yoga; it’s the kuṇḍalinī seeking its source, like the tree growing, always reaching up to the Sun. Gurudeva

This morning began with a delightful padapuja to Gurudeva's tiruvadi in Kadavul Temple, performed by Sadhaka Jayanatha and Natyam Nandinatha. The monks and local members and guests joined together to witness Gurudeva's blessings, which flowed forth from his shrine accompanied only by the trickling sound of the abhishekam, the ringing of a bell, a light rain, and the early morning bird songs.

"It is often said that worship is not only a performance at a certain time of day in a certain place, but a state of being in which every act, morning to night, is done in Siva consciousness, in which life becomes an offering to God. Then we can begin to see Siva in everyone we meet." Gurudeva

We continue with the discovery and release of gems from the Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami audio and video archives. Here is another short but potent message for all spiritual aspirants.

Click: Protect Your Mind by Turning Within

It has been observed that Gurudeva's teaching style in his early years when he was working a lot with the general public, was, as one might expect, very much like Bodhinatha's today: very practical, straight forward language that brings the spiritual work we have to do into sharp focus for implementation in daily life.

The last section of this talk from 1962, is perhaps the earliest recording of Gurudeva teaching the principle of maintaining harmony in our relationships and in our group. He speaks of this in terms of residing in a true state of spiritual perception. The audio quality is as best we can get it for this old recording but the teaching is a perennial "Golden Gurudeva." Click here to go to the page which includes a transcript. Thanks to a new sevak Iain Morland in Wales who did the restoration work on the original, very difficult sounding audio file. (see: http://www.iainmorland.net

The morning following Ganesha Chaturti, the monastery observed its monthly chitra puja, invoking Gurudeva's presence in Kadavul Temple. The puja was performed by Nirvani Nilakanthanatha and Sadhaka Dayanatha. Local members and several guest pilgrims attended the early morning event, to receive Gurudeva's blessings from the inner lokas.

Giving is an essential for spiritual unfoldment, for until we give and give abundantly, we don't really realize that we are not the giver; we are just a channel for giving. Abundance, materially and spiritually, comes to you when you cease to be attached to it, when you can take as much joy over a little pebble as you could over a precious ruby. The power of giving is a very great power, a great power that comes to you through yoga. You hear about yoga powers, the power of levitation, the power of suspended animation, but the truly great powers are the power of giving, the power of concentration, the power of the subconscious control over your mind, body and emotions, the power of universal love--practical powers that can be used today. Gurudeva

Thamilmani Visakan writes from Perth, Australia: "Master Course student Sudha Vinadharan's daughter S. Thivaashenee got to know this song to Gurudeva during our Jaffna pilgrimage from the Malaysian members. She was so attracted to the song that she memorized it within couple of hours during their journey back from Jaffna to Colombo. Sudha, sent her voice clip about a month ago and I did the editing."
httpvh://youtu.be/CzZCEhxRGOk

Today was the magical day of Chitra Puja which brings the presence of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami down-to-earth in a powerful way. We will let the words of Paramaguru Sivayogaswami speak about what happens to us here in Kadavul during these rites.

Gurudeva's Samadhi Shrine was installed today at the Palaniswami Sivan Temple in Concord, CA, at the request of head priest Anand Sivachaya. It was sponsored by members of the Golden Gate mission.

Today is the Chitra nakshatra and our monthly padapuja to our beloved Gurudeva. The Aadheenam's monks and devotees gathered in Kaduval temple this morning for the mostly silent abhishekam to Gurudeva's black granite tiruvadi. Gurudeva's silent divinity filled the temple, accompanied by the morning bird songs, the ringing of a bell and the passing of flame.

"The world is quite blissful from the perspective of someone who has reached a high stage of maturity, and life on the inner planes for him is even more blissful. This is because all of the lower chakras, the instinctive and lower natures, are totally inoperable. So, it is a wonderful, self-perpetuating time, a time of rest and healing, of meeting others known on the Earth who have experienced the same level of bliss. For some it may be a time of communicating with those on the Earth, learning how to channel messages to them. This sojourn in the in-between is similar to sleep, which is an earned time of rest for the physical body. After death is a cosmic sleep for all the inner bodies." Gurudeva

Over the retreat, the monastery celebrated the chitra nakshatra with our monthly padapuja to Gurudeva's tiruvadi in Kadavul Temple. Local members joined the monks for the silent abhishekam. As milk, yogurt, honey, coconut milk, rose water and more were poured over Gurudeva's sandals, His loving energy permeated the temple and the minds of those present. Sadhaka Jayanatha and Natyam Rajanatha performed the ceremony.


"Because sound is the first creation, knowledge is transferred through sound of all kinds. It is important that one listen to the highest truths of a sampradaya from one who has realized them. The words, of course, will be familiar. They have been read by the devotee literally hundreds of times, but to hear them from the mouth of the enlightened Rishi is to absorb his unspoken realization, as he re-realizes his realization while he reads them and speaks them out. This is Saiva Siddhanta. This is true sampradaya--thought, meaning and knowledge conveyed through words spoken by one who has realized the Ultimate." Gurudeva