Saint Tayumanavar (1705-1742) was a mystic poet in the lineage of Tirumular, our lineage. Yogaswami loved and quoted his works, as did Ramana Maharishi, whose website showcases the songs in Tamil. His songs are regarded as among the most beautiful and profound. He wrote some 1,453 songs in all, and the monks are currently editing the English version in preparation for publishing a book next year.

We have been working for about three years on the art that will accompany the songs. Today we look at the canvas about "samarasam," one of the central keystones of the mystic's work. In the slideshow, we reveal the evolution of the art, which may make you smile.

Central to Tayumanavar's teachings is the concept of 'Samarasam,' which literally means "sameness" but also means harmony or equanimity. For Tayumanavar, Samarasam is not merely an intellectual understanding but a lived experience. It signifies the harmonious balance of the mind amidst the dualities of life pleasure and pain, gain and loss, and honor and dishonor. To achieve Samarasam, one must transcend the ego, desires, and worldly attachments. It is this equanimity that allows the individual to remain centered and undisturbed, experiencing inner peace and unity with the Divine.

He applied this idea of non-difference to other paths and faiths, and much of his short life was dedicated to bringing faiths together, eliminating all contention and intolerance. This is depicted by our artist.

While his songs are revered for their personal communion with, devotion to, and ultimate oneness with Siva, perhaps the most consoling message in all the songs of Tayumanavar is his call for unity, his insight that there is no real difference between Vedanta and Siddhanta. During his time, there were contentious debates between Hinduisms two primary philosophical schools. Tayumanavar sought to reconcile these two seemingly contradictory philosophical perspectives through his concept of samarasam. He believed that the experience of oneness with God could unify these two seemingly opposing philosophical perspectives.

Tayumanavar saw samarasam as a state of consciousness that transcended both duality and non-duality, seeing them as complementary rather than contradictory, emphasizing the common goal of spiritual union with the divine. Here the artist shows a Vedantin on the left, with Vedic scriptures, which are a major sadhana for that school. On the right is a Siddhantin, with a lingam before him to indicate his devotional sadhanas. From Sivas divine chalice, light and love are flowing equally into the heads of the two, bestowing on them life, illumination, and grace. Above the Vedantin is a tree of ripe mangos, and behind the Siddhantin is a tree heavy with limes. Thus, the artist has shown us that the philosophical fruits, both abundant, are indeed different. Importantly, the roots of both trees reach into the ground below, intertwining, indicating they share the same source, drawing their life from the same earth.

Aum Namasivaya!

For fun, we are soliciting ideas for captions for this cartoon of a hermit atop a remote hilltop cave approached by a determined seeker after Truth. CyberCadets can send your caption ideas (as many as you like) to sada@hindu.org. One will be chosen to be published in a future edition of Hinduism Today magazine. No names will be used, so it's anonymous.Get ready to flex those funny muscles and show off your wittiness!

The amazing team in Moscow just yesterday released their full-color edition of the 800-page book Loving Ganesha.

This is the same team that has published Gurudeva's entire trilogy and also translates, prints and distributes the Russian edition of Hinduism Today. How they accomplish such amazing things in the midst of historic challenges it a small miracle. Clearly their work is uplifting the Russian-speaking world.

We offer here Gurudeva's original Dedication at the front of the book:


IT WAS NOT SO LONG AGO that seekers requested that we publish more about this mystical God, most beloved of them all. So we did. Now, into your hands we present a lovable Loving Gaea. Why did we choose that name of all names? Because everyone, young and old, thin and hefty (especially the latter) loves Gaea. Of course, He loves us all very, very much. He is the God of unfailing laws, such as gravity, retribution and karmic responses. In matters of less gravity, He is the lover of all things sweet. He is also the Prince of Culture and Patron of the Arts. Everyone loves music, art, drama and the dance.

He, in His joyous ponderousness, is the Remover of Obstacles, and that is just what He did for us--removed the obstacles we faced in publishing Loving Gaea, and in producing this third edition, and those you faced in finding it. Many months of research and effort went into this gem. Help was given by mahadpatis, chryas, swms, pandits, "Gaeologists," Sanskrit scholars, brahmachrs, brahmachris, housewives, husbands and children, experts in all fields of knowledge about Hinduism's elephant-faced Lord, to be worshiped first before starting any quest.

This book is lovingly dedicated to my satguru, the venerable sage of Sri Lanka, Satguru Yogaswami, whose ashram in Colombuthurai rested across the road from the Varasitthi Vinayagar Temple in the northern Tamil domain. May Loving Gaea bring to you a deeper, subtler appreciation of Hinduism--the venerable Santana Dharma.

Aum Namah Shivaya
After reading an inspiring Master Course lesson, Mahesh Sundaram coded and produced this wonderful little app for transcribing English into the tyeif script for prayer writing to the Devas. Give it a try!

Lesson 321 – Living with Śiva The Bamboo Tyēīf Font Several years ago we created a Tyēīf font for the computer, to make it easy to write legible prayers in Tyēīf. It is good for your powers of concentration to learn to read the Tyēīf script, but if you are using a computer, this is not really necessary, unless you want to write Tyēīf by hand, which many do. The easiest way to compose your prayer on a computer is to type in an English font, such as Geneva, and then select the text and change it to the Tyēīf font. Prayers written in Tyēīf have built-in confidentiality. You might leave a prayer to the devas on your desk. As few people read the Tyēīf script readily, confidentiality is ensured. ¶Should you be traveling and not have your computer with you, you can always write your prayers in Tyēīf the old-fashioned way, by hand. It is artistic to use a soft flow pen, and even more artistic to use a Japanese ink brush. If you want to be really modern, use a black, sharp-pointed pen. The Tyēīf script looks good coming from whatever plume you choose. Many devotees enjoy writing Tyēīf by hand in vertical columns from top to bottom. When writing by hand, this is quite acceptable. Always use black ink, never colors. Black translates to white or gray in the inner world, where the prayer appears reversed. The paper that is white becomes black, and the letters that are black become white. It is only by two or three devas holding it and putting their prāṇas into it that the prayer again becomes black on white as it appeared when it was sent. They do this only when they want to keep the document to study it. Many prayers are so simple that they can be easily memorized as they appear on the black background in white ink, and it is not worthwhile energizing them into a durable form. ¶If you use colored paper and colored ink in writing your prayers, your words could be unreadable, even using the Tyēīf script. Colored paper appears dark purplish-blue in the inner world, somewhat like the ashes of burned paper, still intact, but barely legible, ready to disintegrate at the first touch. Therefore, just sit down and write your prayer in Tyēīf with a black pen on white paper. ¶Typed documents—on one side of the page only—are acceptable and easily read in the inner world, as long as the size of the type is not too small. Typewritten prayers (again, on one side of the page) in English or any language are also acceptable to the devas, as are hand-printed prayers that are written with well-rounded, clearly formed letters. Be sure to sign the prayer and also include the date. ¶The writing of prayers can be done in several ways. Each devotee can write his or her own prayer about personal questions, needs or problems. One can pray for another person, for a group of people, or for a situation to clear up within a group or community, even for solutions to national or world problems. Every prayer received is answered in some way, however mysterious. Not one is neglected, ever. ¶The Gods and devas look very carefully into the karma of the devotee before taking any action. Because of this, it is always best to describe two or more alternatives that you would be satisfied with in each prayer, rather than insisting on only one solution. This is because your first preference may not be possible in your karmic pattern or, without your knowing, it may actually be the worst possible thing that could happen to you. In this case, your prayer would be answered with a non-answer. Therefore, it is wise to suggest two or more alternatives when making a request. For example, in seeking help in finding employment, you might suggest three places you would be content at, indicating first choice, second and third.

We weren't sure even a few days back if it would happen, if our 2022 Digital Dharma Drive goal would be met. Each year we seek your help at year's end to keep our websites ad-free and all of our resources available at no cost. This year we set a goal of $75,000, and we reached it. In fact, we exceeded it. We are immensely grateful for all your generosity, and we are committed to continuing throughout 2023 our important work of driving Gurudeva's and Bodhinatha's mission forward by creating new tools and spiritual resources, to help all seekers on the Great Path. Mahalo, that's our Hawaiian "Thank You!"

We have mentioned briefly that the team in Moscow is continuing its remarkable work with Gurudeva's publishing legacy despite the extreme challenges being faced in that part of the world. They have, for instance, translated and typeset the entire new edition of "Loving Ganesha, Hinduism's Benevolent Elephant-Faced Deity" into Russian. We thought you would like to see some of the graphically-rich pages. Remember, this is a big book, over 400 pages in all. Our congratulations to those who are working for upliftment in difficult times.

Following the model of another free resource, Wikipedia, today we begin our eighth annual November-December appeal for support of our publications development. The success of this drive defines the scale of our digital work in the months and years ahead.

Right from the days he printed his first yoga lessons by hand in the 1950s on a Mimeograph machine at the San Francisco Temple, Gurudeva readily embraced technological changes. One afternoon in 1984, having never seen or even heard of a Macintosh, he encountered this revolutionary computer in a small Apple store in the sleepy town of Kapaa. After playing with MacPaint and MacWrite for fifteen minutes, he walked out with a Macintosh 128K under his arm. Later, he bought each monk a Mac and gradually made the shift to digital typography. Takes one back to the LaserWriter, right? When the Internet swept up on Kauai's shores in 1997, he urged the monks to publish a daily blog of monastery events, and "Today at Kauai Aadheenam" was born. TAKA, among the earliest of blogs, has been issued almost daily since that time.

Gurudeva would celebrate where we have come today. He would love the ease with which his books are available, at no cost, to everyone who owns a mobile device anywhere in the world. The Capricorn in him would love the lack of massive investment costs that are required for major books to be put on printing presses, tens of thousands of dollars for each title. Then come the inventory costs, the shipping, the returns. All of that has been largely rendered unnecessary in the age of digital publishing. In our case, we are doing both, printed editions of the magazine, for instance, and then digital editions based on the elegantly designed PDF pages. Our Hinduism Today app, available to anyone with a mobile phone, anywhere in the world, is an example of the best of the Web.

Gurudeva would love that we don't have to charge struggling Hindu students and seekers for the spiritual teachings, but can make them available for free. In the last decade, our resource-building efforts have shifted massively toward the Web, following the fast-evolving world of communications and publishing. It takes a deft team to gather and sculpt the needed tools and stories for Hinduism Today and our Web resources. Creating and sharing an articulate and graphically elegant repository of Hinduism is neither easy nor without costs. Hindu youth are learning their spiritual ABCs online, and millions of seekers are discovering Hinduism digitally. What they encounter should be thoughtful, lucid, elegant and authentic. Not to mention relevant in fast-moving times. That's what compels our annual fundraising campaign. It's a chance for you to help us to help explain and share Hinduism globally. In order to provide information without charging for downloads, without showing advertisements on our sites, without commercializing our mission, we turn to you for help.

Yes, we could (perhaps) meet our costs by charging for the online books and magazine, but we are determined not to do that. We ourselves are seldom motivated to pay for online information. We like it when needed information is available without cost. We have come to expect it. But free to the world is not free to those of us who create it. Running our websites entails significant costs, especially when we have to reach out for expert help and skills. A good example of current use is our support of a dedicated team in Moscow which, despite great difficulty, continues to translate, print and distribute Hinduism Today magazine in Russia. The goal for 2022 is the same as last year: $75,000. Our Digital Dharma Drive will end at midnight on December 31, 2022. We hope you will join in helping us meet our goal. In the right hands, and leveraged by the unsalaried work of the monks, these funds will have a profound impact on the future of Hinduism around the world. Please make a generous donation today.

With much aloha from the far islands and warm greetings during the holiday season,
The Editors
Kauai's Hindu Monastery
Himalayan Academy Publications

Suresh Mutthukiulam of Kerala sent this canvas recently, commissioned by us to adorn Bodhinatha's Yoga Sutras to be printed next year. We thought you might like a previews. In this unusual piece, Suresh creatively describes eight siddhis, powers, that a yogi naturally attains (and is encouraged to renounce). There are 25 in Patanjali's text, but these are the famous ones. Read the captions in the slideshow for a deeper immersion into the powers.