Jai Gurudeva!
Jai Kailasa Parampara!

Yesterday, Satguru and our monks began a four-day celebration of Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, his life and teachings. While the event is usually attended by many members and devotees from around the world, this year is understandably more subdued, with only monks observing the temple pujas. These last two days began with a puja at Gurudeva's shrine in Kadavul Temple. The monks chanted Sri Rudram, Gurudeva's ashtottara (108 names) and Yo Pam Pushpam. Following the arati, everyone sat for a short meditation. Aum Namah Sivaya.

"A satguru is needed because the mind is so cunning and the ego is a self-perpetuating mechanism. It is he who inspires, assists, guides and impels the shishya toward the Self of himself." Gurudeva

Today we join Chinnu in the kitchen to see what he is serving up for Satguru and the monks today. Each day Chinnu comes to the Aaaheenam kitchen and prepares delicious, healthy food from our many garden vegetables.

For today's rice, Chinnu is making Tamarind Rice. If you'd like to feel like you're having lunch with our monks, here is a Tamarind Rice recipe from our monk's cookbook for you to make today:

Ingredients

2 cups rice
3 tbsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
6 dry chilies, minced
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp channa dal
1 tbsp tamarind paste
curry leaves
salt

Directions

Soak dal in water for one hour. Steam the rice and set aside. Fry mustard seeds, chilies, curry leaves and dal. When the mustard seeds stop popping, add the tamarind paste, salt and turmeric powder (keep the pan covered until the seeds stop popping). Add enough water to the mixture to make a thin gravy and simmer for about 15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add the rice to the sauce and stir well. Serves 3

A reminder that Himalayan Academy has a thriving series of online learning courses. More than 500 people have signed up thus far. We chose the THINKIFIC platform (they have more than 40,000 teachers!) and have created some extensive and some simple material for students of our teachings. The entire Master Course trilogy is there, in three parts. So is our youth catechism Path to Siva, in both the teenage version and the 8-year-old simplified form. There is a course on Know Thy Self. Beginning to Meditate is our newest addition. The lessons are illustrated and designed to take ten minutes a day, or less.

As we all know, this is how learning is done in the digital age. You can be anywhere in the world and study the courses, pass the tests and follow the suggested practices.

We are working on more lessons. Meantime, visit Thinkific's site here (https://courses.himalayanacademy.com/) and begin your study.

Om Namah Sivaya!

Click here for more on the November Ganesha Homa at our Spiritual Park

http://www.saivasiddhanta.org/site/pg/news/view/mauritius-dharmasala/ssc-mauritius-mission_114

Every month during the Ardra nakshatra, our monks perform a puja and abhishekam for Lord Nataraja in Kadavul Temple. While we follow the tradition of not photographing or filming the central shrine, you can at least listen to this audio of the end of the puja, recorded today by a stalwart devotee. The above painting was done by A. Manivelu. It gives an accurate representation of the temple's inner sanctum. Aum Namah Sivaya.

Aum Namah Sivaya

The Aadheenam recently received a small wooden crate from Arizona. Inside we discovered an incredible miniature version of the large bronze Sadasiva statue which currently graces the gardens in front of Kadavul Temple. As you may know, this masterful work was first made in clay by Natalie Levin—a highly skilled and mystically inclined artist living in Tucson. The larger bronze was cast over a year ago and one of two copies was sent to Kauai. This smaller version is a result of a digital scan. When creating a metal work from 3D, the scan of the object is first 3D printed. That printed version is then used to create a mold from which a metal version can be created. This process, coupled with the meditative attentions of the sculptress, allows for unusually intricate details. And that's not the most remarkable aspect, which is the trenchant darshan that radiates from the murti. Sadasiva, as you know, is perhaps the most mystical form of God Siva, with layers and layers of spiritual symbolism that provide a visual summary of Saiva Siddhanta philosophy and theology.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly Upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai Aadheenam. Here Satguru continues his discussion of Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's writings about the seven dimensions of the mind with part two of his explanation about the fourth dimension.

Namaste, and welcome to our various websites and mobile apps, through which we seek to provide accurate, useful and contemporary information on Hinduism and Hindus around the world.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 has been a time when all family members were required to stay at home for extended periods. Our publication team of monks decided to provide Hindu materials that families staying at home could use together to have fun and learn about Hinduism. This manifested as an online course entitled "Lessons for Sequestered Families" to which over five hundred families have enrolled to date. Our project Saivite Scriptures, a Sacred Anthology of Saiva Siddhanta Hinduism, has moved forward to the point of being available online in its initial, yet to be fine-tuned presentation. Our mobile apps continue to be upgraded with improved interfaces and expanded resources, and their usage continues to steadily expand.

As you know, in keeping with the vision of our Gurudeva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, all the material on our websites, and now our new mobile apps, are available for free online. However, to cover the professional fees needed to continue to upgrade and expand, we do follow the model of Wikipedia and ask for donations the last two months of the year. For ten years running, you have responded generously, and after another year of working to improve these portals and provide new resources, we are back again with our annual appeal.

In our “How the Funds Are Used” page, we detail what we did with your past generosity, and what we hope to accomplish in the coming year. Your contribution this year will go to a short but strategic list of projects, including children’s learning tools, the enhancement of our websites and their content and the development of the ever-popular mobile apps. Digital Dharma Drive funds do not pay staff salaries or administrative overhead, since these sites are created and maintained by selfless monks who work for free and live simply in our remote monastery on the island of Kauai.

Ten percent of your tax-deductible contribution goes into the permanent Digital Dharma Drive Endowment, which now stands at $148,813 after ten years of fundraising. This follows Gurudeva’s vision for the future that all major aspects of our work will ultimately be supported by endowments. As the endowment accumulates, it will provide an ever-increasing income for decades to come, protecting the digital future of Hinduism, your religious heritage.

Donate today, and improve Hinduism’s global English-language resources—for the benefit of this and future generations.



Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Guru Mahasannidhanam of Kauai Aadheenam
Publisher of Hinduism Today
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