Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives his weekly upadesha in Kadavul Temple at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery in Hawaii. It is part of a series of talks elaborating on the inspired teachings of Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as found in his book Merging With Siva. Here, Satguru discusses “Color’s Magic,” based on a series of talks given in 1960.

Aum Namah Sivaya
Last week, due to an equipment malfunction, Satguru’s latest talk wasn’t captured on video, but you can still enjoy listening to it here!

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Happy monthly Ardra nakshatra abhishekam today! The evening before Ardra, the Nataraja murti is cleaned and polished with tamarind paste and vibhuti. Speaking of cleaning, while our SSC sishyas--Sivaram Eswaran family--were here on pilgrimage, Sivaram cleaned the Ganesha and Muruga murtis who bless the entrance to our Svayambhulingam area at the end of San Marga path.

Sorry for this post being a bit late but we just had to share this beautiful cake that one of our devotee's daughter hand crafted for Bodhinatha on Guru Purnima. This cake was designed to look like a flower basket and it definitely succeeded in its goal! Maybe you are a professional cake baker, but if not, and you have ever tried to frost a cake you will know what a challenge it can be so it's even more amazing that the creator was 13 years old! Aum Aum Aum

We were recently visited by five Swamis from BAPS. These Swamis are stationed at various BAPS centers around the country and always enjoy their visit to Kauai Aadheenam. For two of them, this was their first visit to the aadheenam. Many of them commented on feeling the peaceful vibrations of the monastery. One of the newer monks, who had never met a Swami of another order before, felt it was similar to how man would feel realizing he wasn't alone in the universe, this monk was struck with a similar trepidation and awe upon realizing we are not alone in the monastic universe. Moreover. After pleasantries were exchanged Bhadreshdas Swami formally invited Bodhinatha to the 100th Jayanthi celebration of the late Pramukh Swami Maharaj that will take place in Gujarat late this year. After that a few monks gave the Swami's a tour of the monastery grounds which was especially sweet as two of them had never seen the place before. Aum!

In our monastic order, a monk can only take lifetime vows once he becomes a sannyasin. Until then he is under short term vows that must be renewed every two years on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima. He is known as a "Postulant" monastic. Some days ago our postulants all gathered in the Guru Temple to renew their four vows of Humility, Purity, Obedience and Confidence. Below are the introductions to each vow.

HUMILITY IS THE STATE OF profound maturity in which the soul, immersed in the depths of understanding and compassion, radiates the qualities of mildness, modesty, reverent obeisance and unpretentiousness. There is an analogy in the Saivite tradition that compares the unfolding soul to wheat. When young and growing, the stalks of wheat stand tall and proud, but when mature their heads bend low under the weight of the grains they yield. Similarly, man is self-assertive, arrogant and vain only in the early stages of his spiritual growth. As he matures and yields the harvest of divine knowledge, he too bends his head. In the Tamil language this absence of pride or self-assertion is known as pannivu. Pannivu also means "jewel." In the Tirukural it is said that "Humility and pleasant words are the jewels that adorn a man; there are none other."

PURITY IS THE PRISTINE and natural state of the soul. It is not something which the monastic attains as much as that which he already is, and which becomes evident as the layers of adulterating experience and beclouding conceptions are dissipated. Purity is clarity and clearness in all dimensions of being. It is innocence as opposed to familiarity with the ways of the world. It is for monastics the observance of chastity, called brahmacharya. In Tamil purity is given its fullest expression in the term tirikarannasutti, which means "purity in mind, speech and body." These three--also called thought, word and deed--convey the fullness of the ideal of purity.

OBEDIENCE IS THE STATE OF willingness and cooperation in which the soul remains open and amenable to enlightened direction. For the monastic it is an unbroken pledge of trust in and surrender to the satguru, the guru parampara and the mystic process of spiritual evolution. In the Tamil language this definition of obedience is expressed in the term taalvu enum tanmai, which denotes "the quality or state of humble submission." Obedience does not consist in blind submission and yielding to authority, nor in weakening our own will that it may be dominated by the will of another. Yet it is, in another sense, submission to a sacred purpose and the divine authority of the Second and Third Worlds. It is, for the monastic, an inner quality that allows him to remain consciously tractable and responsive.

CONFIDENCE IS THE STATE of trust in which the sacred teachings and sensitive or personal matters are not divulged to others. Spiritual matters must be protected and preserved by those to whom they are entrusted, never wantonly or indiscriminately revealed. When we confide in another, we do so with the assurance that sensitive and serious information will not be inappropriately disclosed. In the Tamil language confidence is known as rahasiyam, meaning "secret or mystery." Confidence as applied to these Sacred Vows does not mean "certainty," "a belief in one's abilities" or "self-confidence." Rather it is a confiding, a trusting and a relying upon. It is the controlled sharing of privileged teachings or information that should not be disclosed, but held in confidentiality. In its most simple form it is the keeping of a secret. Confidence for the monastic may be defined as wisdom in handling information.

A new sign has been installed at the entrance to the Rudraksha Forest and Hanuman. It is an experiment with new technology--the art is printed directly on an aluminum plate that measures four feet high and nine feet long. The printing is beautiful, and we will now see how it weathers in the tropical climate. Sadasivanathaswami and Kumarnathaswami took it out three days back and permanently attached it between the entry and exit gates. Now visitors driving down the road will have a strong landmark to find the forest.

Did you know there are redwoods on the tropical island of Kauai? Some of us didn't either! Last retreat a few monks and task forcers elevated ourselves 4000 feet to Kokee State Park where a cooler dryer microclimate harbors thousands of redwood trees. We hiked along a somewhat hidden path around this landscape admiring the trees and flowers while enjoying fresh plums and berries from the plants.

Satguru's recent Publisher's Desk Editorial from Hinduism Today's July 2022 issue

"A common perspective regarding ­major challenges is that we would prefer life without them. Why would anyone want to face all these difficult times, to regularly wake up in the morning and be seriously challenged by life? My guru, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, held a different perspective. He stated, “This is why we are born on this planet, to evolve through challenges. We are here for no other reason.“ What Gurudeva was telling us is that it is actually by living through karmas and thereby gaining better control over our instinctive and intellectual natures that we progress spiritually..."