“Your two greatest follies are believing you are a human and believing in sequential time” – Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives part nine of a series of talks which give insight and elaboration into a variety of fascinating concepts revealed in the Shum language of meditation. Here, Satguru gives special attention to the 54 mambashum—important areas of the mind detailed by Shum. Satguru also discusses the seven dimensions of the mind.

You can get started with learning and practicing basic Shum meditations through this book: twelve-shum-meditations

These past few weeks, the monks have enjoyed the presence of Erasenthiran Poonjolai and his son Naavalan. They’ve been joining the monks for the morning Siva Puja at 5:30am, attending lunch with the monks and satguru, and have been working alongside the mathavasis in the various kulams. Yesterday, with their pilgrimage drawing to a close, they met with satguru in the guru peedam, and today Naavalan had his ears pierced following the 3pm Ganesha puja. Aum Namah Sivaya.

Jai Gurudeva!
Jai Kailasa Parampara!

Over their recent 2-day retreat, our monastics enjoyed their monthly Chitra Padapuja to Gurudeva. In the late afternoon, everyone gathered around Gurudeva's corner shrine in Kadavul Temple. Sannyasin Tillainathaswami and Nirvani Tejadevanatha performed the abhishekam to Gurudeva's granite sandals, offering milk, curd, honey, citrus and more. All the while, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and the other mathavasis chanted Sri Rudram. Aum Namah Sivaya.

"When the philosophy is properly understood, we possess right thought, right speech and right action, which is proper behavior. This is culture."
- Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Today we find Sannyasin Yoginathaswami brushing up on his welding skills in our machine shop. He's working on a part of Iraivan Temple's kodimaram that was in need of further welding. This ornamental piece runs at a diagonal from the top of the flagpole to the underside of the lowest flag section. While the ingenious structure of the flag pieces ensures that they stay horizontal, this piece still gives some added stability. When we received it, it was held together with tack welds, so Yoginathaswami has spent several days applying full welds to each joint.

"Nom nom nom"

This morning, this happy snail was fed an apple slice by our taksforcer Alexander, who took a timelapse of the little creature's lengthy meal. These lands snails are one of the largest terrestrial snails. Full-grown, they can reach almost 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) in length. These gastropods are also surprisingly intelligent, being closely related to cephalopods like octopuses and squid.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Recently, two large, hand-carved, granite pots were delivered to the Aadheenam. These pots were commissioned from artists in Bali and shipped across the globe to reside on either side of Iraivan Temple's entrance steps. There has long been some empty space at the temple, just behind the head of each yali. These pots fill that space nicely and blend seamlessly with the temple's architecture as it transitions from neatly carved stone, to the rough and raw lava rock wall found nearby. Aum.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami presents his July/August/September, 2021, Publisher's Desk Editorial from Hinduism Today Magazine. "The restrictions imposed by the pandemic can give us time to plan and manifest a positive future for ourselves and our family"