Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives part three 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.

Yesterday our monks started the season and the new year by lighting the sacred flame in Kadavul Temple. This homa was accompanied by the chanting of Sri Rudram and the offering of ghee, seeds and written prayers into the fire. Satguru then gave an Upadesha which will be online soon.

Flowing the homa, Satguru and the monastics paraded out to the Aadheenam's flagpole to raise the bright orange flag of the Nartana Ritau. Aum.

A passage from Saiva Dharma Shatras about how we should approach this new season:

Nartana Ritau, the season of Dancing with Siva, begins on Hindu New Year. This is the period of creation, the warm season, from mid-April through mid-August. The key word of this season is planning. The colors are orange, yellow-gold and all shades of green--orange for renunciation, yellow-gold for action, and green for regeneration. High above, the main Hindu flag flies the color orange, heralding the Nartana Ritau throughout this season, symbolizing sadhana and self-control. The other colors adorn smaller flags. This is the season of giving special attention to those in the grihastha ashrama. It is a time of awakening, renewal, review. The emphasis is on seeing ahead, planning for future years. It is a time of planning retreats and other activities for youths and adults for the entire year.

The practical focus is completion of unfinished projects. Secular holidays to observe among the families include Mothers Day in May, Fathers Day in June and Grandparents Day in August. In the monastery intensive cleaning of buildings and grounds takes place.

This season of harvest and new growth is also the time to review and reestablish picking and planting routines for the gardens. It is a time for ordering seeds and plants for the year, of planting trees, fragrant vines and the annual crop. Kadavul temple and the Guru Temple are cleaned and renewed during this season, and the adjacent grounds receive special, abundant attention.

The daily sadhana is the Sivachaitanya Panchatantra: experiencing nada, jyoti, prana, shakti and darshana. In Sanskrit, it is a time of learning new shlokas and mantras. Shrine rooms are renewed and redecorated for the year, and the clothing of all is renewed in the Hindu style of the current fashion. It is a time of doing things for others, religious outreach. In the missions, Nartana Ritau is the time of bringing in new students and Church members. It is a time of hatha yoga and philosophical teaching.

The main festival of Nartana Ritau is Guru Purnima. The mathavasis hold special conclave on Vaikasi Vishakham, the full moon day of May.

Today we begin the the Hindu year 5123. This is the second year of a 60 solar year cycle. It is known as Plava, which can be translated as a swelling river or a flock of water birds, or even a raft. Basically it symbolizes that which floats over or along the top of rising waters. It is generally considered an auspicious year of useful outcomes, just as your raft can harness the raw power of a river to reach your destination. Each Hindu year begins when the sun enters the sign of Aries. Our flag now flies bright orange, heralding the Nartana Ritau. Tune in tomorrow for the full post. Aum.

Jai Ganesha!

Recently our masonry team, who has been building the lava rock wall around Iraivan Temple, has completed the rock laying on the north side of the foundation. They had already completed the east side which faces Rishi Valley. The North end of the temple faces Dakshinamurti, and with this section completed, the team is focused on completed the west side which is already quite far along. Aum.

Aum Namah Sivaya

April marks the start of our island's swarm season for honey bees. As more and more flowers bloom, wild hives begin to grow quickly. When they get too big, the queen leaves with half the hive to start a new one somewhere else. Since honey bees use a pheromone that smells like to lemongrass oil to mark where "home" is, you can simply set up a box, put some essential oil in it and wait. Before you know it you might just have some free bees! During our most recent celebration of Ardra an auspiciously timed swarm of bees moved into one of our oil-baited bee hives.

While our monks don't have a giant honey producing operation anymore, our affinity for bees remains and it's always nice to have them around. Once this hive grows big enough it will be able to produce honey for our temple. Perhaps to be poured over Lord Nataraja during another celebration of Ardra!
Aum.

Recently the monastery acquired some large commercial food dehydrators at our Noni processing building. We use them during sunny days when they can fully run off solar power. As a recent experiment we tried drying some of our many green house tomatoes and have made our first jar of "sun" dried tomatoes. Technically the energy that dried them did come from the sun after all. In other areas our monks are having fun baking bread and other tasty homemade edibles on their retreat days. Out in the shop some of our monks are working on important repairs to vehicles and more.

Recently the mound around Lord Hanuman has been given an upgrade. With some new plants and extra upkeep, the area is looking splendid. Not too long from now the fields around Him will transform into the preliminaries of our visitor center. Thankfully these plants still have ample time to grow and flower. Aum Anjaneyaya Namah

Aum Namah Sivaya.
Last week and this week, our monks have been enjoying the observance of Sadhu Paksha. A two-week period leading up to our change of seasons. This is a time of retreat and personal sadhana. On one early morning stroll, one of our monks caught this glorious photo of Iraivan Temple. Aum.