Kauai Aadheenam's Vibration
Author: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
Description: We have had some recent visitors to the monastery who have been praising us for the experience they have when they come here. Gurudeva's wonderful technique of passing on the praise to someone else as he deferred the praise to Gurudeva's wonderful training of us in the delicate and loving Eastern way of hospitality. Of course, what people experience when they come to the Aadheenam also depends on the strictness of the disciplines that the monks are following, as well as the vibration of our Kadavul Temple, which was established by a vision Gurudeva had. In this monastery temple the monastics have performed puja, meditation and other religious disciplines in three-hour shifts 24 hours a day in unbroken continuity for 29 years. Our Saivite Shastras tell us of guardian devas who protect the vibration of the monastery much like watch dogs would protect an ordinary house from intruders. But the devas keep lower-vibration inner-world people, asuras, out of the monastery. This among many other reasons is why pilgrims have such a wonderful time at Kauai Aadheenam.
Transcription:
Recently, we have had a number of pilgrims come from the mainland. I have met with some of them. The common experience is they are very inspired about being at the Aadheenam, really heal and appreciate the high vibration of the Temple. The group that was here recently said, "All the monks were so helpful. The monk at the Mini Mela was so helpful. Mahadevan was so helpful in taking us around on the tour. This is such a wonderful experience here."
In Gurudeva's tradition, when someone praises you, you pass on the praise to someone else. So, I said, "Oh, we are so fortunate that Gurudeva trained us for 37 years and he trained us well. That is why you are experiencing what you do. We are very fortunate to have all that training from Gurudeva." Of course, the point I didn't make is what they experience also depends upon the strictness of monks holding their disciplines.
One of our disciplines is the 24-hours-a-day vigil, which we have maintained for some 29 years. Is that right, 29 years? 29 years of 24-hours-a-day vigil. My goodness! That is a lot of vigil. Imagine if that was going on in your home. In the home, for 29 years round the clock, for 24 hours a day, someone had been performing religious actions always awake. What kind of vibration would that create in your home? You would probably move out. The vibration was so high, you would not be able to sleep, you would not be able to eat. You would turn your home into a temple! Fortunately, we have a separate room here for this. So, we can still eat and sleep in other rooms. But, it definitely has that one strict discipline.
24-hours-a-day temple is a major factor in creating the strength of the vibration of Kadavul Temple after only 29 years. This is a very powerful temple. Of course, it is founded on Gurudeva's vision, which gives it a unique ability to manifest a profound vibration with. Just because it is founded on that does not manifest it. It gives it potential to manifest it. But, the actual disciplines of upholding the temple are what help the vibration manifest sooner. Otherwise, it would take longer to manifest. Eventually, it will have the same vibration. But, it might take 200 years to get to the same vibration, if you were doing just the ordinary temple schedule, from 6 a.m to 6 p.m or something. You might get to where we are after 29 years, in 200 years! So, it expedites the whole experience.
One of the beautiful writings in the Saivite Shastras talks about the guardian devas who protect the vibration of a monastery. Part of the chant, part of the Sri Rudram chant, the second half, the Chamaka, is attracting devas. You are attracting devas for this and devas for that and so forth. The whole second part of the chant is bringing different devas to us. So, the presence of the devas is also very important in the vibration being high. Therefore, when we have pilgrims come, they experience a very high vibration.
The devas are like the equivalent of ... when you live in our neighborhood, you cannot help but think of the dogs. Lots of houses have dogs, so what happens? If you walk by the house, then what happens? The dog starts barking, right? Well, he is a guardian deva of a certain kind, a physical one. He has a job and he knows what his job is - to keep you out of the yard. You don't belong in that yard, that is not your house. You are not supposed to go there. If you get near there, he starts barking, very loudly. He does his job. Keep walking by, get out of sight, he stops. He did his duty, earned his meal, chased you away, kept you out.
Well, that is the same idea as a guardian deva in the inner worlds. They keep people out. In this case, they are keeping people out who are in the Second World, where they are in the Second World. They are keeping lower beings, asuras out of the vibration of the monastery. It is not automatic, though. Their strength, their ability to do that can be diminished if the monastery is not strict.
For example, we have noticed sometimes when we have lots of heavy equipment coming in and out for different purposes, the guardian devas are not able to keep out certain beings. Usually, what happens is an animal will die. One of the animals will die, because they absorb the negative force. That is one of the reasons we keep animals. They protect us from negative forces. It is not that we want them to die. But, it prevents it from doing something worse, upsetting all the people in the monastery, causing problems. Just heavy equipment coming and going excessively can lower the strength of our force-field and therefore, the vibration. It shows how sensitive the vibration is.
That was one of the reasons that Gurudeva initiated Sadhu Paksha, 3 times a year when we close down to guests, in the monastery proper. One of the reasons for that is, it strengthens the force-field. It gives the guardian devas more power in protecting us from negative forces. Three times a year, we are pumping up our force-field, like you would pump up a tire that is slightly deflated. It is just a little bit flat. So, you pump it up, get it fully functioning. That is one of the reasons we observe the Sadhu Paksha period. It strengthens the force-field that helps to keep our vibration high, during other times of the year.
Another factor which can cause the vibration to drop is, if the monks don't do their sadhana. Get up in the morning and instead of meditating, just kind-of hang out and talk story. That would bring down the vibration. It is a constant sadhana, constant practice of each monk lifting his energies above the instinctive, intellectual nature into the superconscious nature on a daily basis, by doing sadhana on a daily basis. Through our external devotional practices and our internal meditative practices, this lifting of energies by all of us on a daily basis, is needed to keep the vibration high. Otherwise, the vibration would go down and we would start attracting every hippie in Hanalei. That is a joke!
We go through cycles like that. We start landing up with some interesting characters from Hanalei and start to wonder, "Oh, oh!". But, it usually only lasts for a couple of days. If it is lasting for a few weeks, you could start to worry. You could say, "Well, someone is not doing their sadhana We'll take a survey and see who it is."
So, those are just some thoughts there on how we can maintain our wonderful vibration by following the guidelines that Gurudeva gave us, being strict with our sadhanas. Therefore, all the sincere pilgrims have such a wonderful time. They want to tell all their friends to come and experience this beautiful Hindu Monastery on Hawaii, that is such a religious place.