Chapter 7§
Sacred Calendar
श्री पंचांग
OVERNING THE EBB AND FLOW OF DAILY LIFE IS OUR SACRED CALENDAR, WHICH PROVIDES MYSTIC KNOWLEDGE IN THE SCIENCE OF AUSPICIOUS TIMING TO HELP ALL MY ŚISHYA FLOW WITH THE RIVER OF LIFE. IN THIS CHAPTER WE ALSO LEARN THAT FROM YEAR TO YEAR AT KAUAI AADHEENAM THREE MAJOR CLIMACTIC SEASONS ARE EXPERIENCED. WITH THESE SEASONS, OUR ACTIVITIES CHANGE IN NATURE, BOTH INWARDLY AND OUTWARDLY. §
112 ¶Beginning with Hindu New Year in mid-April, three seasons of the year divide our activities into three great needs of humankind—the learning of scripture in the first season, Nartana Ṛitau; the living of culture in the second season, Jīvana Ṛitau; and the meditating on Śiva in the third season, Moksha Ṛitau. Thus we are constantly reminded that our life is Śiva’s life and our path to Him is through study, sādhana and realization. In ṛitau one, we teach the philosophy; in ṛitau two, we teach the culture; and in ṛitau three, we teach meditation. §
Our Hindu Flag Heralds the Dharma§
113 ¶At Kauai’s Hindu monastery and everywhere members reside, the Hindu flag, Hindutva dhvaja, majestically proclaiming the Sanātana Dharma. Its change with our three Hawaiian seasons. Many smaller flags of various colors are also flown, welcoming pilgrims into special realms of the four-month period. Dharmaśāla temples, mission house altars and home shrines also reflect the seasonal colors in their decorations. §
The First Season: Nartana Ṛitau§
114 ¶Nartana Ṛitau, the season of Dancing with Śiva, begins on Hindu New Year. This is the period of creation, the warm season, from mid-April through mid-August. The teaching is Dancing with Śiva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Catechism, Śivena Saha Nartanam. This foundational text is featured in all mission satsaṅgas. 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 Ṛitau throughout this season, symbolizing sādhana and self-control. The other colors adorn smaller flags. This is the season of giving special attention to those in the gṛihastha āśrama. 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. During this time of looking forward, the Church’s six-year plan is updated by the Guru Mahāsannidhānam and stewards and another year added. The Śaiva Dharma Śāstras are studied; and any needed additions in supplementary manuals, representing new growth, are made. The practical focus is completion of unfinished projects. Secular holidays to observe among the families include Mother’s Day in May, Father’s Day in June and Grandparent’s Day in August. In the monastery the monks begin their annual 31-day āyurvedic herbal cleansing. Intensive cleaning of monastery buildings and grounds takes place. The special dietary adjustments for the season come into effect and new menus are established. New clothing is issued and old garments mended. 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. Review is made for scheduling the care of all nine realms of the Aadheenam’s 51 acres. Kadavul temple and the Guru Temple are cleaned and renewed during this season, and the adjacent grounds receive special, abundant attention. Karma yogīs are invited to help in this and other areas with planting and weeding, digging, fertilizing, fence repair and more.§
The Sādhanas of the First Season§
115 ¶The daily sādhana is the Śivachaitanya Pañchatantra: experiencing nāda, jyoti, prāṇa, śakti and darśana. In Sanskṛit, it is a time of learning new ślokas and mantras. In the family community, praśnottara satsaṅga is held for one and all to attend. Families plan for their annual pilgrimage. 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 Ṛitau is the time of bringing in new students and Church members. It is a time of haṭha yoga and philosophical teaching.§
Festivals and Realms of the First Season§
116 ¶The main festival of Nartana Ṛitau, and of the entire year, is Guru Pūrṇimā. The maṭhavāsis hold special conclave on Vaikāsi Viśākham, the full moon day of May. The three Aadheenam realms of the season are: 1) Ṛishi Valley—with its secluded Guru Hut and paramparā shrines on the banks of Ṛishi Valley’s Saravaṇabhava Lake; 2) Wailua Farm, with its pastures, orchards and gardens; and 3) Kadavul Koyil, with its Guru Temple, entry gardens, Banyan Pavilion, Tiruneri path, sacred tank and its Puakenikeni and Mango Maṇḍapams. §
According as one acts, so does he become. One becomes virtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action.§
ŚUKLA YAJUR VEDA, BRIHADU 4.4.5. UPH, 140§
The Second Season: Jīvana Ṛitau§
117 ¶During Jīvana Ṛitau, the rainy season, from mid-August to mid-December, Living with Śiva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Culture is the primary text. The key word of this season is work. The colors are rust, copper-maroon and all shades of red—rust for earthy preservation, copper-maroon for fulfillment and red for physical energy. The Aadheenam’s 60-foot flag pole flies the rust-colored dhvaja, symbolizing environmental care. Copper-maroon and all shades of red adorn our smaller flags. This is the season of honoring and showing appreciation for those in the vāṇaprastha āśrama, life’s elder advisor stage. The focus is on preserving what has been created, manifesting goals and fulfilling plans made in the past. Inwardly the emphasis is on direct cognition and caring for the practical details of the external world. Practicality is a word much used this season. In the monasteries and the missions, there is a big push on studying the sūtras of Living with Śiva and these Śaiva Dharma Śāstras. The format of the mission satsaṅga changes into one that in fact helps everyone live and breathe with Lord Śiva through personal adjustment to the aphorisms of Living with Śiva, which define tradition, culture and protocol. Gurukulams are established or renewed to teach the 64 kalās for boys and girls. All work hard to perfect and strengthen Śaivite culture in the life of each member. Kulamātās, gṛihiṇīs and their daughters should think ahead and make plans to send talented children to dancing, singing and art schools for special courses, and ponder ways to make this possible through scholarships and special funds. It is a time of building and repairing and caring for what has been built, planted or created in any realm of life. It is a physical time, of exercise and exertion in the Bhūloka, a magnetic time for action and willpower, of finishing all jobs started since the first ṛitau. On the farm, there is harvesting of the land’s fruits as we celebrate abundance. In the missions during Jīvana Ṛitau, the śishyas can form tirukuttams, and thereby visit students’ homes, see how they live and meet their families.§
Special Sādhanas of the Second Season§
118 ¶The family sādhana is meditating upon a chapter each day of Living with Śiva and learning and singing Natchintanai, the holy songs of our paramparā, in all languages, both outwardly and inwardly each day without fail. This is the time when vīṇā, tambūrā and the drums are most in vogue. In Sanskṛit, the central chants are perfected. This season of preservation is also a time to bring up to date vratas and sādhanas that have been neglected or totally ignored. All seek to preserve the integrity of their commitments to the spiritual path of their own Sanātana Dharma. §
Festivals and Realms of the Second Season§
119 ¶Kṛittikā Dīpā is the major festival of Jīvana Ṛitau. This grand event, conducted by the family missions, is open to members, Academy students and to special guests by invitation, including honored dignitaries of the island, neighbors and friends of the Church. Gaṇeśa Chaturthī and Skanda Shashṭhī are also conducted by śishyas on the Island. The Aadheenam Realms of this period are: 1) San Mārga, the straight path to God, with its rudrāksha, neem, konrai and bilva forests, and Agni Maṇḍapam. 2) The Wailua River, with its Nani Kaua Waterfall and Pond, Bali Hai Falls and Gaṅgā Sādhana Ghats. 3) Pihanakalani Trail—legendary Hawaiian path toward the volcano, beginning at the Aadheenam and continuing past the Orchid Pavilion to the Teak Tree Turnaround at the edge of Rainbow Amphitheater. §
The Third Season: Moksha Ṛitau§
120 ¶The third period of the year, Moksha Ṛitau, the cool season, is from mid-December to mid-April. It is the season of dissolution. The key word is resolution. Merging with Śiva: Hinduism’s Contemporary Metaphysics is the focus of study and intense investigation. The colors of this season are coral-pink, silver and all shades of blue and purple—coral for the Self within, silver and blue for illumination, and purple for enlightened wisdom. High above flies the coral flag, signaling Paraśiva, Absolute Reality, beyond time, form and space. Moksha Ṛitau is a time of appreciation, of gratitude for all that life has given, and a time of honoring elders, those in the sannyāsa stage of life. Moksha Ṛitau is excellent for philosophical discussions, voicing one’s understanding of the path through an enlightened intellect. In finance, it is the time for yearly accounting and reconciliation. On a mundane level it is a time of clearing attics, basements, garages, sheds, warehouses, workshops and desks, getting rid of unneeded things, of pruning trees, of streamlining life on the physical plane—of reengineering. §
Sādhanas of The Third Season§
121 ¶The focus is meditation, inner worlds, subconscious cleansing, striving for Self Realization and pondering spiritual liberation. It is the finest time of the year for meditation. Each satsaṅga is one of deep devotion, prapatti, and meditation, Śivadhyāna. The emphasis is on resolving the past, clearing the subconscious and making atonements. The major sādhana is the vāsanā daha tantra, “subconscious purification by fire,” the practice of burning confessions, even letters to loved ones or acquaintances, describing pains, expressing confusions and registering complaints and long-held hurts to release these burdens from the subconscious and dispel the suppressed emotion as the fire consumes the paper. Everyone works to harmonize relationships and make amends for past misdeeds or misunderstandings that may yet linger in the ākāśa as subtle vāsanās. §
After death, the soul goes to the next world bearing in mind the subtle impressions of its deeds, and after reaping their harvest returns again to this world of action. Thus, he who has desires continues subject to rebirth.§
ŚUKLA YAJUR VEDA, BRIHADU 4.4.6§
Festivals and Realms of the Third Season§
122 ¶The major festival of Moksha Ṛitau is Mahāśivarātri. It is at Kauai Aadheenam, as are all other gatherings, not a public event but a private one, due to the special sacredness of this sanctuary and its Iraivan moksha koyil. Church members, Academy students and special guests by invitation are all who attend. This and all other gatherings at the Aadheenam are restricted in size in keeping with a covenant with the county of Kauai in respect to the surrounding residential area. From December 21-25, the Pañcha Gaṇapati festival is enjoyed in Church family homes worldwide, and the resulting joy and peace is felt even by strangers. During this holiday season, in years when the need is felt, an open house is held at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery to which friends and neighbors are invited. We do this to express goodwill and appreciation for their kindnesses throughout the year. Satguru Jayantī is always celebrated at Kauai Aadheenam and wherever the guru chooses to be on that day. All śishyas gather to participate. Often, if he is outside the US, it will be conducted in his presence as a grand public event. The Aadheenam realms of this season are: 1) San Mārga Iraivan Temple, a hand-carved, white-granite edifice seated upon a lava-rock plinth, golden tower shining in a rainbowed sky; 2) the Path of the Saiva Saints, the 1,300-foot-long path that winds around ponds, banyan trees, tropical plants in seven distinct botanical habitats, with seven shrines to the great Śaiva saints of South India, and 3) Kauai Aadheenam central, with its offices, publications facilities, kitchen, library, workshops, monks’ quarters, aviaries and cloistered gardens. §
Monastery Phasely Retreat Days §
123 ¶In our monasteries, daily life is scheduled according to the traditional Hindu calendar, pañchāṅga, which is structured around lunar days, called tithis, and certain asterisms, called nakshatras, rather than days of the week. In this calendar, weeks are roughly equivalent to the phases of the moon. However, while weeks are always seven days, phases sometimes have nine days, sometimes eight, usually seven and, occasionally, as few as six. Most phases consist of two retreat days (which are like the secular weekend), and four, five, six or even seven other days, which are like weekdays. Once in a great while there are three retreat days in one phase. Our “weekends” are four per month, approximately, but are not necessarily Saturday and Sunday. This is the ancient sacred lunar calendar followed for thousands of years by many cultures. Its special value is that it always puts the days off, the times of quiet reflection and nonworldly activities, in conjunction with the larger forces of the universe that call for retreat, when interactions with others will tend to be more inharmonious, when study and discussion will tend to be more unproductive and starting new projects may be inauspicious. Ashṭami, for example, the eighth lunar day (tithi) of each fortnight, considered by Śaivites to be a day of conflict and disorder, is always a day of retreat. Any new idea or activity initiated or participated in on that day will often require back-tracking and rethinking at a more auspicious time because of the conflict that the magnetic forces of the ashṭami moon-earth relationship provide. We look at it as a day of introspection, peaceful inwardness and simple work in nature, wisely preserved by avoiding intellectual activities. Our days of retreat are ashṭami (eighth tithi), amavasya (new moon), pūrṇimā (full moon) and the day after each of these. Monks are encouraged to make one day of each phasely retreat a completely restful day. All through the year, special permission is occasionally given to those who are overly tired to sleep late when needed. Also, those monks who have “shift sādhana” schedules, where they perform late-night vigils in the temple, ending at midnight or 3AM, do not attend the 4:30AM worship and meditation gathering. Nonmonastic members—who take their example from the way the monasteries are conducted—also implement these flows in fulfilling sūtra 21. One small caveat of following our pañchaṅgam rather than a Western calendar is that “days off” or weekends are more difficult to keep track of because of their irregularity. In effect, it keeps our monasteries slightly out of phase with the business world, indeed, with the world at large. This we find, however, is an advantage, for it stands as a constant reminder to the public that the monastery is a sacred place, so sacred that it functions according to a sacred calendar every day of the year. We encourage other āśramas and maṭhas to govern their activities according to the traditional system of auspicious timing, with the principle that it is difficult to live a sacred life without following a sacred calendar and closing the doors periodically to all who do not hold the four or five traditional vows of the sādhaka, yogī and sannyāsin.§
Phasely Retreat Sādhanas§
124 ¶One day of the retreat is called Guha Day, all day, a day of no schedules, a day for cleaning living quarters, laundering robes, āśrama care and turning within. This is the day that signals the greatest need for cautionary withdrawal from worldly activities, from outgoing endeavors. The other retreat day is called Siddhidatta Day, when all monks join from 9AM to 1PM in caring for the buildings and grounds. On both these days, monks are not required to attend the early-morning temple pūjā. Many perform early-morning sādhana in their guha or elsewhere in isolated spots on the property. Opportunity may also be taken to sleep later if extra rest is needed. Maintaining these retreat disciplines keeps the monks physically healthy, emotionally strong and mentally alert. It enables them to maintain their mountaintop consciousness, to regenerate their spiritual power from which they constantly draw in performance of their duties during the days when service to Śiva in His many forms, visitors—special guests, pilgrims, students and members—begs attention. Vedic tradition explains that when the maṭhavāsis are strong, the gṛihasthas are strong. If the gṛihasthas are strong, the religion is strong. If the religion is strong, the community is strong. §
As a caterpillar coming to the end of a blade of grass draws itself together in taking the next step, so does the soul in the process of transition strike down this body and dispel its ignorance.§
ŚUKLA YAJUR VEDA, BRIHADU 4.4.3. BO UPH, 140§
Sādhu Paksha: Total Retreat For 2 Phases§
125 ¶Twice each year, during a two-week (one fortnight) period called sādhu paksha, “period of striving,” our monasteries are on a total retreat. This is a time of complete withdrawal. There are no visitors’ days. There is no access to members. There are no special guests or pilgrims. Kulam activities go on as usual, phones and faxes and other modes of communication are in full operation, but the property of the Aadheenam and its dharmaśālas becomes a closed, totally cloistered sanctum sanctorum. Sādhu paksha falls twice a year shortly after the summer and winter solstices, as the sun begins its northern course (uttarāyaṇa) and its southern course (dakshiṇāyaṇa) respectively. The dates when the facilities are closed are and should be publicized by the monks for many years ahead for their own physical, emotional and mental well-being, to protect their spiritual life, strengthen the uplifting, happy darśana of all the monks and regenerate the divine prāṇas of the entire institution. Church members may also observe sādhu paksha in a similar way in their own homes according to their wishes. §
Monastery Schedule for Sādhu Paksha§
126 ¶During sādhu paksha, the discipline of attending early morning temple pūjā is replaced with private worship and sādhana. Monks continue to arise early for sādhanas, but there is no set wake-up time. In the hours before dawn, monks meditate in their guhas, wander the grounds, bathe in the river, perform Gaṅgā sādhana by its banks and sit in deep meditation under sacred trees. During these periods, every space on the properties of Kauai Aadheenam and its dharmaśālas is part of the maṭhavāsi araṇya, monks’ forest meditation gardens. The culmination and primary focus of sādhu paksha sādhana is to worship the sun each day as it rises on the horizon. This same sādhana is fulfilled at other times throughout the year as well, often as a group when the Śrī Sannidhānam takes the maṭhavāsis out after the morning meditation to greet the sun. As Sūrya makes a glorious appearance, all are sent off for the day to serve in their kulams. During sādhu paksha monks begin their normal kulam duties at 9AM or before. On the phasely retreats for this fortnight, there are Siddhidatta days as usual. These same guidelines are followed during sādhu māsa, one month every three years. §
About the Following Chapter§
127 ¶In the ‘70s, ‘80s and early ‘90s, we introduced San Mārga as the place “where the world comes to pray,” a temple of “One God, One World.” To this motto we eventually had to make astute clarifications, as you will see in the next chapter, when we discovered that so many people coming would make our monasteries semi-cloistered and then totally open, creating a situation that was not in line with our goals in bringing more monks into a stable, secluded order, which we know is the strength and core of our Church. For years we catered to the modern Hindu, newly arrived from India, and to the ardha-Hindu who had a Hindu first name but had not yet accepted a last name and make the total commitment to his expressed faith. This effort ultimately became a psychic burden to me and to my monks, because it interrupted the serious mission of the monastery: our personal sādhana, HINDUISM TODAY, other publications and training young monks. My monastics were genuinely gracious to one and all, seeing them as Śiva in many forms. But, as their guru, it was necessary for me to curtail the charade. This influx of the irreverent also became a burden to my family śishyas living on the island, who were striving to live a more traditional life, as it provided a bad example for them and their children. Fortunately, by now there were enough āśramas, temples and satsaṅgas to satisfy the spiritual social life of the uncommitted. We no longer had to keep our doors open to provide a facility to accommodate a crying need. We sold centers that served this purpose and distanced ourselves from Indian Hindu groups, the new-age community and the ardha-Hindus, all of whom sought advice but then paid no heed. Our firm rule was and always will be: the devotee takes one step toward the guru and only then does he take nine steps toward the devotee. Some of this and more is described in the next chapter.§