After coming down the concrete road between the huge palm trees before Rishi Valley, on the right side there is a side dirt path for accessing fruit trees, landscape maintenance and connecting to other roads. A stream runs right through this area next to a huge breadfruit tree. For a while the stream ran under the path naturally. It was damp, but we could usually drive over it without getting stuck. Over time the path became more water-logged and finally unusable. One of our employees just installed a culvert to properly channel the water at a certain depth, seen in the photos above. There is some more work to be done for solid stability.
Sadhaka receives his sandalwood beads, silver earrings, a silver pavitra ring and a “Namah Shivaya” bracelet
Satguru then applies sandwood to his head as a blessing
And some vibhuti
and flowers!
Each monk then gives him a flower and welcomes him to the monastery
Jai Ganesha! Vel Muruga! Jai to the Kailasa Parampara! Aum Namah Sivaya!
After six months in the Supplicancy program and several months sitting by the wall, begging entrance to the monastery, Sadhaka Sabanatha passed his review by the senior monks and has been accepted as a full monastic into Kauai Aadheenam. Today the monks gathered to witness his vow taking. Through this process he becomes a Postulant. His title is now Sadhaka Sabanatha. This is always a joyous occasion for the new monastic and a great day for the monastic order. Aum Namah Sivaya.
The following are excerpts from a Sadhaka’s four vows:
THE SACRED VOW OF HUMILITY: known in Tamil as PANNIVU
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.”
Humility does not consist in concealing our merits and virtues or in thinking ourselves worse or more ordinary than we are. Nor is it a pretended meekness. Rather it lies in not exalting ourselves before others for we perceive the grandeur of God Siva in every human being and reverently acknowledge Him there. Humility in this ideal is the awakened perception that “Siva is All.” It is the inner being predominating over the outer nature.
THE SACRED VOW OF PURITY: known in Tamil as TIRIKARANNASUTTI
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.
Purity does not consist in merely doing good and being good, though these are essential, nor is it an outward appearance or show of such goodness. It is primarily an inner quality, equally present in the saint who outwardly reflects the purity of his attainment and in the sage who inwardly rests in that same purity though his attainment may not be apparent. Purity is not a manner of behavior, though it may be reflected in our behavior, and there is no merit in taking on the appearance of being pure when one is not yet pure.
THE SACRED VOW OF OBEDIENCE: known in tamil as TAALVU ENUM TANMAI
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. In the beginning, while the instinctive nature remains strong and there exists a sense of “I” and “mine,” obedience is a surrendering of the ego to the soul or the instinctive nature to the spiritual nature. As long as the ego dominates the life of man, he will experience obedience as capitulation or subjection. As the soul unfolds and separateness is replaced by knowledge of the unity that pervades the universe, obedience is perceived as the union of minds and purpose, a state of harmony so complete that there can exist no distinction between him who gives and him who receives instruction or direction. True obedience is based on agreement, trust and knowledge, as opposed to passive servility, nonresistance or domination, which have ignorance and fear as their basis.
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. The monastic must learn to hold in strict secrecy all spiritual direction and esoteric laws entrusted to him, never revealing them unless specifically ordained to do so. He must realize the wisdom of Saint Yogaswami’s statement that “Sacred is secret and secret is sacred,” never treating the inner teachings as ordinary knowledge to be published or spoken of to the public or prematurely disclosed to devotees.
“Hehehehehe thanks guys for the cake and the wishes”
Jai Ganesha!
On 10th March, the Siddhidata Kulam’s mathavasi celebrated our dearest Bhairava’s birthday. He enjoyed a peanut butter cake and a handsome bow tie. Bhairava is more than just a dog for us, he is like another monk and gentle protector. Having Bhairava with us is a great blessing for all us. Even though it was last week you’ll can still wish him a happy birthday, and we make sure he gets all the wishes. Aum!
The saint served in his early years as the accountant for the king.
He is given diksha by his guru, Maunaguru, who was ever silent.
As many of you know, the monks have been (and continue) working on a new book, an English edition of the 1,454 songs of Saint Tayumanavar, the Tamil poet and philosopher who lived from 1705 to 1742. His songs to Siva are revered in South India and memorized by children in annual competitions. Imagine, learning so many songs by heart.
When in Singapore two years back, we met an Oduvar, Vivek Raja, whose temple singing is deeply spiritual, completely traditional. We commissioned him to sing the Tamil songs in his trained style, and when he returned to India he made great progress, though there is much yet to be done.
Today we share the first song for you to enjoy, along with the Tamil and the meaning of the lyrics in English. Click the sound baar under the slideshow to hear this first song. Below is the English rendering:
What is it that is immeasurable effulgence, perfect bliss, filled with grace? What is it that willed to contain the countless universes in boundless space and there flourishes as the Life of life? What is it that stood transcending thought and word? What is it that remained as the ever-contentious object of countless faiths claiming, “This, my God,’’ “This, our God’’? What is it that exists as omnipresent and omnipotent, love-filled and eternal? What is it that knows no limits of night and day? That indeed is what is agreeable to thought. That indeed is what fills all space in silentness. That indeed is what we in meekness worship.
At Satguru’s behest, two web pages have seen upgrades over the last few months. On the new “Shum Language of Meditation” page, we present the seven dimensions, the full alphabet and a overview of how words are formed, calligraphy, proportions of images and rules for connecting images. The slideshow above displays the short word kasi and then expands to finally become iinsimliamkasi. Subsequent slides show all the rules for connecting images when writing the full version of letters.
On the “Twelve Shum Meditations – Level One” page we have the original collection of meditations for each month of the year plus related reading material or additional Shum words selected by Satguru to round out the meditation. This page has existed for a while but needed cleaning up and added the shum script for each meditation collection.
