Today at Kauai Aadheenam

Saturday was an all-day seminar for Singapore members and students. Bodhinatha covered a wide range of topics including character development, practical mysticism and applying Gurudeva's teachings to your life. For one session Yoginathaswami gave a in-depth explanation of the Siva puja while Arumuganathaswami introduced our next story book for youth.

Also still on February 2, Bodhinatha visited Kulapati Dohadeva's home for satsang with the members which included guru puja, Sri Rudram chanting, Natchintinai singing and lunch.

On Feb 3, Bodhinatha went to Johor Baru, across the river in Malaysia, to launch the History of Hindu India at the Arulmigu Sithi Vinayagar Thirukkovil, Taman Johor Jaya. There was a decent crowd for a weekday night and a rather big sale of 59 books. The temple is strong Ganesha temple in Hoysala style with a rounded sanctum and with 32 Ganeshas around the main temple area. The book release was organized by the Kuala Lumpur and local members.

Today, February 3, we went on an outing with the members to the Asian Civilizations Museum. Their very knowledgeable docent (guide) Garima Lalwani, originally from Rajasthan, gave us a special tour of the South Asia, China and South East Asia galleries. They had a special exhibit on cloth which explained how until the 18th century, India was the prime supplier of cloth to the world. They had many examples of decorative clothes 500 years old from India sold to Indonesia. We also met curator David Henkel and presented both with a copy of the History of Hindu India. We also plan to offer a few suggestions for their presentation on India and Hinduism. One is to eliminate the "Aryan Invasion" myth; the other to explain more of the high minded ideas of Hinduism, as they do for Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. In the evening Bodhinatha gave a sparsely attended talk at the SP Jain School of Management--a consequence of a Friday evening time slot! The three professors at left in the photo were very appreciative of Bodhinatha's presentation, which dealt with a key issue in business today: ethics.

As you may know, in 2009 our Siva Poomi Elderly Home purchased 300 lachchams of land (about 40 acres) in Jaffna with the help of 6 families from California. We call this land Siva Poomi Farm.

Since then, much work has been done on the farm. When we purchased the land, it was abandoned and overgrown; now the land has been cleared and fenced, and we put a small building on it with a water tank. This is the third year we have planted rice in the 100 lachchams paddy field and are expecting a good harvest early in 2012. This rice will be used for Elderly Home meals. On the rest of the land, we have planted 400 coconut trees, mango trees, banana and lemon trees. We have also planted onions and vegetables. We now have a small dairy with 6 cows on the farm. Any milk produced in excess of what is used for the elderly home is sold locally. The farm has two full-time employees; seasonally we hire local people to work on the farm.

Our sincere thanks go to Manitha Neyam Trust and the donors. Click here to donate to this trust via the Hindu Heritage Endowment. In March, we purchased a two-wheeler tractor for the farm. We are a long way from being fully self-sufficient, but we are on our way to it. The farm not only provides for the Elderly Home, it also provides employment locally.

Thanks to a small group of kindhearted souls halfway around the world in California, people are obtaining benefit from their generosity in their motherland.

In Peace,

Rishi Thondunathan

PS. I am enclosing some photos of the farm and the Elderly Home for you to enjoy.

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