Vellachi Varunachalam from New Jersey is here on pilgrimage with her friend. Today they attended the 9am Siva puja then went back to their bed and breakfast to cook the monks a delicious dish of lemon rice. They also
had a nice meeting with Bodhinatha. She had met Bodhinatha last year as well during the Innersearch in Chennai.

Krishnaswamy Balan is from Chidambaram and now living in Washington with his son Sethu Raman pictured here with Bodhinatha. Krishnaswamy is a devout Siva bhakta. He told Bodhinatha when he was a young man he went everyday without fail for 3 years to Lord Nataraja’s abode in the Chidambaram temple from 9am to 12 noon and chanted Sri Rudram and sang songs. Now he will be turning 82 years old and he says everything he does is for Siva.

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming three-day retreat,
until Dvitya Tithi, Sun One, Saturday, April 9th.

Our Ganapati Kulam team here at work on Hinduism Today, the next edition of Island Temple, computer hardware upgrades…

Patrick Harrigan sends us some photos from Batticaloa….

Sunrise over Batticaloa, from Kalladi Beach.

One of the many Kalladi temples that were destroyed.

This is a photo of a Murugan Kovil (temple), in Kalladi, Batticaloa.

Dr. Meghani treating a patient at a relief camp.

Mihir Meghani who has read Hinduism Today since he was a boy, later became a doctor and then recently went to serve in Sri Lanka.

Some of the boys at the orphanage wearing clothes that were sent in by relief organisations. They had lost everything they owned in the tsunami.

While relief organizations have come and gone, the work to rebuild in Sri Lanka must continue. We have just put up an on-line donation page for the Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam Orphanage as there has been renewed interest from some quarters in making donations for this important work.

Dr. Mihir Meghani with Siva Gangai Swami Amma of Tirukkovil, a local wise woman and charismatic medium.

A recently arrived new resident at the Aadheenam. A beautiful Somali. His name is “Pandian.”