Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami are in the middle of major ceremonies at the Atlanta temple. Shanmuganathaswami pens a quick note in-between events:

This morning was the Utsava Murthy Prana Prathishta ceremony where the utsava murthis of the temple took their first “look” at the bhuloka inside the Atlanta temple. Of course, they are supposed to see auspicious things first: first things they saw were two little girls, an elderly couple, two sannyasins (us) and a young heifer holstein named Daisy (rescued from the slaughter house, we were told.)

Bodhinatha gave his talk on karma yoga.

Like last year, we are going back and forth between the Vishnu and Siva temples, depending on what is happening at the time. As a result we are always there for the most important “final arati” or “end of homa” ceremony.

This morning ended with their new homemade chariot going around the temple on the black pavement. Everyone was dancing because the pavement was so hot! They sprayed it down with a hose and the water steamed off.

The priests have a lot of fun in the Balaji temple, throwing garlands from one murthi to another, rolling coconuts on the floor, and outside joyously tossing fruits in the air during the parade.

Mr. Padmanaban and his wife, Nirmala, and son Prasanth are visiting from San Jose, California. They have been here a few times before and really enjoy being at the aadheenam.

Mr. Padmanaban hugs a rudraksha tree

And Prashant.. poses for our TAKA camera man

He was amazed how hard a granite rock actually is when he attempted to carve his initials in this stone.

This family is from Vancouver and friends of Sadasiva Gurukal who visited here last week. It was their first visit and they were very much impressed with the beauty of Iraivan and the grounds.

We took the two families to the top of Muruga Hill.

The pillars of Iraivan… always marvelous to look at.

Yoginathaswami talks with some of our pilgrims.

Dr. Sunder and Thilaka are still with us today.

This morning Dr. Sunder gave the monks a 2-hour slide presentation on his recent trip to Sri Lanka.

He is a heart surgeon from Lancaster, California, and when he planned to retire, he asked Gurudeva what to do. Gurudeva told him to go serve in charitable medical institutions of Sri Lanka and India.

He is fulfilling that vision and is spearheading a major initiative to bring high-tech medical technology to the war-torn areas of Sri Lanka. One of his innovations is to bring state of the art non-invasive diagnostic tools to traveling and rural clinics. He was the first to bring a miniature portable, battery operated ultra-sound device to check peoples’ hearts, on the road. By uncovering heart problems that have arisen, even in very young children who were malnourished in the womb or as infants, he is able to set many of them on a course of treatment towards a better life of health and well-being.

Hinduism Today is planning to do an article on such Hindus who are “giving back” to their homelands…