It has been a very quiet day at the Aadheenam.

Bodhinatha met with Ariel Lewin and her brother Michael who went on the last Innersearch. They brought gifts from a recent trip to Nepal and Mt. Kailash.

The Siddhidata Kulam reported on their activities… new tent has been raised over the West Chinna Gopuram up near the Vimanam as the new team of silpis will be going aloft soon to start leveling work for the capstone of the Chinna Gopuram.

Saravananathaswami has been very busy coordinating all the events in advance in remote locations. He will be traveling with Bodhinatha when on the coming trip to Asia…

Every day at 3 PM, Ganesha Arati is performed by the monk on vigil between 3 PM and 6 PM. Today Sannyasin Natarajnathaswami has that blessed duty…

The monks have been performing this daily nitya vrata (“eternal vow”) every three hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year since 1973…. 32 years!

Iraivan always looks magnificent in the distance… now we go out to see the local Cub Scouts who came for a visit yesterday. They are troop 305 attached to the Mormon Church in Kapaa.

They started off by watching the silpis make their own chisels — not a common sight to see a blacksmith in action these days.

Yoginathaswami passes out a few of the dozens of chisels they make.

Here they inspect the beam and pillar stones recently arrived. The troop included Austin Cook, Koa Machado, Miles Mendosa, Mason Mendosa, Griffin Allen, Drake Allen and Morgan Allen. They were accompanied by a contingent of parents — Tony Cook, Camas Machado, James Sarme and Greg Allen.

Here they are at the lion’s pillar getting to roll the loose ball around in the lion’s mouth.

Each took a turn at carving a stone with a hammer and chisel.

Here a silpi demonstrates how to cleanly cleave off a stone along a precise line.

With a solid whack a large piece of stone came off right along the sthapathi’s line. Scoutmaster Greg Allen said they wanted to expose the boys to different cultures, religions and traditions so they had a well-rounded upbringing.

Back at the Aadheenam, various concrete works are underway.

Here we are at the beginning of Tiruneri, on the walk up to Kadavul Temple. Steps are turning into ramps…