Bodhinatha with our guests today in the Guru Peedam.

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dvitiya Tithi, Sun One, Tuesday, Oct 4th.

This is Kanagasundaram from the UK. He is originally from Jaffna and met Yogaswami when he was a teenager.

Kanagasundaram with his wife.

This couple is from Anaheim, California… it is their first visit…

This is retired Sergeant Major Chaturbhuj Gidwani, a long time reader and supporter of Hinduism Today. He has just finished a 5-year post at the US military base in Okinawa, Japan, where he was hired back on as a civilian because of his expertise in mechanical engineering.

He has been an advocate for providing Hindu religious services in the armed forces. His goal is to have a official Hindu Chaplain as part of the Chaplain Corps. In 1973 he joined the chapel services for Christian soldiers, the only religious service available, but sat meditating in the back during the sermon. His determination over several decades brought awareness of the existence of Hindus in the armed forces. In Okinawa, he was offered the option to serve as a lay minister, leading chapel services for Hindu, and ministering to their needs. He’s advocating that a young Hindu with the right training join the armed services as a chaplain, an officer post. There are more than one thousand Hindus in the US armed services, mostly doctors and engineers.

Natarajnathaswami assists Bodhinatha by preparing print outs of shum meditations…

Here he is presenting some recent work to Bodhinatha for review. These meditation maps are used by the monks and initiated sishya in their daily meditations.

Being the last day of the phase… we had our usual tour guests… we will end here and let the pictures tell their own story…

Aum Namasivaya