Yesterday Bodhinatha departed for India with Sannyasin Arumugaswami. He left the Aadheenam late afternoon, overnighted in Honolulu and then departed early this morning for Taiwan.

The monks see them off.

Speaking of traveling, interest is building in the 2008 Innersearch. About 8 people have already paid their deposits, about 50 have said they will come for sure and we have another large group of prospects. Don’t delay!

Bodhinatha and Saravananathaswami are beginning to plan the schedule and the content of the classes on meditation that Bodhinatha will give during Innersearch travel-study program, 2008, as they travel to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the amazing million-strong Thai Pusam celebration there, and then on to India and the vibrant home of our Gods and devas. See the Innersearch site. l It is unusual for Bodhinatha to plan so early, more than a year in advance. But he and his Innersearch staff are inspired by the high interest shown in this program already (eight people have applied and many more are planning are to do so shortly). In the video below, Bodhinatha shares some preliminary thoughts on the nature of the classes he will conduct.

Dawn being captured….

Mean while it was a quiet day at the Aadheenam as we all bask in the aftermath of the auspicious events of yesterday… some how the raising up of the pillars brought the shape to Iraivan Temple to a new level for everyone. We are going to give you two more videos today to keep you busy during our coming two-day retreat.

We start with the unloading of the giant jalakom stones from the containers, a few days ago.

It’s a magical morning. Iraivan Temple golden Vimanam catches the first rays of early morning light.

And below is a time lapse video of the raising of the yalli pillars. We have a longer version of the event coming soon.

Yesterday a lady from Japan arrived, with an unusual request. She wanted to play her “Singing Rin” for the monks. She did not speak a word of English, Indivar Sivanathan helped her to arrange an “out of this world” performance. She plays these bowls in Shinto temples in Japan and wanted to make this offering.

Her name is Sadomi.

Sadomi set up her bowls in the Orchid Mandapam, overlooking the Wailua River…

We have a short video as well as 5 minutes of high quality audio from her half our performance.

See this web page for more about this “new” instrument

Listen to this! I think you will agree it will take you into a profoundly meditative state. Click to open the audio in a separate window.

You feel like you have gone to another world after listening the Singing Rin.