The photo here is of Bodhinatha in India in 2004, but actutally today Bodhinatha is in Memphis, Tennessee. He sent a brief report that the team had a technical day learning about AJAX etc. So he spent time working on projects privately while Shanmuganathaswami and Yogi Jivanandanatha attended the “nerd” sessions.

We are also linking today to his talk from this past Sun One. Don’t miss it.

Meanwhile Palaniswami and Arumugaswami are back home, safe and sound. Here is another slide show installment from the Dallas conference.

At home we have a pilgrim, Balbir Singh from Malaysia with us for a few days.

A friend of Bala Sivaceyon, lives in KL area. He has wanted to come here for a long time. An employee for Exxon, he attended some training programs in Houston, Texas and has taken the opportunity to stop at the Aadheenam on the way home.

He is a devout Hindu, and has been putting his time here to good use in solitude, worship and meditation.

Recently, Arumugaswami and Yogi Jivananadanatha were invited to bless the farm of Jerry Ornellas. The monastery has worked closely with Jerry over a number of years now to see to the preservation of the extensive irrigation system in our area developed by the sugar company in the 1920s and 30s.

Jerry had gotten grants from the federal NRCS agency to upgrade the irrigation system in his fruit orchard, where longan is the prime fruit. He wants the blessings of all the devas on his new initiatives.

Here he helps prepare for the puja.

Yogi performs the arati…

Jerry breaking a coconut as part of the blessing.

Walking around, blessing the orchard.

On the morning of the 14th October all the Mauritius sishyas including both our Church members and students, met at the Ganesha Mandapam to celebrate Guru Jayanthi, our Beloved Satguru Bodhinatha’s birthday. It was both a highly charged spiritual event and an opportunity for the local island sishyas to meet and spend some good time together as a Siva sambandam (family).

After the chanting of Bodhinatha’s ashtottra or 108 holy names of the Guru, everyone stood up for the arati. The spiritual vibration was very high at that moment in the Ganesha Mandapam.

The Holy sandals of the Guru …..

Then we all went into a guided Shum Meditation ….

The event started with a silent pada puja to the Holy Tiruvadi. Bodhinatha’s peetham was beautifully decorated with gold painted foliage for the occasion.

…… to feel the darshan of the Guru in the quiet atmosphere of the Ganesha Mandapam.

A rare quiet divine moment together…..

Kulapati Parmesh Pallanee was leading the Shum Meditation…

Then Kulapati Siven Koothan read the message sent by Satguru Bodhinatha for the occasion.

The Guru’s message emphasized on affirmations. Here is an extract:

We all know the importance of affirmations to success, but are we doing them daily. Affirmations are a wonderful tool, but unless we use the tool we do not receive the benefits from it. ”

From Bodhinatha’s Message:

“The following is an Affirmation which is to be recited once each day by the whole family. It was created in 2001 by Gurudeva who felt that families would benefit by having their own affirmation in the same way the monastery does from repeating its affirmation which is done by the mathavasis each morning. The updated version is:

“We, the [insert family name here] family, beseech the grace of Panchamukha Ganapati to manifest His five shaktis of peace and harmony within our home and to joyfully fulfill the spiritual, social, economic, cultural and educational goals of grihastha life as outlined in Gurudeva’s 365 Nandinatha Sutras. We dedicate ourselves, individually and together, to our daily worship, sadhana and Master Course study, and vow to work closely with Bodhinatha in every aspect of our lives. Knowing that bonding is essential, we hold daily family meetings and Monday home evenings to cooperatively solve problems and create a loving, uplifting atmosphere in which each member develops discipline, responsibility and the spirit of divine service. We remain close-knit and cultivate unity by talking together about the experiences of our day and extending our affection and harmony to all other families of our Church. We take time for training, and we value mistakes as opportunities to learn. To us, the guest is truly God, welcomed and honored with heartfelt hospitality. Through our thoughtfulness, care and compassion, we allow an abundance of gold to accumulate within our home. We tithe our income monthly and tithe our time weekly in the service of our noble Saiva Siddhanta Church. We are filled and thrilled with the Cosmic Energy of God Siva, creatively alive and in tune with the universe.”

After the reading of Bodhinatha’s message two other activities followed. One was a documentary kind of keynote presentation on Satguru Bodhinatha on the screen projector and the other was a very relaxed fun game on the Guru in which all those who attended participated.

Then Kulapati and Kulamata Siven Koothan cut the Guru’s cake while everyone chanted Happy Birthday to Bodhinatha.

At the end of the ceremony Kulapati SK Moorghen thanked everyone for their support in organizing this event….

Time for the final arati….

The Guru Mantra is chanted with full heart….

Followed by prostration to the Holy Tiruvadi….

Our youth taking care of offering arati and pada puja items to all devotees….

A new photograph was released on that day. Here is Kulapati Kulagan happily holding his personal copy. All those present was gifted a photo of Bodhinatha to bring home on that day…

Sishyas wishing to receive a copy of Bodhinatha’s message can send their request to: spark@hindu.org

Our food station catering for our loving group of sishyas. The menu sponsored by one of Bodhinatha’s MC student family was very delicious….

Some of our sishyas enjoying the meal….