Sun Four was an auspicious day at the Aadheenam because we celebrated the 34th anniversary of Gurudeva’s vision upon which followed the founding of San Marga and Iraivan temple.

Everyone went out to the Swayambhu Lingam in the dark this morning to celebrate with a quiet profound early morning puja. Here we are after the sun has come up.

We have come a long way since that day of destiny in 1975! Jai Gurudeva! Jai Mahadeva!

Dr. Yoganathan and his wife Shylaja are here visiting from Melbourne, Australia. Both are originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Dr. Yoganathan remembers visiting St. Yoga Swami as a boy and states that he was named after this great Sat Guru.

Both attended Sat Guru Bodhinatha’s presentation and talk regarding Sage Yogaswami’s 45th Year Celebration in Keysborough, Melbourne on February 17th recently and then were blessed to meet with Bodhinatha afterwards.

Sydney Murugan Temple February 15, 2009. Bodhinatha has come to take part in the annual Youth Day and hopefully to inspire greater participation in the Youth group. His advice to the leaders of the group is to plan more fun activities to supplement the existing karma yoga and educational programs at the temple.

Members of Sydney Murugan Youth Circle welcoming Bodhinathaswami. The Youth Circle has been responsible for running the temple Resource Centre library. They've also organized the annual Poongavanam festival for the past eight years.

Aileen and Inder Mirchandani (center in photo with Palendira family), vacationing in Australia from Honolulu, have come to be with Bodhinatha this morning.

Opening the Youth Day event with a Carnatic vocal performance.

Bodhinatha giving his presentation "Insights into Temple Worship". Every participant has been given a copy of the Home Puja booklet which shows how to do a simple Ganesha puja. Bodhinatha explains that knowing how to do a puja can bring a whole new level of appreciation for the puja done by the priests in the temple. Similarly, having some training in Bharata Natyam will help someone appreciate the subtleties of a dance performance more.

Quite a few teenagers have come for the event.

Youth co-ordinator giving an outline of Youth Circle activities including the upcoming Poongavanam festival.

Youth staging a skit. For more about the Sydney Murugan Youth Circle see: http://www.sydneymurugan.org.au/murugan/content/blogcategory/0/42/

Sun Three brought us another bright day with a full report from the Pillaiyar Kulam. Shanmuganathaswami has been busy working on Hinduism Today subscription management. He said a lot of people are renewing the subscriptions. Muruganathaswami has been busy posting the most recently Kauai Aadheenam Newsletter. Yogi Jothinatha has a number of outreach and promotional projects underway. Yogi Jivananandanatha is deep into fulling out long and complex non-profit tax forms for the government.

Blooming Green Jade canopy.

Guests listen intently as they observe the intricate carvings on Iraivan Temple

Guests look closely at the carvings and enjoy the many wonderful photo opportunities.

Some guests were enjoying the vibration of the sacred Rudraksha trees.

Others searched for the sacred seeds which have fallen on the forest floor.

We had about seventy guests on the tour today. Here they are blessed by Siva as Dakshinamurthi.

Silpis giving carving demonstration.

Paaladinesh Thavendivananthan, a cardiologist, and his wife, Lakshmi Kugathasan, a PHD candidate, visiting from Toronto, Canada.

A local visitor, Tully, in the green visor, brought her friends visiting from the mainland USA.

At our orphanage on the Eastern shore of Sri Lanka, a stone laying ceremony took place last month. The ceremony was blessed by the presence of Sri Swami Sarvarupananda of the Ramakrishna Mission in Colombo, Sr Swami Ajarathmananda of the RK Mission in Batticoloa and Mr. S.T. Arulanandam of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress.

Swami lays the first of the five traditional bricks.

Each of the dignitaries adds one.

All celebrate the event. Bapu, the orphanage director, is standing to the left of swami. Behind you see the new building that was erected to replace the one destroyed by the 2005 Asian Tsunami.

The site is farther from the sea, so future tsunamis will not reach the new facilities. Our congratulations to the team that made this amazing project possible in the midst of hardships and dire uncertainties in this lovely island nation.

Shriram and Rohini Udupa (on the left) have been here for several days and attended our Sivaratri pujas. They are from the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. Rohini is Hindu Dharma and Philosophy Committee Chairperson of that temple. Today their friends from Honolulu came to visit along with them.

Narmada Lingam abhishekam

enjoying a visit to Iraivan Temple

Gaurav, Ripla and little Aran Malhotra have been here on pilgrimage for about a week and also attended Sivaratri. They study the Master Course lessons and Bodhinatha had a satsang at their home in Chicago last year with their friends.

Our new phase begins with a homa conducted by Yogi Jivanandanatha.

Bodhinatha read from Gurudeva teachings about getting up out of the world of the emotions and entanglements of the 3rd dimension, by moving awareness within to the fourth dimension of the mind where we can look out and down over the world and situations calmly.

By the way, if you have not been watching, last phase we posted a new talk by Bodhinatha. This is from his commentary on the January meditation of the month.

Maha Sivaratri was observed at the end of last phase. It was a profound and amazing holy night. It always feels like a fresh new start to inner life, as we immerse ourselves in the presence of God Siva. Here Bodhinatha is taking the Kumbha that was blessed during the Maha Sivaratri homa for pradakshina around Nandi.

The holy night began about 7 PM with devotees gathering for bhajan.

The temple was beautifully decorated with lamps everywhere.

Singing to the Gods…

It was a particularly auspicious day for four of our young monks to receive their Samaya Diksha. Here Sadhaka Rajanatha receives the Holy Panchakshara mantra from the lips of the living Satguru along with instructions for the practice of japa.

Sadhaka Satyanatha as well.

Sadhaka Tandavanatha is initiated.

And Sadhaka Nandinatha. The instructions include directions for what to visualize while doing japa. It is the beginning of a lifelong practice and the first formal step on the path of Rajayoga.

Preparing to take the Kumbha

Outside, going around Nandi

The Mahasphatika Linga.