Bodhinatha with Pitchai Kurukal, the Hindu of the Year, 2004. He writes this for the coming new edition of our special “Island Temple” magazine update:

“Sri Sivaya Subramuniya Swamigal worked hard to make people all over the world realize the greatness of Lord Siva, experience the power of the Panchakshara mantra and thereby, lead joyous and fulfilled lives. Pursuing his vision and perpetuating the lineage, Sri Bodhinatha Veylanswami is continuing the building of the Holy Temple. It is imperative that the Hindus of the world support the Aadheena Kartar in completing this task of temple construction and consecration. They bring out the magazine ‘Hinduism Today’ to educate the world on the uniqueness of Saivite worship. Innumerable Hindus benefit greatly from this. May the Almighty Lord Karpaga Vinayagar bestow His Grace on the Hawaii Aadheenam and their devotees with long lives, permeated with Siva-ness.

Tour day today… the last day of this phase.

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 Divtiya Tithi, Sun One, Thursday, February 10th.

Today Deva and Amala Seyon came to the Pillaiyar Kulam office to learn how to do bulk mailings with Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami. This mailing of Island Temple magazines is going to 620 people interested in Iraivan Temple. By sending the magazines bulk vs. first class mail, we saved the temple $527 in postage. Deva and Amala also prepare the Hinduism Today renewal mailings with the help of Deva’s mother.

This is an exquisite museum-quality ten inch tall Lord Ganesha made from one piece of beautiful Jade stone. As you can see from the photo, with the right lighting you can see through the thinner parts of the hands and trunks. This Lord Ganesha would make a beautiful Deity for your home or office . Weighing 24 pounds, we only have one of these rare forms of art in Jade. We are planning to put this Deity in our next Mini Mela catalog going to press soon, but we thought we would give our TAKA readers a chance to purchase this one-of-a-kind masterpiece first. Interested? Email minimela@hindu.org. $3500.00

The Swaminathan family with their six-month-old daughter Kahini visited for the first time from California. They had heard about us for quite a while and finally made the trip. They were very happy to see the traditional Iraivan Temple coming up, as they come from the temple town of Madurai, South India, originally.

On the right another family of tourists tags along as they missed the main tour.

Such good karma for this little one…

It was a magnificent day for Iraivan and our guests

Two little girls try their best to chip away a piece of granite with their mother’s help.

Our lettuce has been loving the recent rains…

A bountiful harvest…

See you all next phase.

Om shanti….