Sun Three brought more wonderful guests who met with Bodhinatha…

This is Surender Talwar and his friend Brad from Houston. They arrived on Kauai last night after having visit the Ashram of Anandamayi Ma on the island of Kona.

Surender gave Bodhinatha a very unusual gift of a five-headed Hanuman….

Surender has a beautiful store in Houston. He has for many years carried Hinduism Today magazine and sells our books there and has been advertising in Hinduism Today for many years.

He imports fine art and murthis from India and also gets commissioned pieces done in South India, very much like we do here at the Aadheenam. If you are looking for a big murthi or other artifact, Surender can get the job done. He also has a very big spiritual heart and is planning to help support projects on San Marga. He also sings very beautifully. Visit his web site: http://www.hindugods.net

Marlene Carter has darshan with Bodhinatha a few days ago on her departure day. Marlene is a Level One Master Course Student who has been here before and came again this year for a 9-day pilgrimage, coming to the temple every day for worship, study and meditation. She also helped with the gold-leaf work on the temple doors.

Srinivasan and his wife Sudha are visiting from the mainland. They were told about us by Srinivasan’s work colleague who reads Gurudeva’s Master Course daily lessons online everyday. He said you have to visit the aadheenam if you go to Kauai.

So they came and they said now it is clear in our minds how the ancient temples in India used to be with all the beautiful gardens surrounding the temple.

Our camera went for a walk this morning…

This frond of orchids is blooming in incredible numbers…

Paramacharya Palaniswami sets up at his “timeline” view point, just northwest of Iraivan, under the Rudraksha trees. Here he catches the on-going story of Iraivan… Today’s special event is the inspection of the latest container of stones by the Department of Homeland Security and Agriculture.

Actually, the contained arrived yesterday, was opened early this morning and some items removed, allowing the fumigate to escape and air out.

Ceiling beams and more pillar parts.

A giant fan is run in front of the container. The “Ag Department” is very strict, if they find a single flying creature or living eggs of beetles in the wood, then we have to seal up the containers, send them back to Honolulu and fumigate them again, which is a great expense.

Fortunately these are from India… the quarantine on wooden things from China is even more serious… they will force you to send the container back to China! Some wood boring foreign beetles have escaped and destroyed entire forests in the US. So, it is a serious matter.

Silpi team at work…

As the inspectors approached the main sanctum of the temple their radiation detectors started beeping!

Is it weapons grade plutonium! No! It seems that some stones will occasionally emit some kind of radiation.

Vignettes of Iraivan to close our day’s view from Kauai….