It was a quiet day at the Aadheenam.

Deva Rajan, Aran and Tara Veylan and Hotranatha and Kamala Toshadeva quietly finished gold-leaf work for the stupi stone that goes on the very top of the temple.

With one team of silpis away to India and the new team awaiting visas… Iraivan is getting a rest. But, a new innovation… daily arati is now performed inside the sanctum, since the Garbanyasa ceremony…

We step back in time to finish up our “recollection” of the joyful events of last phase…

At the auspicious hour early morning on July 21st we all gathered at the Iraivan Temple. The morning sun is just breaking over the tall trees to the East. Iraivan emits a golden glow.

Easan Katir and his son Kartikkeya.

Chidambaram Sendan with his mother Mira…

Everyone watches as a homa is performed…

Sacred metals, herbs, and small gems are blessed and energized along with the traditional Kumbha Pot that will carry the shakti of Agni into the temple.

Bodhinatha receives the tray of sacred elements to be placed inside the temple

The homa kunda (fire altar)

The priests, sthapatis and monks are taken inside the temple. Ganapati Sthapati says this is only the second time in his life he has done this ceremony, only done for stone temples. He likes to stop to explain the meaning of the events as we proceed from one stage to the next.

What happened after that was “Rahasya” for the camera… no photos allowed inside… Here is what happened:

On east wall of the inner most chamber about 3 feet up from the floor level an approximately 8-inch opening was left in the side of the wall, a small nitch. Inside this was placed a solid gold box with 9 compartments filled with precious gems, herbs and substances from various places in India and small portions of precious metals. These were sealed into the little crypt with a block of granite that was glued into place of the opening. Then and arati was performed…

Everyone now comes down as the Sthapatis seal up the little chamber. Koviloor Swami from India mentioned that now it would be good to do a daily arati in the temple as the vibration of worship had begun.

Kulapati Deva Rajan and Ganapati Sthapati, here from India, who designed the temple. Sthapati is happy to see his creation unfolding so beautifully.

Stepping further back in time to June 16… we bring you closing shots from open house…

After the speeches, music performance… it was noon and time for lunch! We counted about 600 plates had been taken from our supply, so we calculated that we must have served that many people that day. Here they are lined up in a queue…

Meanwhile others are at the temple site trying their hand at carving…

Pouring water thru the spout of the crocodile…

We sold Ti plants and Rudrakshas that day, as fund-raisers for Iraivan…

Priya Alahan performs for the crowd during lunch. Very few of our guests had ever seen or heard a Veena.

Monks talk with our guests.

We learned a lot from the last open house and this year we set up four tables with 8 dishes each and 32 of our volunteers manned the stations and we served 600 people in no time at all.

We want to thank Marty Kahn who pitched in to help the monks and our members get a lot of work done! Thanks Marty!

Photographer for the day…Sadhaka Jivanandanatha steps out in front of the camera…

DQ Jackson on the job filming the event for local television.

Our dentist, Dr. Black on the right, with another islander on the left, checking out the stone balls inside the lion’s mouths… Amazing!

Everyone really loved the rice and curries and every plate was cleaned!

Jothi, Vasuki Sendan and their daughter…

Shaila Pushpa Sendan…

Sannyasin Yoginathaswami talks with long time devotee Jothiswarar and his wife from Ulu Behrang, Malaysia. Gurudeva presided at the Kumbhabhishekam of the small but powerful Ganesha temple that he built in that town years ago.

The monks answer lots of questions that day….

Special attraction… on stage everyone! Venita Katir dances Bharata Natyam!

Venita is just 21 but already a “star” in her area in Northern California.

She has been teaching dance in the University of Davis.

And she got a big surprise the moment she stepped off the airplane and put her foot on Kauai.

Opening her email, there was a request for her to take a formal position as a dance teacher for an accredited course at the University. Leadership in her stars… Congratulations Venita!

Mr. Kawamura of Kawamura Enterprises on th left… supplier of animal feed for our cows, farm tools, equipment etc. We have been doing business with him for 35 years! On the right is Wendall Kam and his family. Wendall is� Kauai Branch Manager for Young Brothers, who helps us in various ways to bring in Iraivan stone containers and returning the containers to the shipping lines on time.�

Happy pilgrims from Northern Alberta, Canada, Shama Vinayaga and her daughter, Shivani.

This brings to a close the retrospective photo series of events these past 10 days… It was a joyous time for all.