Bodhinatha is in transit as we write today and will arrive in Toronto later this evening. He had meetings with our members in California on a stop over there and the went to Chicago…

Sadhu Paksha continues…

A blessed day at Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. The Great Sage of Lanka, Yogaswami (1872-1964) was honored in the early morning hours. This is his shrine in the Guru Peedam.

Today is Ashlesha nakshatra, the day each month when we give special remembrance to Yogaswami. His gold-leafed metal murthi was flower bedecked.

Yogaswami’s light filled the room and all the monastics enjoyed the darshan of the day.

Special prasadam prepared and offered to Yogaswami.

Who can fathom the greatness of such a soul, who knew no difference between Siva and himself?

The mottled shadow of the trees dances over the lily pond in Chola Garden.

Sadhaka Nilakantha of the Siddhidata Kulam.

Saravananathaswami

Inside a nook up close to Lord Nataraja is a small murthi not usually seen by the public.This is “Hari-Hara”

The image represents God as half Shiva and half Vishnu.

News From Sri Lanka
Sri Subramuniya Kottam
Vijayadasami Celebrations

Some may be wondering about the timing of our photos from Jaffna. Here is how it works… Events occur there and photos are eventually mailed to the US. Rishi Thondunatha is scanning these and then sending them here. This may lead to a few months delay between event and the time we actually show the photos. This batch is from last year, for ten days in November the Sri Subramuniya Kottam celebrated Navaratri and Vijayadasami.

The Kottam children made the “kolu” where they beautifully decorated a stage with many images of God and Gods.

They did the pujas and sang bhajans each evening. On the last day, known as Vijayadasami, the students performed dance, singing and gave speeches on stage.

The students parents and devotees were present especially on the last day.

After the cultural show each of the students received gifts from the Sri Subramuniya Kottam.

Returning to Earth, today we took delivery of some new implements for our tractor.

The delivery truck had to back in, not an easy task.

Front-end loader with grapplers to hold materials, such as rocks when we are taking them out of the fields to plant trees or crops.

Also, a shredder, which is a term used by farmers to describe a kind of powerful lawn-mower.

This one’s a Rhino. One of the best-built. It should last 20 years.

The shredder will be used to keep our fields clear of weeds and adventitious trees.

It is well-known that the monastery grows most of its food, has cows for milk and cheese and ghee and yogurt. But less know that we are preparing groves of trees for future generations of monks, and returning land that was once in sugarcane into forests.