Photos are pouring in from left and right. Bodhinatha is in California today and arrives home tomorrow, but we will pick up the story of his journeys with some great photos in the days to come.

Here he is in Montreal speaking to the congregation after the main events of the temple consecration ceremonies.

He writes:

“Today fulfilled the general kumbhabhishekam principle that everything runs late except the muhurtha. Pouring the pots on the temple spires over the Rajagopuram and Mulasthanam happened at 7 AM sharp. We joined the priests on the top of the scaffolding for the mulasthanam.

“Inside pujas also happened at the precise time.

“About 4-5 thousand devotees were there. I spoke on three different occasions during the events.

“Our literature booth gave away everything it brought.

“Devotees came to the hotel for darshan in the evening. We are up early tomorrow at 3 AM to depart for California.”

It is Memorial Day weekend and we had many guests and piligrims.

Dr. Suhas and his wife Manisha brought his mother and father to visit the temple and monastery today. They are from Mumbai. Dr. Suhas is Kauai’s foremost ayurveda physician.

The parents brought a wonderful gift for the temple. It is a copper urn which is hung above a Sivalingam and filled with water. A tiny hole in the bottom drips water constantly, bathing the Lingam in an “eternal abhishekam.”

Our photographer was, Manas, their son in a very kewl kurta shirt.

This morning was also Ralph Whitten’s last day. He and his son Yogi Japendranatha took a long hike and had wide-ranging discourses on dozens of topics from science to birth control, from monastic life to intelligent design. Safe journey home, Ralph!

The whole Suhas family out on San Marga. Shama Kumaran hosted them for a tour. Shama writes:

“Today was a very busy day (Monday-Memorial Day.) Dr. Suhas, his wife and son who live locally on Kauai. Dr. Suhas has an Ayurvedic Practice in Kapaa. He came with his parents, Mr.& Mrs. Govinda Kahirsagar and a large group of other family members and friends all originally from Puna, India and now living in California.”

All were in awe of the spirituality of the place and the sacred Iraivan Temple building project.

Dr. Ram Kishen Bachandani a very devout Shiva bhaktar and retired physician from Jabalpur, Madhya Prador in Central India came with his family. (elder man, center) Dr. Ram devoted his life to treating the poor and disabled people of Tamil Nadu. Today he had an opportunity to practice his Tamil talking to the Shilpis although it has been many years since he spoke that language.

Vikram Patel, Mina, Jay, Sonia, and Kamla are his children and grandchildren and the mother-in-law who now all reside in Tempe, Arizona.

They stated that they felt very “blessed” to have visited this very sacred place.

Another Hindu couple with their first child at Iraivan.

For many years Gurudeva worked to have the revealed scriptures of our faith, the Vedas and Agamas, in his own hands. It was a goal that eluded us all, even after Gurudeva sent monks to India to find and acquire them.

That goal has not been abandoned, and Bodhinatha has continued the search. Today the fruits of that effort were rewarded with a four-volume copy of the Kirana Agama, in English, which arrived from India.

It is hand-written by a scholar whom we are working with. He writes the Sanskrit above and his translation below.

In part, it says, “When the Sun shines, the blossoming of lotus flowers does not take place evenly, even though they get contact with the rays of the Sun. Some flowers are fully blossomed while some others are still in the state of bud and some others get withered. This unevenness in the blossoming of lotus does not indicate that the Sun has likes and dislikes. Even so, there is no place for partiality in Siva and Sakti.”

Other Agamas are under way, being translated for us in India. One day we will have them all, or important excerpts of them all.

The text continues, “In the same way as an omniscient yogin, knowing the longings of an aspirant grants his requirements, so the Lord bestows grace upon His devotees. He is capable of bestowing grace with the help of His affective Energy (Iccha-Sakti). Because of the differences in His diligence He becomes Laya-Siva, Bhoga-Siva and Adikara-Siva.”

Yoginathaswami was finally able to find time to send photos so we will catch you up starting at the beginning.

Here we are on March 23 in Los Angeles.

Bodhinatha with Halbert Hargrove Russell’s president Mr. Russ Hill (on the right) and our account advisor Mr. Stan Lee at their office in Long Beach, California. They are our Hindu Herritage Endowment investment advisors.

Yoginathaswami writes “We also went to Doshi’s home in L.A. Bodhinatha had a casual question and answer session with the family and their close friends. We were served with a wonderful combination of Gujarati and Sindhi dinner.”

March 24th… We flew to Washington D. C. Vayudeva Varadhan drove us from the Washington Dulles Airport to our hotel.

There we were greeted by N. Siva Subramaniam, his mother-in-law and Mrs. Padmini Saravanapavan.

They came with fruits and full blown Sri Lankan rice and curry dinner.

The next morning we went to Washington DC tour. Here is the picture of the Capitol Building. We were told by Sunshine our tour guide that the statue on top of the building is Freedom and is 19’6″ tall. No statue is allowed to be installed in DC taller than this statue, “nothing stands higher than Freedom.”

Washington Monument

Smithsonian library (not really sure…it was a fast tour!)

Better picture of the Washington Monument

Bodhinatha in front of the Whitehouse

The Whitehouse

This past retreat Dennis Wong came to work in the front area of the monastery to clear some areas to provide more parking spaces.

Trees have been removed and the Bobcat is piling up dirt and branches.

To be moved by the back hoe.

Tons and tons of debris were loaded into a large dump truck.

And taken to a green dump site we have for composting all our green waste.

Dennis Wong supervises the dump. His driver got stuck, but the monks pulled them out with our tractor.

All is well, with our benevolent Lord Ganesha presiding over the whole thing.