It was an auspicious day at Iraivan. Our silpis and Siddhidata kulam team met their goal and 35 stones were raised, over 40 tons of stone went up. The story in photos below.

Today was Ekadanta Kulam Day and Saravananathaswami shared many interesting news about our mission around the world, details below.

Bodhinatha met with the newly married couple today to who had come to the homa on Sun One with their parents. They had an in-depth discussion on how to maintain a happy marriage and how important it is for the mother to be home with her children, especially during child-rearing years.

Our Task Force program is going to be in full swing this year. Young men are coming to spend time here, either as a break or to consider monastic life. Kartikkeya Katir will be with us for a month at the end of the summer before going back to school. Then, in September, Dharmaraj Tillai from Tennessee, who was here before, is returning to pursue his monastic life with us. He is settling his affairs at home and headed for pre-monastic training. Also coming in September: Robert Brown from Rhode Island and Scott (Teja) Falzone, both with similar intentions.

On our retreat days we provide no tours, but are setting up a program for official pilgrims who will get a “Map and Entrance Pass” to go out to San Marga from the north entrance at the Rudraksha Forest.

Meanwhile, Saravananathaswami has been working on the Vancouver-Edmonton travel, and Bodhinatha’s schedule is now posted on the Guru Travels page.

Swami has also been in communications with our Spiritual Park in Mauritius. The members there are continuing to make improvements here and there are the monks want to send a big “Mahalo and Nandri” to all of you on that beautiful island, for taking such exemplary care of Gurudeva’s center there. You have all really brought his vision to life.

Swami also has been working on preliminary plans for the next Innersearch brochure, which will carry details of our 2008 Asian Odyssey Innersearch.

Palaniswami shared an interesting interview he had this morning with the religion report from a newspaper in Honolulu who is doing an article on what is being called “the new monasticism.” It seems many people are spending Friday night, Saturday and Sunday in a Catholic monastery and going to work during the week. Some do this for months at a time, giving a powerful place to their spiritual work. In the Honolulu Buddhist monasteries, more and more are taking time out for traditional Buddhist meditation retreats. Palaniswami shared about our task force program which is our Hindu version of this temporary connection with monks.

Of course, the really big news of the day today is the raising up of 35 roof stones. We were blessed with rain last night and cloud cover during the morning, making for a cool work site. It is about 9:30 and Bodhinatha is “topside” at Iraivan waiting for the muhurtha to arrive… the auspicious moment.

It is almost time. Yoginathaswami points out a small opening in north east corner for placement of gems under the first roof stone followed by Arati.

Now up comes the first ceiling stone…

After placement, a final arati is observed to mark this, yet another, historic mini-milestone in Iraivan’s growth.

Here comes number two . . .

The rest of the morning was a steady stream, riggers below, lift place, move in place, next, next, next….

As we write this report and despite a light tropical rain, the 50-foot-tall crane is perched on the North side of Iraivan methodically lifting 35 ceiling stones from the ground to the roof. The monks, clad in bright yellow rain parkas, are skillfully placing the stones.

One team on the ground rigs a stone to the crane s cable, deftly making it balance in mid air. This is crucial, for the stones are being put in their final place today, and unless they are perfectly flat, the process becomes nearly impossible to coordinate.

Beneath a shade-giving tent, they have been fitting the 11-foot by 1-foot by 1.8-foot monoliths so when today came they would already be a perfect part of the puzzle. On this day roughly 95,000 pounds of granite will be put in place, the fruit of tens of thousands of man hours in Bangalore and on Kauai.

Above a second team is working beside the carvers, guiding the stones. Once a stone is hovering within an inch or so of the final place, the carvers take over and guide it slowly into position. They can get it within a 1/4 of an inch this way, which is quite an accomplishment when you consider each stone weighs about 2,700 pounds and the crane operator is being guided by hand signals and cannot actually see the roof.

It takes 7 stones to cover each of the square spaces. These stones have been the work for our silpis (stone carvers) for the past few weeks.

Shama Kumaran our indefatigable guest host has arrived with a young couple from San Francisco and our other camera. They watch from a distance…

She writes:

“We watched as the first of 35 stones were lifted up by crane to the roof of the Iraivan Temple where Siva Yoginatha Swami stood ready with several of the Shilpis to put them in place. ”

It always gives one a real sense of joy to see the temple manifesting stage after stage and watch the total dedication, expertise and hard work of the silpis as they bring this sacred Siva Temple into being.

Ground team waiting between lifts. Stone neatly arrayed in advance by our team.

And there it is! From the inside the roof looks amazing.

Of course, final jointing has yet to be done.

Stuart and Karen Morrow are on the last day of their honeymoon on Kauai, so they came for their first visit to a Hindu Temple. Both of them stated that this was the “highlight of our honeymoon!”

They now live in San Francisco where Stuart is a researcher for the University of California. Karen is a Buddhist and found this to be “the most beautiful and peaceful place I have ever been.” She was totally enchanted by all the different types of bamboo to be found, especially at Muruga Hill.