September 5th, 2006 was a very special day for some devotees in Malaysia who received the direct grace of the Satguru into their lives. Acharya Kumarswami has the story from Kuala Lumpur.

The main even on Sept 5 in KL for Bodhinatha was the visit to Kottumalai Pillaiyar Temple, situated on a busy street corner, with its two broad walls open air for entrance by Hindus coming to and from work. The temple was very busy when we arrived, around 9:30. Bodhinatha was greeted formally and invited to stand close to the sanctum for darshan of Lord Pillaiyar as the talented priests conducted puja.

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming three-day retreat,
until Dvitya Tithi, Sun One, Saturday, September 9th.

Many devotees were present, as on every day of the week, seeking Ganapati’s blessings. A common practice is to walk round the sanctum and touch the forehead to the feet of the small Ganesha murti on the left side of the mandapam wall.

The sanctum is made of brick and mortar artfully clad with red marble tile, emulating the Agamic patterns, the doorway is clad in brass which is so bright it looks like gold.

Another feature of the temple is that a sacred tree, apparently part of what must once have been a simpler shrine is still present in the right rear corner of the compound. Part of the bark has been worn off by so much reverent touching by devotees; the trunk extends up through the roof.

The nadaswaram and tavil players� In the background you can see the 36 forms of Ganesha on a ledge all around the mandapam.

Lord Kottumalai Pillaiyar. Kottu means “court” and malai means “hill.”

Lots of sincere faith and devotion�

final arati�

After the puja devotees took a seat to hear a talk by Bodhinatha.

It was translated into Tamil by Dasan.

Here, Balu and Parimala Devado receive their Vishesha Diksha.

Bodhinatha gave a powerful blessing to each one. The diksha opens the doors for their daily performance of personal puja and taking on of deeper sadhanas.

Next, Tirunyanam Gunasegaran came forward and took his Brahmacharya Vrata, oath to remain pure and celibate until marriage.

Here he voices his vow with confidence and conviction.

Bodhinatha ties the sacred cord around his waist that betokens his vrata to harness the instinctive forces.

A special blessing�

Saroja Vasudevan comes forward for her samaya diksha, mantra initiation. Here she is garlanding Bodhinatha.

He utters instructions for mantra recitation and visualization in Saroja’s right ear.

A blessing for success in this daily sadhana of chanting Aum Namasivaya 108 times on rudraksha beads.

Sivajnani comes forward for vibhuti. The members and students have been extremely helpful during Bodhinatha’s stay, taking care of every detail with joy and dexterity.

The next event was a special lunch at the “Passage thru India” restaurant. Here the owner and his daughter greet Bodhinatha with garlands and a foot bath and the gateway of their exotic creation.

At right we see the chef.

Besides the good food, the event was a meeting of six or eight entrepreneurs who are seeking to bring spirituality into business. They sought Bodhinatha’s wisdom on ways this can be accomplished. As each was also invited to give a short introduction to his experience in this areas, we were reminded of Gurudeva’s Hindu Businessmen’s Association, which he founded decades ago for the same purpose.

The restaurant is a cave-like labyrinth of rooms and halls, decorated in Indian village style hand paintings, wooden artifacts, stone pieces, cloth hangings all creatively assembled to give the feeling of being in India. Inside the cool chambers, the noisy bustle of Kuala Lumpur faded away completely.

A last minute portrait after a delightful stay�

The final addition to our new Kawasaki fleet arrived recently — the People Mover. The Siddhidata Kulam does the vehicle blessing today. Sadhaka Tejadevanatha performs arati.

Driving over the limes….

We can take as many as 10 people on this vehicle which will be reserved carefully for the elderly and disabled and small groups of visitors who need to be taken on a personal driving tour.

We close this phase with a short fly-over video of Iraivan taken by Sooriya Kumar on his recent visit to Kauai.