Halekote Kumara with daughters Varuni and Shashi, and son-in-law Arun and his parents, visited from San Antonio, Texas. They have come off and on through the years. They spent quite some time late this morning with Bodhinatha, asking good questions like about western allopathy versus Ayurveda, how someone progresses into our monastic order, whether we have enough funds coming in for Iraivan Temple, and more.

A visit to the publications building.

Iraivan…

Pankaj and Jigna Sangani arrived later in the morning from Maryland. They were married on Kauai seven years ago and returned for another visit after hearing about our beautiful Hindu Temple.

It was Sun One today and homa begins as usual early in the morning with the worship of Lord Ganesha

It was a particular auspicious day for one-year old Veylan Sendan. Here he is with his father, Jothi, watching the homa fire.

For his 1st year birthday, he had his Chudakarana Samskara: first head-shaving, and a blessing from Bodhinatha.

Bodhinatha gave an impromptu inspired talk on his “Three Grades”… In response to a young lady who said she always got grade A in school and wanted to know how she was doing in her spiritual life, he had responded “You are improving…” When it became apparent that she didn’t understand the answer, he went on, “Either you are improving, staying where you are, or going backwards… those are the three grades in spiritual life.”

A bhuta stone marked for further decorative carving….