Today Bodhinatha was in transit and then satsang. He writes:

“Today we flew from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, were met by a medium sized group of members at the KLIA Airport. In the evening we had a satsang at Appasamy Kuppusamy’s home. Most members were able to attend, including visiting Deva Rajan and Easan Katir, so the house was packed.”

Meanwhile we are drawing on the collection of photos Sannyasin Arumugaswami has sent us. We have two more sets from the last days in India in Chennai, Mahabalipuram and Pondicherry. Arumugaswami tells the story:

“We proceed on our trip report from South India. Be advised we had two photographers, myself and Mu Devrayan, so in some cases we will go back in time with the second set of photographs.

“We had many meetings in Chennai. Here is Brahmachari Ramanachitra from the local Chinmaya Mission greeted Bodhinatha at the hotel. He has spent many years in Jaffna, and knows all about Yogaswami and our line of gurus.”

Here we are at the Ideal Resort in Thanjavur, a wonderful colonial-style resort, unfortunately too small for Innersearch, just 30 rooms.

We’re back into the Saraswati Mahal Library, some of which you’ve seen already. Here Dr. Sabharatanam is checking their catalog for useful manuscripts.

An assistant is sent to retrieve a bundle from these tall cabinets. It was no easy task sorting through the bundles on each shelf looking for the right one.

Here is Krishna Yajur Veda.

These are huge cloth sacks of palm leaf bundles.

An example

The librarian shows some leaves

This is more from the book of fabrics. These are actual piece of cloth.

We spotted this method of fertilizing a coconut tree at the Ideal Resort–they dig a trench half way around each tree and about 8 inches deep, put in fertilizer and then re-cover.

As we drove back to Pondicherry from Thanjavur we had to record this awful road in central Mayiladuthurai. The pavement had just disappeared, and we were left with dirt and potholes. Most of the road between Pondi and Trichy is pretty good, but this section wasn’t!

We’re a bit out of order in the photos, jumping ahead to our visit of the carving site in Mahabalipuram for the stone elephants and Hanuman for Iraivan. This is the clay model made for the stone elephant hold the globe.

The Hanuman is propped up against a pile of stones and has four silpis working on it at a time.

Here the silpi is working on the leg of the stone elephant.

Another view of Hanuman in progress.

This is the clay model of Hanuman. In his raised left hand will sit a marble version of Iraivan temple.

Not everything at this worksite was “chip, chip, chip.” This giant rock saw was cutting the slabs into neat pieces with ease.

The carving site had this field of Siva Lingams near the entrance.

Now we’re back in Chennai for two days of meetings. This is Nellaiappan, our liaison officer for Chennai and his wife, along with son-in-law and granddaughter.

This is Selvanathan Sthapati, who is assisting with various aspects of Iraivan temple along with his family and two of the silpis coming to Kauai in the next batch.

Jiva Rajasankara, wife, sons and daughters-in-law.

Pethuraja family has come all the way from Rajapalayam.

This is the entire Yuva Kendra of Chennai Chinmaya Mission, some 35 youth let by Prasanna. We had an 1.5 hour discussion on the marvelous programs of the Chinmaya Mission. Bodhinatha remarked that the Mission had achieved “critical mass” with regard to their youth programs. Their two-year service program for youth was possible because they had enough centers and teachers. The youth would go for four to five months training, then serve in one center or another for the next 15 or 16 months. One after another testified how the experience had completely changed their lives, making them aware of themselves as a spiritual being with a spiritual purpose. Asked if they had come into the mission because of their parents, they replied, “It was the other way around,” meaning that their parents joined the mission after the youth became involved. It was a very encouraging meeting, showing that the Hindu youth of India have the potential to develop into a powerful spiritual force in their own right.

S. Rajam meets with Bodhinatha. He’s 81 years old and going strong. He has contributed a great deal of art to our publications over the years, including each cover of Gurudeva’s Master Course trilogy.

Gunalan family arrives. Here the two older daughters sing for Bodhinatha.

Gunalan brought his set of Tiruvadi for Bodhinatha to bless.

Here’s the whole family.

Adi Sankara and Anjeeni. Adi is taken graduate training in music for six more months before returning to Mauritius. He sang Natchintanai for Bodhinatha.

We had a two hour meeting with a group of historians and Indian academics brought together by Dr. Kalyanaraman of the Sarasvati Research Centre, Chennai. It was a lively meeting on issues of Indian history.

The ancient mountain range of Kauai, ever fascinating and changing…

Back home on Kauai, he silpis posed for this photo of them setting the tops of the Tara Pillars. We will make some giant copies and send them home to their families. It’s cool clear on Kauai and our silpis are full of happy smiles.