We are back after a three-day, full-moon retreat.

Prayers on their way to the inner worlds…

Bodhinatha takes a moment of silence before his morning upadesha.

This quarter’s Hindu Heritage Endowment meeting featured guest Phil Murphy, a planned giving consultant.

Yogi Jivanandanatha opens with a presentation of a report that he prepares and prints out in as a professional 20-page brochure, containing the agenda and fund reports. During the meeting, Phil gave an articulate summary of how Hindu Heritage Endowment can help families to achieve their financial and charitable goals. Watch this two minute video to see how a true expert looks at the ways HHE can help Hindus around the world.

Mr. Murphy shares his thoughts on encouraging people to put the Hindu Heritage Endowment into their planned-giving plans.

Hanalei Bay in the background, one of the world’s prime surfing spots.

After the meeting, the stewards posed with Phil and his wife, Anne, and the Pillaiyar Kulam which planned for days to make the meeting effective. Phil said at the end, “It’s clear to me now how seriously you take the HHE responsibilities, how carefully you review each and every fund and the performance your managers are achieving. Not all fund stewards are this deeply involved.”

The beautiful Hanalei Bay.

It is summer and we have seen a huge increase in visitors and Hindu guests who are coming just to see the temple. This is a big change from years gone by.

Kamlesh and Saryu Patel on vacation from Phoenix, Arizona. Friends urged them to visit this temple while on Kauai, which they did. Following the puja, they stopped by the Mini-Mela to purchase Rudraksha seeds, which grow in the Aadheenam’s sacred Rudraksha forest, and then tour the Iraivan Temple.

Ramesh and Kiran Prasad in front of a sandalwood tree. Ramesh is a Professor of Engineering from New Brunswick, Canada and is here attending a conference.

Prior to attending the first day of the conference, he and his wife chose to attend the 9 a.m. puja, followed by a visit to the Iraivan Temple and gardens. “What a truly wonderful experience this has been,” said Ramesh.

Another Hindu couple from the Bronx, NY, Parbhu and Sucelia “Seeta” Samaroo, visiting the Iraivan Temple for the first time posed for a photo with the silpis.

(R/L) Vellaiasamy, Parbhu, Pandi, Chellaiya, Rajendran, Seeta, and Manikandan. Parbhu and Seeta were visibly moved by their visit here. “This is such a heavenly place,” he shared, “You can feel the energy here; it’s so peaceful!”

In front of Dakshinamurthy and the Four Sages.

Two Tamil Sri Lankan families, originally from Jaffna and now living in Toronto, attended the morning abhishekam. Later they were taken down San Marga and toured the Iraivan Temple and grounds. They were delighted to note that some species of heliconia, plants and trees also grow in Sri Lanka.

This is the sacred Swayambu Lingam where Gurudeva had experienced his threefold vision of God Siva.

J. Savandranaryagam with wife Nalayini and son Arunan. As well as Navasakthy, Myuran, and Krithiga Palasandiran, and Kokulan Mahadeva in the entrance of the Iraivan Temple. “What a glorious Siva Temple this is!” said Nalayini. “It’s beautiful.”

Her 97-year-old grandfather had known Gurudeva and had visited the Kauai Aadheenam many years ago. “He insisted that we come here. He loved this sacred place,” she said. “And we are so happy we came.”

Two Tamil families arrived today. On the left is Vaidyaraman and Anupama Muthukumar from Oahu. Vaidyaraman is the Medical Director of the Pain Clinic at the Tripler Military Hospital. The other family is from Fremont, California. Krishna Kumar with daughter Nandita (2) and his in-laws Balaraman and Jaya. Krishna Kumar is a software engineer. All are originally from Chennai.

Both families felt “so blessed to be here.”

Padmapriya and Parameshwaran with 2-yr -old daughter, Kaachana Lakshmi and grandparents, Gopal and Meenakshi, also from Tamil Nadu and now living in Cupertino, CA. Padmapriya was here last December with her husband and was astonished today to see that all the pillars were in place.

She was moved by the Pancha Naga banyan tree and noted with interest that the five nagas represent the five forms of Siva; Sadyojata the creator, Vamadeva the preserver, Agora the destroyer, Tatpurusa the veiler and Isana the revealer.