The big news is that Bodhinatha is off to Malaysia for the “Gurudeva’s Essential Teachings” Himalayan Academy Study Retreat. Here we are stepping back two days ago to the first day of our retreat when Bodhinatha departed for the airport.

Sannyasin Yoginathaswami and Yogi Japendranatha are going with Bodhinatha on the mission.

Here is Yogi Japendranatha with the study materials he prepared. Though the away team did not take computers, Yogi managed a quick note from an internet cafe in Taipei, saying they enjoyed a good rest overnight in Honolulu then a loooong flight to Taipei and another overnight there. They were waiting for their flight to KL and Bodhinatha was busy making brainstorming notes… Now, as we write they should be arriving in Malaysia any moment.

All the monks gather to bid the team farewell. It is a retreat day and many of the monks are dressed in their “greens.” (work clothes) and are outside working on carpentry, landscaping and enjoying the beautiful sunny weather.

Muruganathaswami (left) handles travel arrangements… Final check: “Passports? Boarding Passes? All Set?”

We will update you on the progress of the study retreat in the days to come.

Back up to the moment… today was Sun One. Saravananathaswami performs the homa.

Paramacharya Palaniswami presides and burns all the prayers…

The monks in alert attention…

Palaniswami shared with everyone the details of Bodhinatha’s teaching program… It’s great to see Himalayan Academy’s educational programs coming to life in such a dynamic way….

For several years, Shankar Nathan, a Kauai resident who is a budding new film producer, has been working on a documentary film for the Iraivan temple. This is a great contribution to the helping build up the “awareness” level of the Iraivan temple. In it he has wonderful interviews with Gurudeva and architect V. Ganapati Sthapati and others, and dramatic computer graphics which explore the meaning of major elements of the structure.

Shankar’s “editorial angle” is to focus on South Indian architecture as the over-riding theme. With this as the dominant concept, the 45-minute documentary can make its way into the mainstream, and thereby broaden the global awareness of this amazing project in the middle of the Pacific. It is Shankar’s intention to enter the film in several film festivals, and to have it played on educational TV to inform the world about this profound vision of God’s home on the Earth.

He is in India today with his family, but just before departing he completed the final editing and presented it to the monastery, with a big smile on his face. While in India the past few weeks, he has been working hard on the web site and distribution, as well as on designs for marketing, press releases and such. This morning he sent us a note to announce that a “movie trailer” to showcase the DVD is now available. We highly recommend, even if you have a slow modem connection, that you download the trailer to your hard drive and then watch it. There is a low-res and a high-res version online. This mini-movie, less than a minute long, will give you a good sense of his documentary, which may be the first ever to reveal the mystical science of South Indian temple building which Iraivan represents.

Don’t miss it and watch for more coming announcements about where to get the DVD when it is finally released for public distribution early next year. Those who are doing fund raising for Iraivan will want to make a point to explore all the links on the site and start giving some thought on how to put this excellent resource to work in your community.

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www.islandfolks.com | www.iraivan.org
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Shankar, we all thank you for the incredible time and sacrifices you have made to get this done. May the Lord of Iraivan send all His blessings for the future success of Island Folks Media Productions!

Gokul and Priyanka continue their pilgrimage here at Kauai Aadheenam. Gokul attended the morning 6am homa and expressed that he thoroughly enjoyed it. They returned later this morning and walked the grounds, visiting the swayambhu lingam.

As we expected the flow of pilgrims taking the holiday season opportunity to come to Kauai is rising…

Prabhakaran, his wife and daughter, Kritikka, were among our guests today visiting from San Jose in California. When asked what do you like most about this place Kritikka answered “The big statues”.

Kamesh and his wife along with their children Rishi and Ramaa were also visiting Kauai and decided to pay us a visit. They are here from San Jose as well.,

Bimal & Grishma Patel with their children Kanishka and Mayher stand in front of the towering Dhaksinamurthi. Visiting from California it was their first time to our monastery.

The carpentry shop was humming over the retreat with at least 4 projects in the works: Sadhaka Dandapani is upgrading some storage space for the pujaris in Kadavul Temple, Sadhaka Jivanandanatha is making a desk that wil
l accommodate both himself and Bodhinatha when they work together, Sivakatirswami is working on a cabinet for one of the monastic living areas and Kumarswami is helping everyone learn how to use all the tools.

Kumarswami has been spearheading the recycling of many trees that may have had to be cut down, both on and off our property. Rather than just let them go to waste, he has been getting them milled and stacked up. We finally pulled in quite a bit of lumber from the stacks that was dry enough to use, We find that this Java Plum, while providing not much long clear board feet, is really a very incredibly beautiful wood for small scale projects.