Speaking of Himalayan Academy, Bodhinatha is putting new prana into the educational side of life with the recent Academy study retreat in Malaysia. He just returned home earlier today after a long trip from Malaysia, via Taipei. Everyone on the team is fine, though a bit tired.

Here we are on Day One of the retreat, the late afternoon, of December 22nd

The first session on the retreat was on Temple Worship, presented by Satguru and Yoginathaswami. Two other workshops then followed, one for teachers and a separate one for newcomers.

Today was Sun One, with our scintillating morning homa as usual. Sadhaka Jivanandanatha performed the rites.

Our prayers go out to all those throughout the coastlands of the Indian Ocean who bore the onslaught of Mother Earth releasing stress in the Indian Ocean.

We are currently vetting relief organizations and will shortly post those we feel will make the best use of funds from those who would like to contribute to the massive relief efforts that will be required to restore these communities, with a special focus on Sri Lanka, which has seen the worst damage of all.

The retreat venue in Malaysia had no phones in the rooms, so reports are only now flowing in from our reporter in Malaysia, Mohana Kandasamy. She writes:

“The Malaysian Devotees organized A 5-day Himalayan Academy Study Retreat from the 22nd to 26th of December 2004. At the Teluk Batik Resort, Perak With Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

The focus of the retreat was “The Essential Teachings of Gurudeva”. Eighty participants from Singapore and different states of Malaysia participated in this retreat.

Participants waiting in Kuala Lumpur, to board the bus to Teluk Batik.

Mountain view on the way to Teluk Batik

The journey took almost 5 hours..It was lunch time when we reached Teluk Batik.

A small shrine was set up in the Hall.

First in agenda, Ganesha puja by Yogi Japendranatha.

Participants look on as the puja is done.

Retreat overview and briefing was given by Aravind Raj.

After the teaching sessions (see today’s lead photo of Bodhinatha above) sishya take the opportunity to have dinner with our Satguru.

Participants Amutha Muniandy, Gowri Nadason, Aruna and Ahila Ganesan.

Meanwhile we are stepping back in time to Mauritius where Pancha Ganapati is taking on new dimensions.

Rajen Manick reports:

With the approval and Blessings of Satguru Bodhinatha, Pancha Ganapati was celebrated in a wonderful way at the Spiritual Park on December 23.

Many youth and students joined the members at Ganesha Mandapam in the morning for decorations, helping to inflate colorful balloons which were being hung on the wooden pillars… Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati was superbly dressed in red, the shakti color of that day.

One young lady was so inspired by the festival that she painted a new banner for that day. Using leaf designs she painted a beautiful Ganesha on red satin.

The Ganesha Mandapam was full of devotees, mainly youth from different areas of the island.

Sivarathna, 10 years, brother of Jambalini entertained everyone with a solo classical performance on the mrdangam.

After an arthi to Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati, the next activity was a short cultural show with only the youth performing. Here is Jambalini Manick, 8 years old, performing a Bharat Natyam dance on Lord Ganesha.

Padmasree Ramsamy, daughter of member Parmeswaran Ramsamy of Henrietta, sang a very beautiful carnatic song on Ganapati. She was accompanied by Sivarathna on the mrdangam.

The last item were two songs sung by some very young students taking music classes under the guidance of Adi Sankara.

The big event of the day was the Ganesha treasure hunt very much looked forward by the youth who had participated in previous years. The were some 87 youth who attended and they were divided into five teams representing each one of the shakti colors of Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati: yellow, blue red, green and orange.

Here is Team Red with their red flag.

Each team had their large flag with a Ganesha drawn on it. The treasure hunt was a little more complicated this year: each team had to obtain five clues that they had to put together in the end to find out a hidden Ganesha icon.

To get these clues, participants in each team had to undergo various challenging physical, intellectual and spiritual tasks all based on Gurudeva’s teachings.

You would see even the older youth and adults running up and down the property to see how the teams were struggling to find the hidden Ganesha.

The Yellow Team…

No competitive spirit, but real fun with each team winning in the end!

After the Ganesha Treasure Hunt, all guests were served a special meal. Our youth coordinators had a nice experience with the younger ones.

Children of the membership… they know every nook and corners of the Park and can be professional guides to visitors of the Spiritual Park in future.

All youth participants were each given a gift on that day. Everyone went home tired, but really happy having participated in this Ganapati event. Next year Pancha Ganapati will be another big event again for a larger number of youth in Mauritius!

On the first day of the retreat it was both Pancha Ganapati and Iraivan day. Paramacharya Palaniswami presented the silpis with gifts….

Here we see they are working on the top of one of the side gopurams we call a “Chinna Gopuram” — the “Little” gopurams. But they are not small at all! All the fitting is being done at ground level first, as there is no option for moving and fitting the stones up in the air after the are placed later one.

Meanwhile the news at the Aadheenam is all about holiday guests. We estimate that since December 20, we have had up to 600 pilgrims and visitors, triple the amount we had last year… It hasn’t been possible for our two hosts, Sadhaka Dandapani and Sannyasin Saravananathaswami to get the names and details of every family…

Outdoor personal abhishekam of the Narmada Lingam is always a special moment for our pilgrims.

Lifetime Hinduism Today subscriber Dr. Shanmugam Lakshmanan from Illinois visited again with his wife two years after his previous visit, this time bringing his two daughters and granddaughter Ramya for the first time. They had a great time seeing the updated work on Iraivan Temple and little Ramya really enjoyed trying to carve a stone!

“On the rock!” another big hit, with people putting in their initials, or making little aums…

Circumambulating Dakshinamurthi

Many young couples have come to Hawaii for their holiday vacation….

Our pilgrims of nine days. …. worshipping Siva, just hours before going back to Detroit. Amma wants to move to Kauai, “it’s heaven here!”

Raj and Rina Agarwal were among our many Hindu guests this morning.

Rina had been here before about 10 years ago and today returned with her husband.

Here they are hugging a sacred rudraksha tree.

Another couple…

With university out of session, its a time for the family to be together for quality time…

Sooth your heart buy hugging a rudraksha tree.