Partab and Chandra Ramsingani from California are here on their 40th wedding anniversary with their daughters and their families. Bodhinatha presents them with a shawl.

Shanthi Aribindi, her parents and daughter are here on pilgrimage from Illinois. Shanthi came prepared for her meeting with Bodhinatha with lots of well thought of questions bringing some wonderful answers out of Bodhinatha.

The new Minimela building permits have finally been approved after nearly two years! Hurray!

This slide show has the story.

Today we depart Rameshvaram for the Uttaramangkosai temple and then on to Tuticorin.

A view of the Ramanathaswamy temple from hotel at dawn.

Ready to depart our hotel in Rameswaram.

The view from the Indira Gandhi bridge of a fishing village in Rameswaram.

Our buses stop briefly on the Indira Gandhi bridge to get a nice view of Rameswaram island.

Today we leave Rameswaram for a brief stop at the Uttarakosamangai temple and then onto Tuticorin for lunch and onwards to Tiruchendur. A long day of travel ahead.

The Uttarakosamangai temple in the distance.

After an hour and a half of travel we arrive at the temple.

Bodhinatha poses in front of the very colourful raja gopuram.

This very old temple houses a 5-foot tall jade Nataraja.

Making our way through the massive entrance.

Parading around the temple premises.

Another amazing feature of this temple is that it is also home to a 3,000 year old sacred tree.

After our visit to this wonderful temple we get back on the bus for the drive to Tuticorin.

We arrive at Sathya resorts where a sumptous meal has been prepared for us.

Yummy!

No more, please!

Mr and Mrs Shivaji visiting from Iowa. They are members of the Transcendental Meditation movement and teach at the Vedic University in Iowa. They are from Chennai originally and were struck by the beauty of the Lord Nataraja deity in Kadavul Temple.

We continue with the last series of photos from the well bathing ceremony at the holy temple of Rameshwaram.

Bodhinatha at the 2nd last well.

Bodhinatha after having completed the 22 wells.

Shivani Rajan at the last well.

The sign at the back says “This kodi theertham is equivalent to holy ganga water”

The resident temple elephant.

Blessing the pilgrims.

Thomas Kelly, our photographer, is being blessed. Who’s taking the photo?

The Ramanathaswamy temple is filled with pilgrims from all over India.

And life outside the temple walls are busy and filled with colour.

Lotus flowers waiting to be bought.

The streets around the temple are filled with vendors.

Selling everything you want and don’t want to buy.

And, of course, the ever-popular chai and vadai stall. It wouldn’t be India without it!

Bodhinatha arrived home from Arkansas this afternoon with Senthilnathaswami.

Here we present some news of his activities in Arkansas

Bodhinatha was invited by the president of the Hindu Students Council at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Mr. Jiger Patel. The MILAAP Banquet: A Dialogue for Interreligious Friendship, was co-hosted by the Hindu Students Council and the Muslimas of Uark. Bodhinatha and a respected Muslim speaker spoke to an audience of about 150 about the relationship of Hindus and Muslims to people of other faiths, and answered questions from the group.

We arrived at the event early. Mr. and Mrs. Bhandari greeted Bodhinatha and asked him some questions about Kauai Aadheenam.

Here is Mr. Azam Nizamuddin, a Muslim American of Indian descent. He is an attorney in Chicago, and also a Muslim theologian, a professor of world religions and Islam. A very sharp, intelligent man, he and Bodhinatha enjoyed speaking with each other about the status of Muslims and Hindus in America before the event began.

Mr. Dan Coody, the honorable mayor of Fayetteville, was there to warmly welcome Bodhinatha and Mr. Nizamuddin. He was most interested in the dialog.

Jiger Patel, a graduate student at the university’s business school, introduced the event and its purpose: to clear misconceptions about Muslims and Hindus, and promote religious tolerance and peace amongst people of varying faiths.

Here is Amen Ismail, president of Muslimas of Uark and secretary of Hindu Students Council at Uark. She made the very strong point that bringing people closer together is important and that we shouldn’t base our relationships on what other people tell us. Muslims and Hindus don’t form relationships with each other because they’ve been told not to. This naturally breeds misunderstandings and contempt, and it need not at all be the case. When Hindus and Muslims, especially those from the same land, such as India, come together, they find that they have a lot in common culturally and socially, and that their differences in faith don’t have to be cause for dissociation. Since coming to the university, Amen has come in close contact with people of other religions. Today, Amen’s two best friends are Hindus.

Bodhinatha spoke to the group on a wide variety of topics. He quoted from Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, who spoke of the role that religion plays in the world, the universal values they hold dear, the darkness of religious extremism and the unfortunate role that religion sometimes plays in nationalism. Bodhinatha encouraged moderate voices to come forward more aggressively to counterbalance the extreme voices that advocate intolerance and violence. He spoke of the importance of intra-religious harmony as a prerequisite for inter-religious harmony, the success of interfaith dialogues around the world, the importance of dispelling misconceptions about our religions so that others may understand them correctly, the failures of the we-they perspective and the significance of developing a prejudice-free consciousness in young people. Mr. Nizamuddin also gave a wide-ranging talk. He encouraged Muslims to study a little about other faiths so that they can understand them in a positive light, One of his main points was that the conflicts between groups in India–and elsewhere around the world, for that matter–which are put forward as religious conflicts, are really political conflicts that have nothing to do with religious differences at all. Azam encapsulated Islam’s structure and basic beliefs and brought forward the words of Islamic scriptures and saints which have propounded character building, coming closer to God and resolving conflicts as essential tenets of the practice of his faith. He spoke cogently about how Islam has been distorted by political militants into appearing to be a religion that sanctions hate and retaliation.

After the main talks, Bodhinatha and Mr. Nizamuddin took the stage together to answer questions from the audience. Here, a young Christian cited Biblical verses that warrant violence and asks the two speakers to shed light on what scriptural references in their respective religions, if any, sanction violence.

All the questions were pointed, and the answers clear.

The agreement between our two speakers was abundantly evident. Certainly nobody in the audience had ever witnessed such a dialog. It was, for many, both educational and motivational. Hopefully this meeting will set an example for others to follow so that communities across the United States and the globe can come to understand the moderate perspectives within the faiths of Hinduism, Islam and others, and the respect and harmony that is possible between the faithful.

Right to left: Jiger Patel, Azam Nizamuddin, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, Sannyasin Senthilnathaswami, Amen Ismail, Tanvi Chowdhary and additional members of the Hindu Students Council who helped organize the event.

ON the retreat we took our silpis on their monthly outing.

This time off to the North Shore with is many fantastic shoreline features….

The ocean is calm today…

Brahmacharini Shama Kumaran hosted some vistors over the retreat and brings us these photos and captions.

Ariaratnama Gopikrishna and his wife Uma are both originally from Sri Lanka. Ariaratnama lived close to Nallur Temple. His father, grandfather, and uncle all knew St. Yogaswami. Uma lived with her family in Jaffna. They both now live in New York where Ariaratman has a cardiology practice.

Scott Miller and Sharon Rose are members of Paramahamsa Yoganathaswami’s Self Realization Fellowship in California. They heard about our temple from relatives who follow Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Switzerland. Scott observed that he felt the sacredness of the temple here as soon as he stepped onto the property. “Its very powerful here” he said.

Our visitors from New York deliberately took a side trip to make a pilgrimage to the Kauai Aadheenam on their return journey home from a family wedding in Melbourne, Australia.

Here are Ariaratnama and Uma outside the Kadavul Siva Temple with Saravananathaswami following the morning puja.

Sacramento, California. The Hindu Svayamsevak Sangh invited Kulapati Easan Katir and Kulamata Sundari Katir to discuss resources available for Hindu families: ( 1 ) Lord Ganesha in his temples, the great psychiatrist and healer for all Hindus; ( 2 ) the many online resources available through internet, email, podcast, YouTube, Skype, Twitter, AOL IM, and Yahoo IM; and ( 3 ) the greatest resource, even if there is no nearby temple or broadband access, that is the spiritual power within one’s spine where the soul discovers Divinity within. A lively Q & A session followed, centering around integrating Hindu Dharma with American life.

Palaniswami gets his blessing at one of the 27 wells of Ramesvaram. The indepth series will continue tomorrow.

Years ago Gurudeva commissioned the monks to set a retail outlet to sell his books and to help American Hindus have access to all the finest religious and cultural artifacts from to enhance their home, home shrine and spiritual life.

We normally don’t do marketing on TAKA but when something really incredible arrives from India we like to give our TAKA viewers “first buy option.” These these two semi-precious stone Ganeshas are for sale. Anyone interested should email minimela@hindu.org right away to get prices and “lock down” their order before these go before the public.

Here we have a Rose Quartz Ganesha from Anil Gupta in Haridwar India. This Ganesha is 10 inches tall and 6 inches wide and weighs about 14 pounds. Absolutely stunning!

Another view of the same….

Lapis Lazuli Ganesha from Anil in India. This one is about 12 inches tall and weighs 18 lbs.

A view from the left

A view from the right

A view from the back showing how detailed and amazing these Ganeshas are.

Vir Amarjit Singh and his wife Harkiran have lived in Honolulu for 15 years but only visited us for the first time a few days ago. He is a professor at the University of Hawaii. They both asked some wonderful philosophical questions of Bodhinatha, making very good use of their darshan with him.

~~~~~~~

Now, take a deep breath and don’t be in a hurry, we are trying to make up for our one day off line so 50 photos follow!

These flowers were sponsored by Selvanathan Jothiswarar and family from Ulu Behrang, Perak, Malaysia. This is an on-going sponsorship for garlands for the temple deities in the memory of his late wife Tirumati Rani Jothiswarar. Mikka Nandri! Thank you very much!

These are “Thai orchids” from our local flower shop.

The garlands are made with strings made out of long fibers from the inner layer of the banana plant.

By not using any man made material, we were able to compost the garlands in our Annapurna garden after they have been removed from the deities.

The weaving has begun.

Finished garland

These garlands will adorn Lord Nataraja in the Kadavul Temple.

Kumu Kamakanika’ilialoha Santos brought a portion of her Hula Halau to Kauai for a Spiritual Hula Retreat. Twenty-one students and assistants, ages ranging from 5 years to 49 years. All are originally from the Hawaiian Islands and now live in Fremont, California.

They wore uniform outfits with “Na Mamo O Ke Anvenue A Kamakani” printed on their shirts. Aunty Punna Kalamu Dawson, who is well known to the Aadeenam, was the Kauai Hostess along with Gus Baldorama and Olana Flores.

After visiting the Iraivan Temple, Aunty Punna and Olana Flores brought out their ukulales and our visiting Hula Halau began a beautiful Hawaiian dance in front of the silpis. This unexpected moment caught them all by surprise as they gathered to watch the dancers from their roof-top position, applauding and graciously thanking them for this unexpected break in an otherwise routine morning’s work.

Here is two year old Jessalyn with her dad, too young to perform; she makes up for it as the cheering section for the Hula Halau.

There were several other visitors on this beautiful Spring day.

Anthony Litwinski, Rector and Jana L. Johnsen, Pastor of the St. James’ Episcopal Church in Waimea, Hawaii (Big Island) are acting as host parents in the “Youth Exchange and Study Program.” They are currently hosting these two young men for one year – (far left) Nabil Chahban, originally from Jordan, he now lives in Morocco. Also Saikat Mitra from Bangladesh. Saikat is a devout Hindu and wished to visit the Hindu Temple on Kauai, which he had heard so much about, so his ‘hosting parents’ graciously brought him to Kauai today.

Also visiting today was Lynn Muramoto (left), Karen Dartley, and Gloria Nakea from the Lawaii International Center which is famous for the eighty-eight Buddhist Shrines on the side of a mountain on the West side of the Island of Kauai.

January 27th, Rameswaram Island: We continue with photos from our evening visit to the famed Ramanathaswamy temple.

We worship at one of the shrines. The Nataraja here is in a shrine covered with rudraksha beads.

After our worship we sit for a while in meditation, as is tradition, in one of the mandapams.

Then we are off to Kailas Ashram.

The group sits silently in meditation.

Today is Jeffrey Thomas’s birthday and Bodhinatha presents him with a shawl and few small gifts. Happy Birthday Jeffrey!

Mayuresh and Arathi Rahavendran in a deep philosophical discussion with Saravananatahswami, at least we think it is.

January 28th: The day we’ve been waiting for. The 22 well bathing in Rameswaram. Here’s Shailesh Trivedi ready to begin this amazing experience.

We all gather outside the hotel.

Innersearchers get blessings from Bodhinatha.

Looks like everyone is here….

Off we go to the first well, which is the ocean.

Aran and Valli Sendan with their grandson, Chidambaram.

The ocean is about a 5-minute walk or so from the temple.

Many pilgrims come from all over India to experience this well-bathing sadhana.

22 wells in total. The first being the ocean itself and the rest are located within the temple.

Bodhinatha offers a small pot of Ganges water into the sea.

And leads the group in to the water.

Worshipping surya before submerging himself in the ocean.

In he goes….

….and appearing again….

Everyone follows his lead.

It truly is a special experience and the group is totally emersed in this sacred ritual.

It is a quiet Sun two at the Aadheenam.

Today we received the good news from South India that four major murthies have been completed by Selvanathan Sthapathi’s team. This is Aghora Siva.

These four will go on the Iraivan tower. This is Satyojata Siva.

Each one will face the traditional direction. This is Tatpurusha Siva.

Thus protecting the temple and radiating Siva’s Infinite Blessings in all directions to uplift and illumine the world. These will be shipped to Kauai in the months ahead. This form is Vamadeva Siva.

We continue with our series of photos from our 2008 Asian Odyssey. 27 January, Rameswaram island: After our visit to the Gandamadana Parvatham we board our buses and head off to the Kothandaraswamy temple.

The temple is located about 6kms before Dhanushkodi, which is at the tip of the island.

We arrive on this very remote location on the island.

The Kothandaraswamy temple. Legend has it that Rama, overcome with guilt at having killed Ravana, performed a puja on this spot and thereafter the temple was built.

After worshipping at the temple some of the group dip their feet in the water and try their hand at blowing a conch. It’s very hot out here.

Saravananathaswami leads a small group of explorers to a distant sand bank out at sea.

It’s a long walks away…..

Shailesh gives young Ruby a helping hand.

Arumugaswami and Shanmuganathaswami take a break in the shade of the temple.

It’s almost noon and we get back on the bus to our hotel to begin the check in process.

Our luggage lorry has arrived safely. Yay!

We form a very efficient chain to begin the unloading of the luggage.

The rest of the group heads off to their respective hotels which are located right next to the temple.

Our group have become experts at working together in moving luggage.

We walk to Kailas ashram which is only a few minutes away.

Waiting in the hotel lobby for our visit to Kailas Ashram.

The temple is only a minute walk from our hotel front door.

An arathi is performed by the priest to goddess Sri Rajarajeswari.

Sri Jeyandrapuriswami of Bangalore is kind enough again to let us use his premises in Rameswaram and we enjoy our delicious meals at this very beautifully kept ashram.

Early afternoon we make our first visit to the temple..

Bodhinatha is greeted by the temple priest and the group is taken on a walk along the inner corridors of this temple.

To say that these endless corridors are magnificent would be an understatement.

On the left is Radhakrishnamurthy and Sulochana Bhandaru from the east coast of US. They last visited about eleven years ago and fondly recalled meeting Gurudeva at that time and walking on the San Marga path.

Here are Shivaram and Kiran Kalugotta with their son Vishnu and daughter Gowri from St Louis, Missouri. Kiran has been studying the Master Course lessons on email. Vishnu asked good questions about the necessity of temples and how to see God.

Brahmacharini Shama took both families to the temple, she writes:

Radhakrishnamurthy and Sulochana Bhandaru (on right). Both undertook research in heart disease at Louisiana State University in the 60’s and 70’s. She went on to become a physician in obstetrics and he taught biochemistry in Graduate School at LSU. Radhakrishnamurthy was also an avid reader of the “New Saivite World” in 1970 (now known as “Hinduism Today” – which he continues to subscribe to). He sought Gurudeva’s help while involved in his local Hindu Temple Society and recieved Gurudeva’s darshan when he came to visit in 1977.

Beside them are Shivaram Kalugotla with his wife Kiran and their two wonderful children Vishnu and Gowri from St. Louis, MO. They also subscribe to Hinduism Today. Both families attended the morning puja, toured the Iraivan Temple, and were then blessed to receive the darshan of Sat Siva Guru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

We started our new phase with early morning Chitra Puja after a dynamic 3-day full moon retreat.

Bodhinatha has just come home but leaves for Mauritius and possibly South Africa in a few days…

Sadhaka Tejadevanatha is our pujari today.

Here at the aadheenam, we recently honored the Mahasamadhi of Satguru Siva Yogaswami. (1872 – 1964) and share a few photos and thoughts for you today.

To that salient soul of Jaffna, the sage who fearlessly moved the forces of the world and yet lived totally within the center of his very being, remaining completely summa all the while, we owe our immeasurable gratitude and ceaseless praise.

Aum Sri Satguru Siva Yogaswamine Namah!

“You and I are one. Eternal bliss is already acquired.”

The venerable Natha held Truth in the palm of his hand, spreading love and knowledge of Siva.

“Let the lamp light of the Guru be used to light your heart, and when you see yourself as others see you, and also see within you the light of God radiating its rays, then will you gradually begin to see the real Self in you.”

Our great Yogaswami

Yogaswami told his devotees to know thy Self by thyself, to go in and in and in, to see God as all, and to love all and despise none.

“I am with you always. You are God. God is with you.”

“There is nothing to know. Remain summa.”

Today we received a report from Babu, the manager of the Siva Yogaswami orphanage for boys in Sri Lanka. He sent a few photos, including this one of the boys in meditation, working to go within just like Yogaswami did. Babu writes:

Vannakkam
Humble salutation to the lotus feet Yogar Swamigal Gurupooja was celebrated at Gurukulam on 18th March. Several programmes added to highlight this events.
The children and devotees joined together and took part the message to the children was that swami’s attitude to life.
 Noting lost noting gained; we know not; who knows; Fear not; All is Truth; It was accomplished long ago; Be still (Summa Iru) In short he sought to teach us through the Natchinthanai that God is absolute Truth and in God s Kingdom  the Kingdom of Truth   there can be no intrinsic evil or ill will.

The photo is of our offering to the great guru. Yogar Swamigal will always remain fragrant and treasured in our memory. He strode the spiritual scene like a colossus radiating love and peace and exhorting the people to lead a dharmic life.
Yours truly,
Babu

Dushyanthan & Krishni Wignarajah with their daughter Anjali and twin sons Sailesh and Neel visited Kauai Aadheenam for the first time, from California. Krishi grew up in Edmonton, Canada and met Gurudeva there when he visited. Her father visited Yogaswami in his hut as a young boy.

They had a wonderful time and look forward to returning.

Carmel Hawn our generous Apple technician and Master Course student brought her extended family for a visit today.

They are from Idaho and it’s a good time for them to be going to warm Hawaii.

Bodhinatha is back again for a short respite from a lot of travel this spring…

The end of the daily Siva puja is always a precious moment when Paramacharya Ceyonswami offers the ball of rice to the sun and the birds and invokes the Grace of Goddess Annapurna. There is some magical peace and harmony between all three worlds and the elemental of the earth and creatures that descends over the Aadheenam at that moment to bless us all.

~~~~~~~~~~~
END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming three-day retreat,
until Dvitiya Tithi, Sun One, Sunday, March 23th.

Jothi Patel and his family were our guests today. They had visited yesterday and were so uplifted that they decided to return today and spend the whole morning here. His 11-year old daughter, Shivani has some deep questions on Hinduism for Palaniswami.

Jothi’s wife, Kalpana and daughter Nikita also listen on.

Here they visit with Sivakatirswami and learn about the production of Hinduism Today.

Palaniswami shares with them our educational literature.

After the Asian Odyssey Innersearch, Aran and Valli Sendan went around India and visited Mumbai. Visiting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, they discovered this carving showing a yogi in the middle and a battle below.

But most interesting is the topmost panel. Here is a sadhu with matted hair worshipping a Sivalingam. That in itself is unremarkable. What is most interesting is the lingam itself. It is a natural Spathika Lingam, an uncut crystal! It is relevant since our own giant crystal lingam will one day be so worshipped here in Iraivan, and in fact the base, shown here, is being crafted in India at this time.

We may never have seen such a depiction, even though it is said in the Agamas that the crystal is the foremost form of the Lingam, which can also be worshipped as a lingam made of clay, wood, metal and stone.

We continue with our journey on the train from Tiruvannamalai to Rameswaram island.

Our group is taking this rare opportunity to really get to know one another.

Thomas has set up his camera in the aisle to capture those special moments.

We arrive at Rameswaram station at 5:15am.

Rickshaws are hired to take some members of the group to the buses which are located outside the station premises.

The rest make their way by foot.

Our buses await us.

6 mini buses in total to transport our group within Rameswaram. Only these small buses fit within the town and on the narrow roads.

We arrive at one of our hotels. Too early to check in but not too early for a nice hot breakfast.

The group gets comfortable and await their turn for breakfast.

Then we are off to our first of three temple visits for the morning.

The first stop is the Floating Rock temple. Our group crowds into this small temple.

A five faced Hanuman statue greets us.

Shivani Rajan.

The floating rock temple has large rocks that float on water in tanks. Legend says that Hanuman used these type of rocks to build a bridge to Lanka.

Thomas Kelly from Kathmandu, Nepal.

Back on the buses and now we are off to the Gandamadana Parvatham. This is Panshula Ganeshan.

Ravi Rahavendran.

We make our way down a narrow lane to the base of the temple.

And up the stairs to the shrine reputedly containing Rama’s footprints.

The priest explains a little about the history of the temple.

Palaniswami.

The two-storey mandapam is on a small hill – the highest point on the island – with good views over the town.

It’s a also a quiet and serene place to go within.

Shanmuganathaswami makes his way to the inner shrine.

Shanmuganathaswami enjoying the beautiful view.

The roof top of the temple.

Saravananathaswami and Aran Veylan.

Our worship we head down to the little market area for some fresh coconut water.

And some shopping too…

Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami are in transit and will return to the Aadheenam tomorrow.

Janakan Krishnarajah from Perth, Australia completes his 3-day pilgrimage to Kauai.

He is the cousin of Sadhaka Dandapani.

It’s his first visit and shared that it was the highlight of his trip to north America.

January 26th, Tiruvannamalai: (Today’s photos are from the camera of Thomas Kelly) After our girivalam we take a little break then head to Kailas Ashram. We are greeted by a band of tavil and nadaswaram players.

The ashram is run by Sri Jeyandrapuriswami who is based in Bangalore. Swami was kind enough to arrange for the group to have lunch at his ashram in Tiruvannamalai. One of his resident monks greet us.

And performs an arathi to Sri Tiruchy Mahaswamigal, founder of Kailas ashram.

Devi Marks engages with a group of local children at the ashram.

Thank you Sri Jeyandrapuriswami for your kindness in letting us use your premises. It was most helpful.

After lunch it is time to check out of the hotel. Some bags are loaded into auto rickshaws and driven to our bus meeting point.

Today’s series features one of the truly fun and memorable experiences of travel in India “The Great Nite Time Train Ride!”

It is probably the toughest coordination day on the trip. The group is split into three hotels across Tiruvannamalai and we all must gather by the temple to board our buses at the same time.

The bags, more than a hundred pieces, are loaded into a luggage truck or lorry as they say in India and will be driven directly to Rameswaram, our next destination. And all the Innersearchers will go by bus from here to Villupuram Junction to board an overnight train to Rameswaram.

Luggage and participants will, if all goes well, meet up again in Rameswaram at 5:15am.

Arumugaswami is full of smiles, amazed that all is going “as planned”.

Our coordination team hashing out all the little details to make this big move work smoothly.

Saravananathaswami oversees the loading of all the luggage. The last suitcase gets into the lorry.

Ok, we are ready to close the door and send this lorry to Rameswaram. Pray for your luggage!

Few more phone calls to make sure everything is lined up at out next port of call.

We’re off to Villupuram junction.

We arrive at Villupuram Junction and gather outside the railway station. The sun is setting.

Our team of volunteers help unload all the food parcels from the bus.

Dinner packs are then handed out to everyone.

The parking lot of the Villupuram Junction station has temporarily become an Innersearch take-away diner.

Bodhinatha leads the way to the tracks, stopping briefly to say hello to Sivani and her father, Shankar.

Off to our platform.

Our train is yet to arrive.

The station is noisy and chaotic and we start the process of handing out tickets.

Names are called out with seating assignments.

“Bodhinatha, here’s your seating number”.

Our train arrives and we have about 10 minutes to get ourselves and some of our parcels of food onboard. We have an extremely helpful and efficient group of Innersearchers that we are onboard with plenty of time to spare.

All aboard!

Saravananathaswami is last to board making sure no one is left behind.

We all find our seats and get situated for the overnight ride to Rameswaram.

Time for dinner and lots of fun conversations and games. It is a special night and everyone enjoys being in the company of one another.

At home today it was Ashram Sadhana and all the monks were working on cleaning all morning.

In Malaysia Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathswami met with devotees, the Iraivan fund raising team and Dato Vaitilingam of Malaysia Hindu Sangam, our printer there, Sampoorna Printer. Shanmuganathswami is working to set up an official distribution center in Kuala Lumpur. They also paid the Divine Life Society a courtesy call to Swami Guhabhaktananda and then had evening satsang at Kulapati Guhan Sivalingam’s home.

Peppermint Anthurium is one of the showstoppers along the temple path, looking uncannily like someone spattered red paint on a white canvas.

This is an exhibition tent where visitors can get acquainted with the temple project.

It’s called the Banyan Mandapam, because a giant one-million-year-old banyan is nearby (OK, not quite that old, but really big).

Saint Thiruvalluvar greets visitors at the entrance.

And the mighty Lord Ganesha plays a welcoming drum.

There is a lifesize painting of Gurudeva, to let people know the great soul who founded Kauai’s Hindu Monastery.

Displays of the carving, quarrying, and such are all around.

They tell the story of Iraivan.

Nearby is a sandalwood model of how the finished temple will look,.

Behind is our Mini Mela where Gurudeva’s books and teachings are available, along with sacred artifacts. Just today a crew is here working on the foundation for our new Information Center/Mini-Mela.`

Horticulturalist Marty Fernandez came today, and was photographed next to one of our newest residents, the world’s largest Alocasia, which Palaniswami got from the Filipines. It grows BIG, this one is just 6 months old!

January 26th: We continue our coverage of the 2008 Asian Odyssey. It’s 4:30am and Innersearchers gather in the hotel restaurant for some tea and coffee before departing to the temple.

Arunachaleswarar temple is absolutely beautiful with its magnificent gopuram.

Today we will be performing the girivalam (hill circumambulation) around the holy Arunachala hill. We gather at the Muruga shrine at 5am to invoke His blessings and strength to perform this nearly 16km walk.

Everybody joins in for this sacred walk led by Bodhinatha

Around the hill are 8 lingams and we stop at each one to worship.

Saravananathaswami and Thurai Rajasankara

Thomas Kelly, our photographer, walks ahead to be in a good position to capture this sacred event.

Here’s a map showing the location of the 8 lingams

Another lingam stop.

This is the Niruthi Lingam shrine.

Bhavani Param poses for a photo with Palaniswami.

Prem Chandiramani from Grenada takes a break with Bodhinatha.

Lots of sadhus live around the holy Arunachala hill. It is so wonderful to see.

Going through a narrow and low doorway to enter one of the eight lingam shrines.

One of the swamis that live in this area recognises Bodhinatha and comes up to say hello.

Palaniswami takes a short break in the shade.

We continue on our walk with the holy Arunachala hill always at our center.

“O Arunachala! Having given up external objects
and having meditated upon You within
by a mind restrained by the restrained breath,
the yogi sees the light. They are exalted in You”
– Ramana Maharshi

We arrive back at the temple a few hours later successfully having completed our girivalam and worship of Arunachala!

Brief reports from Bodhinatha:

“Saturday evening seminar had a good attendance for Singapore of about 100 individuals. Sunday morning flight to Kuala Lumpur met by a few members, others busy setting up the evening seminar.

“Seminar on What is Hinduism Session #2 at the Kalamandapam of the Scott’s Road Murugan Temple. Attendance about 350-400 guestimate. Some good questions from the group as well were answered. Quite a few books sold and signed.”

One interesting note from Malaysia. In order to allow the entire audience of nearly 400 to see Bodhinatha’s Keynote presentation, a second screen was set up in the hall and his presentation played on both screens at the same time, thanks the innovative thinking of Saravana Kuppusamy who installed Bodhinatha’s presentation on his Mac, hooked it up to a second projector and clicked through the slides as Bodhinatha gave the seminar. We will probably be getting some photos in the days ahead…

On the left is mother and son, Pabitra Choudhury and Sumanta Bhattacharya from Kolata India. While on their way sightseeing to a local waterfalls, they totally lost their way and found themselves in front of the sign near the rudraksha forest redirecting them to the Siva Temple. Sumanta felt very strongly that it was the Will of the Gods that brought them here today since they had no idea there was a Hindu Temple on Kauai!

Swamy Nagubadi, his wife Sandhya, their daughter Navya (age 8), and grandmother all visiting from Chicago on the recommendation of Sandhya’s sitar teacher. Sandhya read more On-line and was determined to pilgrimage here with her family. She was moved by “the spiritual energy and vibrations of this sacred place, that is so far from India, and yet holds up the culture and ideals of the Hindu beliefs so perfectly.”

Swamy Nagubadi with little Navya (who was absolutely delighted to pet the temple cats); her mother Sandhya, and grandmother on the people-mover.

Vellaisamy one of our great artistic silpis, greets our visitors from the temple rooftop where the silpis are busy fitting and sizing shade stones on the Western side of the Iraivan Temple.

Spring is in the air and the ground is carpeted with beautiful Blue Jade blossoms which are now cascading throughout the trees along the path to the Iraivan Temple.

We continue our coverage of the 2008 Asian Odyssey. January 25th: Early afternoon the group gathered by the temple and we start our walk towards Arunachala hill.

We pass a group of sadhus gathering wood.

The first part of the climb is through a small village. How blessed are these people to live at Arunachala’s feet.

The climb is streneous and Thomas takes a break. It is not easy carrying all that camera equipment and he is in very good shape, being one of the first to reach our destination on the hill.

Some parts are a little steep and Selvon gets a helping hand from Tatiana.

The view is spectacular.

Shailesh Trivedi and Babu Chadreswaran outside Skanda Ashram.

One of the residents of the hill.

After our visit to Skanda Ashram we stop to meditate.

Arunchaleswarar temple is magnificent.

We start to head back down the hill.

We encounter a sadhu on the hill and Innersearchers approach him for blessings.

Mayuresh Rahavendran makes his way down barefoot. A wonderful pilgrimage for this young boy.

Suri Narayanan is a metal work sthapati. He came all the way from Swamimalai to meet with Bodhinatha. A wonderfully bright and sincere soul.