Bodhinatha has flown for Delhi to Bangalore and attend the huge event there at Bala Gangadharanatha’s new temple. More on that later. Today we bring you news from Delhi:

Palaniswami writes:

Dr. Karan Singh graciously received Bodhinatha and the monks at his home in New Delhi on February 11th. He took us to his shrine room, full of Sivaness everywhere. He lovingly picked up a Namasivaya bracelet from a shelf holding Gurudeva’s portrait and told the story of how Gurudeva took it from his own wrist during Dr. Singh’s first visit to Kauai, and placed it on his wrist. He wore it for two decades til it began to come apart, and keeps it in his shrine. Hew recounted every meeting he ever had with Gurudeva, in Oxford, Moscow, Chicago, Delhi, at his palace in Jammu, and more.

He took us to his private bedroom, and noted all of Gurudeva’s books on his shelf, explaining how profoundly Gurudeva had affected his life, how he continues to be inspired by our work and by the organization Gurudeva left behind. He notes three or four examples of Hindu organizations who left no successor, and how they are all struggling with their identity, saying again how wonderful the system of sampradaya is, holding the power of sustained history.

The visit was all the more moving, as his wife is in the hospital and he has to attend her daily.

Our last evening in Delhi was a visit to Swami Gopal Sharan Devacharya’s beautiful ashram.

Swami greeted us and took us on a tour of his ashram starting first with cow barn. He has a cd with mantras chanted during the day for the cows. A wonderful variety of the healthiest cows you would see.

Then a tour of his temples. First stop to the giant Narmada Siva lingam.

Then to his main temple. Here we are at a smaller shrine to Durga.

Swami is very jovial and exchanged many wonderful moments with Bodhinatha. Here they are watched on by our Delhi host and ever elegantly dressed Hinduism Today correspondent, Rajiv Malik.

Swami was very happy that Bodhinatha came to visit him.

He presents Bodhinatha with a beautiful pure silver abhishegam tray with a Siva Lingam to Bodhinatha.

Today’s Innersearch Slide Show Links

Kanya Kumari, Tiruvalluvar Statue

Kanya Kumari, Part II

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

A very beautiful spring-like day brought three wonderful Hindu families for the morning puja in the Kadavul Siva Temple and a tour of the Iraivan Temple.

On the right is Vikram Duvvouri with his wife, Dr. Sumana Reddy (Family Practice) and their two children, Kavi (13) and Lekha (7) all from Salinas, CA. In the center is Dr. Shankar Kurra, an Emergency Room physician, his wife Suneetha and their two children, Vahni (10) and baby Bindu (14 months) from Muncie, IN. On the left is G. S. Lakshman and his wife Dr. Ramani Lakshman from Palmdale, CA. Moved by the pure sacredness of the Kadavul Siva Temple puja, and the tremendous work that is unfolding with the Iraivan Temple project, they all promised to return.

Here is Bodhinatha at Swami Omkarananda’s Ashram in Tamil Nadu, two hours drive outside of Madurai.

But today he is still in Delhi and writes:

Tue, Feb 12th, We went to Swami Pragyanand’s ashram in the morning for a tour and lunch. It is an unbeat place with lots of activities. Has 24-hour a day chanting of Ganesha Mantram, eternal fire, eternal flame, ideas he got from Kadavul. Really appreciated our continued support.

In the afternoon we want for the first time to the Ashram of Swami Gopal Charan. He came to Kauai about a year ago and invited us. It is a four-year-old ashram that is attractively layed out and quite clean. The main temple is to Radha Krishna and a smaller one to Siva-Parvati with a large Naramada lingam for abhishekam and arati. He is of the Nimbarka school of Vaishnavism. His main center is in Brindavan.

Bodhinatha

Sadhaka Dandapani writes:

When we were in Madurai we went to Theni 90 mins west of Madurai, to visit Swami Omkarananda’s ashram.

Swami is a wonderfully jovial person and is doing wonderful work.

Here we are by the river that runs behind the ashram.

A giant yagasala built in such a way that all the smokes goes out the top efficiently.

Bodhinatha and Swami address the small group of devotees present.

Swami presents Bodhinatha with a shawl.

Today’s Innersearch Slide Show Links

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Yesterday’s Girivalam show is comprised of many files which had some difficulty being uploaded. We give you the link here again today. It should be working now.

Tiruvannamalai, Girivalam, Circling the Holy Mountain

Tiruchendur Homa, Part 1

Tiruchendur Homa, Part 2

Bodhinatha writes from Delhi:

Mon, Feb 11th, we went to Shakti Mallick’s home for lunch. He runs Abinav Publications and will be printing What is Hinduism later this year.

In the afternoon, Palaniswami met with some other publishers.

In the evening we visited Karan Singh. He is 77 and going strong in his life of public service. Really loves Gurudeva. We attend his arati to Lord Siva in his up stairs shrine room. Had an excellent vibration.

Bodhinatha

Sadhaka Dandapani send us some wide angle shots of a rare event…Here we are with the priests at Pillaiyarpatti.

Pitchai Kurukkal also got some of his former students, now main priests at the Tiruparankundram, Swamimalai and Auvudaiyar temples, to also come and conduct the homa for Bodhinatha.

Priests reading the handout of Bodhinatha’s talk that we printed for them in Tamil and English.

Bodhinatha addressing the padasala boys at Tiruparankundram.

Posing with Kartikeyan Sivachariar who is training the boys here at Tiruparankundram and also doing lots of amazing work with the agamas.

Today’s Innersearch Slide Show Links

Today we step back in time to January 26th and bring you 242 photos of the innersearchers circumnabulating the Holy Mountain of Tiruvannamalai. And then, a light hearted series from the camera of Kartikeya Katir.

Tiruvannamalai, Girivalam, Circling the Holy Mountain

Kartikeya Katir’s Happiness Show

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Badrinath Kidambi was previously here with his boss a few weeks ago. He so enjoyed the peace and spirituality of the Aadheenam that today he brought his wife, Usha Jayanthi Vagnipuran, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and receive the blessings of this temple.

They have been residing in Honolulu, but Badarinath’s work as a Radio Frequency Engineer for Sprint is now requiring them to move their home to Las Vegas, Nevada. Badarinath was reassured by friends that there was also a temple in Las Vegas.

Here is Bodhinatha on a previous innersearch in Malaysia. Today he is in New Delhi. Below we continue with the story of innersearch.

Naoko Hatsudu and Mayumi Iwagami are visiting from Japan and have been attending morning pujas every day
of their four day pilgrimage here. Naoka described Kadavul Temple as being an “absolutely beautiful temple where the energy was so sacred, peaceful and powerful, reminding me that God’s energy is inside me.”

Today they accompanied a Hindu family to the Iraivan Temple. Kiran and Suneetha Edukulla with their two children, Shriya (age 5) and Ashrith (age 2) are from Honolulu and are hosting their parents, Bhaskar and Vijaya Vourganti from Temple, Texas. Bhaskar stated that he found his visit to the temple “very inspiring.”

Today’s Innersearch Slide Show Links

Innersearch 2008 at Rameshvaram, Part 2

Traveling to the Deep South Uttarakosamangai

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Our 2 days in Rajapalayam began with a visit to a meditation hall on the first afternoon.

Bodhinatha in front of a large photo of Mount Kailas.

Then we were off to a tribal village school. These children have been brought in from remote villages, with permission from their parents, and given education.

That evening a grand event was held for Bodhinatha in town. More than a 1,000 people showed up to listen to Bodhinatha’s message.

The next morning a visit to a library that quite a collection of religious books.

Then to a padasala that is so beautifully maintained.

The grounds are emaculate and so are the buildings.

One of the padasala boys.

Then it was off to a school were Bodhinatha addressed all the students.

The entire innersearch group in Kerala.

In Mauritius a beautiful peedam has been made for the installation of a Narmada Siva Lingam. The photos tell the story.

Bodhinatha, Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani have flown off from South India to New Delhi. Today we bring a series of brief reports from their stay in Tamil Nadu this past week:

Kerala

Mon Feb 4th, evening was a talk by me for the Hindu Matha Mahamandalam at a place in Kerala about four hours drive from our hotel in Kovalam. The crowd was somewhere between 1-2000. Everyone was super attentive to my talk, seriously striving to understand that points being made.

Tue, Feb 5th, we visited an ancient Siva temple not far from the hotel. It was a swayambhu lingam that the priest said has always been there. Kerala priests do worship in what is called a “tantric style.” This means all the mantras are done mentally only and outwardly only the mudras are done. They also will not touch you when passing out prasadam but rather from a safe distance drop it into your hands. Short interview by the press after breakfast then a drive to Rajapalayam.

Tamil Nadu:

Reception in Rajapalayam including elephant garlanding. Are staying at one of the guest housing of Ramco, a large industrial group. The chairman Ram Subramanya Rajah is a friend of Pethu Raja. We visited some of Ramco charitable activities such as their meditation center and hostle for tribal children. Afterwards we went to the hall for the evening program which included a talk by Bodhinatha and Palaniswami, crowd probably more than 1,000. We also spent time with the chairman and had a chance to get acquainted. He now plans to visit Kauai in May for a weekend. Ramco has a foundation and through it supports many religious and educational projects.

Wed, Feb 6th, we visited Pethuraja family at his inlaws home for a padapuja. Then after waiting for rahu kala to end, we departed for the new home he is building which is still under construction. Off to a Veda Pathasala sponsored by Ramco, a Hindu library, and Chinamay school also sponsored by them. Included were visits to a few homes. Then we drove to Madurai for a free evening, staying at Sangam hotel.

Thu, Feb 7th, we visited Pillaiyarpatti for the day. Wonderful elaborate homa and abhishekam (Abhishekam done by Pitchai Gurukal himself) by about forty students and teachers. Quite powerful when you have so many well-trained priests chanting together. I gave a talk which was translated on the importance of temples clearly stating the nature of their tradition (see my pub desk on same) Pitchai Gurukual requested on the way back to Madurai we stop for half an hour at a nearby (one hour drive!) temple to bless the event. He toured us through the temple and the yagnasala personally.

Sat, Feb 9th, in the morning we drove to Swami Omkarananda’s ashram about an hour and a half from our hotel. He was introduced to us in 2004 by Pichai Gurukual and showed a keen interest in Hinduism Today. A young, quite knowledgeable and humble swami with a Dakshinamurti temple. He teaches Vedanta but draws heavily on Tirukural, uses Devarams, etc.

Evening flight Madurai to Delhi via Bangalore.

Bodhinatha

Palaniswami writes from the airport in Madurai while awaiting departure: “We are sitting patiently in the Madurai airport, waiting for a plane that is 3 hours late! The three of us had the most blessed time in the Deep South of India this past week. So many important connections with the Saiva priesthood, the mutts and a marvelous darshan at Meenakshi Temple.”

Innersearch Slide Show Links

Innersearch 2008 at Rameshvaram, Part 1

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Pillaiyar kulam’s Sadhaka Jothinatha has been a mainstay for Hinduism Today having served as the advertising manager for nearly 2 decades. His hard work keeps the magazine afloat financially and he does a lot of PR work through his network of communications with Hindu groups, businesses and organizations that appear in the magazine.

Today he shows a full-page ad he has just composed for the coming April-May-June 2008 issue of Hinduism Today.

He says, “This advertisement announces an event we are all delighted about–a breakthrough publication for Himalayan Academy, Twelve Shum Meditations.”

“Why breakthrough? Because it contains high teachings from Gurudeva, which for forty years were strictly reserved for his closest disciples. Now they have just been made available to all who meditate or wish to learn. “For his closest disciples?” some say, “then it must be too advanced for me!” No, no! Interest in meditation is the only requirement. No prior knowledge is necessary. All definitions, explanations and instructions are included. See more at http://www.minimela.com”

Sadhaka Jothinatha also produced this small promotional for Hinduism Today Production Fund (of Hindu Heritage Endowment).

He says, “This fund is yet humble, but we are expecting it will be a major engine driving the magazine’s development in the years and decades to come. ”

“Grants from it will subsidize production costs for the magazine, such as the hiring of more writers, photographers, artists, consultants for Bodhinatha’s grand vision of future Hinduism Today digital wonders, translators and much more. Please contact us if you would like to learn more: http://www.hheonline.org or email hhe@hindu.org or call 808-634-5407.”

Bodhinatha, Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani have spent the last few days deep in the heart of Tamil Nadu at Rajapalayam, Pillaiyarpatti and Madurai. Here is Bodhinatha meeting with the Madurai Aadheenam Kartar our long time friend and brother monk and stalwart Saiva leader in Tamil Nadu. He is completely redoing the ashram in Madurai which is a good sign of his success and the support he is getting.
Meanwhile Shanmuganathaswami and Sadhaka Adinatha arrived home safely on the first day of our retreat. Arumugaswami and Saravanathaswami has some successful meetings with key people in Pondicherry and at the US Consulate in Chennai. They are finished their work and will be coming home in a few days.

Pada puja at Pethuraja’s home in Rajapalayam

Our monks are greeted by Pitchai Gurukkal in Pillaiyarpatti and given a royal reception.

Pitchai kurukkal and priests fascinated by Palaniswami’s iPhone

The grand homa at Pillaiyarpatti with about 40 priests chanting

With sivachariars from Tiruparankundram (Kartikeya on the right and his guru on the left)

Today’s Innersearch Slide Show Link

Train Trip to Rameswaram
Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Rishi Thondunatha and Yogi Jivanandanatha talk about Hindu Heritage Endowment. Thondunatha is interested in helping raise funds for the Siva Poomi Trust in Sri Lanka as well as for other Sri Lankan Hindu organizations.

One of the Siva Poomi Trusts activities is the Elderly Home… it is a marvelous model for Hindu elders. Watch for news on this in the next issue of Hinduism Today and give generously to the Hindu Heritage Endowment Siva Poomi Trust to support Hindu Institutions in Sri Lanka! (Click to go and donate)

Three Buddhist monks from Bhutan are visiting the Island of Kauai until the end of March. They are being hosted by “Kahuna Valley” chairman, Francesco Garripoli.

Paramacharya Ceyonswami greeted them in the Kadavul Siva Temple and took them into the sanctum to view the large 700 lb spatika lingam which is temporarily enshrined there. The young 24-year-old monk on Swami’s immediate right, is H. E. Jamgoen Truelku Rinpoche who has been sent to the West by the King of Bhutan to “learn leadership skills and become proficient in the English language” to prepare him for his future role as Head of three large monasteries in Bhutan. Beside him is Hodo, his assistant, and next to Hodo is Kinley. It is their belief that Jamgoen is the reincarnation of the previous Head of the monasteries who lived in Bhutan during the 17th century.

Here is their Punakha-Zong monastery in Bhutan

Bodhinatha spent a day in Rajapalayam deep in the heart of Tamil Nadu and is on his way to Madurai. Our three teams are on the move and no news has come in today.

~~~~~~~~~~~
END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dvitya Tithi, Sun One, Friday, February 8th.

Innersearch Slide Show Links

Meeting A. Manivelu in Tiruvannamalai

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Vatsala and Jambunathan are visiting from Chidambaram, India; (they are originally from Mumbai). Vatsala stated that they had initially heard about the Kauai Aadheenam and the Iraivan Temple from their daughter, Sujatha Ramani.

Here they pose with another guest, Suma Prakash, and the six temple and artisans in front of the entrance of the Iraivan Temple.

Vatsala and Jambumathan and Suma Prakash high above the Wailua River and in the background (right) one can see the Iraivan Temple.

Suma Prakash is a practicing Nephrologist who resides in Toronto, Canada. She read about our temple in a travel guide book, “Lonely Planet.”

Our guests were amazed that a “Chola-style hand-carved temple was actually being built outside India and talked at length with the silpis about their sacred work.

Jambunathan and Vatsala are long time readers of Hinduism Today. Sivakatirswami gives them a tour of our publications facilities. V. Bala is here too, typing Agamas.

Vatsala is a teacher and has created award-winning educational programs in India.

Yoganathaswami and Rishi Thondunatha (both Tamil-speaking) sit quietly in front of Gurudeva, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s shrine as they review a compilation of songs from “Natchintanai” in the Tamil language by Sage Yogaswami. These sacred songs had previously been translated into English and are now being carefully and loving arranged into a new Bhajan Book in both languages by Sivakatirswami.

Sat Guru Sage Yogaswami resided in a humble hut in Jaffna, Sri Lanka (1872-1964). He was the Sat Guru of Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, “Gurudeva.”

This song is titled:

“Know thy Self by thy self.”

thannai thannaal arinthida veyndumey
my Self – by myself – to know – should want indeed

This new song book is unique for its literal translation: each Tamil word has an exact English equivalent phrase underneath it. The order of the words and phrases remains the same as the Tamil order. This way, when singing Tamil and looking at the English, one can also learn and visualize the meaning of what you are singing. This also aids in memorizing the songs in a way that a normal translation will not do.

For example

puviyin aasaiyai neekkida veyndumey

land – desire – to remove – should want indeed

Would normally be translated as “We should want to remove the desire for land.” But this order of words has no relationship at all to the original Tamil. “Puviyin” means “land” not “we should.” So the songs can also serve in a small way as an aid to learning the Tamil.

We hope to also later do some English lyrical versions and having the literal translation will serve authors of Natchintanai in other languages to keep their versions from straying too far from the original meaning.

Pages of devotional heart-melting songs from such a great and Enlightened Soul who had attained the Ultimate.

Seventy-two popular Natchintanai have been chosen and the work has been in progress for nearly 2 years, with the help of Manickavel in Chidambaram, Sheela Venkatakrishnan in Chennai, Mrs. Meena Thavaratnam in Toronto and Rishi Thondunathan who has helped with the proof reading and making sure the translation is correct.

We will be publishing the song book soon. Meanwhile, a web site for this project, still under construction is here:

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/natchintanai/

where you can go and listen to MP3 audio of songs. There are some PDF’s there too, but these will be replace with new final ones soon.

Stay tuned for more as we work to bring the legacy of Paramaguru Siva Yogaswami’s songs to life for generations to come.

Aum Namasivaya.

Here is another photo of Bodhinatha at the homa in Tiruvannamalai.

Our monks left Kerala yesterday and broke out into three teams. Bodhinatha, Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani are off to Rajapalayam today and will be out of touch with the internet… Arumugaswami and Saravananathaswami departed for Chennai on their way to Pondicherry to digitize some Saiva Agamas and Shanmuganathswami and Sadhaka Adinatha are on their way home to Kauai Aadheenam. We continue with our retrospective series of slideshows which Paramacharya Palaniswami has been producing all along the way.

Innersearch Slide Show Links

Tiruvannamalai Homa, Part V

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Visitors today included Vija and Prabha Dayal and her sister all from BC, Canada. They had heard about the temple from friends. Beside them are two physicians from Iowa, Dr. Rohini Reganti and her husband, Dr. Reddy Reganti who also arrived on the recommendation of friends. In blue are Estelle and Mike Gannett. Mike served with the Peace Corp in Jaipur Rajasthan in the 60’s and later manufactured and exported handicrafts from Channapatna near Bangalore until the 1980’s.

Silpi Chelliaya ‘bravely’ puts his hand in the crocodile’s mouth as Manikandan looks on with amusement.

Six of these crocodiles will be placed on the temple roof (three on each side). Their purpose is to channel rainwater from the rooftop which will drop into reflecting-pool granite containers below.

Yoginathaswami poses with guests Drs. Rohini and Reddy Reganti, Rishi Thondunatha and Sadhaka Tejadevanatha outside the Kadavul Siva Temple. In the background is the exqusitely beautiful handcarved Lord Ganesha deity from India. Lord Ganesha rests in a beautiful teakwood shrine made in the Kauai Aadheenam carpentry shop by Kumarswami and Kanda Alahan, one of the devotees.

It was a small “victory” for our gardening team to showoff some huge heads of brocolli and cauliflower grown in our own garden. This was done organically, but planted thru a black plastic mulch layer which meant zero weeding was required.

Here is Bodhinatha at the Uttarakosamangai temple in Tamil Nadu.

As we write today, the Innersearch in India has officially come to an end with final breakfast together on the morning of February 4th, India time in Kerala. Innersearchers will be on their way home.

Meanwhile Bodhinatha now moves on for another 3 weeks of activities in India before coming home. Here is his report from yesterday.

“Om Sivaya everyone,

Our twentieth day, Sun Feb 3rd, of innersearch activities. Our third and final day of two classes on the mamsani for a total of four hours covering mamsani 10-12. Lots of good questions on the material. Palaniswami also held a one hour class. In the evening was our grand farewell dinner which featured an elephant that posed for our pictures of BD with each innersearcher or innersearch family. Excellent entertainment included Bharata Natyam, Katakali, Fire eating and throwing and fireworks. A traditional grand last dinner Innersearch style.

Om
Bodhinatha

Today’s Innersearch Slide Show Link

Tiruvannamalai Homa Part IV

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Innersearch Slide Show Links

Note: To see the full-sized images and captions, click on the thumbnails

Tiruvannamalai Homa Part III

Today is the last full day of Innersearch with the entire group. Here are Bodhinatha’s recent brief reports.

Om Sivaya everyone,

Our eighteen day, Fri Feb 1st, of Innersearch activities. We are settled into our hotel, Taj Green Cove Resort. We had two classes on the mamsani today for a total of four hours covering mamsani 1-4. Sivayogam Vinayagamoorthy has joined us for these last few days of the innersearch.

Our nineteenth day, Sat Feb 2nd, of Innersearch activities. Our second day of two classes on the mamsani today for a total of four hours covering mamsani (meditation maps) 6-9. A number of participants are catching on in a deeper way to the Shum approach to meditation.

Om

Bodhinatha

The Aadheenam has been having a continuing and it seems even growing stream of visitors, even though there are no tour days. People keep coming…Brahmacharini Shama, Brahmacharini Lila and Ishani Alahan have been a huge help in taking care of all the guests.

Shama shares info on today’s guests:

Denis Chagnon (center – in light green jacket) arrived with nineteen students from Ottawa and Ontario, Canada. Denis gives classes on energy fields, healing, and basic meditation techniques. They were all quite moved by the “energy” here at the Aadheenam with one visitor remarking that it was the most powerful place they had ever visited.

Denis and his students attended the morning puja and, following the puja, they were blessed to be given a talk on Hinduism by Paramacharya Ceyonswami. Following the talk they were given a tour of the Iraivan Temple complex.

Silpi Kumar and Rishi Thondunatha, who is here visiting on pilgrimage, pose for a “stone-carving” photo.

Here is a poster announcement from Mauritius where members are already making preparations for Bodhinatha’s next visit in April, 2008.

The email announcement says:

Please, kindly find attached an invitation for the April 12th 2008 Seminar with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre, Pailles, Mauritius.

For details email to spark@hindu.org or phone 283 8422.