Amma and her daughter Shantini met with Bodhinatha today. She holds a photo of her guru in her hands, the great Yogaswami, to be in this photo with Bodhinatha.

Not slowing down at 82 years of age, Amma helps to ring the big bells.

Here she is making vibhuthi bags for the many daily archanas that are performed in Kadavul temple.

The box is starting to fill up!

Sundar and family returned today for the 9am puja and to meet with Bodhinatha. He had many insightful questions such as the meaning of dreams, understanding the superconscious mind and so on. All that was blessed with some wise words from Bodhinatha.

Ranga and Santha Rao from Urbana, Illinois are on pilgrimage here. They attended the morning puja the toured the grounds worshipping at the various shrines.

They, along with their close friends Dr. Narayana Rao and his wife (who have visited here many times) and other members of the community are in the process of building a temple in Urbana.

And they are here to get the plans for the new temple lot blessed by Bodhinatha. Bodhinatha had gifted them a Ganesha some years back.

Today the silpis are busy with Yoginathaswami preparing to place the large sections of stone on top of the pillars in readiness for the eventual placement of the Iraivan Temple roof.

These are potagai stones that go on top of the pillars

Yoginathaswami standing by with the new Caterpillar Skid steer to move stones as needed.

The Rao’s at the Swayambhu lingam

The Narmada lingam on the Path of the Saiva Saints.

(left) Leslie and Gene Souva came to Kauai to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. They arrived for a visit to the Iraivan Temple on the strong recommendation of close family friends, Shakti and Dasam Mahadevan, who are devotees of this Aadheenam. With them are Gene’s son, Ted, and his wife Deniece and their daughter, Angela.

A light and joyful group of fourteen surround their spiritual teacher, 95 yr old, Lady Nellie Thompson. This sweet soul brought a large 100 lb Andara stone as a birthday gift for Bodhinatha on her last visit just one year ago.

Lady Nellie Thompson with one of her devotees. She was incredibly impressed with the progress of the Temple since her last visit here and marveled at the beautiful hand-carved pillars, especially the Lion pillars and hand-carved granite chain. Smiling she stated, “I am so very happy I came. This is a very sacred temple in such peaceful and beautiful surroundings. It is really wonderful!”

Ready for the homeward bound trip on the “people-mover.”

Lady Nellie wanted to visit the beautiful Andara green stone one last time prior to her departure. The Andara rests in a large red granite vessel surrounded by native Hawaiian flowers and is directly in line with the Kodimaram and Temple Sanctum.

Bodhinatha arrived home this afternoon from Toronto

along with Acharya Kumarswami

[We continue with the Toronto Mission series. Today we cover the events of last Saturday, July 21st.]

This morning Bodhinatha visited the new Murugan temple of Kumaraswamy Kurukkal, which he established just 9 months ago.

On Saturday morning, Bodhinatha attended a grand Rudra Homa at the Nagapooshani
Amman Temple of Kandasamy Kurukkal, which he conducted specially for us with donations going to Iraivan. The chanting was excellent and vibration very uplifting. He is the priest who did the puja at the first stone laying for Iraivan, trained at Pillaiyarpatti.

In the afternoon Bodhinatha met with devotees. Here he is with Shanmugavadivel and his wife.

Siva Markandu and family

Satkunendran and family. Satkunendran has been Bodhinatha’s selfless host and coordinator throughout the stay in Toronto.

With Rogini Shanmugam and husband….

David Jayasingh came to meet Bodhinatha to receive Bodhinatha’s blessings and advice for the newly formed Canada Saivite Council for spiritual support. This ten member group have received training in social service and been registered and recognize the Canadian Government. Their questions centered about hospital visitations with those who are nearing the end of life. Bodhinatha’s answers were to be a good listener; your presence alone is a great blessing; try, if you can, to help the person release resentments, forgive others, and prepare for transition, knowing that life is eternal, and that as they gain experience they should get together regularly to share what they have learned in this most sensitive area of counseling.

We had Chitra puja a few days ago on the retreat… conducted by Sadhaka Satyanatha and Sadhaka Dandapani.

And Sun One Homa yesterday…

Paramacharya Palaniswami gave a talk “in praise of the Guru.”

Click here to download the MP3 file (big download: 19 megabytes!)

Mrs. Vallavambikai Arampapillai, or Amma as we come to know her in the last few days, is on pilgrimage from Toronto, Canada. Originally from Jaffna area, Sri Lanka, she moved to Canada in 1993.

This morning we found her actively sweeping, at 82 years young, the pathways surrounding our Kadavul temple.

Here she is with the beautifully carved Ganesha statue outside the temple.

She is visiting with her daughter, Shantini Dharmakulaseelan. Both are strong devotees of Yogaswami. Shantini has named her home, her part time teaching school and other things in her life after Yogaswami.

Amma rings the bell at the Swayambhu lingam.

Then its off to hug a rudraksha tree.

Abhishegam to the Narmada Lingam.

Finally they visit our Yogaswami shrine. She is in tears at the sight of her beloved Gurunathan.

She views the different artwork telling the story of the parampara.

She meets Palaniswami on the pathway who gives her a photo of Gurudeva. Amma is overjoyed. One of the favorite things she enjoys doing here on her 5-day pilgrimage is ringing the big temple bells. And she does it so well and enthusiastically.

Sundar, his wife and daughter, Suhashini, are visiting Kauai. The main reason they chose this island is because of the temple, they said. They had met Bodhinatha in Atlanta not long ago. They were here yesterday for the tour and returned again today to walk the grounds. They’ll be back tomorrow they said for one last visit before they fly off.

A view from a helicopter shows Iraivan two years ago, nestled in the tropical forest of Kauai, with the ponds and palms on the north side.

Here we see the temple from farther away. Notice the red dirt spot near the middle of the photo. That is the site. Here too you can see that we have very nearby one of the island’s largest reservoirs, just a stone’s throw from the monastery property line.

Today we present some photos that came from India, from our master builder, Selvanathan Sthapati. When he was here last year, he made plans for four 30-inch murthies of Siva to be placed on the temple tower.

These four statues will go just below the capstone, and sit a little higher than the Nandis that you see here. Together they will make the tower visually more of a pyramid. It’s an important refinement that Sthapati designed.

Here we have a drawing of the first Siva…

And this is where the carving is today.

Here is Siva’s second form…

And that carving, which is in an earlier stage of manifestation.

Vamadevam is the third form of Lord Siva…

And He too is just taking form in the stone.

Finally, the fourth…

Which is farther along. We hear that this will all be done and ready to ship to Kauai in about 3 months…
Jai to Gurudeva whose vision brought all of this to be. Aum Namasivaya!

At home we started the phase with homa as usual and it was also tour day. But, today’s photos are coming from our work in remote locations. First, Bodhinatha’s mission to Toronto and then a series from Mauritius.

Here we are on Day One in Toronto. Leaving Kauai on Thursday the 19th, Bodhinatha and Acharya Kumarswami after a long red-eye arriving in Toronto on Friday at about noon. After a short rest they were off to the Varasiddhi Vinayagar Temple in Toronto.

Bodhinatha writes of this day:

“Flew from Chicago to Toronto arrived around noon. Rested at our hotel for a few hour. then left for Varasiddhi Vinayaga temple at 5:30. At temple 6 PM to 11 PM. A powerful festival evening with 600-700 people there. They had printed my talk ahead of time in English and Tamil and handed it out to everyone. The theme of this day of the festival is Ganesha doing puja to Siva, so my talk on Siva is the God of love fit in perfectly.

“The parade deity was special for the day, a bejeweled Ganesha and Siva lingam. Afterwards we gave vibhuti to maybe half the group and Kumarswami handed them All About Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. Great chanting, four tavil and four nagaswaram players who were quite good.”

As the evening began only a few devotees were there, but by the end of the pujas over 500 had gathered.

A highly professional team of priests, here doing pujas at the various shrines.

The homa begins.

A photo of Gurudeva is prominently displayed in the temple next to the image of Sri Yogaswami.

The puja here centralizes around the temple flagpole, kodimaram.

Bodhinatha offers arati.

Introductory presentations.

Bodhinatha gives his talk at the end of the ceremonies on the theme, “Siva is the God of Love,” Anbe Sivam.

Final arati is offered to the parade Deity by the officiating priest.

Ekadipa, the single flamed lamp.

The large parade Deity was carried around the Deity on the shoulders of 16 men at an stately, slow pace.

We are pleased to share with you a few photos the July Ganesha Homa at the Spiritual Park of Mauritius… A great moment of worship and deep devotion to Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati.

As usual the ceremony starts with devotional songs to build up the vibration.

Today the inside of the Ganesha Mandapam is once more tightly filled up with loving devotees.

Kulapati SK Moorghen welcomes all the devotees present. Most of them are seated outside….

Lord Ganapati looks bright and cheerful decked with beautiful garlands.

All through the ceremony devotees traveling from all parts of the island bring offerings to be placed at the feet of the deity.

The fire is lighted. Kulapati Siven Koothan officiates the ceremony.

Meanwhile devotees quietly seated outside chant the holy Ganapati mantra ….

One young lady from Rose Hill gave a wonderful testimony of how her worship of Lord Ganesha helped her obtain a scholarship to study in the USA.

Kulapati Siven Koothan gave a public talk on the subconscious mind from the Kailasa parampara teachings.

New young visitors coming to the Ganesha for the first time. They are very impressed by the ceremony.

A narmada lingam is about to be installed at the Park and devotees would be going down the river to collect water that they would then pour on the lingam.This is the site where the devotees would walk down to the river….

Kulapaties Koothan, Mogul, Valaytan and Pallanee discussed on the site to discuss how a mini waterfront is to be constructed.

Kulapati Mougam is in charge of looking into this new project and make proposals to the COM.

The homa ceremony is over . Devotees are able to come a little closer to the deity for personal worship.

Paramasiven (right) with some regular visitors ….

Bodhinatha arrived safe and sound in Toronto and is busy with events there. We probably will only get news after he returns next phase.

~~~~~~~~~~~
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 Navami Tithi, Sun One, July 23rd.

Out at Iraivan with some guests, we watched with a mixture of amazement and admiration, as Rajendran and Chellaiya sliced through a large piece of white granite (like a knife through butter) using a hammer and five chisels, and their unbelievable silpi’s skill.

Rajendran removes the granite piece of stone.

Posing with some of the silpis are (left to right) B.V. Chandramouli, his wife Anuradha and daughter Anagha (age 7), from Bangalore, now living in Redding, CA., also Parmanathan and Kamalanayaki on their way to Toronto where they hope to meet with Bodhinatha Veylanswami before continuing on to their home in Malaysia. Kamalanayaki has been a subscriber to Hinduism Today for 15 years and “loves it.”

Sumeet and Salomee Magoon are from Mumbai and Delhi and are here on their honeymoon. Their new home will be Washington, DC. Both agreed it was “a very special blessing for them to be here at this time.”

With continue with photos from Malaysia from Ravichandran. Today he brings us a view of events from the halls and background.

He writes: seminar participants filing up details in the `Registration Note’ handed out with program activity sheet.

The seminar well received and talked about and rekindled the spirit of proclaiming and being proud to say, “I am a Hindu.” Satguru kept us being spiritually uplifted with simple, direct’ and to the point narration/explanation on What Is Hinduism?
The book is fantastic and full of illustrations. Never before one could have all the knowledge about Hinduism in a crystal clear summation until arrival of this book. As I was having a light conversation with a young man from Kuala Lumpur who attended the seminar, he had this to say, “If aliens from outer space happened to land on this planet and noticed the vast and colorful Hindu religions with multitude of gods, religious texts as well as cultures, they would be really confused. So, to give them a clear picture about Hinduism, just give them a copy of this book – What Is Hinduism?“

Our Guru Parampara framed photo- Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami at the Kalamandapam door entry.

Simple, yet beautiful set up – captivates seminar participants before proceeding to the hall.

Annapoorani receives seminar participants and ushers them to their seats.

The seminar has not started yet, but the books corner was stormed by eager and anticipating crowds. Kulapathi Sivajnani entertains book enquirers and helps the sales team.

Kulapathi Selladurai and Kulamatha Shanti await participants at Mandapam door entrance.

More registration activities…

Whatever the venue, whatever the event, the ever dedicated Gowri akka and her team are always there to promote and garner funds for Iraivan Temple. She managed to raise quite an handsome sum of donation for the temple.

We all salute you Gowri akka !! Kulamani Ganesha seen giving an helping hand towards this mission.

Iraivan’ Temple’ fund raising and promotional pictures –Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and other items.

Seminar participants glancing through some promotional magazines, pamphlets of Iraivan and Kauai Aadheenam.

Selvavathy akka too joins in welcoming participants and helps at the registration counter as well as Iraivan fund raising.

Satguru arrives and gracefully walks towards the hall located upstairs.

Ratnavathy Sivalingam and Bro. Kailasam were the MC’es, announcing arrival of Satguru Bodhinatha and welcome all participants in English and Tamil language.

The audience is engrossed and captivated while listening to Satguru’s crystal clear presentation on What Is Hinduism? Among the crowd, an elderly Tamil scholar (Dr), sits unassumingly at the back row and kept telling me how he was mesmerized with Satguru’s eloquent and simple but highly meaningful teachings, as well as the effort of repackaging Hinduism into modern context while retaining the thousands of years old religion’s practices as traditionally as ever….

Satguru prepares for the presentation. Bodhinatha’s point-by-point explanation and simple examples to illustrate key spiritual technical words were well received and I could hear participants who laughed, chuckled, nodded their heads in approval and looked with awe and wonder as when Satguru reminded all to be proud to say, I am a Hindu!”

Kulapathi Selvaraju and Kulamatha Amutha tirelessly swings into action in assuring all What Is Hinduism? books at the counter are sold out! – The result – Mission accomplished – all 250 books were sold out!!!

Brother Arvind, ensured the overall organizing activities were smooth sailing and surely he deserves the pat on the back for a job well done and organized together with the rest of church members as well.

Bro. Arvind having some light moments with Sadhaka Tejadeva.

brisk sales….

Fund raising booth is always a hit with curious and enthusiastic members of the public!

…more of the crowd…

Among them are our church members’ children who did wonderfully in helping and carry the burden of covering the event.

Seminar participants climbing down staircase for a short tea-break’

It is Sun Five at the Aadheenam, but this picture is from Malaysia from Bodhinatha’s last journey. Meanwhile today he flew off to Toronto on another mission there to be a guest of honor at the opening of the new Swaminarayan Mandir in Rexdale, an industrial area outside the city of Toronto. He is also visiting several Tamil temples.

And, for Satguruspeaks fans, Bodhinatha’s Sun One Talk was posted. See the new side bar link.

Acharya Kumarswami is traveling with Bodhinatha on this trip.

Bodhinatha has really been on the move this year!

(Left) Parimalanayagi and Kathiravetpillai originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Parimalanayagi moved to Kaduna, Nigeria in 1978 and then moved to Alicante, Spain with her daughter. They heard about the Aadheenam from friends.

(Right) Ramdas and Anuradha Dujari originally from Rajasthan, India, now live in Seaford, Delaware. Ramdas is reading Gurudeva’s trilogy and has read Lemurian Scrolls. It was “a dream come true” to actually visit the Iraivan Temple here and they plan to return again soon.

Ramdas and Anuradha began talking with
Parimalanayagi who told them her daughter was born in Kaduna, Nigeria, which was amazing to them since they too had lived in Kaduna, Nigeria for 19 years. And as it turned out, they knew all the same families and had the same friends, (small world!), but this happens quite often with devotees visiting Kadavul Temple.

Parimalanayagi and Kathiravetpillai in front of the beautiful Nepalese Ganesha just prior to their departure.

One last photo of Marianne Thompson and her son, Oisin, who are here from Norway. They depart for home today. Marianne then plans to leave for Amritapuri, between Cochin and Trivandrum, India for two months at Sri. Amirtanandamayi’s Ashram.

We continue our photo series from Malaysia with a giant satsang of sishya and students at the home of Kulapati Dhasan and Kulamata Lalitha Sivanananda. The decorations and arrangements were impressive!

Dhasan and Guhan Sivalingam perform the pada puja.

Several young people take their brahmachariya vrata today. It is read aloud on a speaker to the whole group.

Giles, Marianne and Oisin Thompson had darshan today with Bodhinatha. This is their last day at the Aadheenam.

Bodhinatha flies off to Toronto tomorrow, so he meets personally with Trishul Siddharth, as Trishul will be returning home before Bodhinatha gets back.

A signed copy of “What Is Hinduism”

Trishul is enjoying his stay here: “It’s really a remarkable experience, to see how everything works together, a monastic community and a family community…everything that everyone is doing.”

Trishul himself is making contributions here daily, helping in any way he can.

Rishipati Kanagaratnam and Kulamata Sivalosani of Subramuniya Kottam Sri Lanka, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Chidambaram on July 8th.

The ceremony was a grace of Lord Nataraja Himself. The Deekshitars were inspired to bring the couple right in front of Nataraja by the Panchakshara steps so they have the clearest view of the Lord. A grand archana was done for them and garlands and shawls that were blessed by Lord Nataraja was adorned on them. It was an awe inspiring ceremony that cannot be adequately described in words.

After the ceremony many of the other devotees who had witnessed it came forward to Rishipati and Kulamata for their well wishes in the hope that they too will be blessed by such a lasting union. The ceremonies were conducted by Sivasri Kailasa Sankara Deekshitar. They are continuing the pilgrimage to South India to various temple and will be returning to Sri Lanka at the end of this month.

The golden dome of Chidambaram. Thondunatha arranged all the pujas and pilgrimage as a gift to celebrate his parents 50 years of marriage.

Today we bring you another photo documentary and report of Bodhinatha’s mission in Malaysia. It is always interesting to see events from a different angle. Ravichandran Ceyon sends us these photos and captions.

Saturday 7th, July 2007 – at the Sepang, KLIA airport, number of church members, students and devotees drove early as 9.30pm and eagerly awaited for Satguru’s arrival from Singapore, where Bodhinatha had given a seminar on What Is Hinduism? there. MAS flight was scheduled to land at 10.20pm but somehow had been delayed to 11.45pm.

Himalayan academy students Madhu, Mogan and his son Nitya Shankaran were anxious and excited to greet Satguru.

Happy moments just before Satguru’s immigration/passport clearance. Senior Kulapathi – Appasamy Kuppusamy, Madhu, Kulapathi Balu Devadu sharing news on the `big event’ scheduled tomorrow (8/7/07) at Scotts Road Murugan temple.

At 12.30am, the plane finally landed. After passport clearance; elegant as ever, Satguru emerges out from the arrival gate and gave a warm greeting smile to all of us who are so eagerly waiting to Bodhinatha’s presence once again in Malaysia.

We love this most – full prostration to one’s Satguru….About 25 church members, students and devotees greeted Satguru and Sadhaka at KLIA airport

Sadhaka Tejadeva accompanying Satguru.

One by one, we prostrated to our beloved Satguru!!!

Kulapathi Selladurai and Senior Kulapathi Appasamy Kuppusamy with Satguru.

By the time Bodhinatha finally went to the hotel it was already 2 am, the 8th, July, 2007 and the seminar on “What is Hinduism” is set to start at 8.30am. We bid farewell to Satguru for a short rest before going to Muguran temple in that very morning….in just a few hours.

Banner at entrance of Scotts Road’s Murugan temple Kala Mandapamam(hall). This is the venue where the seminar will be held.

Kolam at Mandapam’s entry door.

Members busy adjusting, preparing for attendance and registration.

Members preparing registration counter tables….

Pamphlets beautifully arranged in front of registration table…

Madhu and Mogan fixing thoranam- the plastic version!

Satguru arrived at 8.30am and was received by temple president Mr. Perampalam, devotees and Thavil-Nathaswaram music piece.

Pada pooja

Live Thavil and Nathaswaram players welcoming Satguru!!

Bodhinatha was paraded around the temple and guided into hall (kalamandapam)

Jai Satguru Bodhinatha!!….The seminar shall begin shortly…and there was a record turn out of almost 600 people. (to be continued…)

It is Sun Three today and the Ashram Sadhana day for this moon. All the monks were cleaning this morning in the temple and then here and there throughout the Aadheenam.

A magnificent day… Iraivan shines in the distance.

A Hindu dad and his two sons video our photographer.

Another lotus in full bloom. We have several colors… They are spreading so rapidly now and will fill the pond they are in completely in a month or two.

We continue with the coverage of Bodhinatha’s last mission to Malaysia. Here we are about 9 am in the morning on July 8th.

Bodhinatha is greeted by Lord Murugan at the Scott Rd Murugan Temple

The traditional greeting for a holy man… foot washing

Next to the temple is the hall where Bodhinatha will give a digital presentation from What Is Hinduism.

The hall is slowly filling up

Muruga’s chariot is in the back of the hall

Bodhinatha enters the hall covered in garlands

An arati to Gurudeva begins the event

The flame is shown to all present for blessings

Bodhinatha begins each presentation by closing his eyes and going deep within before speaking out.

Ganesa looks on to the crowd

Senior Kulapati of Malaysia, Appasamy Kuppusamy gives an introduction.

The church members have set up a beautiful display of Gurudeva’s books

The hall is packed with over 550 seats full and more standing at the back.

Bodhinatha is in excellent form as he presents several chapters from the book on screen.

Datuk A. Vaithilingam, head of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, gives a resounding endorsement: “Every Malaysian family should have and read a copy of ‘What Is Hinduism’ ”

Bodhinatha listens to the several guest speakers

Datuk G. Palanivel, Deputy Minister Of Women And Family Development

The honored guests look on as a parade enters the hall in the back.

Nagaswaram, tavil and a troupe of traditionally dressed youth enter, but why?

The leader of the troup seems to be holding something

The speaker is introducing the launch of Bodhinatha’s book What Is Hinduism

What’s next? Surprise….

Ta Da!! The book is officially launched under a shower of confetti

Bodhinatha gives the distinguished guest a copy of the book.

Now for book signing and vibhuti prasadam

The cue is long and all are eager to be blessed by Bodhinatha. Every single copy of What Is Hinduism that was brought was sold and others were ordered.

Sun Two today of a six day phase. Saravananathaswami shared news today.

It is time for the annual Guru Purnima rededication process. Sishya around the world were sent the rededication form by email as a PDF, they printed it out and many are filling it up with Aum Namasivaya’s and scanning it and sending it back. He is really taking a major initiative to move toward a completely digital office.

The Ekadanta Kulam has the ongoing work of handling the student body of Himalayan Academy. This involves processing Master Course worksheets. These too are being scanned and turned into digital records.

He has also been doing sorting out the vidhis (rules and guidelines) for the guru pada puja guide that sishyas use when Bodhinatha comes to their home or mission.

Sadhaka Dandapani continues work on the innersearch, settling down all the hotels and travel arrangements and flights and ground logistics at each location. Everything is worked out in advance right down to the menu detail for each meal in each location. It is a lot of work. On top of that he has the regular hosting duties of tour days and pilgrims.

Continuing with our retrospective series on Bodhinatha’s recent trip to Malaysia. Today we have arrival at the airport in Kuala Lumpur…

At the hotel. Bodhinatha sets up a small altar

Task forcer Trishul Siddharth, works in the afternoon with the Siddhidata Kulam. Since he is interested in organic gardening, he is going to do a small article for Hinduism Today on this subject. These photos are for the magazine, but are very telling about the good work of our Siddhidata Kulam.

Squash and pumpkins are a challenge to grow organically in the tropics. Most squash are stung by the fruit fly. This species of pumpkins whose seeds we got from Mauritius, we call “Mauritius Pumpkin” in remembrance of its origin and our center there. It forms a very hard shell right from its youth and remain impervious to flies. We have had them grow to over 50 pounds! Trishul can barely lift this one.

Our own cabbage heads are huge!

The planting of different species of Papayas last year along with the dry weather has resulted in a record papaya production and some of them are gigantic!

This tree happens to be growing right next to the mulch dump where local tree trimmers come and unload their truckloads of woodchips, palm tree and shrubbery trimmings. So its a very happy well fed tree.

Picking your own, pesticide-free, chemical-free is very satisfying! Of course, we avoid so many health problems that come along with a diet of poison laden vegetables.

After a dry spell that was much needed to complete the new septic systems, which would have been hard to install if we had our normal rainfall, the rains are returning. Along with them the distant and ever amazing rainbows.

Bishop Dean Zenei Okimura of the Koyasan Shingon Mission on Oahu arrived with thirty-five Junior and Senior High School Buddhist students and their teachers from their religious class.

Very quiet and orderly some of them are already being trained to be monks. They came today to worship Nada Budake or the “healing deva” which is being housed temporarily near Lord Ganesha’s shrine in the Kadavul Siva Temple for the Lawai Shingon temple, which is being rebuilt on the south side of Kauai.

It was tour day today… Sadhaka Dandapani focuses on the silpis above as he takes the group around Iraivan Temple.

Working on the bases of pillars in preparation for the future floor stones.

Chellaiaya leveling to the tops of pillars.

Today’s tours were a bit smaller than usual… about 40 people in the first group at 9 am and 60 for the second at 11 am.

We begin a bright new phase today with homa as usual.

Bodhinatha continues with his talks that comment on various chapters and themes from the Trilogy. Today he read and commented on from Living With Siva Chapter 14 on “The Meditator.” We will post this later this phase.

He also talked about the need for proper planning, especially in business life.

Listen to some sounds from this morning’s homa

Click here for a short clip MP3 file of monks chanting Sri Rudram.

It has been relatively dry on Kauai, with only occasional light showers which means the Wailua river is low.

Nandi at Kadavul’s entrance.

The image of Lord Murugan in our Kadavul temple is a beauty.

Trishul Siddharthan, age 21, arrived from Florida for ten days of task force. He completed his pre-med studies and wanted to come to the Aadheenam for a while. He and his parents have been studying Gurudeva’s teachings for some time.

He arrived during our retreat days and fit right in on a trip to Himalayan Acres. At home he has tilled his family’s back yard, by hand, and turned it into an organic vegetable garden with a Koi pond.

He’s spending his mornings in the Ganapati Kulam and afternoons with the Siddhidata Kulam.

He worked with Arumugaswami today, making copies of youth articles in Hinduism Today to send to our new youth editor, Lakshmi, in Singapore. They listed out nearly three dozen article ideas to be done by youth.

Trishul has aspirations for a career in the public health sector where he hopes to make a difference and bring some relief, “So many people are suffering.
We really need to do something for them.”

15 minute evening timelapse over Iraivan… “Falling Stars.” The broken star paths were caused by passing clouds.

Giles and Oisin Thompson of Kansas are on pilgrimage along with mom Marianne.

Rakesh and Pranika Joshi are here visiting from Chico, California. Both are originally from Punjab. They first heard about the temple from a local resident on Kauai.

They attended the 6 a.m. homa this morning and then visited the Iraivan Temple and gardens.

Rakesh and Pranika framed by the beautiful Chitra pillars

Vellaiasamy and Pandi prepare the edges all around the bases for the red granite floor slabs which are to arrive in the next shipment of stone

White and pink lotus flowers in full bloom.

Rakesh and Pranika in front of the very beautiful granite Umbrella Ganesha on their return for the
morning puja in the Kadavul Temple.

A natural mountain stream runs beside the Narmada Lingam and Nandi. Visiting Hindus are welcome to perform abhishekam in this very peaceful, tranquil, and sacred setting.

The early morning sun lights up the golden Capstone and Gopurams of the Iraivan Temple.

We continue with our retrospective series on Bodhinatha’s trip to Singapore and Malaysia.

On the evening of the second day in Singapore Bodhinatha went for satsang and pada puja at the home of Kulapati Dohadeva Sanmugam.

Greeted at the door with a simple washing of the feet.

Singapore sishya and other devotees are present

Sivakumar Saravan and Bhani Karthigesu perform the pada puja.

Bodhinatha gives a presentation…

A moment of humor in Bodhinatha’s talk…

Blessings after the puja

Also joining Bodhinatha at the satsang are two swamis from the Johor, Malaysia, Dakshina Mantralayam Ashram. They are devotees of Swami Shankarnath, whose devotees do a lot of religious teaching and social service.

Bodhinatha makes a financial contribution to their charitable feeding program.

It is the last day of a short 4 day phase. The Ganapati Kulam has been working hard on some very interesting articles and features for the next issue of Hinduism Today. Also Bodhinatha and his editing team are moving forward into the next phase of the Parampara book, having completed the section on Yogaswami, they are now beginning work on Gurudeva’s life.

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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, Sunday, July 15th.

The Siddhidata Kulam has been working on the completion of the new septic system for the Aadheenam, the garden and of course, Iraivan Temple.

One of the big jobs they completed was yet more scaffolding to provide a work platform and shelter for the silpis as they work on the very tops of each of the pillars.

It is a delicate, challenging and important operation: to make the top level of each pillar exactly the same, across all the pillars. They will use their water system from one pillar to the next.

Sishya Jutikadevi Sivaraja feels very blessed with the rose quartz Ganesha that she bought from our Minimela last year. It is a magnificent piece and now surrounded with many little ones.

Jutikadevi wanted to share the blessings she feels she gets from Ganesha, by offering to anyone a free quartz stone mala that has been on the Rose colored Ganesha for some time.

If you would like one of these malas (they are free) please email her at jutikadevi@yahoo.com

Paramacharya Palaniswami took our new camera for a walk and shares with us some of the wonders from the plant world of Kauai Aadheenam. The picture tell the story…

Goodbye for 2 retreat days… See you all next phase, with some more documentary series from Bodhinatha’s visit to Singapore and Malaysia (It’s taking us a few days to get the photos all processed and captioned…)

Aum Namasivaya