Sadhaka Tejadeva is sorting out the photos from the intense six-day journey he had with Bodhinatha. We will share the events over time. We begin with Bodhinatha’s first day in Singapore. Here he is at the conference room for a morning satsang with members.

Breakfast is served…

Little Easan, Sivakumar’s son is enjoying himself.

Questions and answers afterward

Singapore members give Bodhinatha a small gift.

A small beautiful peacock

Our wonderful family of Singapore devotees who are always in a great spot to host Bodhinatha and the monks every time they travel to Asia and have to transit thru this remarkable city hub of the Orient.

The evening seminar and presentation at the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple of Singapore, where Gurudeva and the monks have been going for many years.

The event was well attended.

The temple oduvar opens the event by singing Natchintanai from our new Natchintani booklet which he just received the day before.

Bodhinatha beings his Keynote presentation on What Is Hinduism

Mr. Muthu did an excellent job translating Bodhinatha’s presentation into Tamil.

One of the presentors gives Bodhinatha a special picture

These are images of our monks in Sri Lanka, from 1982. It is Palaniswami and Muruganathswami. This temple is closely connected to the Yogaswami Guru Parampara…

The queue begins for vibhuti blessings and book signing…

Todays guests arrived from three different continents.
(L/R) Sonia de Mello and Pedro Vicente are from Uruguay, South America and are here visiting Lilian de Mello, Sonia’s sister, who has lived on Kauai for 19 yrs.

Chidambaram and Dhanalakshmi pilgrimaged here from Chennai, S. India on a friend’s strong recommendation. Pavithra Arunachalam (age 10 yrs) is from New Jersey. Udaya Tata from Atlanta, GA, and K. Peeta also from Chennai, S. India.

Bodhinatha arrived on Kauai this morning after 22 hours in transit from Singapore. He went straight for lunch, then to the monthly Interfaith Roundtable of Kauai, meeting in Lihue, home for a short nap and then off this afternoon for an editing session.

Meanwhile at home we had many guests.

Arumugaswami hosted Kalyani Giri and her family today, taking them on a guided tour of the Iraivan Temple. Here he shares some important and interesting aspects of the Iraivan Temple with them using a glass encased model of the temple in the Banyan Mandapam.

Kalyani is a correspondent for Hinduism Today. She and her husband live in Houston, Texas, where he is a professional photographer.

The group, numbering 15, thoroughly enjoyed their tour of the grounds, Iraivan Temple and the press shop before heading to Maui for a big wedding in the family. Palaniswami introduced What Is Hinduism to the group.

Our other guests included three families in one, the Tata’s from Atlanta, Georgia, the Dommeti’s from San Jose, CA, and the Peeta’s from Layfayette, Indiana. The two senior members of the family, Koteswara Rao Peeta and his wife came all the way from their home in Chennai, India for a family reunion and a pilgrimage to Kauai.

In 1983 Koteswara Rao Peeta was the Chief Engineer and Director representing India, through the Atomic Energy Commission, to place the telescope for India at the multi-national observatory on top of Mt. Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii.

A beautiful large pale yellow lotus flower greeted us at the lotus ponds this morning.

During a tour of the Iraivan Temple, Srinivas holds the handcarved blue black granite chain in amazement as so many have done before him.

A group family photo between the Tara pillars with the sanctum in the background. Since there is no electricity in the temple, the sanctum will be illuminated utilizing optic fiber using the natural sun rays

This wonderful family will be joining Bodhinatha on the upcoming 2008 Asian Odyssey. Marianne and Oisin were also very blessed to have been on that historic 2001 Europe Innersearch with Gurudeva.

Giles, Marianne and Oisin Thompson from Kansas. It’s Giles first visit but his wife and son were here a few years back.

Also with us are Mr. and Mrs. Kaika and Nilufer Clubwala…

and their two daughters.

For many years, Acharya Kumarswami has been working on the finishing of Java Cave on retreats and in his spare time. Most of the wood you see here was originally harvested from logs that would otherwise have been discarded on Kauai.

Beautiful hand made frames.

In our wood shop, he has a drawing for his next project

Lumber from logs that we had milled last year which was allowed to sit and dry out now goes into use.

For many years we used to sand everything with sandpaper. Kumarswami has over time developed the art of planing wood to get an even more beautiful smooth surface.

We also have a lot of Japanese tools that are perfect for the job.

As we write TAKA today, Bodhinatha is in transit on the long flight home after a whirl wind trip to Singapore and Malaysia. Highlights of the trip were the What is Hinduism seminars in Singapore and Malaysia.

Here is Bodhinatha in Singapore at the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple Kalamandapam in Singapore. Sivasubramaniam Rajasundram sends us photos and a write up.

He says: Friends
07/07/07 seems to be a special day.
There were a record number of marriages registered and 7777 was the lucky number in the Bangkok lottery but I am sure that the three hours we spent with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami at the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple Kalamandapam tops the list.
Swamiji captured the interest of the audience with his opening remarks stating that the next three hours would be spent in the Kalaamandapam for those who are interested but in the Kaalamandapam for those who are not interested. I am sure that it was a Kalaamandapam experience for all of us.

To add to it was the chance to get hold of a copy of ‘What is Hinduism?’ Modern Adventures into a Profound Faith From the Editors of Hinduism Today Magazine.

Fantastically illustrated with wonderful photographs and drawings, the book is easy to read.

The few pictures that I took are attached. I will get the others captured by Bhavan and send it at a later date.
R Sivasubramaniam

Bodhinatha reports on this Singapore event briefly:

“In the afternoon from 4-7 PM held the keynote on what is Hinduism? at this temple. About 125 attended, a good size group for Singapore. Of the 45 copies of WIH on hand, 43 were sold at the seminar itself. A number of positive comments from participants were received.” — Bodhinatha

That evening Bodhinatha flew to Malaysia and on the following day, the 8th was an even bigger event. Bodhinatha writes:

“Our first event in Malaysia was at the Kandasamy Scott’s Road temple at 8 am — a welcoming by the temple and parade from the temple to the cultural hall. At 9 AM the Keynote presentation started with about 200 people. However, the hall keep filling and ultimately reached a crowd of almost 600. They enjoyed the Keynote topics from ‘What is Hinduism.’ At about 12:10 the book launch started with my talk, then Dato Vaitilingam and minister Dato G. Palanivel. Dato Vaitilingam was quite supportive of the book saying every English-speaking Hindu family in Malaysia should have a copy in their home and read it too! He mentioned our friend S. Ramachandran suggested to him that it be added to the Sangam’s official curriculum. Then Dato Palaniswami spoke positively about the work. He hadn’t seen the book yet, so praised Hinduism Today. He recommended that all English-speaking Malaysian’s subscribe. He said that the magazine was idea oriented, each issue had something about family life and it gave useful ideas to base actions on. The combination of the two speeches was extremely supportive. All 210 copies of WIH were sold and orders taken for more, even one order of fifty copies, I was told. Book signing plus giving vibhuti for 600 people took a while.

“Our second event was a members’ satsang at 6:30 PM. at Dasan Sivanandas. There was a turn out. Two new brahmacharya vratas taken.”

Back on Kauai at the Aadheenam, we begin a short 4-day phase with a homa. Paramacharya Palaniswami presided and gave a short talk afterwards.,

Palaniswami spoke on Gurudeva’s seven dimensions of the mind that are fundamental to the Shum language.

Srinivasan Chandrashekharan, a brahmin, is here on a short pilgrimage from San Francisco. Following the morning puja and worship in the Kadavul Siva Temple, he was taken on a tour of the Iraivan Temple and grounds. Here he worships beside the granite Vel on Muruga Hill along the pilgrim’s path. San Marga the straight path to God.

Srinivasan has been a donor for the Iraivan Temple for some time now. He and his family attend the Concord Temple in California and also assist at the Livermore Temple.

He holds the sacred Konrai blossoms from India in his right hand while admiring the pink torch ginger flower native to Hawaii.

Devotion to Siva.

A chance meeting along San Marga with Rajendran, Karupaiah and Chellaiya, three of the silpis, who pose for a photo with Srinivasan.

Srinivasan admires with reverence this exquisite Siva Nataraja, beautifully handcarved in wood from India.

Bodhinatha is greeted by the Singapore members.

He writes for yesterday’s arrival day:

“We rested a bit in the morning and then worked on our Keynote “What is Hinduism” seminar presentation.

In the evening we went to Satsang at Dohadeva’s with members and students and two swamis from Dakshina Mantralaya of Johor.

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 Dasami Tithi, Sun One, Monday, July 9th.

Air Port blessings from the Guru.

Sadhaka Tejadevanatha is behind the cameras and captions on this trip:

When Bodhinatha travels he sets up a small shrine at each Hotel that he stays at. He is now at the Hoilday Inn Park View. A nice Hotel close to the Airport and located in down town Singapore.

Ganesha blessing you all from Singapore. Jai !

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Ganeshanathan from Melbourne Australia. They both were blessed to be with Siva Yogaswami in Jaffna when they were young.

We took them on a tour and down to the river at Bali Hai falls.

Meenakshi and Sanjay Reddy are on their honeymoon on a cruise ship. Sanjay read about the Iraivan Temple on-line from the recent Associated Press release and they were overjoyed to learn their ship was stopping on Kauai. They knew that being in such a sacred place would certainly be a blessing for their marriage. Meenakshi is from Chennai and Sanjay from Bangalore. Their new home is in Philadelphia.

They pose with two of the silpis beside one of the pillars honoring the Founder of the Iraivan Temple, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. In Tamil it reads “Aum Namasivaya. ”

Two local Kauai guests. Lynn Muramoto, President of Lawai Aloha International Center and Karen Dartley, who is a patron of that project.

Here they are examining, with awe, the granite Lion pillar and the granite ball carved in the lion’s mouth in the east-facing gopuram of the Iraivan Temple.

A Venezuelan rose against a clear blue sky.

All four guests in front of the Bali Hai waterfall.

It is Sun Five and the Ganapati Kulam gave their news. Top of the list is the arrival of 1600 images taken at the six famous Muruga temples by a Dinodia photographer. These are being examined for incorporation in a feature story on the six temples being prepared by Senthilnathaswami.

Kamila in the foreground is in the Ganapati Kulam this phase in the mornings, helping with different projects.

Acharya Kumarswami at work…

Lord Ganesha just inside the door of the Ganapati Kulam.

Bodhinatha is making good use of the four-hour lay over in Tokyo at the Narita Airport. Responding to e-mails and looking at TAKA.

The Toyko Narita Airport is exquisitely decorated blending new with old.

Here is a model of a traditional Tokyo home. Notice the sweeping roof line, what a beautiful structure.

Bodhinatha’s plane preparing for take off to Singapore.

Here is a small chariot . A little difficult to see but the wood work is very ornate and finely detailed.

Bodhinatha early yesterday morning at the Lihue Airport. He wrote today from Singapore:

“We arrived safely in Singapore, greeted by members-students at the airport and have checked in to the hotel. About 25 hours of travel from time of leaving Aadheenam to arriving at hotel.”

Meanwhile we have posted today his last Sun One Talk on meditation.

The monks gathering in the temple early morning to see off Bodhinatha.

Our guests today included many children (ages 7-13) all belonging to two families, the Parikhs and the Patels. The Patel family are longtime subscribers of Hinduism Today.

It was through reading Hinduism Today that these families first learned about the Iraivan Temple and they had looked forward to making their pilgrimage here for quite some time.

Another group of guests arrived comprising of two related families, one from Boston, Mass. Nalini and Raj Sharma and their two children, and Raj’s mother and brother. The other family from Salt Lake City, Utah included Indra and Neelameggham and Indra’s parents, B. Gopalan and Kalyani Gopalan.

Neelameggham had been corresponding with the Aadheenam for quite some time and is also a longtime subscriber to Hinduism Today.

Neelameggham and Raj Sharma with Shanmuganathaswami discussing aspects of the Hindu Heritage Endowment Fund.

Neelameggham and his Indra took care of a granite Ganesha blessed and sent to the Utah Hindu community by Gurudeva many years ago. This deity was worshipped in their basement for some time and, through devotion, the money was then raised to build the Ganesha Temple that now stands in that community outside Salt Lake City, Utah.

Shanmuganathaswami handles a huge load for the mission: Hindu Heritage Endowment administration, Hinduism Today subscriptions and international distribution, and much, much more. He also helps out overseeing and milking our dairy cows.

Indra writes the newsletter for that temple. Here they discuss various issues in the Hinduism Today office with Arumugaswami, focusing on children’s educational materials.

Everyone enjoys seeing where all our publications originate from…

Bodhinatha left for Singapore and Malaysia early this morning with Sadhaka Tejadevanatha.

Here is Chellappa Deva fulfilling Gurudeva’s guidance to distribute literature. This is a table display at the consecration of the Ekta Mandir in Arizona.

A visiting Hindu family, originally from Mumbai, just heard about the Iraivan Temple on their last day on Kauai. They were very happy and surprised, “what a blessing to experience this now in its building stage. We definitely want to return for the opening ceremonies.”

George and Jenny Nakasone arrived with Jenny’s mother, Natsuko Higuchi. They are here visiting from Oahu on the recommendation of Peggy Oshiro a previous guest.

Natsuko recently celebrated her 95th birthday on June 1st, 2007. She wants to live long enough to see the Iraivan Temple completed. George and Jenny agreed, “We love this beautiful place and also want to return. Its so peaceful here.”

In just one short week Chellaiya, one of the temple silpis, added many refinements to this hand-carved beautiful white granite Menehune holding up the “waterspout.”

The board under the Menehune is the thickness of the red granite floor which will be arriving in the next shipment of stone.

Sun Two today… the Ekadanta Kulam has been focused on Bodhinatha’s trip to Malaysia. He leaves tomorrow.

Shree Shree Maa Anantanand Tirth arrived with ten of her devotees. She has a large center in Ahmedabad in Gujarat as well as a Healing Center for cancer patients. After visiting both the Kadavul Siva Temple and the Iraivan Temple, she paused with her devotees at the feet of Dakshinamurthy. “This is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I have ever been” she said before departing for the airport.

It is 4th of July week and we had over 200 visitors today! Over 100 or so on each tour at 9 am and 11 am.

After many years of trying unsuccessfully to grow lotuses in our ponds (the fish kept eating the roots) they are taking off in the ponds along the Path of the Saints. We think it is because we are now feeding the Koi daily and they are so plump and happy that they leave the plants alone. Another theory is that the root system developed underneath grassy bog areas inaccessible to the fish and now the lotuses are “growing like crazy” popping up everywhere and will soon fill the ponds like they do in Asia.

We are back after a three-day, full-moon retreat.

Prayers on their way to the inner worlds…

Bodhinatha takes a moment of silence before his morning upadesha.

This quarter’s Hindu Heritage Endowment meeting featured guest Phil Murphy, a planned giving consultant.

Yogi Jivanandanatha opens with a presentation of a report that he prepares and prints out in as a professional 20-page brochure, containing the agenda and fund reports. During the meeting, Phil gave an articulate summary of how Hindu Heritage Endowment can help families to achieve their financial and charitable goals. Watch this two minute video to see how a true expert looks at the ways HHE can help Hindus around the world.

Mr. Murphy shares his thoughts on encouraging people to put the Hindu Heritage Endowment into their planned-giving plans.

Hanalei Bay in the background, one of the world’s prime surfing spots.

After the meeting, the stewards posed with Phil and his wife, Anne, and the Pillaiyar Kulam which planned for days to make the meeting effective. Phil said at the end, “It’s clear to me now how seriously you take the HHE responsibilities, how carefully you review each and every fund and the performance your managers are achieving. Not all fund stewards are this deeply involved.”

The beautiful Hanalei Bay.

It is summer and we have seen a huge increase in visitors and Hindu guests who are coming just to see the temple. This is a big change from years gone by.

Kamlesh and Saryu Patel on vacation from Phoenix, Arizona. Friends urged them to visit this temple while on Kauai, which they did. Following the puja, they stopped by the Mini-Mela to purchase Rudraksha seeds, which grow in the Aadheenam’s sacred Rudraksha forest, and then tour the Iraivan Temple.

Ramesh and Kiran Prasad in front of a sandalwood tree. Ramesh is a Professor of Engineering from New Brunswick, Canada and is here attending a conference.

Prior to attending the first day of the conference, he and his wife chose to attend the 9 a.m. puja, followed by a visit to the Iraivan Temple and gardens. “What a truly wonderful experience this has been,” said Ramesh.

Another Hindu couple from the Bronx, NY, Parbhu and Sucelia “Seeta” Samaroo, visiting the Iraivan Temple for the first time posed for a photo with the silpis.

(R/L) Vellaiasamy, Parbhu, Pandi, Chellaiya, Rajendran, Seeta, and Manikandan. Parbhu and Seeta were visibly moved by their visit here. “This is such a heavenly place,” he shared, “You can feel the energy here; it’s so peaceful!”

In front of Dakshinamurthy and the Four Sages.

Two Tamil Sri Lankan families, originally from Jaffna and now living in Toronto, attended the morning abhishekam. Later they were taken down San Marga and toured the Iraivan Temple and grounds. They were delighted to note that some species of heliconia, plants and trees also grow in Sri Lanka.

This is the sacred Swayambu Lingam where Gurudeva had experienced his threefold vision of God Siva.

J. Savandranaryagam with wife Nalayini and son Arunan. As well as Navasakthy, Myuran, and Krithiga Palasandiran, and Kokulan Mahadeva in the entrance of the Iraivan Temple. “What a glorious Siva Temple this is!” said Nalayini. “It’s beautiful.”

Her 97-year-old grandfather had known Gurudeva and had visited the Kauai Aadheenam many years ago. “He insisted that we come here. He loved this sacred place,” she said. “And we are so happy we came.”

Two Tamil families arrived today. On the left is Vaidyaraman and Anupama Muthukumar from Oahu. Vaidyaraman is the Medical Director of the Pain Clinic at the Tripler Military Hospital. The other family is from Fremont, California. Krishna Kumar with daughter Nandita (2) and his in-laws Balaraman and Jaya. Krishna Kumar is a software engineer. All are originally from Chennai.

Both families felt “so blessed to be here.”

Padmapriya and Parameshwaran with 2-yr -old daughter, Kaachana Lakshmi and grandparents, Gopal and Meenakshi, also from Tamil Nadu and now living in Cupertino, CA. Padmapriya was here last December with her husband and was astonished today to see that all the pillars were in place.

She was moved by the Pancha Naga banyan tree and noted with interest that the five nagas represent the five forms of Siva; Sadyojata the creator, Vamadeva the preserver, Agora the destroyer, Tatpurusa the veiler and Isana the revealer.

Nellaiappan and his wife Maragatham met with Bodhinatha today. They left the Aadheenam on enroute back to India. Thank you both for everything you for us in India!

~~~~~~~~~~~
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 Dvitya Tithi, Sun One, Monday, July 2nd.

Two families, who are lifelong friends, arrived today from S. California and from Pennsylvania. Steven Hopkins (3rd from left) is an Assoc. Professor of Religion (comparative studies) at Swathmore College in Pennsylvania. He is a research scholar with his work taking him to Chennai, Varadaraja Permal in Kanchi, and Rangamatha Swami Temple in Satrangam as well as Devanaya Swami Temple in Tiruvahindrapuram. He is also a student and friend of Raimundo Panikkar, famed author of “The Vedic Experience.”

As we left the Iraivan Temple, Yoginathaswami was just entering. As Siddhidata Kulam Talaivar, among many other responsibilities, Yoginathaswami guides the silpis in their work of creating the Iraivan Temple.

Along the way we discovered this beautiful hybrid hybiscus, pale lavender, white and pink in colour!

One never knows what treasure awaits around the next corner in the Aadheenam gardens.

Adrienne, Evan and Steven Hopkins from PA, with a friend from NY, Rob Popp. As well as the Wallace family from S. California. Kevin, Molla, Brendan and Morgan in the grove of Rainbow Eucalyptus trees below the Iraivan Temple. . .

. . . and down at the beautiful and very sacred Wailua River.

As they departed, Steven Hopkins and Kevin Wallace stated that they were “stunned” at the wonderful sacred art work and absolute beauty of the Iraivan Temple. Kevin, who is also interested in Botany, wants to return to explore the gardens more thoroughly.

He was eager to learn more from Bodhinatha during their meeting about how Iraivan temple is being built.

He is also keen on getting some of our publications into his local temple.

Kailash Bafna and wife were among our pilgrims today. He is one of the founders and trustees of the temple in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

A walk photo tour today, testing out a new lens…

The Ganesha Mandapam on quiet days… We bring you a few photos of religious educational activities at the Spiritual Park of Mauritius.

And below a belated slideshow from Paramacharya Palaniswami who sends us photos of the last day in Mauritius

Our Saturday youth are there for there for their Saivite Hindu Religion Book V classes. There have just seen some local koi fish shyly emerging from the pond.

The lesson 9 of the day has been on Appreciation and Gratitude. The two concepts have been explained and discussed earlier with a nice keynote presentation.
“When we abide in soul consciousness, we give thanks for whatever we have, no matter how little or how much. Gratitude is being thankful for life’s little treasures, grateful for the opportunity to begin the day where we are, understanding the perfect place our karma and God’s grace have brought us to.”

Here the group is learning to meditate at the Feet of Lord Ganapati.

Some warming up and body control exercises before the hatha yoga session…

Bodhinatha explains:”Shishyas should be grateful to their gurus, husbands to their wives, wives to their husbands, parents to their children, children to their parents, students to their teachers and teachers to their students. It’s far more effective to praise others and appreciate what we have than to find fault and complain about what we don’t have!”

Real fun for youth trying to stand on one foot without moving the body…

The Bodhinatha’s MC monthly Gathering was held this Sunday at the Spiritual Park. The Mandapam provided enough space the hatha yoga session with the adult students.

Satguru Bodhinatha’s Talk of the day was on: Planning: the Key to Success.

Following vastu principles of design can certainly make businesses more successful and homes more harmonious. However, the problematic trend is to emphasize it above all else�thinking that the sole cause of obstacles and lack of success is the flawed layout of one�s home or office. For example, the sales of a business drop precipitously, and a vastu expert is consulted. He asserts that the cause is the poor layout of the space and advises: �Rebuild the structure according to my vastu design and your problems will quickly disappear!�

“Common sense tells us that there are many causes for not being successful. In my experience, the most common one is lack of proper planning. In the words of French author and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

My guru designated a five-fold division that encompasses all aspects of life�spiritual, social, cultural, economic and educational�to which we have added a sixth: physiological.

Our first step is to list our goals or objectives in each of the six areas. Ask six questions and write down the answers to each. What are the family�s (or individual�s): 1) spiritual goals? 2) social goals? 3) cultural goals? 4) economic goals? 5) educational goals? 6) physical and health goals?”

Despite the cold wind blowing inside the Mandapam that Sunday, many of the MC students doing Hatha Yoga for the first time in their lives, have enjoyed the session and have already started to master a few asanas ….

“When challenges arise, it is important to act swiftly, tactically and responsibly to find the cause and apply the proper remedy. Don�t listen to those who would solve your problems, and build their own business, by rebuilding or rearranging your house or offices. It�s not, in my experience, an effective solution. Work instead on your plan. Who knows, you may become so successful that, as your plan manifests your aspirations, five years from now you can put up a new building designed according to the venerable wisdom of vastu!”

Teaching session inside with some keynotes presentations …

Nagaratnam Jeyasreedharan from Tasmania, Australia. Darshan with Bodhinatha….

He was here for Iraivan’s first stone laying ceremony in 1995.

Summer is here and all the plants are lush and full…

The Ganapati Kulam gave their report today. They are working on the next issue of Hinduism Today and many other projects. Senthilnathaswami is doing a big article on the six temple pilgrimage he took with Yoginathaswami and Sadhaka Jothinatha last year.

Here he is with Nellaiappan who is making the rounds, talking with each of the monks and getting his task roster all lined for taking care of so many things when he goes back to India. We thanked him for his services and he said: “It is all Gurudeva’s grace that since I retired I am still able to carry on and be of some service. I and my wife are soooo happy to be here at the aadheenam!”