Today was tour day and we had about 150 visitors total on both tours at 9 am and 11am.

Otherwise things are quiet on the home front. Monks working on their various projects. The Siddhidata Kulam (SK) report on the on-going installation of new septic systems, temple work and the high productivity of our gardens.

One major step forward on the fruit production front: Our attempts to grow the “Solo” variety papayas which is a popular small kind, failed as the fruits were quickly attacked, by fungus and pests.

The SK last year planted a variety of different kinds and have finally managed to find a species of Papaya that is resistance to some of the fungi and other pests. The new variety looks like a football in size and holds up well all the way to picking time.

For many years we purchased this fruit at great expense, and the fruit was sprayed with pesticides and fungicides. We are told today that finally, all our papayas are coming from our own trees.

Congratulations to the SK!

More and more Hindus are arriving on Kauai to visit the Iraivan Temple as the temple manifests in all its glory.

Alpana and Neeraj Grover arrived from Florida where they heard about the temple from Alpana’s brother. He visited here one year ago. Alpana is a long time subscriber to Hinduism Today and was delighted to actually come to the home and source of the magazine.

Bodhinatha in bright form answering some tough questions by pilgrims: “What did Yogaswami mean when he said that Chellappa declared ‘There is not one wrong thing.’ ?”

Meanwhile we have many pilgrims with us and aside from the photos you see here we are being flooded with summer “tourist” type visitors who have found us in the guide books to Kauai.

Shan and Thilaga and their son, Lakshanth, and their cousin Raji are here on a two day pilgrimage from Sydney, Australia.

Originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Raji shared with us how her father had taken her to see Yogaswami on many occasions.

They were here yesterday and returned again today to attend the 9am Siva puja and tour the grounds. They also had a wonderful meeting with Bodhinatha asking for insights on a few of Yogaswami’s great statements.

Tiru Nellaiappan and his wife, Maragatham, are also here on pilgrimage. They are visiting all the way from Chennai. Nellaiappan has been here before but it is his wife’s first visit.

Chellaiya at work on a small bhuta statue.

Nellaiappan is one of the Trustees of our San Marga Trust in India and has been the India Liason Officer for Saiva Siddhanta Church in India for many years, helping out in so many ways.

Atop Muruga Hill.

Lakshanth hugs a rudraksha tree

Paramanathan Thamilvaanan with his wife Shanthi and daughter Sharanya (age 10) are here visiting from Canada and are originally from Jaffna, Sri Lanka. They were amazed that such a wonderful Saivite Hindu Temple was manifesting on Kauai and feel very blessed to have attended the morning Abhishekam in the Kadavul Siva Temple. “This is oh so wonderful!” she said.

The coolness of the Bali Hai waterfall was welcoming in the heat of the day. Shanthi noted with interest that some of the Hawaiian Heliconia growing along the paths also grows in Sri Lanka.

Sadhaka Dandapani brings some prashadam to our pilgrims before they depart back to Australia this afternoon.

It is Sun Two today. Bodhinatha’s talk from last Sun One is online. (Note there is a bit of silence at the beginning, just wait a bit and he will begin.)

Ekadanta Kulam News

Saravananathaswami has been working on the annual distribution of Guru Purnima rededications, advance coordination for Bodhinatha’s up and coming trip to Singapore and Malaysia and the on-going communications to members and missions around the world.

Sadhaka Dandapani has been doing a great deal of hosting as more and more visitors are coming during the summer months. He is also forging ahead with plans for the next Innersearch, and, as you saw yesterday, we are almost sold out! Only 4 seats left!

This morning was Chitra Padapuja. Our beloved Gurudeva is shining inward and outwardly, every present in our hearts.

We often think of the songs of Yogaswami, who sang of his Guru. here is a rough translation of one song. Where Yogaswami sang “he who lives in the halls of Nallur temple” we simply put in “Kauai” Kauai instead.

engal gurunaathan elil Kauai vaasan
   Our – gurunathan – beautiful – He who lives on Kauai
ingum angum engum piragaasan
   Here and – there and – everywhere – He is shining Light

mangalagaramaana vaakya prasaathan
   auspicious – words – He offers
maaraatha mauna thiyaana praveysan
   unchanged – silent – meditation – He enters

anbar sagaayan aanantha saagaran
   He who helps the loved ones – he is an ocean of bliss –
allum pagalum nallai veethiyil seygaran
   night and – day – all around Kauai’s temple – He gathers us

en pil.ai yaavum porutth enai aandavan
   my – misdeeds – all – patient with – He who rules me
iravum pagalum enthan manatthinil thaandavan
   night and – day – in my mind – He dances

vanjam poraamai kohpam vaitthidum maantharkkum
   deceitful – envious – angry – even to such people
anjaathey yendrarulai eenthidum suthanthiran
   fear not – such a grace – he gives – He who is free

kanja malar pathatthai kanavilum maravohrkku
   lotus – flower – Feet – even in dream – to those that do not forget
panjaamirtham pol nenjil panbudan inippavan
   like panchamritam nectar in the heart – always – He is sweet

Dr. Rajni Jani and his wife Ranna performed abhishekam to the Narmada Lingam beside the lotus ponds this morning before departing for their home in Fort Worth,Texas.

Sudarshan and Valli his wife meditate on the sacred Wailua River following a morning in the beautiful and very spiritual Kadavul Siva Temple.

They were so moved by their experience here that they plan to join the Innersearch Pilgrimage to Malaysia, Cambodia and Tamil Nadu in January 2008 with H. H. Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

We come now to Sunday, June 17th. Our Swadhyay Pariwar hosts invited just to join the weekly meeting in the nearby zone of Northern Virginia, which is held on Sunday mornings at the Jewish Community center.

We sat with the adult group to view a video of their found Dadaji who expounded in Hindi with sub-titles on the subject of the noble Aryan character of the ancient Hindus who had given us the great teachings of yagna and idol worship and a culture of inner strength.

The Pariwar has an interesting policy of not distributing copies of their founder’s video discourses which they have been showing since 1978. Some in the group were taking careful notes as they might not see this same video again for several years.

After wards we continued to interview the participants on their youth programs to learn about their careful set up of different age-levels and the great success they had with their educational youth program.

You will hear more details of this in the next issue of Hinduism Today.

We finally arrived back at our hotel at about 4 PM, with less than 10 hours left in Washington D. C. before we were to awaken at 2:30 am to go to the airport.

With all our official duties dispatched it was time to “play tourist!”

There are many Smithsonian museums all close by but they all would close by 5 PM. We could only go to one, so we chose the fabulous Air, Space Museum.

Don’t miss it the next time you are in D.C. You really need at least 2 hours here if you plan to read all the information signs by each exhibit. Some very scary rockets 3 stories high!

Arumugaswami has his picture taken touching the moon rock.

This is the capsule that John Glen was in when he made the first orbit around earth. We were surprised at how small it was…

Next we were off for a walking tour to the White House…

We had a long walk ahead of us to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. We stop for a bit of refreshment and give this squirrel an M and M.

I’m not sure the park rangers would approve of giving candy to these lovely little creatures, but the squirrel was content.

It scurried off up the tree to eat the treat in peace.

Next stop: the Washington Monument.

It was past hours so we did not get to go up inside.

A look back toward the city. A giant building with typical Washington D. C. architecture.

Standing on the north edge of the monument, we contemplate another long walk to the Lincoln Memorial in the distance. In three days in Washington D.C. we walked more miles than we might every do on Kauai in several weeks!

But, Lo! there are security forces in front of us… and suddenly from the left the sound of giant Marine One Helicopters — well, who knows, maybe it was Marine 2, 3,or 4 (smile).

Policemen guarded the field in front of us.

First one huge helicopter swooped down and then took off without landing. We assume it was a decoy…

then suddenly another one arrives and lands in front of us. The air is full of noise and the dust fills the air 1/4 a mile away.

Our new zoom lens… some very official type people descend and drive away with a full escort.

We asked the stone-faced policemen who it was and got the public line: “It’s a test exercise.”

Later we asked the Park Rangers as we walked by on the way to the Lincoln Memorial. It was the First Lady who had just landed.

After a good walk we arrive at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, looking back to where we were.

Inside with the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln. Wow! It’s even bigger than we imagined.

From the steps…

One last photo before a side trip to the Vietnam memorial wall of names…and then a taxi back to our hotel, with only 5 hours left for a quick nap and then off to Dulles International Airport at 3:30 am to catch the flight home.

Here we are flying over Colorado, full of mountains and lakes. Though short on sleep, we were flying into a new day, barely 40 minutes on the ground in Los Angeles and then off on a direct flight to Kauai and home to the monastery by 12:30 …about 15 hours in transit, just in time for lunch and ready to get back to work.

We begin a new phase today. Paramacharya Ceyonswami shared news from the Lambodara Kulam with updates on new information for improved methods of gold leafing on granite, news on the peetam being made in India for the crystal lingam and the on-going astrology work to our sishya with various aspects of their lives.

Our Nikon D-50 has a new zoom lens and delivers amazing, sharp images. We bring you today a slide show and movie relating to Iraivan

Part Three of the Washington DC mission focuses on the Swadhyay Pariwar’s National Youth Convention, held on Saturday, June 16th.

Arumugaswami and Sivakatirswami began early in the morning with a breakfast meeting with our hosts New Jersey zone Swadhyay Pariwar members Ramesh Bhimani and Digant Joshi, on the left. On the right, is Manish who now lives in the Netherlands.

We want to thank Ramesh and Digant for sponsoring the travel and hotel and their constant care and attention to our needs, and letting Hinduism Today have access to these events. We had a great meeting of minds in the spirit of Hindu Solidarity and spiritual brotherhood of sevaks all working hard for Sanatana Dharma and the next generation.

It was just a few blocks walk from our Washington Court Hotel to the the Congress buildings where the Youth parade was to begin.

There were young people there from every zone and state across the nation. Groups wore hats colored in yellow, red, blue, green, purple. These colors represent the five “revolutions” that come through Swadhyay which means literally “study of the self.” The five revolutions are social, political, economic, spiritual, emotional.

Read more at their web site http://www.swadhyay.org/

One of several “social experiments” conducted by the Swadhyay Pariwar is to perform devotional visits, which they call “Bhaktipheri.” Recently they have been, through these visits, promoting “Trikal Sandhya.” This means to perform a prayer to God, three times a day, morning, noon and evening.

“Trikal Sandhya is an expression of gratitude to God for: a gift of memory at dawn, a gift of energy at noon and a gift of peace at night.”

We had been told weeks before that there might have been some limit to the numbers allow by the city officials, but we see no limits here!

The current head of Swadhyay Pariwar, Didiji arrives to inaugurate the parade.

She lights the torch that leads the parade. The Washington monument is in the back.

The parade begins. We are not sure what to expect and run ahead to get pictures and video from the front.

Swadhyay Pariwar has many positive affirmations they use to remind everyone of their inner and outer work and purpose. “God is With Me and Within Me.”

This one expresses the core teaching of their founder: that God lives in each human being and that the foundation of Swadhyay is to discover, revere and live up to the “indwelling God” inside of you.

As it turned out the parade was huge! Groups from each zone from states across the country just kept coming and coming.

“God is Within Me and the Same God is in Others; so Other is Not Other but He is my Divine Brother!”

In the end, 8,000 Swadhyayi’s marched passed the finish line of the parade.

Later that afternoon we went early to the Verizon center to hold interviews with some youth, which in the Swadhyay Pariwar understanding includes children anyone up to age 30.

This is Ami Majmudar. She recently married and is now a school teacher in Ohio. She previously lived in California and knew our sishya there and the Hotranatha family will remember her.

Ami was very articulate about what she had learned and gained from the Swadhyay Pariwar and how it had changed her life.

This is Raaghav Pandya, aged 13 from New Jersey. He was also very articulate about his understanding of his religion.

Vishal Mody, 26 from Illinois, shared with us his experience in going to India to live at the Swadhyay Pariwar’s Vidya Peeth (university) for two years.

Keshav Pandya, 11 from New Jersey.

Darshan Patel is from San Jose, California, and one of the coordinators for the Pariwar activities there.

Vinesh Desai, active in coordinating youth activities. He has been with the Swadhyay Pariwar from a young age in Bangalore, India.

Ranna Patel from San Jose, is on of the ladies very active in teaching youth in the Bal Vihar Kendra (meetings of children between the ages of 3 and 14). She talked about the Swadhyay Pariwar’s high respect for the mother role in the family as she is the key to keeping a spiritual atmosphere in the home.

Nina Kadakia, Pennsylvania. She told us about the Swadhyay Pariwar monthly meetings called the “Myla Kendra” when all the mothers and ladies meet to talk about issues at home, children rearing and education of their children.

You will hear these interviews later in the Digital Edition of Hinduism Today.

We then went into the main Verizon center stadium. Didiji arrives and drives around the stadium with bright smile greeting everyone.

People kept pouring in. The projected attendance of five to ten thousand swelled until we looked around and saw an estimated twenty thousand in the stadium!

Didiji on stage is welcomed, after which she gave an hour-long discourse in Hindi which focused on the meaning of selfless service.

The youth perform a dance drama

More massive coordinated marching-dance numbers by youth from various states across the USA. So much energy and joy! Looking around, the stadium was filled to 85% capacity.

It was quite fantastic… impossible to capture by camera..

At the end of the evening, we meet Didiji briefly and give her a copy of What is Hinduism and the Hindu History Lesson and our booklet, All about Kauai’s Hindu Monastery.

Stay tuned for more on these events in the next edition of Hinduism Today.

The Wailua from above. Albezia trees in full bloom.

Silpi helper Kumar

Ti in the distance

“Please contact Sadhaka Dandapani right away if you want one of the last seats on the 2008 Asian Odyssey. You can email him (danda@hindu.org) or call him on 1-808-822-3012, Ext 239. It’s NOW or never!”

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, Saturday, June 23th.

Another Hindu family from California visiting Kauai for a summer vacation for a week. They came across the “Hindu Temple” in a tourist magazine and are so glad they did. “Who could have imagined that such a wonderful place existed here in the Islands” said Arvind. “My wife and I are so delighted and so surprised.”

Arvind Sinha with his wife Rashmi, 16 yr old son Ishan and 13 yr old daughter Sonika at the sacred Wailua river which flows at the foot of the Iraivan Temple.

Blain, a local resident of Kauai, is a regular visitor to the Kadavul Temple. Today he brought his mother Susan with him who is visiting from Chicago. “I wanted to share this experience with my mother” he said, “this is such a very special place.”

The Silpis fill a hose with water at the top of one pillar, while another Silpi on the neighboring pillar holds the other end also filled with water. The water level at each end of the hose will be the same. By putting the water level exactly to top of one pillar, you can look at the water level at the other end of the hose and use that level to mark the second pillar to make both pillars exactly the same height.

Chelliaya holds the other end of the hose on the neighboring pillar. A simple ingenious system that works.

We continue with our report on the visit by Arumugaswami and Sivakatirswami to Washington D.C.

After completing all the visits with the members of Congress and the Senate, on Friday evening, June 15th, in the evening we were off for a brief stop at the Siva-Vishnu temple. A group of priests greeted us with powerful chanting of the Na Karmana chant.

The Siva-Vishnu temple has 11 priests. Seven of them greeted the swami’s chanting in perfect unison. Each one is a from a different sampradaya.

After the brief stop at the Siva-Vishnu temple we were off to the the Murugan temple which is only a few miles away.

Garland greeting..

And breaking coconuts

On Friday evenings the Ganesha Abhishekam is performed to the murthi that Gurudeva gave this community to start the temple years ago.

Following the puja the swamis gave short presentation.

Sivakatirswami sang a few Natchintanai and got the young children in the front to answer a few questions and share their thoughts.

Arumugaswami talked to the group about the Hindu History lesson initiative to change the concepts being taught in our schools about Hinduism.

Meeting everyone after the satsang. Here we are with the priest and his family.

Nigel Siva Subramaniam and his wife Inpah and her mother. Nigel and Inpah are every ready to host the monks traveling to Washington and feed them authentic Sri Lankan cooking.

Ram, Vishney and Ranjini of the Ambalavan family

Padmini Saravanapavan on the left with her daughter and grand-daughter on the right. Padmini was a founding member of the temple and kept the image of Ganesha in her home and held puja every week until the temple was built.

Finally, time to go back to D.C. to retire. The temple shining in the night.

The June Ganesha Homa was another wonderful divine meeting of devotees with Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati at the Spiritual Park. As usual beautiful lovingly woven garlands and exotic flowers adorned the murthi. A big crowd turned up …..

Bhajan singing filled the atmosphere and even devotees sitting far off under the trees would happily join the chorus. Adi Sankara back from India was leading the devotional singing.

Everyone sang to their heart’s content for Lord Ganapati…

Almost a thousand written prayers to go into the Homa… The kulapatis sitting around had a busy time making sure all prayers being consumed by the flames. The fire pit is small now for the increasing number of prayers brought by devotees …..Due to the large crowd on Sunday Homas, Kulapati Manick appealed to the devotees for their support and understanding regarding hustle and bustle of devotees inside the Ganesha Mandapam after arati, flame passing and food serving. The response was positive….

Time for the Talk… Kulapati Manon introduced the contents of the new book: What is Hinduism? recently released by the Himalayan Academy. The book is now available on sale at the Mini Mela.

The final arati when the spiritual vibration is at its peak … everyone stood up to feel the darshan of Lord Ganapati!

Whether near or far from the murthi, everyone feels close to Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati on the inside…

The Mandapam view from the bridge

Our dedicated team consisting of sishyas and Master Course students doing a fantastic non-stop job at the small Ganesha shrine where offerings are received for the deity. Hundreds coconuts are broken and the team nicely handles everything…. Thank you for the great job! The small Ganapati Shrine is the most busy spot on such events!

Our mobile book stall right on the path leading to the Mandapam. Selvaraj is always there to take care. A plan is in motion to construct a permanent book stall that will be nicely covered to protect from the rain.

Food sponsors serving at the food station after the Homa ceremony is over. …

Devotees queued up …….

Kulapati Siven Koothan(right) and some regular devotes from the south.

The Dulloo family from Rose hill attends the Homa every month. Mr. Dulloo is a rector in a State College.

After the arati, some cleaning is done around the Mandapam murthi to tidy up the place. Our ladies are taking good care… Once the area is cleaned devotees can then freely come inside for personal worship at the murthi’s feet.

The Hundi is almost full on Sunday Homas with donations … Kulapati SK Moorghen and his team count all the notes and coins and keep track of all the accounts. We thank everyone for their generous donations which help us maintain the Park and continue development here.

Bodhinatha holds a Hindu Renaissance Award plaque that will leave for Sri Lanka next week. It says:

“Presented by Hinduism Today to Dr. Thangamma Appakutti for her five decades of religious leadership of Sri Lankan Saivites. A brilliant speaker, her spiritual talks at the home and abroad have been instrumental in inspiring the community to maintain their Hindu heritage and identity. A visionary who trained many to follow in her footsteps, she has founded enduring institutions to help sustain Saiva dharma for generations to come.”

It was tour day today. Many Hindus came today.

Twenty Hindus gather together for a book signing with Bodhinatha.

Some came originally from Sri Lanka, others from India.

They are all now living in the US and Canada.

Sannyasins Arumugaswami and Sivakatirswami went on a whirlwind, jam-packed mission to Washington D.C. with events covering four days, from the 15th to 18th of June, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The travel and hotels were generously sponsored by the Swadhyay Pariwar. The journey had four components: 1) visits to congressmen and senators, 2) visiting local temples 3) attending the grand events of the Swadhyay Pariwar and a little site seeing before flying home at 3:30 am on Monday morning. will will bring you the story in four segments on TAKA. And later, some video of events along the way.

They left on Wednesday, took the “red-eye” to Los Angeles. Arrived in Washington DC on Thursday morning and after a brief nap at the hotel they were off to start a round of visits to the congressional offices of our four Hawaii representatives. Here we are waiting in the office of Congresswoman Hirano.

Accompanying us for a number of visits was Dr. Siva Subramanian, former president of the Hindu Council of Temples in North America. He is a top pediatrician and teacher at Georgetown University hospital.

Arumugaswami makes his presentation to Congresswoman Hirano, whose constituency includes Kauai.

A group photo with the Congresswoman.

Later that afternoon we also visited the office of our other Congressman for the state of Hawaii, Congressman Abercrombie.

Late on Thursday afternoon. We took a side trip to the offices of Religion News Service. The young editor was very attentive to Arumugaswami’s points about including more positive news about Hinduism.

He was very open to the idea, saying that he needed help to get Hindu reporters to make submissions as his team was frankly not familiar enough with the Hindu community affairs. Hinduism Today offered to collaborate with putting him in touch with a Hindu new sources.

Some humor from a Religion New Service the bulletin board

Thursday evening Nigel Siva Subramaniam and his wife Inpah were kind enough to bring dinner to our hotel. String hopper, sodi and curries! The meal helped to ease the culture shock of leaving Kauai Aadheenam and being dropped in a East coast city.

Friday morning we are up and on our way back to “the hill.” It’s a reasonable walk from our Washington Court Hotel which was located just blocks away. In fact, walking seems to be a main mode of transportation as getting around with a car can be really difficult when it comes to parking and everyone in Congress is very punctual. So, you can’t be stuck in traffic looking for a parking place if you want to make your meetings on time… Better to plan ahead and just walk there.

We swing by the House of Representatives on the way to the Congressional and Senators’ offices, where we met with the assistants of our
two Hawaii Senators, Inouye and Akaka.

Washington D.C. has many beautiful old trees.

Sugar maples have been transplanted from their nursery to the streets.

The trees are pruned up as they grow. Limbs are set to only start at about 12-20 feet above ground, to make a marvelous open environment under canopy of shade.

A belated posting from the Wailua Mission gathering last week. Kulapati Deva Seyon writes:

“Iraivan Morning with lots of Shakti Power! The Rudraksha project continues . . . the Alahan family and Brahmachari Rajadeva do a lot of preparation to keep us all busy stringing and creating these beautiful gifts for the Mini Mela. We invited our resident Task Forcers as well as visiting family members. Everyone shares this beautiful flow of working for Iraivan. Visiting families love to see the energy and harmony and even the very young children love to help.

Brahmachari Thondunathan has been conducting a few summer camps each year. Here he is with some children in California.

With all the teaching materials now available from Himalayan Academy, hatha yoga brochures, What is Hinduism and the latest Saivite Hindu Religion course books 3 and 4, we now have rich set of teaching tools.

Thondunathan says that young people are more interested in meditation than you might think. It just takes some guidance.

In the hot tub and swimming pool, the kids relax and talk about issues they might be afraid to discuss in a formal classroom.

Aum namah Sivaya! Love from Kauai Aadheenam.

It is Ashram Sadhana day today, when all the monks spend the morning making our monastery clean and actinic. Energy flows better when it is not stuck in the odic force fields that naturally accumulate in objects, places and people. In a clean environment, our superconscious, creative forces can manifest fully and clearly.

As we looked at Bodhinatha’s photo for today’s TAKA, one of his 108 names came to mind:

“Aum Sri Drishthi Jvaline namah”
(Prostrations to him whose eyes radiate darshan)

Arumugaswam and Sivakatirswami returned today from Washington, D.C.! It was a very successful trip and it is great to have our two swamis back home.

Arumugswami spearheaded the discussions and presentations at the visits with our congressmen and senators, regarding visas for our silpis and the religious worker visa issue in general for all Hindu organizations.

Sivakatirswami coordinated the Swadhyay Pariwar connection side of the trip in preparation for an article in Hinduism Today. There were 20,000 youth at the convention on Saturday night! More detailed news in the days ahead.

From right to left, Ranna Jani, and her husband, Dr. Rajni Jani who is a Scientist in Ophthalmology. Next is his son, Alap who is now in Medical School and also plans to be an Ophthalmologist, and Dr. Jani’s daughter, Ami. All from Patan, Gujarat, they now reside in Fort Worth, Texas.

Their first visit to the Aadheenam included a wonderful 9:00 a.m. Abishekam in the Kadavul Siva Temple, a tour of the Iraivan Temple, and an audience with Satguru Bodhinatha.

Smiling and happy, as they left, Dr. Rajni Jani reassured me “we’ll be back tomorrow.”

Chelliah, one of our skilled silpis, was found hard at work creating a Hawaiian figure handcarved out of white granite. It is a Menehune, a hawaiian counterpart to Hindu bhutas.

What an Artist! All of the carvers at Iraivan Temple are very good.

Selvanathan Sthapati, one of our dearest and most knowleadgeable collaborators in India, sends information about the carving of the four Siva murtis that will go on top of Iraivan Temple, one for each direction:

“I am happy to attach herewith the progress pictures on the four Siva murtis. The carving work is progressing well.

“The vigraha carvers are strictly informed that this should be carved manually and should not engage any machines.”

“The work is being carried out smoothly and very carefully with manual tools.

“The white stones are of hard variety and the carvers are doing it with special care as per my instructions.

With our humble namaskarams to Satguru Bodhinatha Swamy and to all the Acharyas and Swamis,

yours sincerely,

Sthapati Selvanathan”

Thank you Selvanathan! These beautiful carvings will indeed be worthy of standing on Iraivan’s golden crown.

A Pada Puja to Gurudeva’s holy feet.

How wonderful it is to have a being such as Gurudeva among us, still so active in the inner worlds, to inspire and guide. How much we all love him!

We offer these photos for all of his devotees to find the inner form of the guru by looking at historic photos of Gurudeva’s outer form.

Jai Gurudeva! Jai Bodhinatha!

Aum namah Sivaya.

Aum namah Sivaya!

It was a quiet day at Kauai Aadheenam, as far as guests are concerned. But we monks kept serving Lord Siva in small ways, each one doing our tasks with dedication and a full heart.

The news today is that Innersearch seats are almost completely sold out. We are stunned at how popular they are. We can understand how everyone wants to have meditation classes with Bodhinatha…

We also had a safety class on the new CAT today.

Iraivan continues to move forward steadily, according to the cosmic will of Lord Siva. The blue skies are a ever-changing frame for the glint of the golden capstone. Iraivan Temple is truly one of Gurudeva’s masterpieces.

The silpis continue to improve the carvings, doing some ornamentation work that was not originally planned but will make this jewel look even better for centuries to come.

Our team of traveling swamis are in Washington, D.C., working on a mission that includes assuring a continuity of visas for these marvelous craftsmen.

“Siva Siva!”

Breaking news from D.C.: “Suffice to say, a total success,” says Sivakatirswami. We will probably have many more details, and we hope to have photos, on tomorrow’s TAKA.

Today we were visited by Dr. Nalini Rao, a scholar in Hindu art and daughter of the famous Indian archeologist Dr. Rao, who is a pioneer in excavating submerged cities.

Very knowleadgeable about temple art, she said “It is wonderful to see that this is the face of Saivite art in the XXI century. It is so traditional and then again slightly innovative in many details. It will be studied by historians in centuries to come.”

Silpi Manickandam was happy to talk to her in Tamil and explain the process.

Dr. Rao said she is so happy to see this craft survive through the hands of skilled men as our silpis.

“My father will love to come here!” she said.

A few slides of Dr. Rao’s presentation:

The depth of Hindu mysticism has always baffled western scholars. It is from inability to understand the deep meaning of many manifestations of Hindu art, culture and religion that came many modern misunderstandings. A common one is that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion.
This is a photo of an ancient Sivalinga, the most primal and essential form of worshipping Siva.

An interesting collection of 1,008 lingams.

This is one of the most explicit statements of monism and monistic theism in Hindu art. Unlike the popular – and erroneous – concept that Hindus worship a “trinity, ” it shows that the Supreme being can be seen as many, usually Brahma-Vishnu-Rudra, but in essence He is One Being.

This supreme manifestation, the Primal Soul, is seen here inside a linga, Parasiva.

See Gurudeva’s explanation of the three perfections of Lord Siva in Dancing with Siva.

Dr. Nalini Rao’s presentation art brings us many examples of depictions of Siva as formless, to the left, and with form, to the right.

We are in the process of scanning and digitizing each one of the estimated 80,000 photos of our archives. We want to share with you some of the beautiful treasures we found.

Gurudeva’s eyes glare with divine wisdom.

Many of the photos have no caption or information, and we have fun trying to figure them out.

We thought we could use our new zoom-in feature to share you TAKA readers some of the beautiful art of our Hindu Art DVD. Enjoy! You can also find the DVD at the MiniMela webstore.

Use the zoom controls under the photo to zoom in and then grab the image to move it.

The start of a new and dynamic phase.

The monks always have so many projects, a little more than what they can handle. This makes them work harder, stretches both their willpower and abilities, and makes them stronger.

The Lambodara Kulam shared their news today. The pitham (base) on which the our giant sphatika Sivalingam will be worshiped is on its way to completion. It is made of panchaloka, a sacred mixture of five metals described in ancient scriptures. Many stones are also on the move and will be shipped to Kaua’i soon.

Last retreat we mailed hundreds of this month’s Iraivan Temple newsletter to all generous souls who are supporting its construction. Take a close look at yours when it arrives: our monks created a brand new design!

Sun One, a day that always starts with a powerful homa and a satsang from Bodhinatha. Today he talked about Merging with Siva chapter 10, “From Darkness to Light.” You can read the book here.

The vibration is so tangible that we all feel grateful to the Hindu rishis who revealed such spiritual rituals and magical techiniques a long time ago.

Yogi Jivanandanatha performed today’s homa.

“Living in the light, everything that formerly was hidden becomes revealed. Answers to questions that you had been pondering for many years become instantaneously unraveled in the light of the superconscious.”

Aum namah Sivaya!

A interestingly powerful day at the Aadheenam. Two of our monks left for Washington, DC — full story below. As the monks walked down Tiruneri path to the entrance, they unexpectedly heard a melodious, strong chanting coming from a group of visitors under our Banyan tree Mandapam.

The Hawaiian Studies Kapuna group came today, chanting beautiful and sacred hawaiian songs. There is a strong and harmonious resonance between Hinduism and the native religion of the islands, their cosmology, Gods and traditions.

Arumugaswami and Sivakatirswami leave for Washington DC today. Their primary objective is to represent Hinduism Today at a giant Svadyay Pariwar national youth convention on Saturday, the 16th. The event includes a parade of Hindu floats down Constitution Avenue and a convention of some 5,000 or more youth and families at the Verizon Convention Center, from all over the US, with Svadyay Pariwar leaders coming in from India.

May Lord Ganesha bless their trip and open all doors!

The trip is sponsored by generous Pariwar supporters who love Hinduism Today. We are also taking the opportunity at the national capital to meet a number of congressmen and senators regarding new religious worker visa regulations that directly impact our ability to bring silpis and new monks to the US from other countries. They will also have satsang with the youth of the Murugan temple on Friday evening.

Today the annual inter-Island Hawaiian “Kapuna” Ka Piho O Ka Lei Lehua O Heawe gathering was hosted by Sabra Kauka of Kauai and came to the Aadheenam for their spiritual gathering. Every Island was represented and each Island honored the sacred land the Aadheenam rests upon with a chant or Oli as their “blessing” for this land. Here are some of the Kapunas from Oahu.

It was a rather large group, all of them very welcome. There were approximately sixty Kapunas in all.

Walking to Iraivan Temple, observed by Saint Tiruvalluvar (left), who wrote the Holy Kural; the TAKA photographer (behind the camera); and Saint Tirumular, the mystic who poured down the beautiful Tirumantiram.

Watching the Silpis’ demonstration.

“Kapuna” means “grandmother.” As in Hinduism, when one reaches a certain age of wisdom in the Hawaiian religion she or he can put more time into spiritual practices, study their tradition and strive to make spiritual progress.

The sacred Wailua river, that flows on our property, is praised in many hawaiian songs.

Chetty Balram (center) has been visiting the Aadheenam daily with his four students while on pilgrimage here from South Africa. He met with Sadhaka Jothinatha (far right) and plans to introduce the International Magazine, “Hinduism Today” to forty separate groups or “Societies” in South Africa.

Next to Sadhaka Jothinatha are Thevashen, Chetty Balram, Jaishni, Nerisha, and Subashin.

Enjoying the vibration of Iraivan Temple.

The group went down to Wailua, to perform abishekham…

…and meditate.

Three early morning visitors arrived from Wellington and Hamilton, New Zealand and were given a spontaneous tour of the Iraivan Temple by Sadhaka Haranandinatha. Glynis Mitchelson “Ngakari” is a Mouri native of New Zealand (far right) and agreed with her friends that the beauty and peace of this incredible place was “heavenly.”

More from the series of photos with our new camera lens.

This is Yogi Jivanandanatha, glowing ever more bright with the intensity of his tapas and the blessings of Muruga.

Our pond reminds us of staying in areas of the mind that are calm, clear, reflective. Saravanabhava.

This camera does take beautiful shots .

Lord Siva Dakshinamurti.

The colors of Kauai Aadheenam.