It is a very quiet day at the Aadheenam. The Siddhidatta Kulam reported on their service. As spring is here, our vegetable garden is really producing well, and we are getting more and more different kinds or lettuce and other greens.

An expert tree trimmer came by again today and shared a lot of knowledge on proper trimming and safety habits for the monks.

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi Jivanandanatha completed their stay in Mauritius and flew last night to India. They are now in Mumbai for a series of meetings there. Palaniswami will send news as time goes by. Meanwhile he has several slideshows lined up for you.

Maiju and Savitha Kutty arrived from their home on Oahu with their two children, Srilakshmi (9) and Meenakshi (3). Maiju’s parents, Narayanan and Ramani Kutty are visiting from India, and Maiju specifically brought them to Kauai to attend the puja and visit the Iraivan Temple.

On the right are Bhavesh and Mita Zalavadia from New Jersey, who described their visit here as “absolutely wonderful.”

Lakshmi Sivasurier and her friend Lena Wong are visiting from Toronto, Canada and were present for the morning abhishekam in the Kadavul Siva Temple, followed by a tour of the Iraivan Temple and a wonderful meeting with Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

Bodhinatha gives them each a copy of What is Hinduism

Lakshmi’s Uncle, Thiru Satkunendran, is a long time supporter of the Aadheenam and much appreciated for his enormous help in a multitude of ways when the swamis visit Canada.

Paramacharya Palaniswami’s visit to Mauritius continues with one of the first Saivite temples of the island, the Sockalingum Meenactchee Ammen Temple at Port Louis. It is one of the few temples here with a very tall gopuram.

One goes through massive wooden doors through the huge gopuram to enter the temple….

Some 25 years ago Gurudeva and Palaniswami on their first visit to Mauritius, stayed at that temple for almost a month. It was a time when many Hindus of the island were being converted to Christianity. Gurudeva then came to the island to help promote Saivism ….

Some youth are already there waiting for swami’s arrival….

The Temple looks beautiful from the outside with nice looking sculptures made by traditional craftsmen from India.

The temple bell….

It is 5:00 PM and many of our Himalayan Academy students and members are already there early waiting for Paramacharya Palaniswami….

…. A few of our ladies seated on the Temple steps ……

Paramacharya Palaniswami arrives at 5:30 PM as scheduled. Paramacharya is traditionally greeted with a kumbam…

Paramacharya Palaniswami is in front of a newly renovated temple…. a big change to what the temple was 25 years ago!

Time for Koyil valam…..Swami led by the temple priest, accompanied by nadeswaram musicians walked around the temple…

The Temple pandaram priest, Soobramanium Sharma has been in this Saivite temple for several years….

An arati at the Ganesha sanctum..and at other shrines.

A murti of Lord Muruga is led around the temple…

After the procession round the temple, Paramacharya Palaniswami gave a talk about how the Tamil community are great temple builders all over the world today. Swami also talked about personal karma and how Hindus are being blindly lured and abused by those promoting Vastu for vested interest today. The book “What is Hinduism” published by Himalayan Academy was introduced and everyone was invited to have a copy once it was released at the local customs. A nice group listened attentively, mostly from our membership and the temple’s regular devotees…

We begin a new phase today with a powerful homa followed by a precious, helpful, pointed upadesha by Bodhinatha.

Bodhinatha has been speaking extemporaneously during his talks lately, using Merging with Siva as a jumping-off point. Last week’s talk is posted today and today’s talk will come in a few days.

The homa has been carefully prepared for on the retreat. Nataraja’s golden throne glistens in the background.

Bodhinatha observes as the preparatory rites to Vinayaka are done.

Saravananathaswami intently visualizes bright colors of light filling the achamanam cup he will use to bless the surroundings, puja implements and to offer to the Gods.

The flame is high, and grains are offered.

Yogi Japendranatha rings the bell to alert the devas that prayers are coming through now.

Bodhinatha offers the prayers steadily, one at a time, with his blessing and intention that each be fulfilled according to the karmas of its author, just as the devas told us they would do.

And so it has happened every Sun 1 for years and years at the Aadheenam.

Bodhinatha gave a wonderful talk after the homa drawing on Gurudeva’s description of awareness in Merging with Siva. He tells us that awareness is like a little ball of light and has the ability to travel to any area of the mind it chooses.

Bodhinatha remarked how ridiculous an idea it seems to let the events of the day determine our state of mind and emphasized the importance of choosing our state of mind by moving our awareness with our will.

Watch the sidebar at right for Bodhinatha’s talk, which should be ready in a few days.

Merging with Siva is a priceless gift from Gurudeva, filled with lifetimes of mystical knowledge. Certainly it’s more than a lifetime’s study for us!

It was tour day today at the Aadheenam. We had a good crowd both at the 9 am and 11 am tours.

Showers on the statue of Tiruvalluvar

One of our tour groups at Iraivan Temple

During his visit to Mauritius Paramacharya Palaniswami was invited to satsangas in sishyas homes. Today all the members living in the north from Mardemootoo and Manick kutumba met swami at Cap Malheureux at the Mardemootoo’s residence.

Paramacharya Palaniswami is traditionally greeted ….

Paramacharya Palaniswami is shown into the home shrine where an arati is performed

Then everyone sat in the parlor with swami …..

Ariadasy led the bajans…

Paramacharya Palaniswami talked that evening about the need for the sishyas to make of their personal spiritual progress their main priority. Swami also narrated a few stories about Gurudeva in Nepal and talked about Hinduism today going digital …..
After the talk we sang a few Natchintanai and Paramacharya Palaniswami then met each family privately in the home shrine…

On one of the wooden chest of drawers is a beautiful Siva Nataraj and a rare photo of Gurudeva ….

The Canagasaby family of Rempart….

The Naden Caremben family

Giradevi and Basanti….

Selvaraj, Brahmachari Vel and Tirthadeva ….

Malini Peruman serving some food….

Dayananda and Sivarathna

Kumaren Moorooven family …..

Somandiren Peruman family…

Kulamata Kavita and her daughter Deepa

Brahmacharini Indranee and Kulapati Manon

Deepa and Jambalini…

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi Jivananandanatha will be traveling back to New Delhi shortly and they sent an advance preview of the toasty weather awaiting them. Look at all the ways this weather report has found to describe the fierce heat and sun assaulting India at this time.

Here is Bodhinatha in New Zealand on the last Innersearch. We invite you all to the next one. An up-to-date itinerary of the next innersearch is now available. Right-click if you want to get full details on the trip in 2008. Mystic Mouse has more to say about this at the end of today’s TAKA.

At the Aadheenam it is the last day of the phase and Bodhinatha and Sivakatirswami went to the local Interfaith Round Table of Kauai meeting that happens each month. One of the regular participants gave a marvelous presentation on conflict management and mediation that is being presented in schools around the island. One other participant said “This is really great material and all adults need it too!”

Though Paramacharya Palaniswami has been in Mauritius for the last 5 days, he and Yogi Jivanandanatha found a bit of time to catch up and sent us two movies and a slide show from their last days in India.

In the first movie, Mrs. Choodie Shivaram, long time correspondent for Hinduism Today, who lives in Bangalore, India, gives her testimony on what her association with Hinduism Today has meant to her through the years.

Then follows a slideshow and movie of our team’s last days in Chennai.

A wonderful group of visitors from a previous day returned for the 9 a.m. puja and a tour of the waterfalls and lotus ponds.

The Patels, the Shuklas, and the Shahs…

On their way to the Bali Hai waterfalls.

. . . and down to the sacred Wailua River

Ramesh Patel with a friend at the waterfalls. “We just love this beautiful place,” said Ramesh.

We bring you a few more photos of the Ganesha Homa at the Spiritual Park. The only pool now on the right side of the Ganesha Mandapam looks beautiful again.

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi ceremoniously welcomed at the steps of Ganesha Mandapam….

The dancers did gracefully well on the bridge….

First row from the left, kulamatas Selvon, Premila and Mooneesawmy…..

The elaborate Homa which created a high spiritual vibration….

Seated on the steps are Kulapati Moorghen and Navind Sagam

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi finding their way through the crowd. Everyone wants to touch swami’s feet. Kulapati Manon is leading the way.

Devotees even followed Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi up to the Muruga Mandapam at the far end of the property.

During the rudraksha plant ceremony Paramacharya Palaniswami broke a coconut….

A small book stand has been set up down the main entrance to sell the Church publications. On Homa days the space at the Mini Mela cannot cater for the large crowd coming in. The Himalayan Committee has always been supporting the Mini Mela on festivals selling outside in a stall on the property. Today a few Master Course students are happy doing this seva …

A few books displayed…..

Paramacharya Palaniswami thanked all those helping there…..

The visit now over for this Sunday’s Homa ….Paramacharya Palaniswami asked for a souvenir photo with all his young bodyguards…

Mystic Mouse says you can read all the details in a new PDF he has prepared just for you. Right-click to download the latest itinerary.

Were blessed with a visit today from one of India’s important religious leaders, Shri Shri 1008 Swami Shri Gopal Sharan Devacharya Ji Maharaj.

He is the successor to the renowned Shri Shri 1008 Swami Shri Lalita Sharan Devacharya Ji Maharaj, of the ancient Sri Nimbarka Sampradaya branch of Vaishnavism.

This great Vaishnava sage, Shri Shri 1008 Swami Shri Lalita Sharan Devacharya Ji Maharaj, attained Maha Samadhi in 2005.

The seat of this particular parampara is based in Vrindavan with an ashram also in Delhi.

see: www.golokdham.org

Shri Goloka Dhama Peethadhishwara Sadh Gurudeva Dharmaratna Shri 1008 Swami Gopala Sharana Devacharya Ji Maharaja is the 52nd acharya of the sampradaya, now the Peethadheeshwar of Shri Golok Dham Ashram.

He was given to his Guru for training by his parents at the age of 5 and took Sannyas at the age of 9. He later excelled as a great sanskrit scholar after years of study and sadhana in Kashi (VaranasI) and was given the title of Dharamratan. You can read his biography by clicking here.

Today swami and the brahmachari with him joined in the worship during the morning Siva puja in Kadavul, chanting Siva slokas and doing abhishekam with Paramacharya Ceyonswami. Here they are seen chanting after abhishekam before the final arati.

Swami met Gurudeva in Bangalore in 1995 and has read Hinduism today through the years. For years he wanted to visit Kauai Aadheenam and he finally made it.

We took him on a tour with his hosts to the Rudraksha forest and Iraivan.

Worshipping at the Swayambhu Sivalingam.

Swami’s lineage, though Vaishnava, has many characteristics parallel to our own. Followers of Nimbarka are dedicated to maintaining not only worship of the Guru but the full tradition of scripture, temple worship and a complete culture based on the Vedas.

While being very orthodox in their own practice and denomination, they have a very open spirit of brotherhood with all other denominations of Hinduism.

Our managing editor, Arumugaswami conducts a revealing interview. We discovered in so many ways
how like-minded we were.

Swami has established 78 Radha-Krishna temples around the world. He came today with devotees from Los Angeles and Northridge, California where one of those temples is being built.

Swawi expressed some concerns about so many “self-appointed” so-called Gurus who were not rooted in any parampara or sampradaya, who nurtured a cult of personality at the expense of the tradition.

He has a goal to create 108 temples. “One mala of temples!” he says.

He is a learned and yet sweet and humble soul.

Bodhinatha arrives to greet him with a shawl.

He invites Bodhinatha and the swamis to come stay with him at his ashram in Delhi or Vrindavan.

Swami has lunch with all the monks.

Toward the end, he praised the Aadheenam for being such a place of tradition and following the strict ways, and being firmly based on Parampara.

We were very blessed to have Swami join us today and felt we had established a strong bond of Hindu Solidarity with another ally in the work of bringing Sanatana Dharma forward to the next generation.

Manikandan, one our great stone Artisans, has been carving this sacred sign above the sanctum doorway of the Iraivan Temple. “Siva Siva” in the Tamil language, and before its completion the stone will also be highly polished.

Disappointed at missing the scheduled weekly Tour Day, John and Leticia Afford were overjoyed to be shown the gardens and the Iraivan Temple today before leaving the Island.
“What a wonderful spiritual paradise this is” said Leticia.
“This has really made our stay here complete.”

The May Sunday Homa was a most special event honored by the presence of Paramacharya Palaniswami at the Spiritual Park of Mauritius. The members of the Park have long been preparing for this visit…

A large crowd of devotees were already there to to bring their offerings to Lord Pancha Ganapati! Every sishya pulled together as usual, to help on that day, like taking care of the offerings brought by hundreds of devotees.

In the meantime another group of sishyas led the bajans inside the Ganesha Mandapam…

It is 10.30 AM… Paramacharya Palaniswami arrives at the main gate. Devotees rush forward to greet Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi Jivanandanatha.

Before going into the Ganesha Mandapam, Paramacharya Palaniswami inaugurates the newly built Ganesha Bridge….

The Ganesha Bridge is now open and is the sweet fruit of dedicated efforts of generous sponsors and loving devotees who helped in its construction..

Young girls have been strewing flowers all way down ….

The Sunday Homa ceremony is officiated Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi. Everything is now ready to start….

Young dancers performed a beautiful dance over the new bridge.

The dance over, Yogi Jivanandanatha surprised everyone with the beautiful sanskrit chanting. One visitor to the Park later said to us,” I was very impressed by that ceremony…”.

Two baskets containing almost a thousand prayers were to go into the Homa fire…

Paramacharya Palaniswami graciously putting all the written prayers into the fire.

Gurudeva explained that once the notes consumed by the sacred fire, they will reappear in the inner worlds to be attended by the devas.

The ceremony ends with the final rituals of ghee offering….

Kulapati Manon introduced Paramacharya Palaniswami and invited Paramacharya to address the devotees present.

Paramacharya Palaniswami shared Bodhinatha’s message and good wishes to all those present and thanked the public for supporting and being concerned about the development of the Park. Paramacharya also stressed on Ganesha worship here and in the home shrine. …

After the talk Paramacharya Palaniswami walked down the property. Devotees would be rushing forward to touch Paramacharya Palaniswami’s feet. At times there was such a pull that Paramacharya Palaniswami could not move one step further! Paramacharya had to lean on Kulapati Manon’s shoulders…

We are about to reach the Muruga Mandapam where close by Paramacharya Palaniswami has spotted an area for a rudraksha forest.

Paramacharya Palaniswami prepares to put into the soil a first plant that had sprouted at Kauai Aadheenam under his loving care.

The plant is ceremoniously put into the soil by Paramacharya Palaniswami helped by Dayananda and Sivarathna…

The little blue marble tree will now be growing at a place where sunshine is in abundance and other rudraksha plants would follow soon…. Some more photos of the Sunday Homa coming on next TAKA… Till then…

All is peaceful and serene here. While the monks are quietly focused on various projects, lots of guests are coming and going outside.

While we sit stationed in the middle of Hawaii, from here many small mission dramas are unfolded and directed in distant places. Bodhinatha continues in Gurudeva’s footsteps on the path of supporting groups far and wide, even when he is not traveling.

The Pillaiyar Kulam gave their news today and Sadhaka Jothinatha has this story along these lines of “remote support.”

Following the tradition begun by Gurudeva, Bodhinatha gives Ganesha murthis to temples and societies that are just establishing themselves. “Begin the worship of Ganesha immediately and He will make the way smooth for you,” Gurudeva would say. He gave such murthies to dozens of temples, each of which has subsequently come up and thrived. When a group of Hindu students at the University of Arkansas established a chapter of the Hindu Student Council a couple of weeks ago, they communicated with Bodhinatha and requested a murthi for that very purpose. Bodhinatha immediately sent them this sweet, gentle and loving 16.5-inch, 48 lb. granite Ganesha, shown here just as he arrived at his new home.

Even while the murthi was still in transit, blessings already began to pour. Jiger Patel, center, sent us this note. “We might call it a miracle of Lord Ganesha! The Lord Ganesha Murthi has still not arrived and some students are seriously talking about building a Mandir for Him. Some went as far as saying that even if it takes few years or we are just able to rent a apartment for a year, we need to give our Murthi a permanent place. News of Ganesha’s coming has already inspired us to the point of having these wild thoughts…” Jiger and his friends, Anu Aggrawal and Sandeep Goyal, thought they should worship Ganesha as soon as they unpacked him. Jiger is a resident of the USA and Anu and Sandeep are residents of India.

Ganesha is temporarily installed.

And Anu offers the first Arathi. “We chanted few basic mantras of Hindu Dharma, then Ganesha Aarti and then chanted Lord Ganesha’s 108 names… It was a great experience, and I will like to sincerely say thank you to Satguru Bodhinatha and all the monks of Kauai Monastery. I wish to personally meet and touch the divine feet of the monks of your monastery. In the future, I look forward to working with your monastery to protect our great Dharma.” Looks as though Ganesha did his magic and they are off to a wonderful start.

(right) Norm and Lois Sims (who are the parents of a well known local Veterinarian, Dr. Scott Sims) and two family friends, Diana and Kirt from Utah. All making their first trip to the Kauai Aadheenam and the Iraivan Temple.

Norm said that he was “so very happy we came. This has been a truly wonderful experience for us all.”

On a slightly different but similar note. The Tamil community invited Bodhinatha to the 11th Saiva Conference in Switzerland. Though he was unable to attend personally, Bodhinatha prepared a video that will be presented on screen as a Keynote Address to the group.

It is called:

Saivism: Unity in Diversity

A rich presentation with his voice over and translations into Tamil by Sivayogapathy, dubbed in, it will be a powerful
digital presence at the conference.

Our lull in visitor flow only lasted for a day or so. All morning visitors have been coming and going. Thanks to Brahmacharini Shama Kumaran for taking care of everyone, taking these pictures and sending us the captions.

Also arriving for the morning Abishekam and a tour of the Iraivan Temple were a group of fourteen enthusiastic joyful souls who comprised of the Shahs, Patels, and Shuklas all from Chicago Also present (far right) is Gyaneshwaram Aruna Pillay and his wife. Mr. Pillay is the ex-General Secretary of the Sri Siva Subramanium Kovil in Nadi Fiji. He and his wife now reside in Washington State.

Following the tour Mr. Patel remarked in wonder “This has been a great experience. Who would have imagined such a wonderful place existed in Hawaii!”

A few more photos of the seminar with Paramacharya Palaniswami at Quatre Bornes. Each participant on introduction received a rudraksha seed that has been harvested at Kauai Aadheenam.

Later during the day Paramacharya Palaniswami explained with the support of a slide show the Saivite mystical importance of these blue marble seeds…

A table with our few youngest participants at the seminar ……

Sonja Schneider (left) from Austria has read Loving Ganesha and is learning more about Hinduism from the seminar today…

From left Mithun, Ananda and Anandee have been helping with setting up the conference hall early morning for the seminar….

From our membership (left), Gayavatee, Arulmani and and Ariadassy

Earlier before the first break Paramacharya Palaniswami talked about an experience of Gurudeva’s previous birth in Vienna when explaining the concept of reincarnation…..

Paramacharya Palaniswami also referred to the concept of Positive Discipline to answer one of the questions regarding raising children. Parents are to be generous with their praise and appreciation, making children know that they are loved and valued, that who they are makes a difference and life is full of promise.

The Rungapen sisters from the north …… Selna and Selvi have enrolled in the Master Course study….

Returning from the seminar Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi went directly to the north at the Siva Soopramaniar Temple at Cap Malheureux where Palaniswami was invited to give a talk. The event was coordinated by Kulapati Manon. Young girls greet our Spiritual guests with a kolattum dance.

After welcoming our Swami and Yogi inside the temple for an arati to Lord Ganesha, Muruga and Siva, Paramacharya Palaniswami was invited to meet a few local archagars. Swami said that archagars are divine workers and they are to get everyone’s respect and esteem for the divine job they are doing at the temple.

After the meeting, Paramacharya Palaniswami gave a talk in the open air to the members of the temple and their families. Paramacharya Palaniswami paid homage to the Tamils who have been spreading Saivism all over the world.

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi and everyone present were invited to dinner at the temple.

Built in 1985, the Cap Malheureux Aroul Migou Siva Soopramaniar Kovil was completely renovated in 2006 at the cost of some one million rupees. A new sanctum has been added for the navagraha or nine planets. This temple was built at a time when Mauritius was undergoing a Saivite renaissance in the 80’s when the local Tamil community was claiming its original religious identity.

A beautiful gopuram with sculptured images of Ganesha, Siva and Muruga….

A beautiful Ganesha jetting out at the back wall of the temple.

It is a quiet day at the Aadheenam.

Saravananathaswami gave his report from the Ekadanta Kulam. He continues to work with the logistics and promotion of Bodhinatha’s seminars later this year in Malaysia, Singapore and California. He also greeted and helped a new Task Forcer, Kamil, get oriented. He has also arranged for a professional security, and parking attendant to come on tour days to handle the cars and parking issues arising from so many guests. And, as he does every year, he is working the Guru Purnima 2007 rededication forms, which will be soon sent out to all the sishya around the world.

Sadhaka Dandapani continues to work on preparations for the next Innersearch and is our tour day host.

The beauty of the Aadheenam gardens includes a cactus wonderland replete with a small mountain stream meandering through.

Lord Palani surrounded by sacred Hawaiian Ti plants.

Colorful Bromeliads interwoven with Japanese bamboo.

Shobhna, her sister Surekha, and their parents Prema and Dharup Pahalad and son Sanjay Pahalad.
Shobhna was previously here with her mother in May 2006.

The family is from Vancouver, BC and Prema stated she felt it was important to be present at all three locations when Bodhinatha visited Canada. “Being in the Guru’s presence is good for the soul and is extremely enlightening” Prema reminisced. “We are so blessed!”

Leah’s regular floral offerings on Tour Day are always welcoming for the guests. This one today included torch ginger, haliconias, red ginger, spruce and a bromeliad center. Mahalo Leah.

Click this link to view and zoom in on an aerial photo of Iraivan.

On Saturday May 5 the Himalayan Academy Committee of the Spiritual Park organised a one day seminar at Gold Crest Conference Hall, at Quatre Bornes, a residential town in Mauritius on the theme “What is Hinduism?” for new seekers.

A beautiful poster at the entrance explaining the subjects of the seminar to be conducted by Paramacharya Palaniswami, Editor of HINDUISM TODAY.

The event started with an arati to Lord Ganesha by Yogi Jivanandanatha …..

…. followed by another arati to our Gurus…

Paramacharya Palaniswami welcomed every participant and and shared a few of his spiritual experiences which inspired everyone. The topics covered concepts related to Hindu practices, beliefs and attitudes. Participants also asked several questions and answers provided shed more light on those subjects.

The topics taught were enhanced by beautiful keynote presentations from Paramacharya Palaniswami’s computer….. old-age truths in 21st century hi tech presentations…

Some 85 participants signed up for this seminar. For everyone it was a memorable spiritual experience to learn so many spiritual things from a swami.

Most of the participants are already studying with Satguru Bodhinatha through the correspondence Master Course. Others are new comers who have happily signed up to learn more about their religion.

Paramacharya Palaniswami introducing the new book “What is Hinduism?”

Participants listened attentively while Paramacharya Palaniswami gave an overview of the contents of the book.

The keynote presentation was mainly on “Ten Questions people asked about Hinduism.” from this new book.
To the question: Why does Hinduism have so many Gods? participants had this answer:
“Hindus all believe in one Supreme God who created the universe. He is all-pervasive. He created many Gods, highly advanced spiritual beings, to be his helpers.”

Another question: Why do Hindus worship the cow?

” Hindus don’t worship cows. We respect, honor and adore the cow. By honoring this gentle animal, who gives more than she takes, we honor all creatures.”

Kulamata Premila Manick, playing the vina accompanied by her 13 year old son on the mrdangam just before the break…

A varied buffet lunch was served…

Participants came forward to serve themselves…

Three participants attending the a Himalayan Academy seminar for the first time.

The Seminar was over by 3.30 PM. Paramacharya Palaniswami had a meeting with a few students who are more advanced in their Master Course study. Paramacharya Palaniswami stressed on consistency on spiritual study and discipline. More photos of the event in next TAKA….

Paramacharya Palaniswami, Editor of HINDUISM TODAY and Yogi Jivanandanatha are on a 10 day visit to Mauritius. Among other activities Paramacharya and Yogi would to be meeting the membership, conduct seminars, give public talks and work with the stewards of the Spiritual Park in view of preparing a Master plan for future developments at the Park.

Paramacharya Palaniswami is traditionally welcomed at the Ganesha Mandapam. This is Paramacharya Palaniswami’s first visit to this place.

Paramacharya Palaniswami visited Maurtius some 25 ago, staying for almost a month at the Kylasum temple in Port Louis…. there has been much change since then in the island.

Time to worship Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati….

Then Sivadakshina in the small Konrai forest. ……

A walk down the property with the kulapaties…..

Kulapati Manon explaining about the area around the Muruga Mandapam…..

Lord Muruga looks amazingly huge. Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi contemplates the deity….

A short visit at the devasthanum to see the state of that building…..

A beautiful photo of Gurudeva welcomed us inside.

Down at a quiet spot of the property, on a rocky wharf where sishyas used to have Homa in the past….

The old planks on around the main monastery building will be removed.

After the walk with the kulapaties, we all met at the Ganesha Mandapam for a COM meeting. During the meeting with the kulapaties Paramacharya Palaniswami and Yogi noted all suggestions made by the stewards of the Park to further improve and upgrade existing facilities at the Park. The main project will be the construction of a stone wall along one side of the Park.

Every detail on the plan of the Spiritual Park is being taken into account.

Bodhinatha arrived home at the Aadheenam from Michigan late this afternoon. We’ll post photos of his arrival on Sun 1. Our India team has two more days in Chennai and will then be off to Mauritius. Palaniswami sends us another slideshow from the Bangalore segment of their journey, show casing their visit with Sri-la-Sri Balagangadharanathaswami who has been instrumental through the years in supporting the Iraivan carving site in India.

More news on Sun One of next phase.

~~~~~~~~~~~
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, Friday, May 4th.

Today was Chitra, and the monks performed the traditional pada puja honoring our beloved Gurudeva. Sadhaka Tejadevanatha and Sadhaka Satyanatha were the pujaris.

We have a nice treat for our TAKA readers today. Inspired by Google Earth and a new feature available in Photoshop CS3, our monks implemented a navigation system for our photos that can take you closer to Iraivan or to Gurudeva’s tiruvadi. Click on each of these links to go to the photos. Zoom in using the controls under the photo, and wait a little to see the image become clearer. You can also just click and hold down on the zoomed photo and then drag to scroll it around.

Iraivan Temple

Siva as Dakshinamurti

The pillars of Iraivan

A current view from Iraivan’s entrance

Gurudeva’s tiruvadi today after the pada puja

Bart and Anne Walton who live on Kauai come often to worship at Kadavul. They are devotees of Ramana Maharishi and the Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai.

Senta Karuppiah arrived for the morning puja with his wife Umaa and 4 yr old son, Praveen. Senta is a longtime subscriber to our international magazine, Hinduism Today. Originally from Chennai, they now live in Fremont, CA.

Senta and Umaa enjoyed their first visit to the Aadheenam as little Praveen carefully investigated the Iraivan Temple, examining every nook and cranny, and communicated in Tamil with the silpis.

Down came the rain as one last photo was taken under a tented area. This will be the site of a 16 pillared building which will house the Kodimaram and Nandi

Carmel Hawn is a certified Apple service technician and handles the Aadheenam’s computer warranty servicing, making sure everything is working, coming to the rescue in rare emergencies and generally helping make sure all our machines are up and running. Thank you, Carmel!

She came for a last minute tour prior to returning to visit her parents on the mainland.

Carmel framed by the entrance pillars of the temple.

For more information visit the 2008 Innersearch travel-study program page.

Bodhinatha sent a short report of events in Michigan:

Saturday
“The Hindu Council meeting ran all day on Saturday. The main topic of the morning was the R1 (“Religious Workers”) visa changes. The Council’s strategy is to work with their existing contacts with congressmen and senators to give an in-person presentation at the State Department of the Hindu needs. Some of the temple leaders here have a history of working with the State Department previously. Now, as the new rules are being formulated and open for input, is a window of opportunity to get Hindu priests, artisans, temple staff, singers etc. explicitly included in the wording.

“During the afternoon session one presentation included a projection of the number of Hindus in the USA and mentioned that one-half of all Hindu marriages in the USA are with non-Hindus. This is a subject I have written about in Hinduism Today. We were invited to come to another meeting of Hindu leaders in August to speak on this or anything else we chose. A second afternoon presentation was on the takeover of temples in India by State governments, a growing problem.

“Then we went to the Flint Siva temple for the evening cultural program celebrating the 25th anniversary of the temple. Included was the honoring of Balagangadharanathaswami, Swami Dayananda Saraswati and myself. The representative for Dayanandaji is Swami Pratyagbodhananda who resides in Surat Gujarat and is spending four months at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam. We had a good meeting of minds with him and some friendly discussions. He does daily puja to Siva lingam. He gave an excellent talk and an interesting explanation of Om Namasivaya which he encouraged everyone to repeat daily for one minute silently or verbally at 8 Am 12 noon 4 Pm and 8 AM.

Om — invokes God
Sivaya — to Lord Siva
Namah — I surrender

He explained that not surrendering or not accepting what is happening causes us stress and grief. Simply accept and surrender!

It is the same idea as Gurudeva’s in Dancing with Siva of dancing with or resisting.

The Council members said that having two swamis attend the meetings brought a stabilizing presence.
We gave out our literature at the event–free copies of What is Hinduism and the history lesson. A number of temples indicated they would be ordering copies of WIH.

We also met with several devotees.

Sunday

We had two events today. The first was to attend the Sunday worship services at the Flint temple. It was rudra homa with three priests chanting Sri Rudram followed by arati and extensive group singing at each of the temple’s shrines–Ganesha, Devi, Siva, Navagraha and Anjaneya. Small group of core devotees of the temple attended. Lasted from 8-10:30 followed by light lunch at temple.

Then at 2:30 we left the hotel for Ann Arbor, an hour’s drive for a talk and question and answer session at the Chinmaya Mission center. About one hundred people came, and asked lots of good questions, very responsive. Many had come to Kauai Aadheenam, others longtime readers of Hinduism Today. It was a very inspiring event.

To bed early, leave hotel at 5 AM be back tomorrow. We will be traveling all day and be home in the afternoon Kauai time. See you soon!

— Bodhinatha

With Sadhaka Dandapani back home again, he is doing his photo magic and took a little tour to Iraivan with our new camera and took some really great shots.

We also have two slide shows today from Paramacharya Palaniswami who is in Chennai right now.