Bodhinatha is pictured here in India during the last Innersearch. You too can enjoy a powerful pilgrimage and study program… Join the next innersearch!

And as announced before we have completely caught up with Bodhinatha weekly discourse and will be linking a new talk every day until we are current with this phase.

So watch the side bar….everyone is really enjoying the talks on shum!

After a wonderful Abhishekam in the Kadavul Temple, Heidi Tordrup and her lovely children met with Paramacharya Ceyonswami. He answered their many questions about God Siva, karma, reincarnation, gems and Vedic Astrology. Sadhaka Haranandinatha also presented them with a map of the Ganesha Temple in Herning, Denmark which is just a few kilometers away from where they live! Their experience here has endeared them to Saivism, but they had no idea that there was a Hindu Ganesha Temple so close to home replete with a Saivite Tamil community. This is one happy family! Gurudeva visited the Ganesha Temple in Herning, Denmark in 2001!

Here are the Tordrup family on the banks of the very sacred Wailua River.

Here they are with Palaniswami.

They are going home with a few CD’s with art and Aums.

Yesterday was tour day… over 70 people in the 9 AM group!

A beautiful tour day dawns and another large group of ‘seekers’ arrive for a wonderful uplifting tour of the Iraivan Temple with Sadhaka Satyanatha.

The 11 am tour brought another 40-50 visitors.

A sun-drenched morning with the Shilpis who never tire of showing the visitors ‘how its done.’ They demonstrate their skills under the watchful eyes of all present. The Oh’s! and Ah’s! are audible as the visitors observe in wonder the magnificent stone-carving in progress by these truly great artisans from South India.

Announcement Due to some minor technical difficulties, there will be no new TAKA edition for February 27th… We hope to be back on line on the 28th.
Vedic rishis have given us courage by uttering the simple truth, “God is the Life of our life.”
The Ekadanta Kulam gave news today. Sannyasin Saravananathaswami sends this list of a few of the things he has been doing.

• new Innersearch email update
• dealing with digital signature renewal issues
• Kauai Aloha Endowment newsletter
• updated Kauai Aloha Endowment website
• Malaysia has Yogaswami Mahasamadhi function at Kala Mandapam for elderly devotees. We’re sending Bodhinatha’s message.
• Arranged return travel for two task forcers, Tandava and Teja, who are returning home after having served so well for six months which is the maximum stay allowed for non-monastics.
• 12 Kauai Aloha Endowment newsletters to Hawaii Community Foundation Lihue office for giveaway
• updated Guru Travels web page with Flint visit and Singapore/Malaysia seminar flyers. Communicated with Malaysia COM about seminar.

One of Bodhinatha’s publishing visions has fully come to manifestation. The marvelous and amazing book called “What Is Hinduism?” is now available for sale. Even the Hinduism Today team that prepared the contents over many, many year can hardly believe their eyes, seeing all this in one place.

Click here to find out more. And then, don’t walk but RUN to get your copy today!

Center are Prachi, Kalpana and Kishor Patel from Maryland, previously Mumbai and Surat, India. Far right are Heidi Tordrup and her two wonderful children, Algade and Solojorn from Denmark. The other three visitors are from the Mainland.

Today one of two remaining middle Bhadra pillars was lifted onto its base. Centering the pillar with its linear base and and conforming patterns is quite a process requiring concentrated team efforts.
The second pillar will be placed on its base within the next two days.

It is a truly an awesome sight to see the beautiful Blue Jade vine cascading from the trees along the path to the Iraivan Temple. It is in its full glory his week and visitors are in awe.

There was a “cyclone” in Mauritius. Fortunately, it was not severe and our center there was not badly damaged. A few broken branches here and
the whole ground is covered with leaves everywhere.

A new path under construction that leads to the Ganesha Mandapam from the
Ganesha Bridge ….

Owing to the bad weather and rain following the cyclone, work will be delayed on
the Ganesha Bridge, specially the varnishing which requires the wood to be
completely dry.

A view of the ground area from the main entrance… leaves scattered everywhere.

All the beautiful yellow konrai flowers around the Siva Dakshinamoorthy had been
stripped off the trees

The very first visitors to the Park just a few hours ater the cyclone warning
was waved… One gentleman from Toronto, Canada (2nd on the left) accompanied by
his friend from Mumbai (first on the left), India wanted to visit the Park at
all costs… they were to leave Mauritius that very evening. A few sishyas were
at the Park to give them a guided tour. Our Master Course student in Curepipe,
Ramsamy Pillay Samoo (third from left) drove them to the Park…

The Ganesha Mandapam roof had been damaged. The straw had come out at many
places….

Here is our Canadian friend, Mr. Sivayogapathy , son of Shri Thillyampalam an
ardent devotee of Sivayogaswami. Our visitor is originally from Sri Lanka where
he grew up until he emigrated to Canada some 10 years ago. He is also the
Secretary of the World Saiva Council. He had seen photos of the Spiritual Park
on TAKA and did not want to miss his visit here despite the cyclonic weather…
He is lucky to have personally known our three generation of Gurus: Yogaswami,
Gurudeva and now Bodhinatha. In April 2003, he organized Sivayogaswami’s 39th
Maha Samadhi Anniversary at Richmond Hill at which Satguru Bodhinatha was the
main guest.

The only tree on the property blown down during the cyclone. However, before our
arrival some vandals removed that eucalyptus tree from there….

All Noni fruits blown down by the violent cyclonic wind which blew up to 130 Km p h.

Mr. Sivayogapathy recollected a few memories he had of Paramaguru Sivayogaswami
when he was very young. Sivayogaswami gave him the name Sivayogapathy. He lived
a few kilometres from the “hut” (see wall painting) of Sivayogaswami. He
remembers the olive tree under which Sivayogaswami used to sit. Sivayogaswami
often used to come to his parent’s house to stay for a few days, where the Guru
was given a permanent personal room and a private cupboard to keep his
things. Sivayogaswami was holding satsangs at his place. …As a little boy, he
used to play around that hut and swami would often instruct him and his friends
to clean the place and go on errands.

After the Sun One Homa, Bodhinatha shares some news on developing educational projects in the digital media realm that he is working on for future trips later this year. today.

Sun One began as usual with a bright actinic fire ceremony in the morning.

Our high-end digital camera is out for repairs so we are using the “artistic” model for now.

The Lambodara Kulam share news today at lunch. Paramacharya Ceyonswami described the implementation of getting a Panchaloka (five metal) peetham created for the Maha Spatika Lingam of Iraivan. The sponsors have sent funds and we will be choosing a sthapati in India for this work shortly.

It’s been a quiet day at the Aadheenam…

Though visitor traffic is slowing down… we still have steady stream. Brahmacharini Shama Kumaran is doing a great Sivathondu hosting our guests.

She writes:

“Our wonderful visitors arrive from many different places, most hearing about the very sacred Iraivan Temple either on-line or word-by-mouth from others who have previously been blessed to visit this beautiful paradise.

Our visitors today are from Canada, Holland, Michigan, Maryland and Hawaii.”

Enjoying a lovely sunny Sunday morning down by the beautiful Wailua River.

We are happy to announce that we have caught up completely with all of Bodhinatha’s discourses and transcripts thanks to the indefatigable efforts of our transcribers. We will be posting a new link every day next phase. If you are in a “hurry” to listen to them all you can go Bodhinatha’s Inspired Talks Index and scroll down to 2007 to see all talks posted thru Sun One of this phase!

Sadhaka Jothinatha sits among a treasure of applications to Innersearch Asian Odyssey 2008 that are flooding in these days. We have received 32 already and quite a few more are on the way. We have never before had such a positive response so early on, some ten months before departure. These Innersearchers are going to be quite an enthusiastic group, and it inspires Bodhinatha and all of us. For more information go to the Innersearch web site. Or email innersearch@hindu.org

Here is an application from the Mallampalli family–all four of them!–including their two babies who will be two years old at departure time. Mothers sometimes express concern at bringing such young ones along. But we reassure them: accommodations will always be comfortable, and there will be many other Innersearchers who will delight in helping in various ways–with occasional babysitting for example. Today Bodhinatha recorded another video message about the meditation classes he will give during the journey, and how he will use the Shum language to help us navigate the inner mind. See the video below

:

Punam Misal and family from Seattle. She follows the Self-Realization Fellowship (Swami Yogananda) and asked Bodhinatha why we include temple worship in our path, since Self-Realization Fellowship teaches that meditation is the highest path and temple worship is not necessary to realize God. So, Bodhinatha gave a simple answer since there wasn’t much time. He explained that while meditation is indeed the “highest” path in a sense, it is very challenging to meditate for most people, and temple worship softens us and helps get us in the right mood and frame of mind for meditation.

Here for a special tour are Anant, Punam, Abhinav, and Rahul Misal (front and left). Subha and Ram Patrachari with their daughters, Shiveta (age 12) and Sneha and Shruti both (age 11). Also present was Bob Balasingham, Bob King and Larry Robles all from Hawaii. And just back from India are Kimbereley Wyckham with her father, Barry Wyckham and Julia Hall. The Patrachari family are from Bangalore and were able to communicate with the shilpis in their native tongue, Tamil.

Everyone in front of the very beautiful Dakshinamurthy. Notice how the banyan tree opened up behind the deity. (Now thats another story)!

There is a sacred stone that will be placed on top of the lotus on top of the capstone two days before the Mahakumbha Abishekam.

The Shilpis have been busy preparing the bases for two more Bhadra pillars which will be placed inside the main temple in line with the Namaskaram pillars.

Inside the Banyam Mandapam in front of the hand-carved model of the Iraivan Temple are Swentra, Deorajie, Vijai and Anil. Another happy family who have just purchased the new book “What is Hinduism.”

This is a remarkable purple hybiscus, being grown by Hitesvara on the Big Island.

Thanks for the hard work on Gurudeva’s transcriptions Hitesvara!

It was tour day today and Bodhinatha did book signing after each tour.

Kauai has had several days of stormy, windy, rainy weather with periods of sunshine.

With the Yallis towering above them, just over one hundred visitors arrived for a tour of the Iraivan Temple at 9 a.m. this morning, seemingly unfazed by the inclement weather.

High above on the scaffolding sits Pandi creating beautiful kolum and flower designs around the upper reaches of the outer sanctum.

In a heart beat the weather changes. The same day, two hours later, the second tour group of 60 more guests pose in front of Iraivan’s main entrance after enjoying a wonderful tour with Sadhaka Satyanatha.

Bodhinatha sits quietly in the Manga Mandapam at about 10:30. The crowd has been informed that he will be happy to sign copies of books for them after they visit our Minimela gift shop.

He follows in Gurudeva’s footsteps on this pattern.

Guests have interesting questions we might not always expect. “How does Hinduism look at coincidences in life, things that are improbable and yet happen anyway?”

One 12-year-old girl, Natalia, wants to study Hinduism seriously.

Wonderful Hindu families. Two young girls sang songs they had practiced at home in hopes of singing for the guru.

Stepping back in time to the Siva Vision anniversary puja…

Our photographer catches some shots shortly after sunrise.

In the vision Gurudeva was sitting on the right looking up at Lord Siva sitting on this rock that has since received a daily puja every day since 1975. A beautiful Mandapam is planned to go around it with a roof above with ceiling paintings of Gurudeva’s vision. There will be a slightly raised plinth surrounding these stones which will be maintained as they are with the natural earth around them.

Most of our Sivaratri pilgrims returned home over the past few days. Each in turn came for darshan with Bodhinatha before departing. Here is Dr. Sunder and his wife Thilaka, long time supporters of the Parampara. Dr. Sunder has been doing great service for our publications, team, Iraivan Temple and for the Sri Lankan Tamils in need of medical aid in Sri Lanka.

Chandran and Mathini Wigneswaran from Australia, not far from Sydney on their way home. They did a great service during Bodhinatha’s last trip to Australia, handling much of the ground logistics, literature distribution etc.

This is Rajeev and Manjul Bhargava from Alaska. They know Shyamadeva and Peshanidevi and have been part of the temple project there.

Today was the auspicious anniversary of Gurudeva’s vision of Lord Siva sitting as Dakshinamurti on the sacred lingam on San Marga. To commemorate the occasion a special puja was performed in the early morning before dawn at the Svayambhu Siva Lingam, which Gurudeva discovered a few hours after the vision. Lighting lamps in the windy morning can be a challenge.

Here is the sacred stone that 32 years ago Gurudeva saw Lord Siva sitting upon.

A short and simple video of “A Puja in the Dark.” below

Pilgrim Vaidyisa Bala from Canada stayed on after Sivaratri doing Sivathondu for the publications team. The issue of Hinduism Today carries a special, already famous special Insight Section called “Hindu History Lesson.” which is a sample school text as Hindus would like it to be presented in the public school text books.

The article was the result of months and months of work on the part of Sannyasin Arumugaswami ensuing after the California Court case on the presentation of Hinduism in the text books there. Vaidyisa Bala is translating the text into Tamil.

An extra fifty-thousand copies of this special section have been printed and thousands have already been sold at cost for mass distribution to children, schools and families. Watch for it in the next edition of Hinduism Today. The Digital Edition will be coming soon. You can find out about it now on the Hinduism Today web site.

Visitors today were from Australia, Canada, Alaska, Michigan, Texas and Portland Oregon – all happy to be away from the cold weather and enjoy an enchanted morning tour of the very sacred Iraivan Temple.

This young man was so impressed with the Shilpi’s work that he spent about 15 minutes concentrating on carving ‘that flower’ with some success!!!

For those Satguru Speaks watchers, we are fast closing in on catching up all of Bodhinatha discourses given to date. Stay tuned to the right side bar. We will posting new talks as soon as transcriptions arrive from our dedicated team of transcribers.

While most our Sivaratri pilgrims have returned home, we still have steady stream of visitors.

Today’s lunch news was from the Ekadanta Kulam and Saravananathaswami send us this brief list of his multifarious activities:

Sent more CD’s of Bodhinatha’s Talk on Yogaswami to Toronto for the Tamils there to hear on Yogaswami’ Maha Samadhi day.
Worked on the San Marga newsletter
Set up a wiki page where the monks and our hosts can log in name of pilgrims, tour groups in advance on a simple calendar.
Processed five more Innersearch applications
Remote logistic communications with Malaysia Kulapatis and Aravindraj about July seminar; mailing the flyer; discussions with Bodhinatha about Iraivan slideshow during seminar break
Sending Yogaswami Mahasamadhi talk in text form to various Tamil communities.
Planning for Siva Vision Day morning puja
May study retreat planning.

A side note on the related area of Master Course studies. Many of you know about the Master Course on the web and by email. And there is the option to become a “registered” Master Course student… which is just to indicate that you are regularly reading the lessons on line and you want to have your name on our mailing lists here at the Aadheenam. There is a steady rise in these registrations and in the last 24 hours we received five of them. They are coming from internet readers all over the world, with a large group in India.

A lady in Oregon writes:

“I love the lessons! They have helped me to understand how things work in our inner space and in the cosmos. I have come to know first-hand the Unity of All that I have longed for.”

Some news for future additions to Iraivan came today when we received by e-mail these photos of plaster sculptures from India. They are from our master architect who is creating four Agamic murthis which will be placed on the Iraivan Temple tower, one facing in each of the four directions.

These are made of soft plaster, in full size, which is 30 inches tall. Once blessings are received from the Aadheenam, the carvers will create an exact duplicate in white granite.

Kulapati Manon Mardemootoo sends us photos of the ongoing renovations at our center in Mauritius…

A lot of progress is being made on the bridge.

Our carpenter team on the job.

The small Ganesha Mandapam…

Damage caused by termites to the two main pillars at the front of Ganesha Mandapam need to be replaced.

These are newly imported treated poles.

NOTICE: THE MONASTERY PHONE SYSTEM PERISHED THIS MORNING, AND WE ARE COMPLETELY OFF LINE FOR A FEW DAYS. THE MONKS ARE WORKING TO INSTALL A BACK-UP. IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING URGENT, E-MAIL US FOR NOW.

We begin a new phase, basking in the after glow of a powerful Sivaratri night. It was one of the best-ever with many pilgrims saying: “It was the most powerful Maha Sivaratri experience I have ever had.”

Here is Bodhinatha giving his discourse that night, following the one that we listened to by Gurudeva over the speakers.

Our photo story begins at 8 PM that night and moves forward to today.

The paths are lit with lanterns. Devotees are gathered in the temple singing bhajans in the early evening.

8 PM… the homa begins with Sri Rudram in the background.

Some of the young monks have been fasting, not only today, but for several days before this holy night.

Our silpis are enjoying the sacred celebration.

After homa we sat together for a profound Shum meditation and then… break time. Devotees chat together…

Back in the temple we all listen to Gurudeva’s 2000 Maha Sivaratri Talk.

This powerful message is online in our archives:

This talk is available on line in our archive in 4 Parts:

• Gurudeva, Maha Sivaratri Talk 2000, Part 1
• Gurudeva, Maha Sivaratri Talk 2000, Part 2
• Gurudeva, Maha Sivaratri Talk 2000, Part 3
• Gurudeva, Maha Sivaratri Talk 2000, Part 4

Then Bodhinatha came out and gave his talk for the evening… which is coming here soon….

Following the discourses the grand event of the night began. The Maha Sivaratri abhishekam and puja. This is a “rahasya” event… secret in the sense that there are no words to convey the power of such a form of worship.

We did take some video which we will offer after it has been processed. Late that night one of the monks who decided to stay up the whole night took some photos of the Sivalingam after all the decorations were made and the temple was bathed in a deep an mystical silence.

Coming up to Sun One today morning. We opened with our regular weekly homa. We could still feel the vibration from the Maha Sivaratri celebration.

Bodhinatha read his message to the Tamil community today…

Written for the annual commemoration of Satguru Siva Yogaswami’s Maha Samadhi that is observed in dozens of Sri Lankan communities around the world.

Dr. Manisha Kshirsagar arrived with about 18 of her students for a tour of the Aadheenam.

She and her husband, Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar, both physicians, have a practice in Kapaa, and hold classes to teach the ancient Vedic practice of Ayurveda (Science of Life). Here are her students hugging Rudraksha trees in the Aadheenam’s Sacred Forest.

The students are visiting from many different parts of the country. A student from India explains the spiritual significance and symbology of Lord Muruga’s granite Vel.

There are many different medicinal plants and trees growing here.

Dr. Manisha explains the special properties and medicinal capabilities of the Amalaki tree – (in background).

A few Hindu families from Alaska came for the Maha Sivaratri Festival. Here are Saket and Nishi Ambasht with their two sons, Anurag (age 16) and Nishant (age 15). They previously lived in Benares, India. In the background (center) is Iraivan Temple.

Nishi teaches children and took back with her the new book “What is Hinduism?” which is a comprehensive text book on Hinduism from the most practical to the most mystical.

Saket and Nishi with Anurag and Nishant in the Banyan Mandapan in front of Gurudeva’s portrait by Indra Sharma and Navagraha deities (planets) which will be ceremoniously transported to the Iraivan Temple at a future time.

Kadavul Siva Temple was filled with visiting Hindus for both the 6 a.m. Homa and the 9 a.m. abhishekam. Many have been here for several days and return to their homes on the Mainland and Canada today.

However, there were late arrivals who were taken on a tour. Here is a lovely family, originally from Chennai, posing with Vellaiasamy, one of the expert artisans of the Iraivan Temple project.

. . . and with Chellaiya and Vellaiasamy is Anu and Shyam Subramaniyam.

. . . and with Iraivan in all its radiant beauty nestled in a background of sacred rudraksha trees .

Happy Mahasivaratri!

Tonite is the Great Siva Night… we wish you all a profound and compelling time to propel you deeper and further along the path of spiritual evolution for the coming year.

~~~~~~~~~~~
END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dvitya Tithi, Sun One, Friday, February 18th.

The Ganapati Kulam gave their news today at lunch. Many projects are moving forward. Some will come to fruition later, but today we can announce that our resident guest Task force Joe Chikiar has been working with Sivakatirswami all phase on getting Lemurian Scrolls on line.

Joe spent many, many hours of concentrated time on the tedious job of re-purposing text from InDesign over to our online web books format.

Thanks to Joe for his hard work! He is a pleasure to work with. We have a bit more polishing to do, but the content was complete enough to go live today. Check it out: Lemurian Scrolls, Angelic Prophecies Revealing Human Origins, Now Online!

Posing in front of one of the Chitra pillars (left to right)
Arya and Lalita Star ( who own a healing center on Hawaii –the Big Island), Mathini and Chandran Wigneswarans from Sydney, Australia (posing each side of the Chitra pillar) and in front are Rajeev and Manju Bhargava from Anchorage, Alaska and Scott Peterson and Laura Goodman from Las Vegas.

The morning of Mahasivaratri dawned clear, quite cool and very beautiful. Wonderful guests arrived for the morning abishekam.

Sridhar and Kausalya Veeravalli from Virginia Beach feel very blessed to be at such a sacred place on this
most holy occasion.

In front of the main entrance to the very sacred Svayambhu Lingam where Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami had a three-fold vision from God Siva.

The entire area is encircled with Bilva Trees (sacred to Siva) and green Ti plants (also sacred plants).

Under the wonderful Banyan tree in front of the very beautiful Shanmukha Kartikeya. This sacred deity was installed by Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami over one year ago during the festival of Thai Pusam.

Mathini and Chandran Wigneswaran and Dr. Shun Sunder in the Mini Mela purchasing the new book “What is Hinduism.”

Dr. Sunder attended the same medical school as Chandran’s brother in Sri Lanka. Both families knew each other and were surprised to meet again at the Aadheenam today. Dr. Sunder lives in America while Chandran and his family live in Australia.

Happy Mahasivaratri!!!

Some more photos from Mauritius sent by Kulapati Deva Seyon who is there with his daughter and son-in-law and their family, the Mardemootoos.

Deva sends this interesting anecdote of his observations of Maha Sivaratri observances in the country.

“It was incredible how many pilgrims were there a whole week before Mahasivaratri. Some started walking on Monday (the farthest point on the island) to reach the lake in time to gather water and return to their village temple for Mahasivaratri. …”

“There are little rest stations along the way for pilgrims ( look like big quick tents ) to drink and rest. Extremely warm here at this time of the year, and they push giant chariots on wheels that they make at home.”

“It is the second largest Siva in the world we are told. Mauritius is a nation that seems to have a deep understanding of sadhana – very inspiring.”

Here is Bodhinatha at our center in Mauritius, where Mahasivaratri celebrations are in progress over the past 24 hours. The great night falls tomorrow here in the USA.

Meanwhile all is very quiet at Kauai Aadheenam as the vibration seems to be flowing inward on this still and windless day before Siva’s great night. We have pilgrims with us from USA and Canada.

Meanwhile our sishya in Mauritius are having a great time there as Mahasivaratri is the largest Hindu religious festival held on that island each year. Some photos and the story follows.

Mahasivaratri celebrations have already started in Mauritius and pilgrims are on their way home after having taken water from Ganga Talao, the sacred lake….

In the island, Mahasivaratri is synonymous of Ganga Talao, the crater lake sacred to Lord Siva which draws thousands of pilgrims every year not only from Mauritius but from neighbouring countries of the Indian Ocean. For the local Hindu prior to the great night of Siva, he has to fulfill an important obligation: a pilgrimage to Ganga Talao, by car, by bus or on foot…

Many pilgrims, especially those of the north Indian origin walk down to their localities carrying wooden frames called “kanwars” as a tapas or penance.

Some kanwars are carried alone the whole way home.

Others prefer to construct a common one which is carried by the group. These pilgrims are usually from the same family or from the same locality.

Every day until the 16th February, pilgrims are leaving Ganga Talao while others are arriving at the the lake.

This year pilgrims have been blessed by the impressive newly copper-plated 108 Feet tall massive statue of Lord Siva standing out above everything…..

This giant murthi has been built there by professional craftsmen from India within 21 months.

Prostrations to the Holy Feet of Lord Siva…Aum Namasivaya!

A view from left ….. The sun was very hot that day and our two very young sishyas for souvenir photo: Sivarathna and Jambalini.

Devotees are all around the water edge offering their prayers to Ganga..

It is a special moment when the whole family prays together far away from home…

At peak times, devotees have to stand for hours in queues to get inside one of the Siva temples on the crater edge to worship the Siva lingum. Here is inside one of them. The Sivalingam (centre) is covered by bilva leaves brought as offerings….

Pilgrims taking a rest before starting the long march home. Some pilgrims come all the way for several miles on foot to the Lake while others come by bus/cars and return on foot.

Ganga Talao abound in monkeys from the thick forests nearby. On Mahasivaratri periods they stay inside the forest and a few courageous ones will come out now and then to eat from the hands of devotees.

Children as well as adults are delighted to feed them.