September 5th, 2006 was a very special day for some devotees in Malaysia who received the direct grace of the Satguru into their lives. Acharya Kumarswami has the story from Kuala Lumpur.

The main even on Sept 5 in KL for Bodhinatha was the visit to Kottumalai Pillaiyar Temple, situated on a busy street corner, with its two broad walls open air for entrance by Hindus coming to and from work. The temple was very busy when we arrived, around 9:30. Bodhinatha was greeted formally and invited to stand close to the sanctum for darshan of Lord Pillaiyar as the talented priests conducted puja.

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, Saturday, September 9th.

Many devotees were present, as on every day of the week, seeking Ganapati’s blessings. A common practice is to walk round the sanctum and touch the forehead to the feet of the small Ganesha murti on the left side of the mandapam wall.

The sanctum is made of brick and mortar artfully clad with red marble tile, emulating the Agamic patterns, the doorway is clad in brass which is so bright it looks like gold.

Another feature of the temple is that a sacred tree, apparently part of what must once have been a simpler shrine is still present in the right rear corner of the compound. Part of the bark has been worn off by so much reverent touching by devotees; the trunk extends up through the roof.

The nadaswaram and tavil players� In the background you can see the 36 forms of Ganesha on a ledge all around the mandapam.

Lord Kottumalai Pillaiyar. Kottu means “court” and malai means “hill.”

Lots of sincere faith and devotion�

final arati�

After the puja devotees took a seat to hear a talk by Bodhinatha.

It was translated into Tamil by Dasan.

Here, Balu and Parimala Devado receive their Vishesha Diksha.

Bodhinatha gave a powerful blessing to each one. The diksha opens the doors for their daily performance of personal puja and taking on of deeper sadhanas.

Next, Tirunyanam Gunasegaran came forward and took his Brahmacharya Vrata, oath to remain pure and celibate until marriage.

Here he voices his vow with confidence and conviction.

Bodhinatha ties the sacred cord around his waist that betokens his vrata to harness the instinctive forces.

A special blessing�

Saroja Vasudevan comes forward for her samaya diksha, mantra initiation. Here she is garlanding Bodhinatha.

He utters instructions for mantra recitation and visualization in Saroja’s right ear.

A blessing for success in this daily sadhana of chanting Aum Namasivaya 108 times on rudraksha beads.

Sivajnani comes forward for vibhuti. The members and students have been extremely helpful during Bodhinatha’s stay, taking care of every detail with joy and dexterity.

The next event was a special lunch at the “Passage thru India” restaurant. Here the owner and his daughter greet Bodhinatha with garlands and a foot bath and the gateway of their exotic creation.

At right we see the chef.

Besides the good food, the event was a meeting of six or eight entrepreneurs who are seeking to bring spirituality into business. They sought Bodhinatha’s wisdom on ways this can be accomplished. As each was also invited to give a short introduction to his experience in this areas, we were reminded of Gurudeva’s Hindu Businessmen’s Association, which he founded decades ago for the same purpose.

The restaurant is a cave-like labyrinth of rooms and halls, decorated in Indian village style hand paintings, wooden artifacts, stone pieces, cloth hangings all creatively assembled to give the feeling of being in India. Inside the cool chambers, the noisy bustle of Kuala Lumpur faded away completely.

A last minute portrait after a delightful stay�

The final addition to our new Kawasaki fleet arrived recently — the People Mover. The Siddhidata Kulam does the vehicle blessing today. Sadhaka Tejadevanatha performs arati.

Driving over the limes….

We can take as many as 10 people on this vehicle which will be reserved carefully for the elderly and disabled and small groups of visitors who need to be taken on a personal driving tour.

We close this phase with a short fly-over video of Iraivan taken by Sooriya Kumar on his recent visit to Kauai.

Though Labor Day holiday guest flow has been high in Kadavul Temple, it is otherwise quiet at the Aadheenam. The big news is in Malaysia with Bodhinatha.

With big events over, Bodhinatha opened his doors to let devotees come for darshan and today we bring you all the bright faces who came to see him on Monday morning and afternoon in Malaysia.

Here are Sivaneswaran and Venilla Sockanathan and their daughter Niranjana.

Sugumaran and several families of the former Brickfields and Kajan Church Missions, who are encouraging all the children to study the Master Course.

Master course student Viji Vasudevan (the young lady to the left of Bodhinatha), her father, three brothers, uncle, auntie and their two children.

Here we see him with the Sockanathan family and Annapurni and Nalagini.

Ravichandran Ceyon and his young friend from Johore.

Anbu Kandasamy and wife and mother-in-law

With Yoges and James.

Maha Lakshmi Genasegaran and son and daughter, Avinash and Ashvina.

Sashi Vadivale, member of youth committee of MCSA (Malaysian Ceylon Saivites Association; Sri Kandaswamy Kovil), after interviewing Bodhinatha for Yuvan  youth newsletter.

Swami Vijayendra Shankarananda from Johore, a disciple of Paramahamsa Shankarananda Guruji.

This morning Bodhinatha again held darshan for a number of families and individuals. Here is Gunasekharen Kandasamy.

Today we bring you the final episode from that momentous day, a week ago, of the giant cement pour for the Nandi Mandapam.

The plywood box at the center bottom of this photo is the place where the kodimaram will ultimately go, with Nandi kneeling just in front.

Saravananathaswami capturing the day, and being captured.

Concrete was pumped through the grey hose.

Deva Rajan observing every detail of the day’s work.

Rolling the concrete flat, so it dries in firm layers.

Around 10:45am a tropical torrent fell from the until-then-sunny skies. The team rushed to cover it with plastic sheeting.

It’s important to not let too much water dilute the cement at this critical stage, so we squeegee rain away from the forms.

Meanwhile, even as the teams work furiously nearby, the Indian sculptors continue their chipping on the roof.

Bailing water from the forms.

Here the team is getting ready for the power screed which will make the foundation perfectly flat.

Here our concrete engineers log in their findings. They took a test batch from each truck all day long.

Despite the rain, the work goes on….

The local paper, the Garden Island, arrives in the form of Dennis Fujimoto, their finest photographer, actually a true artist. Here he talks with Tandu to get some details of the day for the article that appeared on page one the following day.

That’s the power screen on the right, and the finishing team moves in with their bull floats to give it a fine finish.

Watch the video conclusion below.

The Great Nandi Mandapam Cement Pour
Fourth and Final Episode

A view from atop Muruga Hill, with our cows’ pastures in the distance.

The bamboo at the top is from China and is used for weaving baskets.

It’s a dense one, giving shade to pilgrims.

A banana-like flower blooming in the garden on a giant plant.

It’s called Ensete superba.

Wild!

On September 2nd Bodhinatha conducted his all day seminar in Kuala Lumpur. Here he is opening the event with and arati to Gurudeva.

On Oct. 2 Bodhinatha conducted the keynote “Key Hindu Practices” in Kuala Lumpur, organized by the members and students. It was a six-hour intensive seminar beginning at 9am and concluding at 6pm. Subjected included: The Yamas and Niyamas, Learning from Mistakes, Worship, Karma Management, Work Is Worship and Basics of Meditation. A full contingent of 100 devotees participated. The event was very successful.

Ratnavathy Sivalingam, one of the organizers, giving the opening announcements.

We step back in time to the last hours in Penang. Here a young recently married couple does padapuja to received Bodhinatha’s blessings.

Bodhinatha giving blessings to Thanabalan and Ahiladevi.

and other Penang devotees and students

Then off to the flight south to Kuala Lumpur

Airport goodbyes…

Here we are, coming into Kuala Lumpur…

Airport greetings in KL.

Bodhinatha coordinates with Aravindraj on upcoming details of the event one day seminar and the next few days of Bodhinatha’s stay in K.L.

Here we are back at the September 2nd all day seminar. Participants during a breaktime, enjoying refreshments.

Attending the registration desk

A view of the attendees in the large hall.

The book table, displaying our publications for sale.

Book sales team staff the tables.

A moment between presentations

After each of the six presentations, the attendees formed ten discussion groups to talk about the subject matter.

Bodhinatha visited each discussion group to hear about their insights.

Here Acharya Kumarswami checks in with a discussion group after a presentation.

Sunday in KL was devoted to darshan sessions at the hotel. The first meeting was with Kulapati Appasamy and his wife.

Guhan Sivalingam, his wife and two of their daughters Hemavalli and Ratnavathy.

This is the Dhasan Sivananda family sitting with Bodhinatha.

This is the Dhasan Sivananda family sitting with Bodhinatha.

The Bala Sivaceyon family.

Kulapati Silvarajoo Muniandy and family.

Kulapati Sivajnani Nagappan and family.

Yesterday’s Sun One homa…

Palaniswami gives a talk after the homa.

Here is Bodhinatha being greeted in Penang, northern Malaysia. but we will being our story back on August 28th, at the Aadheenam.

In the car and off we go

a relaxed moment on the way to Honolulu

Kumarswami checks out the safety features on the plane.

In the friendly skies above the Hawaiian Islands

Calling the shuttle

Woops, got the camera turned around the wrong way�

A Confucian shrine in Taipei

One of those long airport walks�

Sivaram Eeswaran, Devika and Sivaram’s mother, greeting Bodhinatha at the airport in Penang.

Bodhinatha is greeted by 75 to 100 devotees from the Penang community at Thanabalan and Ahila Ganesan’s home

Here he is greeted at the door. The priests at left serve at the nearby temple.

Pada puja is about to begin.

Bodhinatha wraps a shawl around newlyweds Taraman and Marri.

during the puja, the priests chanted Sri Rudram.

Devotees came forward afterwards for blessings from Bodhinatha.

Ahila and Thanabalan present a gift, a sandstone Ganesha from Thailand.

Vibhuti prasadam for a happy little girl.

Bodhinatha has already shifted to Kuala Lumpur and held an all-day seminar from 9 AM to 6 PM at Hotel Singghasana in Petaling Jaya. Topics included:

• The Yamas and Niyamas,
• Learning from Mistakes,
• Worship in Home Shrine, Temple and Pilgrimage,
• Karma Management,
• Work Is Worship,
• Basics of Meditation

.

We will pick up the story of his travels with more photos tomorrow.

Ganesha Chaturthi is a big festival in Mauritius and an national holiday. It is grandly celebrated at our Saiva Siddhanta Church Branch in the north in the small coastal town of Riviere-du-Rempart. Our report brings you this series today and more to come.

—————
The giant Panchamukha (Five-faced) Ganapati has be beautifully decorated. Every year the Spiritual Park of Mauritius celebrates Ganesha Chaturthi, the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is a time of rejoicing, when all Hindus worship together as Lord Ganesha is honored by Hindus of every sect. This God knows all intricacies of each soul’s karma and the perfect path of dharma that makes action successful.

On Ganesha Chaturthi Hindus of the island make it a duty to worship this benevolent God in their home shrines, local temples or pilgrimage to the Spiritual Park. Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, founder of the Spiritual Park said of His vision of the Park:”It is destined to become a pilgrimage site of great renown in the Indian Ocean.”

Today thousands of devotees have happily come to the Park with their families.

Sivacharya Siva from India is today performing an elaborate parartha puja for Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati!

Here is the worship of Lord Ganesha through water, lights, flowers, fruits and sweets offered by devotees..

The Mandapam is full with devotees barely leaving any walking space. Tents have been erected on two sides where devotees comfortably seated can follow the puja. Tents have also been erected in front the building to cater for the large numbers of devotees.

Nadeswaram players are enhancing the Agamic and Vedic rites with their traditional music.

The members of the Spiritual Park are leading the bhajans. All devotees form the chorus. The mandapam is filled with inspiring devotional songs.

The Sivachariya preparing the homa fire…

While those close to the Homa are experiencing the intense heat of the fire, many devotees outside are quietly worshipping in the cold rain. Both are happy today to be receiving Lord Ganesha’s Blessings…

SatGuru Bodhinatha explains: “See Ganesha’s majestic face and with mental force ask for help and explain the problem. Lord Ganesha will send you ideas and thought power, introduce you to new attitudes, help you to understand other people, help you use wisdom and not emotions to face life’s many experiences, and when that happens you will be more successful in all you undertake.”

Many written prayers have been burnt into the sacred homa fire to Lord Ganesha.

Lord Ganesha is the Lord of Obstacles, revered for his great wisdom and and invoked first before any undertakings…

The ceremony is about to come to an end after the homa.

Meanwhile the rain has stopped outside.

Kulapati Manon, an elder of the Spiritual Park giving a talk based on the Gurus’s teaching on Lord Ganesha.

Devotees are listening in silence…

Those taking care of offerings at the small Pancha Ganapati shrines had a real busy time. Thousands of coconuts offered to the Lord, were broken on that day! A real humble seva for our members and HA students.

Books including the Saivite Trilogy and Loving Ganesha and other artifacts were on sale. Our HA Students were in charge of that booth taking care of it for the whole day…

Our dedicated ladies of the Park, preparing sweets to be offered to everyone coming to the Park.

At the Food station a large crowd was queued up to be served. Here is Kulapati Sivakumaren and Kulamata Kavita happily serving everyone.

Bodhinatha is still in transit… in Taipei tonight.

Yesterday morning’s beautiful Gurudeva pada puja….

We want to send a special thank you to Mauritius to Kulapati Sivakumaren Mardemootoo, Kulamata Kavita, Basanti and Deepanjali for the marvelous job they did gold-leafing the Navagraha murthis! The Navagraha will have their own mandapam one day out next to Iraivan Temple.

Today we want to give a big Mahalo and Mikka Nandri to the key people who made possible this next big increment of Iraivan, the Nandi Mandapam foundation.

To Craig Kawakami a young contractor who does a conscientious job and is a great man to work with! Thank you Craig!

To Pat Debusca, the plant manager for Hansador Glover Concrete Batch Plant. Thank you for allowing the use of the second silo at the plant to weigh and mix in the fly ash to the concrete trucks. This was a key logistical element for us to get the job done right!

To Kulapati Deva Rajan for overseeing the whole job and talking with the various key players. Deva’s decades of experience in the construction industry have been a boon for the Iraivan Temple project! Thank you Deva!

Kawakami crewman, Loran Gonsalves…. Thanks Loran!

To the ever bright spirited Tyriss Manintin, who sings reggae at night. Thanks Tyriss!

To hard working Jonathan Cruz-Kamanuwai — Thank you!

And to the strong youngest member of the team: Micah Raposas. Thanks Micah!

And behind the scenes but an integral team member, Mrs. Ku’uipo Kawakami who we are told is part of the business brains behind the company and who was kind enough to provide vegetarian pizza for the team. Thanks Ku’uipo!

A job well done!

now watch the team at work, right through a torrential rain that came for an hour or so toward the end of the pour.

The Great Nandi Mandapami Concrete Pour!

Episode Three

Meanwhile the “big baby” is our giant concrete slab. Temperature rose to 115 degrees yesterday. Our team installed a drip irrigation system on top of the foundation and underneath the burlap.

The foundation gets a constant stream of cool water. Deva Rajan thought this was ingenious and apparently something not done before…. Of course our Siddhidata kulam team is on top of the job!

The support bracing around all the forms came down today.

Tour day today… two groups one of about forty people

And a second of about twenty.

A photo from the Innersearch earlier this year in Sydney, Australia, as we send Bodhinatha off on another long journey. He left for Malaysia this afternoon. He arrives in Penang, Malaysia on August 31st. Acharya Kumarswami is traveling with him for the next three weeks.

We bring you the story of yesterday’s Ganesha Chaturthi.

Sadhaka Jivanandanatha does the puja. We will let the pictures tell their own story…

After the puja, we go down to the river to immerse clay Ganeshas in the Wailua River.

Ginger flowers and tree ferns capture our photographer’s attention on the way down.

Durvasa Alahan and a young boy swam out into the pool and after some chanting released Lord Ganesha into the elements.

Notice there are a dozen or more small, hand-sculpted Ganeshas on the palanquin, amid all the tropical flowers.

It was a wonderful afternoon for families on the island and visitors.

More pictures of yesterday’s guests from Shama Kumaran who hosted them out at Iraivan.

Tamil and Theresa Anban from Vernon, Connecticut, were taken on an early morning tour of the Iraivan Temple after which they were blessed with a special meeting with Sat Sivaguru, Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

Two other families arrived for a late morning visit to the Iraivan Temple. Perumal and Saroja Balasekaran from Dallas, Texas, originally Chennai, and another family from Paradise Valley, Arizona with three physicians in the family! Arcet Premukar, pulmonology, Kamala, psychology and their daughter Ashrini, a neurologist and daughter Arathid.

Mr. and Mrs. Tamil and Teresa Anban from Connecticut, getting a shawl blessing from Bodhinatha for their 10th wedding anniversary.

Bodhinatha blesses the gifts the couple brought to give to each other.

He will be leaving for Malaysia and Singapore tomorrow.

Part Two of the Iraivan Concrete Pour, August 2006

Heavy rains blessed us yesterday around 10:30 am, put a damper on photo shots of the final filling of the Nandi Mandapam, but, like most Kauai showers, it was over in a few hours and the project was not affected.

While the finishing team continued work on the top surface of the mandapam foundation, concrete trucks continued to arrive to fill up the “portico” projections in front of the Chinna Gopurams on the North, East and West sides of the temple sanctum area.

No boom pumps needed here… straight from the truck into the forms.

a tarp had been placed over the slab near the end, and was then removed for the finisher to complete their work after the rains abated.

Meanwhile, more video from the 26th below:

The Great Nandi Mandapam Concrete Pour of 2006!

Episode Two!

The team at the end of the day. More about them tomorrow.

Craig Kawakami lifted us way up on a boom crane for a shot of the job. Wow! The temple has really been extended.

Meanwhile in an unexpected boon, it seems estimates on the amount of concrete over shot the actual need and we had a full truck and a half left over.

Well, it was a boon from Nandi Himself to send some concrete out to the cow milking station. A small miracle, concrete for a Nandi mandapam, becomes a mandapam for the *real* cows too (smile)

This means our cows will not have to stand in the mud while they wait their turn for the sweet alfalfa at the milking station.

It also means that our monks have been saved many, many man hours of hard labor that they would have done doing concrete by hand.

The base for a new series of compost bins also completed.

And finished by our very own Siddhidata Kulam team. He said “NFT” ! (Not For Taka!) but we could not resist.

Burlap on hand to throw over the slab to keep it cool. Temperature checks this morning: the slab is “cooking” at a 110 degrees fahrenheit, as the cement undergoes it’s chemical reactions, which is cool enough.

A shot from this morning. That’s not plastic but burlap that covers the slab, soaked with water.

Meanwhile around the world Lord Ganesha took center stage today. We have these photos from Mauritius of preparations the members made last week in preparation for this day there. And more pictures in the days ahead of the festival events.

The Ganesha Mandapam looks quiet in the morning. Visitors usually comes during the day to worship as a family. With the forthcoming celebration of Ganesha Chaturthi at the Spiritual Park on Monday 28th August, the members are busy doing karma yoga at the Spiritual Park.

The Dharmasala building which serves as the main office and where kulapaties hold COM meetings every month looks quiet too…

Vani is getting new stocks for the Mini Mela. Devotees like to buy a souvenir on Ganesha Chaturthi. On that festival day another booth is being set up outside to sell Himalayan Academy publications to cater for the large crowd being expected.

Siven Veerasamy, our Spiritual Park worker in charge of maintenance is getting some tiles ready to be fixed at the small Ganesha Shrine.

Inside the Mandapam a group of sishyas led by Parmeswaran Ramsamy and Nanda Thungavellu are rehearsing Ganesha bhajans that will be sung during the ceremony.

The musicians and singers are to be in correct note tuning…

The ladies are enthusiastically rehearsing for Lord Ganesha’s birthday…

Karma yoga continues with the removal of the main brass bells at the entrance of the Ganesha Mandapam by Paramasiven and Somandiren.

Premila and Maghadevi are cleaning the brass homa pit and other items near the swimming pool area…

…. while Somandiren is cutting a few fine trees in front of the Mandapam. These trees when growing tall would actually be a real risk to the Mandapam should a cyclone hit the island.

In the meantime a family has come to worship privately at Pancha Mukha Ganapati’s Feet.

Many places around the Park needs thorough cleaning. Sivarathna is water-pressurising planks…..

Sivarathna, Jambalini and Giradevi are having some real fun brushing…The planks will then be polished and varnished once they are dry.

With the large numbers of visitors coming a lot of dirt has accumulated in the very porous lava rock steps leading into the Mandapam. Kumaren is taking good care now removing the dirt…

The large bras bell which is always rung at the height of the puja needs some polishing. Our ladies are ready for this seva.

Even little Venilla is happy to see so many activities going on…

The bell is finally polished…

A new water tank has been donated to the park. It will be used for the first time on Ganesha Chaturthi. The sishyas have been fixing it into place while the ladies are serving some tea to karma yogis.

Visitors kept coming and going during the whole day. Here is a whole family that made it a point to pilgrimage to the Spiritual Park together.

The auspicious day of the Nandi Mandapam concrete pour arrived and all the monks went out early to the temple site for the 5:30 am worship.

Here Bodhinatha takes some gems and gold pieces to put into a granite block to be placed in the northeast corner of the foundation.

Giant lights are in place for the work to begin before dawn at Iraivan.

Monks, silpis, sishya and Kawakami team gather…

Yoginathaswami performs Ganesha puja

Bodhinatha placing gems into a block of granite.

The block is placed in the northeast corner and everyone comes forward to offer their part by covering it with a small bit of concrete.

Craig Kawakami, the owner and general contractor on the job put his hand to the sacred stone as well.

Meanwhile our Mahendran family from Australia is also standing by to observe this morning’s events.

Mahendran from Perth. Originally from Sri Lanka.

Ragini Mahendran

Their son Murali

The sun has risen in the east; the boom pump truck is in place and the first load of concrete goes into the hopper.

And the pour begins! Craig Kawakami guides the boom, carefully placing concrete in a steady pattern cover the entire area, layer by layer. Here he starts in the auspicious Northeast corner.

You can get a great sense of this team’s professionalism and model teamwork from the following 4-minute video. Our video tale begins with the pre-dawn puja and then follows the first part of the cement pour, which as you will see begins in the dark so the team can get a head start on a long day. The rest of the day’s work will follow tomorrow on TAKA.

Over 50 cement trucks were required! The video is just a partial one, and there will be more of this historic milestone on TAKA tomorrow. Congratulations to Craig and his amazing staff. And to the specialists who taskled varied parts of the project: Pat Debusca, Plant Manager at Honsador/Glover, Richard Basulto and Bill who operated the power screed, Jesse and Mark Evans from Small Line Concrete Pumping, father-and-son who did all the pumping, and to our testing engineers. Thanks too for the veggie pizza, Kuuipo!

Meanwhile the finishing contractor arrives and sets up the automatic screed.

Time capsule container in place….

The block out for the future flag pole or “kodimaram”

That boom pump is amazing. it can reach across the entire area!

The Vimanam shining in the morning sun, before the heavy rains hit about 11am.

This truck is empty and is on his way back to the plant for more concrete.

Concrete pump operator.

Donuts and coffee anyone?

Deva Rajan standing by to help make sure everything goes well. So far all operations are in perfect order.

Nearly halfway now, two feet of concrete is in. Yoginathaswami chats with Craig. Months of planning and work by the Siddhidata Kulam come to fruition today.

More pictures tomorrow. As the morning continues, the rain arrived. Fortunately the pour was virtually complete and a little water on top of the slab was not a big problem.

This is the Mahendran family from Perth, Australia. They are here on a pilgrimage.

Mahendran related in his email prior to arriving:

“I had the pleasure seeing Yoga Swami in Jaffna in his latest stage of his existence in 1960s. I also had the opportunity of seeing Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami when he visited Perth in 1990s.”

We had a big senior citizens group from the island towns of Kalaheo and Koloa come today.

Work continued all day in preparation for tomorrow’s concrete pour for the Nandi Mandapam

Deva Rajan and Yoginathaswami install thermal sensors which will monitor the chemical processes and heat of the slab.

Wet concrete is a chemically active mixture and heats up. One of the goals is to keep the temperatures as low as possible to allow the curing of the concrete to go slowly, which results in little or no cracking. By measuring the temperature in the first few days, we can see if it is necessary to take special measures to keep the slab cool with water, shade or coverings.

A mechanical screed has been installed that will move across the top of the slab and perform the job of causing the gravel “aggregate” to drop below the surface, bringing up the cement paste for a smooth finish.

This morning at 7am our photographer visited the worksite.

These are photos of the finished forms, ready for tomorrow’s Big Cement Pour.

The forms are four feet high.

This is the box that will create a hole in the foundation, where ultimately the kodimaram or temple flagpole will go.

This is the form that will house the stainless steel time capsule, which will be locked in the concrete for 1,000 years.

All is in readiness for Saturday morning. This will be a small bit of history for our island, the most cement ever poured in a single day!

Another visitor today.

Bodhinathaswami and Shanmuganathaswami met today with Stelter Company’s senior planned giving consultant, Johni Hayes. She was not able to see them during their visit with the Stelter team in Des Moines, Iowa, on August 8th. Vacationing on Maui this week, we invited her to fly over to Kauai for the day.

Johni was introduced to the graphics arts/publishing offices by Paramacharya Palaniswami. We wanted her to become familiar with who we are and what we do so that the Stelter team can help custom design various aspects of our giving program with Hindu Heritage Endowment.

Sun One begins a new six-day phase. All is bright and upbeat at the Aadheenam. We had homa this morning and Bodhinatha gave a delightful talk on Lord Ganesha.

Meanwhile the excitement is building in the air as the concrete pour for the Nandi Mandapam foundation is only two days away, the day after tomorrow.

Ramesha and Sujata Sachdeva with their son Siva and daughter Simi are here on a pilgrimage. They joined us for the early morning Homa, when went to Iraivan and met with Bodhinatha later in the morning.

Sun one homa. The pictures tell the story. Everything begins with Lord Ganesha.

The Sachdeva family at Iraivan.

Siva and Simi are enjoy feeding the koi fish.

Then off to worship Lord Siva at the Narmada Lingam.

With less than 48 hours to go before the big pour, the team at Iraivan is hard at work. It will all begin at the batch plant at 2:30 AM on Saturday morning, when they begin mixing the concrete and loading the trucks one by one. The first trucks will be here at 4 AM to begin the pour.

Everyone is praying hard for dry weather, which is “mission critical” to the operation.

These are crew members of Craig Kawakami Builders — the general contractor responsible for building the forms and pouring the concrete.

Loran Gonsalves, Tyriss Manintin, Craig Kawakami (owner of the company), Jonathan Cruz-Kamanuwai, Micah Raposas.

We want to thank Craig and his the team for their hard work and excellent job!

Craig Kawakami

The main job today is the block out for the kodimaram. This will be in the middle of the foundation, creating an empty space down to the ground.

This six by six hole in the slab will eventually be filled with granite blocks as the base of the kodimaram, the temple flag pole. A smaller hole in the foundation is being created for the placement of two time capsules–one a modern stainless steel cylinder sealed with inert argon gas; the other a traditional set of copper plates detailing the temple’s origin.

Team consultation..

Today was also tour day. The first group at 9 am had about 60 forms of God, looking bright.

Gurudeva used to say on the mornings of tour day: “Lord Siva is coming in many forms this morning.”

Here is the second tour group at 11 am.