Kulapati Easvan Param and Kulamata Devi Param are here on pilgrimage. They met with Bodhinatha this morning.

Today’s Kulam report by the Siddhidata Kulam detailed their on-going work to maintain all our vehicles, equipment, manage Iraivan temple, take care of silpis, communicate with India, grow food for our garden and more.

It is summer now and the team harvest 17 pounds of fresh vegetables yesterday. Anna Purna Garden is really doing well. The team has also been planting more and more papaya, looking the next year. The recent bout of long rains took their toll on the papayas, so the new plantings will help get our production back up.

Jiva Shanmuga had darshan today with Bodhinatha. He also visited the publications facility and met all the monks there who shared their work with him. He will be returning to UK soon.

Here are the Shilpis in front of the Sanctum doorway of the Iraivan Temple. Manikanda, Pandi, Rajendran, Velliswami, Karupaiah and Chellaiah. They are always cheerful and smiling. All beautiful souls performing God Siva’s work.

They are really enjoying summer weather now after all the rain.

Here is an excellent close up of ornamentation work in progress. Click on the arrow in the image below to play our short video of the day.

This morning Arumugam and Yohini Alavappillai arrived for the morning puja with their two sons, Arun age11 and Alvappillai age 8 . This lovely family originally came from Jaffna, Sri Lanka and now live in Corona Caifornia. Both children have been studying the children’s books the Saivite Hindu Religion which originated from the Saiva Neri of Sri Lanka. These books were translated into English and prepared by H.H. Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. They are now written in English, Tamil and Hindi and are a wonderful gift to the world, especially for those families who migrated to the West and whose children now go to western schools.

Arun and Alvappillai, hug a rudraksha tree.

Next came visit a to the Narmada Lingam along the path of the Nayanar Saints where everyone bathed the lingam with fresh water from a mountain stream.

Krishna and Aruna Reddy from St. Charles, Illinois, (left) originally from Andhra Pradesh, accompanied the Alavappillai family on a tour of the Iraivan Temple site and surrounding grounds, which included a visit to the sacred site where in 1973 Gurudeva had a vision of God Siva indicating where the Iraivan Temple was to be built. Mr. Krishna Reddy said that this was the “most sacred place he had ever visited.”

Natalia Kouznetsova from Russia and her husband Alex Eishov, (middle) whose family also originally came from Russia and now live in San Francisco, came for a few days and want to visit the temple “every day” while they are here. Natalie bought Dancing with Siva in Russian and her husband bought a copy in English.

It was another magical day at the Aadheenam. Chitra puja was held in the morning, deeply devoted pilgrims and awesome views. We really have to thank Gurudeva for creating Kauai Aadheenam for our order and for the world, an immeasurable gift to generations to come.

At home today the Pillaiyar Kulam gave their report. Shanmuganathaswami detailed his work with Easan Katir and promoting awareness of Hindu Heritage Endowment which Gurudeva founded to strengthen Hindu institutions around the world.

The other news from the PK is the amazing job they are doing distributing free literature. In fact Shanmuganathaswami had to contract with someone new in Missouri to warehouse all the printing we do. Meanwhile it is going out the door at a fast rate. Sadhaka Jothinatha said that 37 US temples all received cartons of “Ten Questions People Ask About Hinduism and Ten Teriffic Answers”. In the past two years we have distributed close to 300,000 pieces of free literature. This all fulfills Bodhinatha’s vision to produce more basic Hindu educational material and distribute enmasse to the world. He’s taking Gurudeva’s work to a new level!

Looking toward the mountains at dawn, just before going to the temple early this morning.

The Eastern sun behind us, unveiling the ranges to the west..

Inside Kadavul, monks are chanting Sri Rudram before the Chitra puja begins.

In the middle of the abhishekam.

Yogi Japendranatha and Sadhaka Nilakantha perform the puja.

After the puja….

Thank you, Gurudeva!

Stepping outside, the early morning light is the best time for catching an image under the banyan tree. Way inside is Lord Shanmuga, six-faced Murugan. He is a stunning first impression for visitors who arrive at our humble front entrance, not knowing what to expect and slowly stepping into a spiritual wonderland as they move up the path.

Iraivan Temple off in the distance.

Jyoti and Nishi Bhatia returned with their beautiful daughter Rani, and her grandmother Mrs. Taneja. They came to enjoy the morning Siva puja and another tour of the grounds. Saravananathaswami took them for morning worship at Narmada lingam.

Our lilies are doing well. Rumor has it that we also have have some lotuses growing, after years and years of attempts….

Later Paramacharya Palaniswami gave them a tour of the press shop and explained some of the intricacies of the very involved and important work that goes on there. Mr. Bhatia, who is a retired computer engineer, was impressed with the modern technology that the swamis use.

Mr. Bhatia is the Chairman of the Board of trustees of the Ektamundar Temple in Dallas, Texas. He looks forward to helping to support the construction of the Iraivan Temple. This reminded me of the time when Gurudeva had said “One of the highest things you can do in your lifetime is to help build a Siva temple.”

Jyoti and Nishi Bhatia, and their family then said their farewells and hoped to make this a yearly pilgrimage.

To the Bhatia family, if you are looking in: it was really wonderful to have you here, we look forward to seeing you in the future.

Inder and Aileen Mirchandani were here for a few days visiting from Honolulu where they live. He is a retired engineer and has been associated with our temple for the past four years.

A young group from Southern California arrived and were taken for a quick tour of the grounds and Iraivan Temple building site. Asked how they enjoyed their visit they all replied “awesome!”

A few close-ups sent from Manon Mardemootoo of the new Ganesha in the “secondary” mandapam at our center in Mauritius

Beautifully done, the little shrine will serve devotees who cannot fit into to the main mandapam.

Here is Ganapu, outside in front of the temple. He likes to loiter nearby in the mornings when his caretaker Paramacharya Ceyonswami is on vigil from 9 AM to noon and often attends the balipeedam puja.

He used to be a real “scardy-cat” when he was a kitten, afraid of people and just about everything.

Now he is well adjusted and happily sits it the bushes nearby, watching all the visitors go by, waiting for Ceyonswami to come out of the temple at noon.

At the Aadheenam today, the Lambodhara Kulam gave their report. Some interesting news about the future base of the Maha Spatika Lingam for the Iraivan Temple. Drawings have been done and contracts are being drawn up for casting a 1-ton Pancha Loka (five metal) base with gold plating… Now that will be one very powerful murthi!

It is a very high time here at the Aadheenam, a string of Sivaloka days, clear skies, Chitra Puja tomorrow and Vaikasi Vishakam at the end of the phase. Several new premonastics well on their way and some major growth for the order is on the horizon. In a word: all systems GO for the mission of the Kailasa Paramapara. Gurudeva is working hard on the inside!

Many guests are continuing to flow. Thanks to Shama Kumaran for hosting, taking photos and so meticulously writing captions on visitors and Isani Alahan for manning the Mini-mela!

Swati and Shekhar Kapoor and their adorable baby, Shaantanu whose beautiful smile makes everyone smile, arrived from Milpitas, California. Swati is a designer of Indian fashions and owns her own business in Milpitas, California.

Swati and Shekhar were accompanied by their parents Rama and Lalit Khanna from Fremont, California. The family originally came from Jaipur and Amritsar near New Delhi.

After enjoying the morning Siva abhishekam, they toured the gardens and the Iraivan Temple site and talked with the shilpis. They were in awe of the craftsmanship of these great artisans who carve the stones and build this great Siva temple.They were amazed to find an all hand-carved granite Chola-style Agamic Hindu temple being built on a small Hawaiian island in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Josephine Ascuncion from Kilauea and her sister Mo and husband Frances were also visiting from Huntington Beach. So she brought them here to experience the “most beautiful and sacred place on earth.”

Paramacharya Palaniswami meets our guests.

Shaantanu is always smiling. Lucky boy to have the good karma to come to Siva’s Feet so early in life.

Yoginathaswami and Palaniswami go to discuss issues, answer questions and share the week’s progress and projects with the silpis.

It’s a process that many would find tedious and most would have difficulty staying with for more than a few hours.

But these men have remarkable persistence and patience to test a saint.

A carver in every corner, patiently bringing Gurudeva’s vision of Iraivan to life.

Hour after hour they chip, chip, chip.

Today one of them is working on these small motifs which appear on the base of the pillars.

There he is on the right, examining the pillar.

Meanwhile, Yoginathaswami answers a question from Vellaisamy.

Chisels in the bottom of a bucket, waiting for their turn.

A pilgrim, John Locke, (Jiva Shanmuga) from UK arrives, full of light. He was struck with such a sense of awe that he actually grew speechless. John has been studying Gurudeva’s teachings for decades. Welcome, John.

Working on the base stones below the pillars.

And above on a lion-pillar detail.

Chip, chip, chip.

Chip, chip, chip.

Stones in their crates waiting their turn.

We are told one of the next steps will be to place the roof stones in this square, so this view looking up through the roof will be disappearing forever soon.

Another recent visitor who came, Leslie Keough, is a professional photographer and sent some of her work by email.

Muruga Hill.

Lion of the Lion pillar

Somewhere on Kauai: A sign with an important message. What do you grow?

Sun One began with a powerful morning homa.

Today we had a number of Hindu families join us.

Elderly Amma, writing prayers for the homa.

Bodhinatha give his weekly discourse. The topic is stories about Yogaswami.

As the morning moved on we had an absolutely beautiful day. Mount Waialeale was looking majestic, reminding of the peaks of inner life.

We have a special pilgrim here all the way from London. John Locke

John was blessed meet Gurudeva and Bodhinatha in UK.

His Hindu name is Jiva Shanmuga.

Jyoti and Nishi Bhatia, their daughter Rani Bhatia, and Jamna Taneja (Nishi’s mother) from Dallas, Texas. All are originally from near New Delhi and here on a week[‘s pilgrimage visiting the Aadheenam. There were joined by another young couple visiting this morning (on the right)

Today they enjoyed the 6:00 a.m. homa followed by a wonderful talk by His Holiness, Bodhinatha Veylanswami. They then attended the 9:00 a.m. Siva abhishekam which was followed by a tour of the Iraivan temple site and grounds which they all thoroughly enjoyed. At about 11:30 am they were invited into the Guru Temple where they were blessed to receive the darshan of Bodhinatha.

Jyoti is a retired software engineer, Nishi is a Teacher and Rani begins attending the Washington University in Dallas Texas where she hopes to graduate as a biomedical engineer.

This lovely family has been subscribing to Hinduism Today which Jyoti says is a “wonderful magazine!”

Palaniswami went on a photo shoot on the last day of last phase, we share his photos and captions today and tomorrow.

Siva above us
Siva below us
Siva to the left of us
Siva to the right of us
Siva in front of us
Siva behind us
Siva outside us
Siva within us

Siva in the Sivaguru.

Siva in the noble devotee’s heart.

Bodhinatha and Saravananathaswami went to a special meeting today, an island-wide group seeking to make strategic improvements in the community. Bodhinatha has been helping them for the past three years.

Announcing! New Post Cast Available!

Bodhinatha’s latest Hinduism Today Publisher’s Desk audio podcast is now available. Those who have subscribed to the podcast will receive it automatically the next time they open iTunes. To subscribe to the podcast, click the link in the Announcements column at right.

Meanwhile, we are pulling in some photos from a few days ago just after Bodhinatha arrived home…

Task Forcer Aubrey Burke from Victoria British Columbia departed for home that evening after Bodhinatha returned. Here he has a late meeting with Bodhinatha.

Aubrey’s father came on Task Force to our Mountain Desert Monastery in Virginia City, Nevada, in the early 1970’s. He took Gurudeva’s teaching and the Shum language to heart and into his family life. Aubrey says he has been hearing Gurudeva’s name and listening to the old taped Master Course for for many years. He was so glad to finally come to the source of it all.

Aubrey set a fine example while he was here, always in a bright mood, ever ready to serve and frequently found in the temple soaking up the vibration of the Deities. He says he returns now with a new sense of determination to strengthen his spiritual practice at home.

The Burke’s family business is the “Clown Business” His mother and father and the whole family are happiness experts (smile), bring joy and laughter to homes for birthday parties and other events.

We want to thank Aubrey for his service here and for his uplifting presence and wish him all the best.

Guests today included Mr. Gaynendra Nath Verma from Allahabad, India came with his family for the 9:00 a.m. Abishekam at the Kadavul Temple.

His son and daughter-in-law, Sachin and Pratima Swarup,and and their two children Ishaan and Supreeya Swarup, who all live in Stockton, CA came with him. Everyone was amazed to find such a powerful and sacred temple here. Unfortunately they were unable to tour the property or go to Iraivan because their plane left the island at noon.

Our series today begins in San Francisco on the 30th.

Yoginathaswami tells the story:

After departing Montreal early in the morning, we arrived in San Francisco on Memorial Day. Our congregation there organized a tour to Golden Gate Park and what is call “Dinnersearch” to a restaurant. It was a nice Italian dinner 🙂 Thank you GG Mission.

We arrived at the park’s entrance.

A large tree greeted us as we entered. The picture is very deceiving. It was a lot bigger and more beautiful

Everyone is walking and talking.

Our Amma here wants to take the picture of the cameraman while he is taking the picture.

Turtles

Birds

Then we headed into the Japanese Tea garden

Large pine tree manicured to be a Bonsai.

Satya Palani with Bodhinatha

The water garden.

Bridge, it is so steep many actually crawled up on it.

Another bonsai.

Savitri and Satya Palani. This picture was taken for their son in the monastery, Sadhaka Jivanandanatha.

Cute little squirrel munching on a nut.

A group photo of everyone present and visible.

Bodhinatha and Yoginathaswami flew to Kauai the next day. Monks are on their way to greet him. The pictures tell the story

When bodhinatha travels, one important aspect of the journey are the many personal darshan meetings and and personal discussion he has with various devotees and local community members.

In the afternoon of the Kumbhabhishekam of the Montreal Murugan Temple Bodhinatha several devotees came for darshan at the hotel lobby.

Here in Montreal with Bodhinatha is our Master Course student Roland Ndyahoze. He has been reading the Master course on email for the past three years.

Before this meeting, we had a nice lunch at an excellent Indian restaurant. It was with our Saiva Siddhanta Church clan–Indra and Kailas, Rogini and Jayam, Vel and Valli and the two of us. Here are Kulapati Vel and Kulamata Valli Alahan all the way from Colorado.

Rogini Shanmugam and her husband Jayam.

Here is Dharmalingam Siddhan and his mother.

Dharmalingam played a short video of his little daughter talking to Bodhinatha.

It was a brilliant sunny day on Kauai as June arrived.

A lovely lively group of healers and therapists arrived with Davala Shanmuga. She wanted to show them the “most peaceful place on earth.”

That’s Shama Kumaran there second from the left in white who has been hosting pilgrims and is also now taking pictures and sending captions for TAKA. Though officially retired she is a very busy lady!

She writes: Sarah Ray, a massage therapist from Virginia, felt that Kauai called her here. She loved the energy and beauty of this sacred place. Barbara Crane from Sparta, NJ is a Reiki practitioner and is totally interested in healing and spirituality. Her visit here was “magnificent.” Maria Prinz from Greeley, PA is a Holistic practitioner and came here for “spiritual reasons.” She found serenity and beauty in a very spiritual place. Moya Burns of Hendersonville, NC experienced a “spiritual reconnection” and plans to return here upon the temple’s completion.

The tropical sun shone brightly today on Siva’s devotees. There is a hint of heat in the air, of summer’s proximity.

We took a stroll out into the gardens. Here is a small Nandi worshipping Siva near our Lotus Pond.

Another view of the water leaving the pond.

And still father back.

The cooling waters are a blessing to our life here, flowing night and day, gurgling and bubbling down the waterways.

Giving life to Torch Gingers nearby.

And giant water lilies.

And orchids in the trees.

This is “Picasso,” an aptly named bromeliad, relative to the pineapple and splattered with a wild design that looks like spilled paint.

Off through our tunnel of wild guava trees leading us toward Iraivan temple.

There it is, in the distance.

We approach from the east.

Past the golden bamboo.

And discover Silpi Chelliah working on one of the new granite benches.

This one is quite near the temple, and Chelliah helped install it a few days back.

He noticed a small black stain, and is using his carver’s “sandpaper” to remove the splotch. Softly hammering away the top few molecules of stone and along with it the blackened spot.

We continue with a final series from Montreal’s temple events.

Here is an outside picture of the Montreal Murugan Temple from the celebration.

The celebration is in high gear as devotees gather at the brand new temple.

This is a close up image of a brass deity of Lord Murugan atop his mount the peacock in the main sanctum area.

This image is from the inner sanctum with beautiful detail on the art work.

This is from the second day of the celebration where the priests and musicians enter into the main sanctum.

A grand new temple for Lord Murugan in Montreal!

The Sri Subramuniya Kottam was established 25 years ago by Gurudeva in Kopay, Sri Lanka, to provide religious and secular education for the youth of the surrounding villages. The Kottam is also to serve as a spiritual and cultural hub for the Saivite Tamil community of the area. As part of its services the Kottam sponsors visits of Swamis, other spiritual and community leaders to attend functions of the Kottam to provide lectures and guidance for the community.

Last October Sri Saimatha of Nallur, Jaffna, visited the Kottam. We just received pictures of the following events of her visit to share with you all.

A Kottam elder Mr. I. Velayutham welcoming Sri Saimatha.

Sri Saimatha giving a talk. Standing next to her is Kulamatha Sivalosani Kanagaratnam.

Sri Saimatha with some of the Kottam members.

We continue our photo documentary of the powerful ceremonies from the consecration of the Muruga Temple in Montreal. Here is Bodhinatha on top of the temple waiting for the auspicious moment for the pouring of the Kumbha waters over the top of the main Gopuram.

In the morning of the Maha Kumbabhisekam, the Kumba pot which had been energized for almost a week was now paraded around the temple. It is being taken to the top of the temple tower. It will pour at the auspicious moment which is exactly 7.00 AM.

The Raja Gopuram as the sun is rising behind it.

Sivachariyars are climbing up the scaffolding on the vimanam.

Bodhinatha also heading up.

Everyone is waiting for the auspicious moment.

In the meantime another group is also standing by for the moment at the (entrance) Rajagopuram.

This ceremony was conducted by 25 priests.

At the auspicious moment the kumbha water was poured.

Everyone return to the temple. Now the kumbha water will be poured over the deity at another auspicious moment which is at 8.00 AM.

We took the picture of the deity before is it formally consecrated. It is very dark, but if you look carefully you can make out Murugan and the two shaktis.

Yoginathaswami shares this testimony on this impressive moment: “It is hard to describe. There we were before an empty feeling shrine. The murthi was there, but the vibration… nothing… empty. Then, such a magical experience, even to speak of it I gets goose bumps: the priest poured the water on the Deity and in one instant there was a powerful life force emanating from the shrine. it was so striking that even the priests had their breath taken away! It was a remarkable testimony to the enduring vitality and mystical power of our temple tradition.”

Haro Hara! Haro Hara! Lord Murugan had arrived!

Thanks to Dharmalingam Siddhan we are able to share with you some video from these powerful moments, made very so vibrant by the masterful temple musicians.

Bodhinatha flew to San Franscisco on the 29th and the members took him for a walk in Golden Gate Park.

Here are some pix from a walk in the Japanese Tea Garden. One of Kulapati Adi Alahan admiring the Japanese woodworking skills.

Some shots of “Dinnersearch” for 40 devotees, all arranged by Chandran Param.

Visitors from the mainland are always so pleasantly surprised and spiritually uplifted when they visit this sacred home of the Gods.

Anastacia Hunton from Holden, Maine was here to “get away from it all” and enjoy the beauty this Island had to offer – and then she discovered Iraivan the paradise within a paradise! Dave Fittante from Monterey, California here attending a conference and vacationing with his daughter heard about us and was “very happy” he did.

Mary Jane Scurlock from Sedona AZ came on what she called a “spiritually led” vacation and found the Iraivan Temple. Her friend Karen Michaels from Santa Monica, California described herself as a “spiritual seeker” and found a very real spiritual peace at this most amazingly sacred place.

Over the last retreat four rose-colored granite stone benches were installed around the monastery grounds.

These were carved in India by our team at Artha Enterprises, and they have done a magnificent job. This one has a Hawaiian turtle as its motif.

A second was placed on the lotus pond behind Iraivan, with water rushing over the rocks nearby.

It invites pilgrims to sit for a moment, rest, quiet the mind and ponder the Self within which never changes.

Its theme is the hibiscus flower.

A third sits in the shade of palm trees right in fron of Iraivan Temple.

Its theme is the Hawaiian gecko, the Good Luck lizard.

The fourth sits beneath a Jacaranda Tree behind Dakshinamurthi.

It looks out over the nearby pond, with the second one in sight in the background.

Right in front is Siva’s sacred banyan tree.

Bodhinatha arrived home late this afternoon. He and Yoginathaswami are fine.

Meanwhile, we continue today with our photo retrospective on the events in Montreal.

Here is Bodhinatha in the middle of a lull between ceremonies when he was given time to have a youth seminar.

Ravi Gurukal from Tiruthani Murugan Temple, Tamil Nadu. He met Gurudeva in Fiji during the Nadi Murugan Temple Kumbhabhisekam. He has Dancing and Living with Siva books that he received from Gurudeva. Was very excited to meet Bodhinatha.

A very senior Sivachariyar from Kanchi Kailasanatha Temple, Tamil Nadu. Rajappa Sivachariyar probably one of the few living Sivachariyar who are very familiar with the Saiva Agamas and their uses in ceremony. He is the chief priest officiating the Maha Kumbhabhisekam.

A scene at the Yagasala.

Group of silpis posing with Bodhinatha.

Dakshinamurthi Sthapati (in white shirt and vesti) is the supervising sthapati. He is the son of S.K. Asari and nephew of V. Ganapati Stapati.

The Montreal Murugan Temple squeezed in a seminar for youth within the busy ceremonies. Bodhinatha was their guest speaker. Here Prof. Shankar introduces Bodhinatha to everyone.

Prof. Shankar

Many adults joined the youth seminar. Many even asked questions…they proved to be young at heart 🙂

Himalayan Academy literature booth.

Our team that ran the literature booth. Indra Dakshinamurthi, Rogini Shanmugam and Kailas Dakshinamurthi. “We Love Montreal” that’s what they are holding in their hands if you are not French literate.

Bodhinatha reported that all the literature was given away.

Vel and Valli Alahan, very long time members of Saiva Siddhanta Church flew all the way from Colorado to participate in the Kumbhabhishekam and spend some time with Bodhinatha

Mr. Murthi, Mrs. Tilaka Sunder’s brother listens intently to Bodhinatha’s talk

Bodhinatha delivering his talk on “Five Key Beliefs and Five Key Practices.” The focus of the talk is about how Hinduism is relevant in today’s modern life.

We took a few pictures of this beautifully crafted Chola style structure. Its all made out of concrete and cement.

Raja Gopuram, the main entrance tower.

South entrance

Southwest corner of the temple

Raja gopuram for the North side of the temple

Entrance to the old temple which now converted to a teaching and cultural mandapam (hall)

Devotees are queuing up to oil the deity. It is the Saiva tradition that all the devotees are given once in the life time chance to touch and oil the deity with sesame oil before the consecration ceremony. After the ceremony only ordained priests are allow to touch and perform pujas for the deity. This is the Ganesha shrine.

Main sanctum.

In part of the Kumbabhishekam ceremony 10 auspicious objects are brought in front of the deity for the first time when the shrine’s curtain is open after consecration. Cow with a calf, purna kumbha, mirror, kutthuvilaku, married woman, virgin girl, priest, sannyasi and turmeric. Here we see the cow with her calf in the petting zoo while waiting for the auspicious moment.

Devotee rushing to take their turns to oil the deity.

Sivachariyars preparing for Kumbhabhishkam. These three priests are from London.

Mr. Murti’s family and friend with Bodhinatha.

Chola style vimanam

Vimanam, the main sanctum sanctorum tower, where Lord Murugan enshrined.

Mukesh and Chandana Guntamadugn visited Kadavul Siva Temple for the morning abishekam after which they met with Paramacharya Ceyonswami who chatted with them about our sampradaya and the basics of their jyothish. They then proceeded with a tour of the sacred Iraivan Temple building site where they learned about the intricacies and sacred art of carving the granite stones for this very beautiful Temple from Shilpis Rajendran and Chelliah

Mukesh and Chandana are here celebrating their first wedding anniversary and have made their home in Dublin, California. They both attend the Murugan Temple in Concord, California. Mukesh is originally from Chennai and Chandana is from Hyderbad.

Photos are pouring in from left and right. Bodhinatha is in California today and arrives home tomorrow, but we will pick up the story of his journeys with some great photos in the days to come.

Here he is in Montreal speaking to the congregation after the main events of the temple consecration ceremonies.

He writes:

“Today fulfilled the general kumbhabhishekam principle that everything runs late except the muhurtha. Pouring the pots on the temple spires over the Rajagopuram and Mulasthanam happened at 7 AM sharp. We joined the priests on the top of the scaffolding for the mulasthanam.

“Inside pujas also happened at the precise time.

“About 4-5 thousand devotees were there. I spoke on three different occasions during the events.

“Our literature booth gave away everything it brought.

“Devotees came to the hotel for darshan in the evening. We are up early tomorrow at 3 AM to depart for California.”

It is Memorial Day weekend and we had many guests and piligrims.

Dr. Suhas and his wife Manisha brought his mother and father to visit the temple and monastery today. They are from Mumbai. Dr. Suhas is Kauai’s foremost ayurveda physician.

The parents brought a wonderful gift for the temple. It is a copper urn which is hung above a Sivalingam and filled with water. A tiny hole in the bottom drips water constantly, bathing the Lingam in an “eternal abhishekam.”

Our photographer was, Manas, their son in a very kewl kurta shirt.

This morning was also Ralph Whitten’s last day. He and his son Yogi Japendranatha took a long hike and had wide-ranging discourses on dozens of topics from science to birth control, from monastic life to intelligent design. Safe journey home, Ralph!

The whole Suhas family out on San Marga. Shama Kumaran hosted them for a tour. Shama writes:

“Today was a very busy day (Monday-Memorial Day.) Dr. Suhas, his wife and son who live locally on Kauai. Dr. Suhas has an Ayurvedic Practice in Kapaa. He came with his parents, Mr.& Mrs. Govinda Kahirsagar and a large group of other family members and friends all originally from Puna, India and now living in California.”

All were in awe of the spirituality of the place and the sacred Iraivan Temple building project.

Dr. Ram Kishen Bachandani a very devout Shiva bhaktar and retired physician from Jabalpur, Madhya Prador in Central India came with his family. (elder man, center) Dr. Ram devoted his life to treating the poor and disabled people of Tamil Nadu. Today he had an opportunity to practice his Tamil talking to the Shilpis although it has been many years since he spoke that language.

Vikram Patel, Mina, Jay, Sonia, and Kamla are his children and grandchildren and the mother-in-law who now all reside in Tempe, Arizona.

They stated that they felt very “blessed” to have visited this very sacred place.

Another Hindu couple with their first child at Iraivan.

For many years Gurudeva worked to have the revealed scriptures of our faith, the Vedas and Agamas, in his own hands. It was a goal that eluded us all, even after Gurudeva sent monks to India to find and acquire them.

That goal has not been abandoned, and Bodhinatha has continued the search. Today the fruits of that effort were rewarded with a four-volume copy of the Kirana Agama, in English, which arrived from India.

It is hand-written by a scholar whom we are working with. He writes the Sanskrit above and his translation below.

In part, it says, “When the Sun shines, the blossoming of lotus flowers does not take place evenly, even though they get contact with the rays of the Sun. Some flowers are fully blossomed while some others are still in the state of bud and some others get withered. This unevenness in the blossoming of lotus does not indicate that the Sun has likes and dislikes. Even so, there is no place for partiality in Siva and Sakti.”

Other Agamas are under way, being translated for us in India. One day we will have them all, or important excerpts of them all.

The text continues, “In the same way as an omniscient yogin, knowing the longings of an aspirant grants his requirements, so the Lord bestows grace upon His devotees. He is capable of bestowing grace with the help of His affective Energy (Iccha-Sakti). Because of the differences in His diligence He becomes Laya-Siva, Bhoga-Siva and Adikara-Siva.”

Yoginathaswami was finally able to find time to send photos so we will catch you up starting at the beginning.

Here we are on March 23 in Los Angeles.

Bodhinatha with Halbert Hargrove Russell’s president Mr. Russ Hill (on the right) and our account advisor Mr. Stan Lee at their office in Long Beach, California. They are our Hindu Herritage Endowment investment advisors.

Yoginathaswami writes “We also went to Doshi’s home in L.A. Bodhinatha had a casual question and answer session with the family and their close friends. We were served with a wonderful combination of Gujarati and Sindhi dinner.”

March 24th… We flew to Washington D. C. Vayudeva Varadhan drove us from the Washington Dulles Airport to our hotel.

There we were greeted by N. Siva Subramaniam, his mother-in-law and Mrs. Padmini Saravanapavan.

They came with fruits and full blown Sri Lankan rice and curry dinner.

The next morning we went to Washington DC tour. Here is the picture of the Capitol Building. We were told by Sunshine our tour guide that the statue on top of the building is Freedom and is 19’6″ tall. No statue is allowed to be installed in DC taller than this statue, “nothing stands higher than Freedom.”

Washington Monument

Smithsonian library (not really sure…it was a fast tour!)

Better picture of the Washington Monument

Bodhinatha in front of the Whitehouse

The Whitehouse

This past retreat Dennis Wong came to work in the front area of the monastery to clear some areas to provide more parking spaces.

Trees have been removed and the Bobcat is piling up dirt and branches.

To be moved by the back hoe.

Tons and tons of debris were loaded into a large dump truck.

And taken to a green dump site we have for composting all our green waste.

Dennis Wong supervises the dump. His driver got stuck, but the monks pulled them out with our tractor.

All is well, with our benevolent Lord Ganesha presiding over the whole thing.

Here is Bodhinatha speaking at the Maha Kumbhabhishekam ceremonies at the Murugan Temple in Montreal.

He meets with priests during the ceremonies.

On pilgrimage for a few days is the long time devotee of Gurudeva, Michael Duncan, who has been on several Innersearches during his lifetime.

In the center, Mrs. V. Kamal, from Chennai, with her daughter Nirmala and friend Anu from San Jose. Nirmala and Anu attend the temples in Concord and Livermore.

They are devotees of Satya Sai Baba.

They enjoyed the tour of Iraivan and plan to return for the Maha Kumbhabhishekam.

S. Jeyakumar family from Auckland and Sydney, they coordinated the Innersearch visit in Auckland.

The couple on the right is Karthikeya and Jayalakshmi from Atlanta, Georgia. They have been in the US only four years and plan to return to India to raise a family

Everyone enjoys the Umbrella Ganesha…

Jeyakumar’s at the temple.

Muruga Hill is a lovely place for meditation and a quiet moment.

Then of course, today being Sun One we had our usual homa. Brahmachari Satya Subramaniam is behind the camera. No captions are needs as the photos tell the story very well on their own….

Paramacharya Palaniswami gave a short talk after the homa about his kulam’s on-going project of collecting up and transcribing all of Gurudeva’s early teachings.

He then shared some special Gurudeva sayings that the monks gathered into a binder way back in 1974. The binder recently appeared and was full of amazing wisdom.

Palaniswami read a few dozen and we share some of them here:

Until we can give up the animal nature, we never come into the spiritual nature. The only way to give up the animal nature is to gain discrimination. And how do we gain discrimination? By practicing, that is all & just by practicing, using your powers of discrimination all of the time. Discrimination gives willpower and willpower is your life. The more will you have, the more spirit you have and the more spirit you have the closer you are to God.

Realization comes to you. You do not go to it. It is there.

The ego gives power to things, which are not real and derives happiness from them.

Do not allow yourself to be hurt by life.

Use your willpower every chance you get. Then, you have to exercise your will to strengthen it. Little by little the mind becomes strong.

You can realize God in this life, but you must apply yourself. Arrive at the very core of your being, and then see what you can do to uplift humanity. For each one is evolving in his evolution toward his ultimate state of being when he will realize God. But, each one needs help.

Test yourself. Do you give power to the outer person or inner person? To live right now, right this instant is a spiritual power. It is the awakening of the soul. The mind lives in the past and it lives in the future. When you quiet the mind you live in the present. When you quiet your mind, you give your soul a chance. When you live in the present you eliminate fears, worries and doubts. Suppose you have problems. They will work themselves out if you can keep the confusion of your lower states of mind out of the way. And when your mind becomes calm, your future automatically works itself out. You make your future in the present.

With spiritual unfoldment, you have to become acquainted with a new you.

Your willpower is your soul in action.

You have to be big enough to overlook. It takes great humility to put yourself in a position where the spirit of God flows through you constantly.

Some of the monks went for a hike up the first leg of the Napali Coast trail, Aubrey Burke from Canada will be going home soon, so we wanted him to get to see a bit of our beautiful island. They discovered a traversable sea cave at the beach at the end of the trail.