Bodhinatha and Yoginathaswami were in Washington, D.C. today and took a tour of the government buildings in the morning and met some devotees later in the afternoon and evening. They are experiencing some IT issues and photos of the trip will be shared after they return home.

Tomorrow morning, during our retreat here at the Aadheenam, they will be off to Montreal for the weekend Kumbabhishekam events at the Montreal Murugan Temple. Check out their web site here. (Scroll down for English

Dr. Sanjay Daddamani with his 2yr old daughter Lakhe (center) and his parents came for a visit and, after touring the beautiful Iraivan Temple and grounds, have some lovely and inspiring memories to take back home to Florida.

Hansrdy & Rasila Palaja also from Florida and Amit & Vidhi Dungarani from Vienna, Virginia also came to our paradise within a paradise and stated they had a”wonderful tour and that this was the “most wonderful Hindu Monastery in the whole United States!”

Another beautiful day in paradise. One could see Mt Waialeale very clearly which has not been possible for some weeks due to the consistent wet weather (100 inches in March.)

Above is a classic shot, which says so much about Saiva Siddhanta Church, our international congregation and our future.

Sivaneswaran began studying Gurudeva’s teachings when he was just a teenager in Malaysia. Meanwhile across the Indian Ocean in Mauritius the daughter of one of the founding members of Saiva Siddhanta Church in Mauritius, Venilla Mardemootoo was also growing up under the grace of our Paramapara. Who knew then that they would marry and today a second generation has come, under Gurudeva’s successor, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

This photo was taken at the Ganesha Mandapam at the Saiva Dharmasala, Saiva Siddhanta Church, Mauritius.

Meanwhile news from Bodhinatha is filtering back from his trip… He sent a note just a few minutes ago:

“Today’s was a flight from Los Angeles to Washington, DC where we were met by Nigel Siva, his mother in law, Padmini and Vayudeva who provided a traditional Sri Lankan stringhopper dinner.

“Yesterday in Los Angeles, our morning began bright and early with an eight AM limousine pickup for the forty minute drive to the Long Beach headquarters of Halbert Hargrove Russell, financial management company for Hindu Heritage Endowment. The driver was a Hindu from Nepal, so we had an interesting talk about these times of transition in Nepal.

‘In the evening we had satsang at the home of Tushar and Alka Doshi, the sponsor of our San Marga Hanuman Murthi. A group of about 15 relatives and friends gathered. Included a slot for questions and answers on Hindu issues with some good questions from all age groups.’

It was a bright sunny day at the Aadheenam. It is the monthly “Archive Day” in the Ganapati Kulam with all hands and brains focused on the wealth of the heritage of materials that we have from our beloved Gurudeva.

Here is Thambynathan Satya Subramaniam, inputing catalog information on “Mathavasi Shastras” more tapes of talks that Gurudeva gave to the monks thru the years.

Gurudeva was a big fan of what he called “the Flowbook” which documented standards for procedures and conduct in all departments of our monastic life. He used this as a training manual for new monks and to help us stay reminded of the way things should be done and run.

Acharya Kumarswami is going through old flow book pages. This one is dated April 5, 1971, signed By Gurudeva. Entitled “Nutrition for Meditation Policies”

Natarajnathaswami is getting down to the bottom of the piles of old photos. This has been under organization for literally 8 years.

Its a beautiful sunny day today and we received several visitors from all parts of the Mainland.

A couple from Seattle and a group of graduate students from Chicago and Ohio who are all on vacation in paradise. All were taken on a tour of the property. After the tour they were asked what they thought of their first visit to a Hindu temple. As their faces lit up and they all chorused together “Beautiful!” Everyone wanted to come back after it was completed.

Another couple arrived, Avinash Mude an architect and his wife Malini who is a psychiatrist from Philadelphia PA.

Avinash was previously from Maharasthra and his wife was from Karnataka.

They thoroughly enjoyed their tour of the Iraivan Temple and both found it to be “Beautiful, wonderful and unforgettable,” and highlighted their visit to Kauai.

Due the huge crowds coming to see Pancha Mukha Ganapati, a second smaller Murthi has been established nearby for people to worship.

It is a lovely new addition to our Spiritual Park.

if you ever want to go on a vacation, enjoy a beautiful new world and also go to temples and have satsang with Gurudeva’s family… go to Mauritius!

Bodhinatha arrived late last night in Los Angeles and has been there all day today. This evening he had satsang with a group of devotees interested in sponsoring the large Hanuman murthi that is planned.

Here is Bodhinatha with a Koala bear in Australia on the last Innersearch.

Visiting Hindus Prema Wati Pahalad (retired RN) and her daughter Shobha Devi Pahalad (also an RN) originally from Fiji and now living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. came today and enjoyed a visit to the Iraivan Temple site.

Shobha remarked “what a beautiful and spiritual place for a temple!” Both Shobha and her mother plan to come back. In fact Shobha has been reading Gurudeva’s lessons for sometime now online.

Now for a little tour around Kadavul Temple area. Nandi, Siva’s mount, kneeling before the Kadavul Temple today.

The doors to the temple are graced by Ganesha and Muruga, recently gold leafed.

And inside, Gurudeva’s sacred sandals receive fresh flowers each day from the monks and pilgrims.

Outside the temple the sacred pool and grounds.

And a bonsai banyan. This one is 40-50 years old.

A wonderful visit begins today. Ralph Whitten and his wife Stevanne arrived to visit Ralph’s son, Yogi Japendranatha.

Steveanne is known in the world of children’s games as “Dr. Toy,” and she brought this peacock puppet for the monastery. And many other small gifts as well. Welcome, to you both.

The family took a walk in the gardens.

Our photographer today is Brahmachari Satya.

Obake anthuriums reach for the sun.

Under the palm tree above grow big clouds of special coleus plants, some of which exist nowhere else in the world, as they were crossed genetically and grown from seed by the monks.

Bodhinatha departed today for a nine-day trip. He arrives late tonight in Los Angeles, will spend the day there, then on to Washington, D. C., then to Montreal, and back through Concord, California.

Everyone walks down to the information office to send Bodhinatha on his way. The landscaping along the path is full of remarkably colored Coleus plants.

Standing by ….

OK, we are off for another mission…

See you back soon, Yoginathaswami!

Another picture from a retreat day trip to Himalayan Acres. The tree planting efforts by Sadhaka Adinatha are doing very well.

Here is Sannyasin Arumugaswami standing next to one of the larger Honduras Mahogany tree, planted just one year ago. It can reach a height of 150 feet and six feet in diameter at the base!

The tree has done very well in test plantings, and within a few months an additional three acres are planned. See http://www.exotichardwoods-southamerica.com/mahoganygenuine.htm

Jim and Nancy Barnhart visited us today from Oregon in the northwestern US. They have visited us a few times now. Having been devotees of Paramahansa Yogananda in the Self Realization Fellowship for many years and considering themselves “Christian yogis,” after discovering Kauai Aadheenam they realized that the path they were following for so many years was, at its core, Hindu. Now they are happy to be learning more about pure Hinduism and really enjoyed the power of the pujas in Kadavul temple.

Yogi Japendranatha performs homa today.

The highlight of the morning: Aubrey Burke from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, takes his brahmacharya vrata.

He reads his vow before the fire.

Bodhinatha ties a cord around his waist.

Aubrey shaved his head this morning and is very happy. His father came on Task Force to Virginia City in the 1970’s and Aubrey has been listening to Gurudeva’s taped Master Course and hearing stories about him since he was a little boy.

Hanuman presides over the homa. Gurudeva had visions of Hanuman and He has always been close.

Bodhinatha gives his Sun One Talk, part of his presentation for his upcoming Montreal trip.

This past retreat was Iraivan Day. Monks all pitch in together to prepare the monthly mailing to donors.

Receipts, prasadam, labels, return envelope. “OK, this group is Canada… this group is Malaysia… don’t mix them up!”

Out at the temple on Iraivan Day the work goes on… Sadhaka Tejadevanatha top side pressure washing the stones on the East edge of the North Gopuram.

We needed to get some special photos for the year end Annual report. Natarajnathaswami tries his hand with the new camera.

Here we are trying for a close up on the “Snake Course”

OK that’s it. Scales…

The next day was silpi outing day for this month.

A trip to a local five star Hotel is always fun. Here we are at the Mariott, which sports a very odd sort of decor and sculptures.

Chinnu poses with some white stone monkeys

Silpi Chelliaih

Inside the hotel, a huge carving of a Chinese warrior from the middle ages.

Big Koi ponds at the hotel. It was an uplifting and relaxing time for our hard working team of silpis.

It was a quiet day at the Aadheenam. Everyone was busy as bees as usual… but the feeling of “nothing is happening here,” which is considered to be a good thing, permeated the atmosphere.

So, it is a good time to pull out a set of photos that was set a side for a while. These pictures were sent to us by devotees in Toronto, Canada, on Bodhinatha’s last visit there with Sannyasin Yoginathaswami. He and Swami will be going to Canada again next week to Montreal.

These pictures are of the Yogaswami Mahasamadhi events there. They speak for themselves. We will see you all again on Sun One.

It is Ashram Sadhaka day here at the Aadheenam. Monks were out and about all day cleaning and fixing things.

We take this opportunity to share with you a fascinating series from a recent fund raising event in Malaysia for the Iraivan temple building. Congratulations to our Malaysian members who came up with an innovative concept to draw a crowd, making an educational contribution to the local community while also help the temple.

Brother Balu Devadu, pasting direction of the hall where the public talk is to be held. It was about 12.00noon. He is the main person who organized this wonderful event, here in Kajang. We are running these full width today.

A beautiful pond with fountain at entrance of building invigorates body and mind

Fantastic! The ever energetic young Hiranyavaha, son of Brother Balu, is one of the main helping hands for his father. He too helps out to paste direction signs and leaflets distribution during the talk.

International Vaastu Sastra speaker, Mr. Selva and his disciple, Muraly preparing their booth.

Hiranyavaha and his teacher tending the registration booth.

Brother Balu and Mr. Selva ironing out last minute requirements before beginning of his talk.

Promotional pictures of our guru Parampara and Iraivan temple

Public members registering before entrance to lecture hall.

Books, compass, swastika’, pyramid symbols, CD’s and related to Vaasthu Sastra items are on sale and a hit with those who attended the talk.

Non Indian enthusiastic members of the public also found their way to the hall. Mr. Selva was a well know Vaasthu Sastra columnist in on of leading daily English newspapers in Malaysia – STAR. Its was published in this newspaper that Vaasthu talk are being held here.

Public members viewing books and item of interest.

Bother Balu and Muraly and Ceylon Tea Cafe promoter finalizing on sales booth. Portion of this proceeding are pledged for Iraivan fund.

Karma Yoga in action!! – Brother Gunasegaran’s son, Thirugnanam extending his wonderful seva by selling bottles of mineral water for Iraivan!!!! Satguru’s young lions..

Balu having a short discussion with the college building technician..who supported the event sound system and related arrangements.

Brother Gunasegaran, listening keenly …the hall is fully packed!!

Another section of the audience listening to the Vaasthu talk..

..audience at the hall’s rear..

Kulapathi Sivanjnani among the audiences..

Kul. Silvarajoo and Kulamatha Amutha among the attendees….

Handsome turnout…and appreciative audience…

Mr. Selva with his powerpoint presentation…explaining the importance of Vaasthu Sastra – a branch of Ancient Indian Art and Science for Happiness and Wellness..

7th Generation Vaasthu Sastra Master, Mr. Yuvaraj Sowma from Chennai is the guest of honor answering questions from the audience.

..question and answer session..

Mr. Selva and Master Yuvaraj Sowma..join in answering questions from members of floor.

Master Yuvaraj Sowma from Chennai, India and Mr. Selva answering a question a from Mr. Dasan

..audience at the `Vaasthu’s sales booth

Master Yuvaraj Sowma listening to question…

Kulapathi Sivanjnani at the talk…

The Master and I….it’s an honor to meet Mr. Yuvaraj -7th Generation Vaasthu Sastra Master from Chennai….

crowds after the talk at the respective booths..

Mr. T.Selva and a Chinese enthusiast – he was impressed with our own Indian `Feng Shui’ which is much older than Chinese Feng Shui…

The main persons who made this event a reality in Kajang..Brother Balu Devado and wife. (couple in center), A big ‘thank you’ for both of them…..

…with Mr. T.Selva..a wonderful `soul’ who does this for charity and he wished our public to have more information , knowledge and practice this ancient Indian Science of Happiness and Wellness in their daily life and eventually attain world peace..The same concept of our Satguru..`Peace starts right from our home…’ – Vaasthu Sastra way of achieving the right balance of harmonious living with nature ..

Church members at sales booth promoting Gurudeva’s books and fund raising items..Gowri akka, Kulamatha Amutha and sis Selvawathy..

..`Gowri akka.’….never misses any function or events that draws fund raising…always a joy to see her `burning Guru Bhakti and `seva’ to her full heart…- she is an inspiration to all of us…

At the Aadheenam today Sannyasin Saravananathaswami is working on the annual Guru Purnima mailing.

Every sishya in our world wide congregation is given the opportunity to re-dedicate themselves to Gurudeva, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and the Kailasa Parampara.

You write out “Aum Namasivaya” 108 times and send a personal message on the back to Bodhinatha.

Sharan, his wife Gia and their 19-year-old daughter Koell, from Mumbai, returned today. Devout worshippers of Lord Siva they have fasted on Monday for over 20 years.

Sharan is the editor for GR8! a glossy TV magazine in India and also a member of the Lintas integrated Marketing Action group in Mumbai. His love is writing and he says “I want to offer you my services. I have 40 copy writers working under me and if Dinodia supplies you photos, let me supply you with any words you need.”

His wife Gia is a director for the famed Ravissant Fashion house of India.

Arumugaswami shares with them our work in Hinduism Today and discusses issues on how the media treat Hinduism Today in the press.

Acharya Kumarswami poses for some photos in preparation of getting his travel documents together for a trip to Singapore and Malaysia.

It was a gorgeous day at the temple. The gold leafed vimanam glint and glisten in the sun.

Summer is approaching and the Aadheenam is bursting with colors everywhere.

We continue with our photo documentary of Bodhinatha’s visit to Barsana Dham in Texas and Bodhinatha’s last satsang with the devotees of the temple in San Antonio. Sadhaka Tejadevanatha supplies captions.

Here we are at the Barsana dham peach orchard. Take a close look at the peaches. You have to squint to see the small green peaches.

This is the yoga center .

The tradition behind this center is from Radha-Krishna Vaishnavism.

another shot of the large barn and tractor that maintains the vast land

Here is a picture of the original Barsana Dham in India

Bodhinatha viewing the yoga center

more yoga rooms

The yoga center building

these are the pillars you see before entering the temple

Recognize the swami in dark orange 🙂

It is Gurudeva and to his left is the founder of Barsana Dham Swami Prakashananda Saraswati and to the left of him is Swami Bua Maharaj from New York.

These photos are from the opening of the center in 1995.

Back to the peacocks

This is the hill Bodhinatha was on earlier over looking Barsana Dham

A closer look at temple construction

Gardens on the property

He sees us

What a creature

Jnaneshwari Devi spoke with Bodhinatha about many hot topics challenging Hindus today.

One of those topics is the recent Text Book reform in California. She has been quite instrumental in the Text Book Reform. Keep up the the great work!

Later Bodhinatha returned to San Antonio for the rest of the day.

Dr. Kendranath and his wife Meenakshi are hosting Bodhinatha for satsang and dinner. Dr. Kendranath is one of the San Antonio temple trustees

30 devotees were in attendance.

Dr. Kendranath introduces Bodhinatha, and explains how a few years back he visited the monastery and attended Maha Sivaratri. It was an amazing experience.

The youth sat right in front for Bodhinatha’s talk.

Bodhinatha spoke on “Learning from our mistakes”

This young man sat still during Bodhinatha’s entire talk. Bodhinatha had the group laughing and thinking deeply of our profound religion. It was a night to remember. Jai Bodhinatha.

Before retiring for the evening our host at the Comfort Inn requested one last Darshan with Bodhinatha before returning home to Kauai. Thank you and Hansa for taking such great care of Bodhinatha and to everyone in Texas for taking such great care of both of us.

We begin Sun One today of a short 4-day phase. Bodhinatha was in bright form this morning.

At lunch he said that he calculated this year he would be traveling 120 days… 1 day out of 3 on the road in 2006!

Sadhaka Jivanandanatha performs the homa this morning to start our phase.

Many, many guests came this morning. Three Hindu families were among them.

The Subramanian and Lakshminarayanan families visited us today from New Jersey and New York.

They attend a temple in Albany run by Kumara Swamy Dikshitar who had conducted the 1985 kumbhabhishekam for our Kadavul Temple. He told them they must definitely visit us when coming to Hawaii so they finally did so today.

Someone has given Shanmugam, Six-Faced Murugan, a huge bright garland.

This B. R. Sharan and his wife from Mumbai. She was ecstatic saying: “We are from India, we worship Shiva. While I was fasting, on Monday as we normally do, we were in Los Angeles. When we told someone we were going to Kauai, on that day of worship of Siva I heard about your temple here… and now we are here. I feel it was God’s Grace who directed us.”

Mrs. Sharan is in the Mumbai fashion industry and Sharan is in the world of media and marketing in Mumbai. They offer to help in anyway they can. Sharan has a lot experience writing for publications so, we may find a place for him in our Hinduism Today work.

On our retreat days, the stewards meet to go thru a long agenda. One of these meetings each quarter Bodhinatha and the stewards meet with the Pillaiyar Kulam to review the progress and plans of Hindu Heritage Endowment. This picture was taken on the way to Hanalei.

When it was founded in 1994, Gurudeva set these meetings in Princeville on the Hanalei Bay. Only HHE meetings are held here, four times a year for the past 12 years.

There is a lovely hotel at the edge of the bay where we gather.

On May 12 Deva and Gayatri Rajan, visiting from California, were invited by Bodhinatha to join the meeting and learn how HHE is doing.

The meeting comprised three and a half hours of educational presentations about the many ways HHE is serving the Hindu community around the world, from orphanages to temples, from publications to monasteries.

An amazing rainbow heralded the beginning of the meeting. You could almost reach out and touch it.

Deva and Gayatri learned a lot, they said, and were a bit amazed at the level of detail it takes to manage the 65 funds of the Endowment, and its $8.1 million.

An it was Aubrey’s birthday yesterday. We bought a big Stone Ice Cream cake to celebrate.

Happy 19th birthday to Aubrey.

Over on Himalayan Acres this retreat Arumugaswami, Natarajnathaswami, Sadhaka Adinatha and Durvasa Alahan worked on the five-acre organic noni plantation we are developing. This picture shows a pipeline being laid along the top edge of the field. Behind the cameraman is a reservoir which will supply water via a pump. The noni, a medical Hawaiian plant, will be planted in plastic mulch with drip irrigation. On the right of the picture you see the year-old Honduran mahogany trees which were planted as an experiment. This valuable hardwood tree is doing very well, gaining four to eight feet its first year. Sadhaka Adinatha is preparing a three-acre planting of these trees also fed by this same pipeline.

We continue with photos from Bodhinatha’s recent trip to Texas. Sadhaka Tejadevanatha captions the photos.

Lord Muruga’s Vahana, the peacock, greets Bodhinatha at the Barsana Dham temple and gardens in Austin Texas, 1.5 hour drive from where Bodhinatha is staying in San Antonio

This peacock is following Bodhinatha to the Gopeshwar Mahadev Shrine.

Barsana Dham is quite vast with several guest quarters, ponds, gardens and shrines nestled through the 200 acres

Prem Sarovar pond

The main temple, Shree Raseshwari Rani Temple, is undergoing renovations

squash garden

This road leads to a small hill just behind the temple

As you can see the view is spectacular

Down below is Barsana Dham

The temple from an arial shot

Entrance to Barsana Dham

Bodhinatha taking in the beauty

a field of wild flowers

just breath taking

a small stream flows through the property

This is a peach orchard

Here is a large barn on the property.

More to come tomorrow.

Our photo documentary retrospective on events in San Antonio continues today. Here is Bodhinatha circumambulating the temple.

All the necessary abhishekam kumbas are ready for the auspicious time to bath Ardhanarishvara

the priests are ready.

let the abhishekam begin, Jai

Devotees are spell bound

Awesome view from the shrine

what a sweet face

almost the last kumbha

arati before Ardhanarishvara is wrapped in fantastic silks and garlands

bhajans filled the air throughout the Kumbhabhishekam

Now the really fun part begins, dressing Ardhanarishvara 🙂

looking good, looking really good

Blessed prasadam

final arati

The temple structure is also blessed

Bodhinatha performs the final final arati

Back to the main temple for a talk given by Bodhinatha

first a visit to Ganesha

Dr Rao is the MC today

Bodhinatha’s talk is on Service and Giving to the temple

Before returning to the Comfort Inn the Pemmaraju family requested a picture with Bodhinatha and Ardhanarishvara. Thank you Pemmaraju family for taking such good care of Bodhinatha.

Later the same day Bodhinatha met with Venkat Subramaniam and his two sons

Marybeth, an Innersearcher who went to India with us came for a visit yesterday.

Checking out the ball in the mouth of the lion pillar.

With her friend…

Vignettes from around the Aadheenam.. Nandi in front of Kadavul.

Natarajnathaswami out for a walk…

A view of the garden…

Iraivan in the distance.

banana flower…

Rudraksha everywhere!

Sri Subramuniya Kottam – Sri Lanka

These photos were taken during the Thiruvembavai festival at the Sri Shanti Lingam Temple last December.

One of the favorite festivals of Sri Subramuniya Kottam’s children is the Thiruvembavai. Thiruvembavai is a ten day festival that falls between the last week of December and the first week of January.

Everyday for the ten days of Thiruvembavai the Kottam’s children and other villagers arise early in the morning, and gather at the Sri Subramuniya Kottam. From the Kottam the group will walk a parade route that ends at the Sri Shanti Lingam temple while singing Saint Manikavasagar’s Thiruvembavai songs.

Then they all attend the puja at the temple.

On the last day of Thhiruvembavai, known as Thiruvathurai special abhishegam and puja is done at the temple.