Here is Bodhinatha in the first get-together of Innersearch held in the Holiday Inn in Darling Harbour in Sydney. Each Innersearcher introduced themselves and told marvellous stories of how they had decided to come on Innersearch. There were many wonderful and amazing testimonies.

This is Stan Lee a new investment councilor with Halbert, Hargrove/Russel, LLC., Long Beach, California. Stan recently took over management of our Hindu Heritage Endowment account. He speaks several languages fluently and has a vast financial background. Stan will oversee HHE’s several dozen financial managers, for it is HHR’s multi-manager strategy to select the best financial advisors possible. Our HHE accounts, overseen by Stan, have dozens of such managers in each allocation field.

Stan is in Hawaii on vacation and came here to find out about what we do, the goals and mission of HHE, to learn about HHE’s 64 individual endowments, and to meet the HHE stewards and staff of HHE and have a tour.

Little Anuradha our young calf does not seem to be afraid of the cattle guard which is made of metal poles that cover a section of the road. She still thinks she is a little human. She will very carefully, step, by step, place her feet between the poles and walk through the guard, then find her way back to where the monks raised her…. now we have to take her back to the fields….

It’s a windless, very quiet mystical day on Kauai…

A lot of work is underway under the banyan tree in preparation for raising up Arumugam, Six-Faced Murugan.

He is out of his create and special scaffolding is being made and a granite peedam prepared….

It is actually quite a logistical feat, requiring a special winch… stay tuned….

A remarkable and unexpected “confluence” of monks in Australia… at the Reptile Park… Three swamis from the Swaminarayan Fellowship were in town and their devotees took them to the park where they met Bodhinatha and our Innersearch monastic staff. They were surprised to learn that Bodhinatha, Arumugaswami, Shanmuganathaswami and Yoginathaswami were at the opening of the grand Akhshardham memorial in Delhi last month.

Ganga Sivanathan who went on Innersearch has an excellent camera “eye” and using our TAKA caption writing software has provided several sets of Innersearch photos, bringing us lovely scenes and people and places in Australia and New Zealand.

Day 1 of Innersearch in Sydney – a young but very beautiful city, just over 200 years old, and Australia’s largest city. These terrace houses are fairly typical of Sydney’s older suburbs.

Palaniswami preparing to meet the Innersearchers.

Some were “old hands” at Innersearches having traveled with the monks many times; for some it was their first experience.

Carole Kahn from Kauai.

Going “walkabout” – off to see the sites of Darling Harbour, and our first meal together.

Arjunan Subramaniam from Malaysia. Arjuna hosted a magnificent lunch for the Innersearchers in KL in 2004 and writes the beautiful Murugan poetry in Hinduism Today.

Sydney was kind to us during our trip – cool weather with a little sun. Before we arrived and after we left for New Zealand, there were temperatures across Australia in the 40 degree Celsius range (around 110 F). Here Bodhinatha is admiring the view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and enjoying the weather.

Bodhinatha with Deva and Gayatri Rajan.

Sydney Harbour is one of the most beautiful harbours in the world. Here we sail past the Opera House.

A view from near The Heads (where the Harbour meets the ocean) towards Sydney and the Harbour Bridge. Quite a few of us managed to get sunburnt out on the ocean.

Kailash Dhaksinamurthi, our intrepid tour organiser who did an amazing job, with Puvaneswary Roberts from the Netherlands.

We were treated to a digeridoo performance by an Aboriginal artist with deep knowledge of his people and the place of the digeridoo in the culture of the different Aboriginal tribes of Australia. Behind him were pictures of the Australian Outback.

Innersearch provides lots of opportunity spend time with the monks. Here Rudy Tanzi is in deep discussion with Palaniswami.

Lynda McClanahan and Joel Knepp with Devi Tandavan and Marlene Carter. Devi had her Namakarana at the Murugan Temple in Mays Hill in Sydney.

We ate….

and ate….

and ate…..

and became just a little more Australian each day – Michael Duncan who took his Vegetarian Vrata on this Innersearch.

Eleanor McCarthy from Hawaii.

Deva Rajan and Manon Mardemootoo from Mauritius.

Bodhinatha arrived yesterday. He and Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani are all well. It was a long trip so they had a good rest and today, Sun One we are happy to have the whole monastery together again.

Today’s TAKA brings you photos from the last events of the mission: The World Saiva Conference in Sydney, Australia and other visits in that beautiful city.

Jan 27 (Sydney); This morning Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani went to interview the Nallai Aadheenam kartar (head) of Sri Lanka.

He is a wonderfully sweet soul full of love of Lord Siva.

Then we met with another wonderful soul, Santhalingaswami, head of the Peerur Aadheenam in India.

Translating swami’s wisdom from Tamil to English.

The Nagaratnams join in the photo.

Then in the afternoon it was off to the Sydney Murugan Temple for the opening of the World Saiva Conference

2 tavil and nadaswaram team lead the procession.

Flag raising is one of the first events.

Nandi flies high showing Saivism is alive, well and strong.

Santhalingaswami.

Back to the temple’s cultural hall.

Welcome speeches by the 3 visiting kartars.

That evening Bodhinatha met with some of the core members of the temple youth group who came to ask for guidance.

January 28th: The conference begins.

Bodhinatha delivering his keynote speech using his laptop and projector.

The talk focused on the challenges and opportunities of Saivism, the theme of the conference, and was well received by the crowd.

Palaniswami chats with Sri Manickavasagar, who shares more stories of his encounter with Yogaswami.

Sundaresan, middle, set up and ran with the help of the youth a display table with Himalayan Academy’s publications.

That evening a meeting with some devotees. Here’s the dynamic Prashant Shanmugan

Then a meeting with the Nagaratnams.

And Chandran and Mathini Wigneswaran and their family.

Then it was off to the Vedanta Society to meet with Swami Domodaranandaji (87 years old) (far left) and other swamis of the Ramakrishna order.

it was a joyous meeting for all.

January 29th (sydney): Bodhinatha began the day with a visit to one of the local Sai centres where he gave a talk and answered some very insightful questions. It was a beautiful sunny day in Sydney.

Then Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani visited the Royal Botanical Garden.

Hundreds of bats graced the tree tops in one section of the gardens.

Then it was off to the conference again.

Innersearchers are arriving home and sending photos now from their collections. Ganga Sivanathan writes: “Here is a most beautiful photo of Bodhinatha, taken in Sydney at the Sivathondan Nilayam Yogaswami puja.”

No message today from the team. They will no doubt be busy with the Saiva Conference. Bodhinatha writes of yesterday in Sydney:

“Palaniswami and Dandapani interviewed the Kartar of Nallai Aadheenam, Jaffna, and Perur Aadheenam, Tamil Nadu, at their nearby hotel this AM.

“Late afternoon was the opening ceremony for the 10th Saiva World Conference at the Murugan Temple.

“In the evening we met with some of the leaders of the Sydney Youth Group of the Murugan Temple.”

— Bodhinatha

This was a short four-day phase ending today. A good sized group of visitors arrived for the tour. Sthapati shows them the tools of the trade.

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dvitiya Tithi, Sun One, Monday, January 30th.

Everyone is amazed to see these huge roof beams

Over 50 bright souls

Robert Springer, head of the Island School ( http://www.ischool.org/ ), brought some of the 11th and 12th grade members of the school’s Comparative Religion class to visit the monastery today.

They toured the grounds, met the stone carvers and got a good overview of how a Hindu temple is built.

Arumugaswami introduced them to our publications and gave an overview of Hindu beliefs. They asked some good questions.

Announcement:

Know Thy Self, Saivite Hindu Religion Book 3, Yoga’s Forgotten Foundation and Dancing with Siva Pocketbook are online in Google Book Search (click)

Gurudeva’s other books, including the Master Course trilogy, are currently being processed and will be online soon.

Here is Bodhinatha at one of his darshan meetings with members of the Hindu community in Australia…..

This is Sri Manickavasagar. He is a masterful singer. Yogaswami requested to sing for him for an hour. Yogaswami then told him “You melted my heart”.

Our story continues picking from transit day Jan 24th (Melbourne):

Bodhinatha ready to leave Melbourne for Sydney and would like to share with TAKA viewers a piece of advice from the guru.

A special thanks to Sashinath Velupillay for driving us to our events.

Sydney: One event tonight and that is a TV interview for Bodhinatha by Sigaram TV. Our hotel room turns into a TV studio.

lights, camera …action!

Mathini Wigneswaran is our interviewer and she has prepared some very challenging questions for Bodhinatha.

Bodhinatha presents Chandran and Mathini with a gift of Gurudeva’s Trilogy for all their help in coordinating the events here.

January 25th (Sydney): Lynda Morris from the Sydney Morning Herald, the largest newspaper in New South Wales, came to interview Bodhinatha this morning.

Then early in the afternoon Kerry Stuart from ABC (Australian Broadcasting Coorporation) National Radio dropped by to interview Bodhinatha for a documentary they are doing on Hinduism in Australia. The show will broadcast in early April.

This was followed by meetings with devotees. First is Mr. Pasupathy and family. He gifted Bodhinatha the original photo of Yogaswami that he took many, many years ago. What a gift! He took 2 of the 5 photos of Yogaswami that exist today. Thank you for capturing our precious paramaguru on film for the generations ahead.

Nageswari Nadarajah, our star Iraivan temple builder, who was full of joy to see Bodhinatha.

After the meetings Bodhinatha headed off to the Sri Shiva Mandir in Minto.

He gave a talk titled Siva is the God of LOve.

The temple is beautiful and outstandingly clean. Gurudeva had visited this temple when it was still under construction.

Jan 26th (Australia Day): It’s Australia Day Down Under. On the 26th of each January Australia celebrates itself throughout the nation. There are special events, fireworks, fun outings for the family and such. The nation also honors its citizens and local heros, acknowledging those who served well and accomplished things to make the country proud.

One of the highest forms of this honoring is the OAM or Medal of the Order of Australia. We ourselves were proud to be here in the country on this day, because our very own Dr. Nageswaran Nagaratnam was one of the recipients of the medal! He got it for a lifetime of work in his medical field, geriatrics or the medicine of the elderly. But also the medal was for his continuing mentoring of others in the field, bringing young doctors into deeper understandings, and for his selfless sharing of his vast experience in the field.

Others who receive the medal today (the front page of the Herald called them “a marvelously motley mob”) were actress Nicole Kidman, a doctor who developed a vaccine for cancer, a nuclear physicist, a philanthropist and a general who lead soldiers in Iraq.

The most amazing thing is that Dr. Nagaratnam and his wife have been this countries greatest supporters of Iraivan temple, and were Bodhinatha’s loving hosts in Sydney, cooking and delivering traditional meals daily for the monks each day, driving us to all the temples, arranging interviews and meetings, and helping in so many ways. We would like to congratulate Dr. Nagaratnam, and offer him and his wife our own Australian Newcomers Medal for their loving care of Bodhinatha during his visits to Sydney.

A sample of the colourful and absolutely delicious meals that they have been bringing for Bodhinatha daily.

The Nagaratnams then took Bodhinatha to the Sydney Murugan temple.

In temple’s cultural hall Bodhinatha conducted a 3-hour seminar on the key practices of Hinduism.

About 150 attended the seminar

Chandran and Mathini Wigneswaran ever present at all the events to help with all the little details.

Bodhinatha meets with Francesco and his partner who flew down all the way from Brisbane to see Bodhinatha.

After a 45 minute break Bodhinatha was taken on a scenic 1 hour drive south of Sydney to the Sri Shiva Vishnu temple.

This is the first Hindu temple built in the Sydney region.

A warm welcome….

Worshipping at the Ganesha shrine

The temple has many statues along its inner wall.

Sri Venkateshwara

Bodhinatha gave a talk on the role of Hinduism in the modern day world.

Another TV interview, this time with a community TV station.

This is a group of people associated with psychic channeler, Geoffrey Hoppe who comes to Kauai each year for a spiritual travel program and brings everyone to Kauai. Happy beautiful souls…

Geoffrey and Linda Benyo Hoppe, leaders of the “Crimson Circle” based on the teachings of “Tobias” channeled through Geoffrey Hoppe.

Bodhinatha is in Syndey today… he writes:

“Today had a variety of activities. In the morning we had an hour and a half interview with the Sydney morning herald which should appear as a separate article in the Saturday edition. In the afternoon there was a radio interview with ABC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which will be incorporated in a program on Hinduism in Australia to be played in April. Then were personal darshan suggestions with four Sri Lankan families. This was followed by our last event a lecture at the Minto Siva Temple which had about 200 people in attendence. Lots of individuals there had been to Kauai.”

More picture below from the earlier stay in Melbourne.

Another quiet day at the Aadheenam. The inner vibration has been very high… good for meditation. It’s easy to sit like Tirumular here these days.

“Summa Iru” as Yogaswami would say “Just Be Still!”

The Ekadanta Kulam of one, Saravananathaswami, gave his report today. He was happy to announce that monastic aspirants from Brazil and Malaysia will be arriving soon.. we will leave the details until they are actually here… and he detailed an up and coming visit from 100 school children…

Brahmacharini Shama Kumaran on the right has retired and comes to the temple almost every day now. She does a lot of karma yoga in her free time. One of which is hosting visitors…

Thank you Shama!

A side view of Kadavul temple…

Jan 21st: We arrive in the beautiful city of Melbourne. Here’s a night view of Flinders Street Railway station (middle building).

Our first event was with a small gathering of Yogaswami devotees.

This young group of girls did a wonderful Siva dance for Bodhinatha.

Jan 22nd: The morning started with a 3 hour seminar by Bodhinatha on the key practices of Hinduism.

Darmaguhan and Sashinath have been a great help to Bodhinatha during his visit to Melbourne.

That afternoon it was off to the Shiva Vishnu temple in Carrum Downs.

From the Shiva Vishnu temple Bodhinatha headed to Pundit Navaratnam’s home. Punditji has long been an ardent devotee of Satguru Yogaswami.

A white carpet is laid before Bodhinatha

A traditional welcome arathi

showered by flowers as he enters the home.

A sweet abhishegam ceremony was conducted for Yogaswami

Bodhinatha performs the final arathi

Bodhinatha presents Pundit with a gift of a rudraksha mala.

Our beloved Paramaguru, Siva Yogaswami

Before heading back to the hotel we made a brief stop at Pundit’s son’s, Mr. Murthi’s home.

Bodhinatha blessed the ground in the garden where Mr Murthi will build a small shrine to Lord Ganesha

Jan 23rd: Today we visited Swami Shankarananda’s ashram, known as Shiva ashram.

Palaniswami offers this report from the visit….

“We have just returned from four hours at Swami Shankarananda’s Shiva Ashram about an hour from Melbourne, and Bodhinatha is in the other room meeting with two young men from Mauritius who are studying here in Australia.

“The Shiva Ashram is on 3 acres of land, at the edge of some housing and bushlands, with a small pond, three buildings and a tent about the size of Banyan Mandapam, but more friendly. Swami has 22 residents in the ashram, men and women, and about 100 in all attended the satsang. Bodhinatha and swami all sat in traditional style on large seats at the front, accompanied by another disciple of Baba Muktananda visiting from Virginia, Master Charles, the founder of Synchronicity. It began with half an hour of Namasivaya chanting, with some very devotional voices over a grand sound system….

[cont. below]

A warm and loving welcome for Bodhinatha and big crowd of about 80 to 100 people were in attendance even though it was a Monday morning.

Story continues:

“Swami gave a warm welcome, praising our Gurudeva knowledgeably and offering his appreciation for all Gurudeva had done, especially Hinduism Today. He spoke with candor and humor, and deep respect. After an informative overview, he invited Bodhinatha to give an upadesha and what followed was a marvelous talk. Bodhinatha spoke of Muktananda, of the ties between Kashmir Saivism and Saiva Siddhanta, of the beauties of Hinduism. [Cont. below]

Bhajans began the program followed with a dynamic question and answer session for Bodhinatha.

Story Continues:

“Swami then invited questions from the audience, and that began a most interesting exchange, the most potent part of the encounter. Bodhinatha responded to the sincere queries in information-rich ways. Every question was a thoughtful but tough one, something that swami had apparently hoped for. One by one Bodhinatha was asked about how to pass Hinduism along to children, about the role of women in Hinduism, about the intolerance seen in all world religions, and several on ethical conversion, how we approach a formal exit from one faith and entry into Hinduism. The questions were posed with unusual maturity and even humor, but under it all you could sense the serious concerns the group has. At the end of it all, Bodhinatha spoke eloquently about the importance of the Guru in Saivism, in both our traditions. [Cont. below]

Both swamis bless all that came.

Story Continues:

“All came forward afterwards, kneeling to receive vibhuthi from Bodhinatha and a tap of peacock flowers and a hug by Swami Shankarananda. About 15 of the Tamil community that has been hosting us also were there.

“Swami took us to his personal quarters we chatted about Saivism, about our publications.

“A great lunch followed, served by about five of their lady residents, and coming in large measure from their own gardens.

“We returned, the five of us, back to his quarters after lunch, where we exchanged some gifts. He signed three copies of his book, “Consciousness Is Everything,” a profoundly mystical book on Kashmir Saivism. He wanted to know how our two traditions are the same, and how they may also differ. Bodhinatha deferred his answer to our next meeting. Swami thanked us profusely for coming all this way to be at the ashram (it is a bit remote from most of the world). Knowing we had appointments waiting for us back in Melbourne, swami took us to the door and had his followers chant a few slokas as we departed.”

THE END

To the left is the chief priest of the Siva Vishnu Temple

Two members from Mauritius now living in Melbourne happy to see their satguru, Veylen (left) and Deivanaden

Bodhinatha is in Sydney today… We will catch up with the team with pictures. They closed the innersearch, finished their stay in Auckland, New Zealand, flew to Melbourne and then to Sydney.

Hot news just arriving moments ago: “Bodhinatha had a nice TV interview last night in the hotel room with professional lighting, TV screen, etc. This morning the Sydney Morning Herald (largest newspaper in New South Wales state) interviewed him for about 90 minutes. Then at 3:15pm ABC National Radio is coming to interview him.”

Here is Bodhinatha being greeted at the Ganesha temple in Auckland… more on the last days in New Zealand below.

We are blessed to have rains these past few days. Everyone is huddle inside working on their various projects… Outside the mystical views of Iraivan through the falling rain.

The Wailua in spate…

Paramacharya Palaniswami reporting in from Sydney:

“The Australian TV station Sigaram interviewed Bodhinatha for an hour and a half today in Sydney. They are a major station serving the Tamil communities in the country. Mathini Wigneswaran, who came to Kauai with her mother last year, made all of the arrangements. And it was Mathini who crafted a series of questions that would guide the evening. With her questions as the story line, Bodhinatha took Australians through an overview of Gurudeva’s work and mission, Yogaswami and our experiences in Sri Lanka, Iraivan and Kadavul temples, Hinduism Today magazine and life at the aadheenam. Perhaps more importantly, many of the questions toured areas of concern among the Hindus in Australia: mixed marriages, passing religion along to the next generation, and even the issue of whether moneys now being spent to build Hindu temples might be better spent on social service projects.”

“Congratulations to Mathini for engineering such a grand introduction to the larger Australian Hindu community.”

Jan 19 (last day of Innersearch): This morning we had our finale breakfast up on a hill at the Waitakere estate. A beautiful place which overlooks the city of Auckland.

We started the morning event by having each person give a testimony about their last 2-weeks of Innersearching with Bodhinatha.

Then it was time to give Chudika Mahadevan her birthday gift.

A 100 percent wool sweater from sheep world.

From left, Clive Roberts, Devi Tandavan, Lynda and Joel Knepp sing a song that Lynda composed.

Next we honor the amazing team of Sivathondars from Auckland who helped us organize the temple events. Jeyakumar and wife Kala. They worked tirelessly to coordinate events during and after the Innersearch for Bodhinatha.

Yogini Ratnasabapathy and her father. Part of the devoted Auckland team.

Last but not least, the dynamic Mrs Ratna Sithambaranathan and her husband. Each received a shawl and a painting that tells a story from our Guru Parampara. Mrs. Sithambaranathan is a star temple builder for Iraivan temple and one of our top fund raisers.

Kailash Dhaksinamurthi who has worked so hard over the last few months to help with the putting together of this Innersearch is appreciated by Bodhinatha.

Thank you Kailash for always being ready to serve the Guru and for never ever saying no when asked to do something.

Bodhinatha shares his final thoughts on the study program that he has guided the Innersearchers on over the last 2 weeks.

A gift from all the participants. A beautiful art hand drawn by Chudika Mahadevan.

Innersearchers collected some funds among themselves and decided to buy Bodhinatha a new power book lap top. Bodhinatha holds up a photo of what the power book looks like.

A standing ovation for Bodhinatha.

Later that evening, Bodhinatha arrives at the 3 Kings Centre for the “Getting to Know You” event.

About 100 people attended this evening event.

Mrs. Ratna Sithambaranathan guides a group of children in singing a few thevarams to welcome Bodhinatha.

Reunion! Dr. Shanmuganathan who traveled with Gurudeva throughout Sri Lanka in 1981 is happy to see and be with Bodhinatha and Palaniswami. He also brought photos of their meeting in 1981.

Jan 20th: A quiet morning of rest after two weeks of intense activity. In the afternoon Bodhinatha met privately with some devotees. Mr. Ilango Krishnamoorthy on the right was extremely helpful throughout our stay in Auckland.

with Yogini and family.

with Mr. & Mrs. Sithambaranathan.

with Jeyakumar, Kala and son.

Then it was off to the Kattpaga Vinayagar temple in Papakura.

a traditional welcome for a visiting swami.

Chandru Kurukkal, chief priest of the temple, lovingly welcomes Bodhinatha.

He comes from and was trained in Kerala.

A beautifully decorated kumbha.

The temple president presents Bodhinatha with a tray of offerings.

Chandru Kurukkal chanted beautifully throughout the very inspiring puja he conducted.

Bodhinatha then headed off to the New Zealand Hindu Temple Society. Gurudeva had given this name for the temple.

Gurudeva also presented the community with this big Ganesha statue to get the temple building process going. Currently Ganesha is located in a small building but the community is in the process of buying a land to build a traditional temple.

A group photo of all who attended the evening event. The next day we were off to Melbourne, Australia.

Bodhinatha at Sheep World in Auckland New Zealand… More photos from the last days of Innersearch below…

(Fasten your web surfer browser belts for we are delivering over 50 photos today!)

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dasami Tithi, Sun One, Tuesday, January 24th.

Today was Chitra Puja for this month…

Yogi Japendranatha and Sadhaka Tejadevanatha perform the puja to invoke Gurudeva’s blessings.

We have an amazing new resource that is coming through. This is an old book of quotes of Gurudeva compiled in 1974… which is being typed in by Patricia Hickey… Here is a sampling:

“Many people think they can meditate. They don’t meditate at all, because they don’t live the life that produces meditation.

The knowing state of consciousness in which you can know the Truth only comes when you can control the outer states of mind and live a perfect life each day.
Stand on your own two feet and start fixing up the illusion, which surrounds you…..

“Basic principles are the mental laws governing action and reaction.

“When the [spiritual laws] are heeded they create the subconscious mind in a positive state leading the consciousness of man into his transcendental state of being, his superconscious mind.

“It behooves you to understand very acutely and discriminately these basic principles and immediately to put them into action in your life. Seize every spiritual opportunity you have to advance your soul because when you do, the reaction is glorious on you. When you resent and when you fight within yourself, the reaction is disastrous unto yourself because you lose the battle when you begin to fight your own inner self. You win the battle when you begin to express yourself spiritually.

“The picture is changing. It has to change as you all practice these basic laws of nature.

“You have no choice but to give recognition to spiritual laws…

“They think that freedom is going to be something like being able to walk down the street and cross the street on a red light. You cannot run through a red light and get a ticket, and tell the officer, “I didn’t know.” He does not say, “well, do better next time.” I have heard people say, “I don’t want to be bound by laws; I want to be free.”

“And, they are free and then they find they are not free because they can’t think straight. Their mind is all confused. Only by obeying laws are you free. Only by obeying spiritual laws do you wake up.”

–Gurudeva

After Chitra puja our devotees have prasadam together.

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Panchanathan, both physicians from Los Angeles, originally Chennai, very devout, looking forward to coming back to Kauai on pilgrimage, eventually retiring on Kauai. Mr. Panchanathan celebrated his 61st birthday today with an archana in Kadavul.

Our Kauai Kulapatis chat together…

Another record crowd for the end of phase tour today… 115 people! Our TAKA photographer goes up to the Aadheenam roof.

The guests were charmed at being photographed from the roof.

It was a day for religious interfaith meetings. Here is Father Angelos Youssef on the left from Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Honolulu and Bishop Serapion Bishop of Los Angeles. They are both part of the Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California and Hawaii. With Sivakatirswami and Yogi Japendranatha.

This particular Coptic tradition is from Egypt and one of the oldest, if not the oldest living tradition of Christianity. With them was also an ordained monk (who was talking with Ceyonswami in the temple) Father Anastasi Saint Antony, who is now also stationed in Honolulu.

Though small (only 70 members of in their Hawaiian congregation) we could feel the power of a long and strong spiritual tradition. The Coptic tradition is known for its strong focus on experiential religious practice and we felt a kinship with these fine souls.

This Indian lady is amazed to find Kauai Aadheenam, tucked away, hidden in the middle of the Pacific.

Jan 18th (2nd last day of Innersearch) – Auckland: Our first outing this morning took us to Sheep World. We learnt about the types of sheep and how they are sheered. A sheep dog rounds up a flock of sheep.

Devi Tandavan tries her hand at sorting sheep.

We learnt that the world record for sheering a sheep completely is 17 seconds. That includes getting the sheep out of the pen, sheering and putting him back.

All done and there was 5 kilograms of wool on the ground,

We were all amazed by the demonstration. We also learnt that professional sheep sheerers can sheer a sheep in 45 seconds on average over 8 hours in a day.

Next, bottle feeding baby sheep

Shivani Rajan (left) and Shakuntalai Krishnan enjoy this moment.

A little piggy tried to disguise as a little sheep and get some milk.

Time to wander around the farm…

After Sheep World we drove along Snells Beach to Martins Bay. Palaniswami conducted a brief class on gratitude and appreciation.

Everybody teams off in twos and share their gratitude and appreciation.

Suselah Periasamy from Singapore

Palaniswami with Arjunan Subramaniam from Malaysia

Dora Kovacs and Hama Patel

Marlene Carter from California

Rudy Tanzi and Deva Rajan.

Shakuntalai Krishnan shares her feelings with Nilufer Clubwala

Shivani Rajan and Lisa Marston

Then it was lunch at the Salty Dog Inn before heading off to the Auckland Museum

Kailash takes a break from helping to coordinate and chats with Bodhinatha.

The museum has some amazing display of Maori history

The tallest tower in the southern hemisphere

That evening we visited the Thiru Murugan temple in Auckland.

Bodhinatha and the Innersearchers are lovingly welcomed,

Bodhinatha gives a talk on devotion to Lord Muruga

Bodhinatha also honours Mrs. Ratna Sithambaranathan who has been over the years a STAR temple builder for Iraivan Temple.

Bodhinatha presents her with a certificate of appreciation and a shawl. She has over the years collected donations from friends and family plus sold cds and other items to raise money for the temple.

There were about 200 people at the temple, all of whom came up to Bodhinatha for vibhuthi blessings.

Saravananathaswami shares with an Auckland Hindu a little about our monastery. Then the Auckland devotees took us to a nearby hall for an Indian style dinner.

The Innersearch is over. Bodhinatha, Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani are on their way back to Australia for another week of events. Saravananathaswami, Sadhakas Jivanandanatha and Nilakantha are in the air somewhere over the Pacific and will land in Honolulu late tonight, and come to Kauai in the morning.

Palaniswami sends these insights from last night’s events in New Zealand:

“Last night we had a truly sweet gathering at the tiny NZ Temple Society temple, a roughly put together little room off in the suburbs. It’s a temporary structure that serves about 100 families of many Saivite communities, from Fiji, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. More children here than usual, and the kids were alive and alert, asking Bodhinatha some targeted questions when he invited them from the audience. For instance, one 11-year old boy, dressed nicely in a kurta, challenged, “If we have a shrine for Ganesha in our home and worship Him there, why do we need to go to the temple?” Great answer for this and other questions from Bodhinatha.

The murthi here is of Maha Ganapati, and was gifted by Gurudeva back in 1996 after his visit here. Ganesha sits about 3.5 feet tall, marvelously carved. Shankaran, the priest who is from Kamakoti Peedam, took great pleasure in lifting the white veshti that Ganesha wore, to reveal the feet. Why? Because they are the most charming part of the icon, looking like the endearing feet of a chubby baby! They really love Him here. One of the devotees who has looked after us lovingly confessed that this murthi is the Life of his life, and his wife is his life, and his children are his purpose in life.

We were delivered our newspaper to the room this morning, and as we thumbed through the pages, we soon came to a large photo of Bodhinatha, sitting in lotus and smiling broadly. The article was headed “globe-trotting guru for the middle class, subtitled traditional hindu wisdom fits easily alongside cruise ships and computers, written by Julie Middleton. A nice article in the weekend herald, one of New Zealand’s most prestigious papers. (text below)

We all gathered after the short puja and talk for a family photo. About 50 of us in all, crowded together, chuckling and chatting. They all said “Ardhaneeeswara” instead of cheese as the cameras flashed. You will see the photo on TAKA later.

The most amazing part was the conversations afterwards. So many have had inner experiences of one kind or another, visions and trance states, lights and premonitions. Almost every one of them. Many visit our websites daily and read the Master Course as part of their daily spiritual regimen. And every one of them, young and old, has either been to Kauai or is making plans to come! Seems Iraivan is something of a local legend here. As they have done for the past four days, devotees handed the mathavasis a giant Tamil dinner of iddli, dal, coconut chutney and more. They take such joy in looking after Bodhinatha and all are praying he will return, and promising to send him tickets when their new temple site is ready in about a year or so.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami teaches his followers ways to “spiritualise” daily life.

Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

Globe-trotting Hindu Guru for the Middle Class

21.01.06
New Zealand Herald
By Julie Middleton

Think “pilgrimage” and you picture heat, dust and hardship. But a pilgrimage without suffering has just ended in Auckland, led by an American-born Hindu monk.

Satguru Bodhinatha Vaylanswami, a Pope-like figure to his followers, has been leading 45 pilgrims from eight countries on a fortnight’s trip through Australia’s east coast and New Zealand.

Between sightseeing – Milford Sound, Te Anau, Wellington and Auckland this week – the “Innersearch” programme has included intense classes in meditation, hatha yoga and practical Hinduism.

These are middle-class pilgrims – no hardship is required. The point, says the softly spoken Bodhinatha, 63, is to break people out of their normal routine to focus on their faith.

In a stressful, busy world, he says, many people have fallen into the habit of seeing Sunday as a spiritual day and the others as spiritual voids.

You can “spiritualize” daily life “by the way you interact with other people, by the way you respond to difficulties and emotional challenges. It doesn’t take any extra time.”

Bodhinatha is the head of the English-language Saiva Siddhanta Church, founded in Hawaii in 1957.

It has run 22 such trips since 1967, many by cruise liner.

As the Weekend Herald arrived at the Duxton Hotel to meet Bodhinatha and his assistants, some of the pilgrims – a mixed bunch aged 13 to 80 from the United States, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Singapore and Thailand – were warmly farewelling one another.

Local followers are delighted their spiritual leader is in New Zealand for the first time. Aucklander Sandy Jayakumar said Bodhinatha was “equal to the Pope”.

Mr Jayakumar estimates that 40 per cent of Auckland’s Indian population are Saivites – or, he says, about 5000 families.

There are three temples, two at Ellerslie and one at Papakura.

Bodhinatha’s passport bears his Hindi name; he won’t repeat his original name, saying part of becoming a monk, which he did “quite naturally” at 22, is forgetting the past.

He is celibate, vegetarian, has few possessions and no personal money, though he oversees an asset-rich church.

He totes a super-slim laptop and printer. It is getting harder to attract young people outside India and Sri Lanka, he says. Using the “digital realm” may reverse the trend.

Jan 17th (Day 12): We depart Wellington early by train after a brief night’s stay in the country’s capital.

Joel and Lynda from Ohio. They were with us on our 2004 India Innersearch and had to go again on another Innersearch.

All aboard the Overlander! For a 12 hour journey through the north island.

Saravananathaswami talks with Barney Lu from California.

It wasn’t long before we were away from the city and heading along the coast into the country.

Mount Ruapehu is breathtaking in the distance with its snow capped mountains. There are countless sheep everywhere. Actually the survey taken recently states there are 47 million sheep in New Zealand.

And only 4 million people.

3 million live in the north island and 1 million live in the south island.

Kailash Dhaksinamurthy and Puvaneswary Roberts chat with new and old friends.

Best of friends! Nilufer from New York (left) and Carole Kahn (Hawaii) go on every Innersearch.

One of our train stops.

The train crossed 352 bridges. This was the most spectacular one.

We stopped for lunch at the National Park.

And had lunch in this little cafe.

Dharmalingam Siddhan transcribes some of Gurudeva’s talks on the long train ride.

More sheep!

Another beautiful river…….ok…..how many of these do we have to see?

Bodhinatha was lovingly greeted at the railway station by devotees.

It is so nice to be among devotees of Yogaswami and Gurudeva.

It was close to sunset when we arrived in Auckland.

The Auckland sky tower.

First stop dinner at the Mexican cafe.

Chudika Mahadevan celebrates her 20th birthday.

A surprise birthday cake for her. Everyone joined in and sang Happy Birthday.

Congratulations!

Bodhinatha in the Mountains of New Zealand… Our Innersearch photo series continues below. AS of today the program is officially over…

A report for the 19th (actually yesterday in New Zealand):

“This was the last day of the Innersearch, a half day actually, ending about noon. The grand finale event was a breakfast gathering at Waitakere Estate, which seemed to be a mansion converted into a hotel, with excellent gardens. It is outside the city, on a hill overlooking the city in a rainforest. Quite a view, putting awareness in the mountaintop perspective of life. A perfect choice for the final event.

The highlight of the gathering was the giving of individual testimonies as to what each person got out of the Innersearch.

The group gave Bodhinatha a gift: one of the new Mac Portables which are renamed MacBook Pro.

In the evening we had a donor reception gathering with about one hundred in attendance. They really enjoyed the Iraivan movie. Some gave spontaneous donations and there was much interest in pilgrimaging to the Aadheenam. It was interesting that the pilgrimage countries mentioned by Gurudeva in the video included New Zealand.”

Our team of silpis at work under the banyan tree near Kadavul Temple, with the Six-Faced image of Lord Murugan….

Much discussion on placement and preparations of the peedam.

Laying out the site. The Murthi is quite tall but it’s base is relatively small, as the whole statue was carved from a single stone.

So careful attention is needed to make sure the base is really secure.

Jan 16th: This morning we left Te Anau after 4 nights there for Queenstown. Needless to say it was another breathtaking drive for a little over 2 hours.

Some thoughts from the Te Anau retreat:

“Today, Sunday, is our final day in Te Anau, this extraordinary and quite remote part of New Zealand. We have been blessed by perfect weather, just as we were in Australia, marked boldly by a gigantic rainbow about 8am this morning that started just outside our rooms in the lake waters. [continued below] ”

We stopped in Queenstown and boarded the Skyline Gondola to go to the top of a small mountain.

“Bodhinatha’s classes continue to unfold great wisdom, practical wisdom that Innersearchers can use everyday of their lives. Today he spoke of some of the negative things we encounter at home or in the office, such as criticisms, backbiting and negative gossip, helping us all understand the best ways to cope with this challenges should they arise in our life. He stressed that all is well in our universe, even in the midst of such negativity, and that we can learn to keep that perspective and thus remain centered and poised in the midst of such circumstances. It is all in how we respond.”

The view of Queenstown as the gondola (cable car) made its way up the mountain.

“By special request from the Innersearchers, Palaniswami has been giving classes on Gurudeva’s approach to meditation, dividing it into beginning and advanced meditations (which dive into the realm of contemplation) as a way to give an overview. His last class was this afternoon at 3pm covering many questions the Innersearchers had on concentration, the importance of breathing and such. One Innersearcher suggested a book be written, a small one, called “Fifty Thoughts on a Black Rock.”

“The Innersearchers are continuing to be amazed at the content of Bodhinatha’s carefully-crafted classes, and discussions continue throughout mealtimes, showing their enthusiasm about the subjects. In fact, our mealtimes have become major explorations into karma, energy, meditation practices and life skills. It’s truly amazing to be in such a discussion at the table with seven others, the sun still shining brightly at 9pm, talking about the mysteries and magic of life, and to suddenly glance across the lawn at Te Anau Lake, just 200 feet away, and marvel at the “Alps” behind it.

Bodhinatha with Easan Katir

With Mr. and Mrs. Mardemootoo

The view from the top is spectacular.

Time for a hike!

Bodhinatha goes for a 30 minute hike up the mountain. It was a tough trek with steep slopes. But Bodhinatha who sets an example of exercising 30 minutes everyday, even when he travels, completed the circuit.

Rudy and Dora about to go on a luge ride.

Nilufer and Josan also on their way for a luge ride.

Our Innersearch contingent from Singapore

Arjunan Subramaniam from Malaysia racing down the slopes on his luge.

Sadhaka Nilakantha

After a morning of fun hiking and luging we had an excellent vegetarian lunch in a restaurant with one of the finest views in the world,

The trees are so colourful

Coming down the mountain in the gondola.

Then it is off to the airport to board our flight to Christchurch then Wellington.

It is a small airport and we enjoy the walk out to the plane. Something you don’t get to do in most airports,

We arrive in Wellington.

It is a beautiful day with warm weather. The bay is as blue as the sky.

Today we bring you retrospective shots from New Zealand on the day of the excursion to the Milford Sound, considered by some to be New Zealand’s most scenic destination. Here is Bodhinatha on board the boat….

Meanwhile A short report from the team for 18th (yesterday for them)

This was our last full day. Our first activity was out of town at Sheepworld. A number of presentations included a sheep dog on command rounding up sheep and keeping them under control. Shearing of wool was demonstrated, sorting sheep, feeding babies, milking a goat were all included.

Next was a twenty-minute session at the beach for appreciation and giving the blue appreciation ribbons held by Palaniswami. Then an afternoon visit to the Maori exhibit at the museum. It was interesting to see the common elements with the Hawaiians. It gives you a better appreciation of the 6,000 year history of the Polynesian people moving from South east Asia across the Pacific islands including Hawaii and New Zealand. The Maori word for forbidden place is Tapu, versus Hawaiian Kapu, word for priest Tahunga , versus Hawaiian Kahuna.

Last event of the day was a visit to the Thirumurgan Temple, where Gurudeva had gifted the Murugan Deity. A few hundred people, mostly Sri Lankan, were there for puja, and Bodhinatha’s talk.

A shot from the bus on the way…

Our cruise ship that will take us through the fiords.

Ganga (left) from Australia and Lynda from Ohio

The Milford Sound fiords are spectacular

Hema Patel

Suselah Periasamy from Singapore

Seals sun bathing

On our way back we stopped at this most beautiful rain forest….at a place called the chasm.