It is Ashram Sadhana day here and all the monks are out cleaning, fixing… no photos… so we bring you some shots from new Delhi of the incredible Swaminarayan fellowship center where Bodhinatha gave a keynote speech at the recent opening… along with more nature’s wonders from the Aadheenam gardens.

It’s a quiet day at the Aadheenam… though the stream of “tourists” who find out about us in guidebooks is growing… there are several pilgrims here as well. Bodhinatha is back on his regular schedule… and daily editing publications in the afternoon. It is the “lull” between events as the count down to the next Innersearch to Australia and New Zealand in January.

Kulapati Deva Seyon brings us photos from a recent Family Home evening on Kauai where our members gather to work on rudraksha beads. This seva has been bring in a steady income for Iraivan. In August, $1,364.00 worth of bead and malas were sold and the proceeds given to the Iraivan building fund and $768.00 in September. Deva sends these captions:

We had some special guests for this months “Iraivan Evening”. Both Tyler and Potriyan helped put their positive pranas into our fund raising project. It gave them an opportunity to meet some of the families and enjoy “family life” for a few hours.

The Rudraksha project for this month was focused on keychains. These make wonderful Pancha Ganapati gifts! Beautiful and affordable for even the most austere budget. It’s hard to believe that car keys can feel that good in your hand!

Brahmachari Rajadeva works for hours to get us ready for Iraivan family home evening.
He has to drill enough beads to keep us all busy.

All the ideas for keychains, earrings, come from the shakti’s of the mission.

Isani and Brahm. Lila Shakti Devi just returned from India where they brought home more special stones and crystals for the project.

Each month a different family “hosts” the event keeping refreshment time to a minimum so the production moves ahead without distraction!

Pictures of sacred images here and there at the Aadheenam… here is “Hari Hara” an image of Siva which is half Siva and half Vishnu, showing they are one and the same. Also known as Shankaranarayanan, He was brought out from the side shrine to enjoy an abhishekam with Nataraja today on the monthly Ardra puja. You can see the unique murthi is made with one half copper color and the other brass.

Nandi…

Pink Rose Quartz Ganesha, measuring almost a foot high, is being blessed in front of the Crystal Lingam before being sold in the Minimela…

The Maha Sphatika Lingam…

The planets on the board…

Welcome back from a three-day retreat. During that time we had a wonderful Iraivan day making progress pushing various projects for the temple forward.

One small addition to our Iraivan web site was made: a restaurant guide for vegetarians coming on pilgrimage. This page is still under-construction and we have a lot more entries to make but you may want to book mark it for your next trip and enjoy trying out various options you may never knew of before.

Namakarana Samskara was performed this morning in the temple for young Velan Sendan, seen here in his mother’s arms. The child’s name is drawn in rice, in the tray which Satguru Bodhinatha is holding. The name is whispered into his son’s ear by his father.

Dad Jothi, daughter Shaila, young son Velan, and mom Vasuki. The homa ceremony was performed by Sannyasin Saravananathaswami.

Vows are read three times by the father welcoming the child to the Hindu Religion. The Namakarana document is signed by all, starting with the Satguru.

Veylan is happy!

Dad signs.

Mom signs.

Saravananathaswami keeps the fire burning…

Velan gets a special blessing.

Wide-eyed little ones are blessed and filled with the light of Lord Agni…

Chanting of Ham Haum Sivaya Swaha 108 times, grains offered to the home by the family.

All the monks sign, Sannyasin Muruganathaswami singing here.

Trays of flower offerings, oblations to Siva!

Shaila checks out an uncle with the camera.

Family photo op! Grandpa (Aran) and Grandma (Valli) on the left, Gurudeva looks on smilingly.

Happy mom and son. His name is now official! He seemed to know exactly what was happening, and didn’t cry at all.

Our guests today were David Stickney and his wife, Kary. David works with Suriyakumar who is one of Iraivan Temple’s strong supporters. Having heard much from Suriyakumar, David and wife decided to visit us. They were most impressed with the temple construction and the beauty of the grounds.

Suriyakumar is president of ARC (American Reprographics) American Reprographics Company is the leading reprographics company in the United States, providing business-to-business document management services to the architectural, engineering and construction industry, or AEC industry. It also provides these services to companies in non-AEC industries that also require sophisticated document management services and has more than 200 locations across the U.S.

David pictured is a VP for ARC and Director of Corporate Communications. With a long history in the field of pre-press and journalism before him, he was right at home in the Ganapati Kulam. Here he chats with Sivakatirswami about our internet technology. But ARC is way beyond us!

We want to thank Suriyakumar and the ARC team for their ongoing services of providing absolutely incredible large format prints of artwork for display in fundraising events, to grace the monastery walls and Himalayan Academy educational events like innersearch.

This month the members of the Mauritius Saiva Siddhanta Church sponsored one day of the six day Skanda Shasti celebration at the Chebel Kali Temple in Beau Bassin. Early Friday morning a group of members were there for the Abhishegum and puja to lord Palani. Members also attended the evening puja later…

A movable Muruga murthi in the Temple chariot for this occasion.

Lord Palani looked radiant on that day.

The Temple priest Sivacharya Umapathi starting the ceremony…

Several kumbhas were placed in front of the temple at a special shrine

The priest recited powerful mantras to invoke the inner worlds….

Many of our members were seated near the homa pit on the mats.

The vibration of the ceremony was taking shape and everyone is attentive…

The priest did an elaborate homa in a very large homa pit built for that ceremony.

The Homa is now over. Kulapati S K Moorghen who coordinated that whole activity was always there whenever needed.

After the Homa, the traditional drummers and nadeswaram players led the procession round the Temple.

The procession over, every devotee took a seat in front of the sanctum where is enshrined Lord Palani.

The murthi is ceremoniously bathed…

Lord Palani beautifully dressed blessed all present ………

These families are visiting from California and never expected to see such a beautiful place (and the weather was really beautiful today). They marveled at the various features of Iraivan Temple, intrigued by the Shum script carved on many pillars. Then they later excitedly explored the rudraksha trees, hugging the trees, and then reverently paid homage to the original swayambhu lingam where Gurudeva had the vision of Siva that started Iraivan Temple

This is 16-year-old Potriyan from Malaysia. A bright, clear-minded young man and very productive helper!

Sivasubramaniam and his wife Rajini are here on pilgrimage for a week from Toronto. This morning they had their formal darshan with Bodhinatha, sharing some memories of life in Sri Lanka and Satguru Yogaswami. Rajini’s mother was a trustee of the Kumbalavalai Ganesha Temple.

Bodhinatha giving vibhuti to our guests.

This couple from Atlanta has met Bodhinatha on both times he has gone to the Siva-Vishnu temple there…

Another in our series of illustrations by S. Rajam intended for the future book on our Parampara. Here Siva Yogaswami feeding Chellachai Amma, the famed yogini of Jaffna.

The silpis demonstrating their work for our guests.

Nisha Baskaran is here on Kauai for a 2-week software conference. She lives with her husband in Bangalore and when she arrived here she asked the hotel concierge what are some of the the things she could do on the island. And he said you could go to the temple. And that is how she discovered us. She is happy to find a traditional Saiva aadheenam here in Hawaii.

Iraivan shining in the morning sun.

Our new resident duck, Sambandar is happy to have a warm day…

He’s very content to be close to people…

He got a great facial done at Siva’s Duck Salon.

Yogaswami sang:

“My Guru, Peerless Chellappar, I saw at Nallur,
beneath the sacred Chariot of Murugan.
He gazed at me in grace, my wise Teacher–
Him do I praise engulfed in bliss.”

The Ganapati Kulam gave a report today. The trip to India brought some energy into different projects. Here are covers for the hard bound copies of the Trilogy being reprinted by Motilal Benarsidas in India. They will be feature with the rest of the Motilal line at the up-and-coming book fair in Delhi.

Mr. and Mrs. Sivasubramaniam from Toronto talks with Paramacharya Palaniswami.

They are here on pilgrimage for seven days and will be coming to the temple every day.

Natarajnathaswami focused as ever on his Hinduism Today articles.

Sivakatirswami shows the couple some of the work he is doing with Natchintanai and Tamil… They are originally from Sri Lanka, in fact Amma is originally from Alaveddy where Gurudeva start his first mission. She is also a trained classical dancer.

Today we were visited by Jagadish and Jyothi Bandhole, their three-month-old daughter Isha, and Jyothi’s parents.

The Bandhole family lives in California and the parents are visiting from India.

They are all originally from Bangalore and were proud to see the Iraivan Temple stones coming from their area.

Iraivan shines beautifully in the morning sun…

From our mission in Kopay, Sri Lanka, we have these photos and news from Thondunathan who writes:

Sri Subramuniya Kottam Celebrates Gurudeva’s Mahasamadi Day.

This October 31st the Sri Subramuniya Kottam celebrated Gurudeva’s Mahasamadhi with a grand puja at the Kottam’s Thiruvadi Temple. The Thiruvadi Temple at the Sri Subramuniya Kottam enshrines a pair of traditional Sandals that Gurudeva had worn during his visit to Kopay in 1982.

A grand abhishegam was done for the Thiruvadi accompanied by a puja.

Over the years hundreds of families have worshipped at Gurudeva’s Thiruvadi Temple drawing strength and inspiration from Gurudeva’s spiritual presence at this little temple which was miraculously spared from the ravages of war.

Gurudeva’s Thiruvadi shrine at the Sri Subramuniya Kottam presides over all the activities of the Kottam as a symbol of Gurudeva’s everlasting benevolence and blessings to the Hindu community of Jaffna.

Here is Bodhinatha sitting with Jeyandrapuri Swami the new head of Kailash Ashram in India.

Sadhaka Dandapani is working hard on the coming Innersearch… beside constantly being on the phone and email settling arrangements in New Zealand and Australia, at home there are all the little things to get ready… luggage tags.

It may seem a small matter, but when you are moving a group of 50-100 people, being able to spot everyone’s luggage and quickly assemble all the bags is a mission critical component to efficient transits through hotels, buses, planes etc.

Our California missionaries on the move again…Invited by the Vedic Foundation, Kulapati Easan Katir and son Kartikeya joined them speaking before the California State Board of Education advocating improvements in teaching Hinduism in school texts.

Tirumular… he’s still in meditation after all these years!

Crab spiders come and go on Kauai, sometimes thousands spinning webs here and there. One of natures ever inspiring wonders…

Looks like we will have a lot of cocos soon from this tree…

Thuraisingam Rajasankara continues with his photo documentary of Bodhinatha’s recent visit to Bangalore.

“On 6th of November, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and the swamis visited Sri Kailasa Ashram. We had arrived there at 8.30 am and were greeted at the gate by the chief priest with a garland. He guided us to the room of Sri Jayendrapuri Swami, the current pontiff of the Ashram, after the mahasamadhi of Sri Tiruchi Swami in January this year.”

Sri Jayendrapuri Swami greeting the swamis.

The swamis sharing their thoughts on the activities of their ashrams. This is the room where Sri Tiruchi Swami used to give darshan to the devotees.

Bodhinatha listens intently…

This is Sri Sri Sri Jayendrapuri Swami, a scholar in Sanskrit, speaks 16 languages including Spanish, German, French and a well versed computer literate.

A view of the room which is adorned with various photos of the Kailash Ashram lineage. Standing are the current monks at the ashram. They have about 20 boys at their padashala learning Vedas and priest training. This ashram is one among the well established ashrams in the south of India.

After a short meeting, swami invites us for a breakfast ….. and we move.

Thats the smiling faces walking towards the dining room. Its a beautiful place, the ashram with trees, cows, peacocks, birds and lately deers as well.

Seen behind is a Ganesha shrine and on our left is the dining and what next .. a good breakfast!

After breakfast, we take a tour around the ashram. Swamis visited Sri Raja Rajeshwari Temple as well as the Sri Chakra temple where Sri Tiruchi Swami’s Samadhi is. Then we headed to the auditorium where here is the Silver Simhasanam for Sri Tiruchi Swami’s tiruvadi .. ..an excellent piece of work to be unveiled and used during the first year pooja of the mahasamadhi.

…. and we head back from the auditorium back to the swamis room. Bodhinatha and Arumugaswami have a question and answer session.

Taking a short break, Yoginathaswami and Shanmuganatha swami visit the stone worksite at Kailash Ashram. This is Satanathan Sthapaty the chief architect of Sri Rajeshwari Temple. At present the outer prakaram and the Raja Gopuram construction work is going on.

This is the Raja Gopuram construction going on at the outer most prakaram of the temple.

Yoginathaswami who is in charge of Iraivan jointing work in Kauai takes an opportunity to speak about technical parts of joining with Satanathan Sthapaty. Then we head back to the swamis room.

As the swamis bid goodbye to Sri Jayendrapuri Swami, the swamis are gifted with fruits, sweets and specially prepared murukku seen in the plastic container.

Each swami receives gift and prasadam….

Then Sri Jayendrapuri swami gifts the church with a piece of robe of Sri Tiruchi Swami as a mark of remembrance of the great saint to Bodhinatha.

…..and good bye

….there we go and now we leave to another ashram which is of Sri Balagangadhara Nathaswami of Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt. He is the pontiff who has given us the place for Iraivan worksite at Madanayaka Halli where the whole procees of Iraivan is happening.

Sri Balagangadhara Nathaswami of Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt seated in a posh room with Bodhinatha and his assistant standing at the back . He is a busy swamiji and almost all the time he is invited for inaugurations all over the country.

Most of his visitors are parliamentarians and ministers, a very influential person in the state also very much instrumental in creating a safe environment for the silpis at the worksite for Iraivan carving to move smoothly. He has done amazing social work and uplifted the entire state of Karnataka on many levels. See the recent October 05 issue Hinduism Today to learn more about Swami’s amazing mission in India.

Arumugaswami, Shanmuganathaswami and Yoginathaswami listen as the swamis speak.

Every year there is always a problem between the two states Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the Cauvery River issue. Hence its a potential threat for the silpis who are mostly from Tamil Nadu to stay and move around the village we live. But to date no harm has been created thanks to this saint who once got the highest officials of the law and order to give a warning to the locals there when the 1993 Cauvery problem blew out of control. That was a time when every truck passing by our carving site village which had a Tamil Nadu registration plate was burned down or pelted with stones.

And Bothinathaswami speaking about the ashram activities to swami …

and the smile…

Recently Hinduism Today Published a centerfold about Balagangadharanatha Swami and here they look at the Island Temple magazine….

…. and Bodhinathaswami describing the current progress in our landscape …

and the discussion continues…

Balagangadharanatha Swami is also building a temple at his headquarters, Bellur which is about 100 km from Bangalore. The main deity is Kala Bairaveshwara and the temple is manifold larger than Iraivan.

Hence the swamis have a one mind discussion about temple carving and the joining work which is happening in Kauai as Balagangadharanatha Swami eagerly questions the current progress of Iraivan.

After this lengthy discussion, Arumugaswami puts across some questions on various issues concerning religion and life.

Then as we get ready to depart, Swami gifts shawls to all the swamis as a mark of respect.

One for Shanmuganathaswami ….

…and a basket of fruits.

And finally for our tall Yoginathaswami who had to really bend down to receive the shawl.

And Balagangadharanathaswami takes this opportunity to invite the whole team of monks to come for the inauguration of the Kala Bhaireshwara Temple which he expects to complete by next year.

And Bodhinatha Swami agreed to send as many monks as he can.

And before he forgets …hands over a couple of copies of his home publication ” Sri Kshetra Adi Chunchanagiri ” to Bodhinatha…

…And the last clip of the day after which the swami headed back to the hotel and checked out to the airport headed to Chennai.

That’s the end of our coverage of Bodhinatha Swami’s trip to Bangalore. We would love to have him again and look forward for his wonderful visit. Aum

Bodhinatha on stage at the celebration to honor the silpis in Bangalore….Today we bring your more photos from the India mission, from our Bangalore worksite.

The story of the evening celebrations of November 5th, in Bangalore continues….caption sent by Thuraisingam Rajasankara.

Next we have a song by our member Adi Sankara from Mauritius who is doing his MA in Music in Chennai.

and Bodhinatha contemplating in music ……

This is Silpi Loges who is taking this opportunity to sing a local Kannada song, the dialect spoken in Bangalore. Of course he is a local person originating from about 100 kms from the worksite.

Then awards for the next category of workers, souls who have worked at the site for over nine years. They receive a 4 gram 22 carat gold coin with a certificate ……. and that s Silpi Kanna and the smile seeing the gold coin which we kept as a secret till the function day. He is in our list of probable candidates for the next batch to Kauai.

Silpi Andiappan who went to Kauai in the 2001 batch.

So as Silpi Raman from Karaikudi.

This is Mahalingam who works in the blacksmith or patrai where the chisels are made.

and PR Supramani also a black smith chief.

Silpi Kandasamy receiving his gift.

This is Silpi Karupaiah who just returned from Kauai in the month of August.

And Silpi Ramachandran from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.

So as Silpi Sankaran from Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu who also just returned from Kauai belonging to the 2003 batch.

Silpi Muthi from Sivaganagai, Karnataka. He joined as a blacksmith boy and due to his skills today he stands as a competent stone carver.

This is Raja. He was a teenager when he joined as a blacksmith boy and today he is a carver, married with two kids. This ends our list of 13 silpis who have worked for over 9 years.

This is PR Supramani again. He is a highly intelligent person often participating in dramas etc and he is presenting a poem on Iraivan in Tamil. We had Madam Sheela Venkatakrishnan, who looks from behind to translate the poem into English.

A view of the audience with our guests from overseas seated in the front.

Bodhinatha gives a short message about the poem recital and thanked his articulate skill.

And this is Madam Sheela Venkatakrishnan speaking her thoughts …..

Its time for the senior most workers to receive their share of the awards. Those souls who have been with us for over 11 years were honoured with a 8 gram 22 carat gold coin and of course a certificate of honour.

Receiving first in the list is Silpi Sundarama Achari who served Iraivan since 1991. He is also one of the carvers who had gone to Kauai in the first batch of jointing work.

This is Naina Mohamad fondly called as Muthu in our worksite, a Muslim. He is a sincere worker and he is the chief behind all of our shed construction ….an expert in coconut leaf sheds. Prior to coming to our worksite, he has served as a joining silpi in Sri Trichi Swamis Raja Rajeshwari Temple of Sri Kailasa Ashrama.

This is Silpis Loges from Tiptur who appeared in a picture before. He is also a local Kannadiga and joined our worksite as a carver 11 years back. Since then he has proved his sincere devotion to our work and he drives the forklift for Iraivan. He is our all in all, serving as a silpi and a carpenter while packing Iraivan stones into the containers to Kauai

Silpi Manikandan from Karaikudi, who now helps the main Stapathy do markings at the worksite. He is supposed to be the most skilled ornamental worker we have at our worksite.

and this is Adaikalam, his brother who has served in Kauai during the 2001 batch.

Silpi Karupaiah who was on the first team to Kauai for Joining work in 2001.

This is Kariyappa from Sivagangai, Karnataka. He is another all in all at our worksite, takes care of maintenance at our worksite who fixes pipe leakage, termite control, painting etc etc and of course helps in the packing of Iraivan to Kauai.

This is Chidambaram Sthapaty, the chief at our worksite who marks all the stones of Iraivan. He received a 10 gram 22 carat gold coin with a certificate.

And the last of the Iraivan awardees is Sri Tangavelu Achari who is instrumental for all the pillar art on Iravan pillars and all other ornamental works. He is a good artist and a highly skilled craftsman. He also received a 10 gram 22 carat gold coin with a certificate, the highest awards presented.

Then we have our overseas visitor Sri Uma Maheshwaran giving a little speech about his experience.

During this occasion we also took the opportunity to honour Artha Enterprise workers who have worked for over five years as the sheds are just next to Iraivan’s and we didn’t want them to feel left alone as such Artha Enterprise decided to honour their workers too.

Silpi Saravanan who does the marking for Artha. He received a watch and a certificate.

Silpi Vadivel from Karaikudi.

Silpi Mayandy from Thuthukudi, Tamil Nadu.

Silpi Vellaisamy from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.

Silpi Periakaruppan from Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.

Silpi Sockalingam, a one eye blind carver.

Lastly, this is our shipping agent Sri Sasindran of Ultra Freight Logistics who has been shipping Iraivan since a couple years now. We honoured him with a certificate and a watch. He has shipped more than 30 containers now and has made Iraivan shipping sail smoothly.

The program ended with the distribution of dhothis and bonus for the silpis and a fireworks show, followed by a good dinner after we which we bid goodbye to the swamis and the guests.

Everything looked beautiful and it was all smiles on the silpis faces. Aum

Two days back we took the young ones (Tyler and 16-year-old Potriyan Sivanathan who is here for a few months during school break from Malaysia plus two others on an outing. We visited a tree farm where the owner had some rare plants he wished to gift to the monastery.

Then off to the little town of Kilauea and a famous lighthouse here, which serves as an important migratory bird refuge here in the Pacific Ocean.

Tyler, who lives in Tennessee, was mesmerized by the sight of 7-foot-long seabirds soaring overhead by the hundreds, and nesting in tens of thousands of holes dug into the red clay, right on the ground right near the paths. He even reached down to touch a few, as the photos show. Not to mention the waves pounding the lava rock cliffs nearby.

Potriyan takes some shots to take home…

Tyler is from Tennessee…

The little birds are very tame…

Our beloved Satguru Bodhnatha Veylanswami returned home from India today with his team, Sannyasins Arumugaswami, Shanmuganathaswami and Yoginathaswami after 24 hours in transit from New Delhi.

Monks are on hand at the front to greet him…

All the monks were there to greet him…

Arumugaswami

Shanmuganathaswami and Yoginathaswami…

Arati at the temple door. It was just 9 am and the temple was full with a group of Japanese visitors who were blessed to have darshan of Bodhinatha at this auspicious moment…

Our team in Bangalore has done a beautiful job of documenting Bodhinatha’s visit there.. Thuraisingam sends these photos and captions… we have so many we will them over several days….

“Bodhinathaswami and three swamis visited the worksite on the 5th of November. We received Bodhinathaswami, Yoginathaswami, Arumugaswami and Shanmuganathaswami in the airport at about 1.30 pm. After checking in at the hotel and taking a short rest, the swamis arrived at the worksite sharp at 4.30 in the late afternoon.

Swamis were received by the devotees who had come from Singapore-Malaysia. Then a simple arati to the gurus feet and they are welcomed into the house.

Bodhinatha speaks with devotees in the house.

…. as Arumugaswami looks on …

…and thats Shanmuganathaswami with his digital camera capturing important moments for the archives.

And of course Yoginathaswami … the mighty six-footer who made all of us tiny in front of him.

Sri Uma Maheswaran from Singapore as well as guests receive blessings from Satguru before we take the team for a walk around the worksite.

First they were taken to the chinnagopuram upper level course assembly which is arranged at the front as you enter from the gate.

Bodhinatha posing in front of the monolithic Jalakam which the team of carvers at the site are working on now.

And another shot of the same……..this time a full length shot of the stone with Bodhinatha!

Jiva Rajasankara discussing details of the jalakom as the swamis look on. There are four of the giant “stone windows” in Iraivan. They are very difficult to carve and delicate to move and ship once they are carved. These are among the Iraivan wonderments we all look forward to.

Then the team moves down to the small shed where the two Yali pillars are being carved.

The Yali pillars come at the sides of the Raja Gopuram entrance. We have been working on them since the last year or so and still the process continues.

Bodhinatha seemed happy with the progress of the pillars.

More of the Yalis ..

And then we take a look at the hand rails, also the set of stones currently worked on by the silpis here at Bangalore.

These are the stone steps which will be sitting beautifully at the entrance of the garbagudi or the main sanctum where the linga will be placed. They are the famous NA MA SI VA YA steps.

Then we head on to the the Artha Enterprise worksite just next to Iraivan maintained by Senthil Rajasankara.

Just a brief discussion on the current works ….a blessing to have Bodhinatha.

Another view of the site.

That’s Senthil describing about the pergola to the swamis.

Next the swamis take a drive to the Vanilla farm of the Rajasankara’s which is an adjacent land near the silpis quarters.

We have about 3500 plus Vanilla vines growing here …. and having the blessings of the Satguru is a great gift to the plants.

That’s a vanilla vines and they flower after a two and half years of growing …producing beans which when processed turns into vanilla essence …. the yummy flavour and fragrance that comes from biscuits, chocolates and cakes etc.

Back at the worksite and the swamis taking a look at some of the pillars Artha Enterprise has carved for the Sri Raja Rajeshwari Temple of Sri Kailash Ashram outer Rajagopuram construction which is currently taking shape.

Now we present the highlight of the day … Bodhinatha and the swamis at the mini stage setup at the work shed. We took almost a week to really clean up the place and finish the decorations.

As Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami was coming in November, all the silpis had a simple Ayudha Puja celebration in October and we saved all our time and budget for this day …. that includes their annual bonus and gifts.

Of special was the idea to honour our long time workers, souls who have stood with us for long years. Awards of gold was distributed to the workers.

This is one such gold coin.

Also certificates were distributed along with the gifts. This is the certificate that was given to Iraivan Workers ….. a good quality laminated certificate which they can carry happily home as a mark of respect we have for them.

We started the ceremony with the awards presented to the workers who have workerd for over five years. They received a Titan watch with a certificate — a total of 8 of them fitting in this category.

We take this opportunity to present these workers to the entire globe.

This is Silpi Marimuthu from Thuthukudi Tamil Nadu.

This is Rahmathullah a Muslim fondly called as Ragu by our workers. He is a devoted worker higly accomplished in ornamentation work.

AL Pandy, a deaf worker but a skilled person.

Silpi Ganesan from the hills of Ooty Kodaikanal.

and that’s is Palaniappan, our cook. He is a very clean and disciplined chef.

[more picture and story with tomorrow’s TAKA…]

It is the last day of our phase today. This morning was Skanda Shashti Homa and Abhishekam… (no pictures today…)

And we conducted the weekly tour as usual later in the morning.

Bodhinatha is still in Chennai as we write today… our team is having a leisurely day there as the rains continue, though flooding has abated somewhat… all is well and they will be departing tomorrow to go back to New Delhi and catch their return flight home.

Also today all the files for the January 2006 Issue of Hinduism Today were shipped to the printer via internet. You can look forward to another beautiful issue.

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, Thursday, November 10th.

Our guests watching Sthapati marking a stone…

About 50 visitors today…

Amit and Ketaki from Fremont, California, were here yesterday and returned again today for the Muruga homa and a tour of our grounds.

Like others who were here today they were most impressed with the beauty of Siva’s island sanctuary and fascinated with the rudraksha seeds which are everywhere on the ground on the west side of Iraivan temple.

Talking with Sthapati..

Another young Hindu couple…

Our guests are always amazed at the flora… and we will close today’s TAKA with some of its images….

Chicu fruits…

And bushels of oranges and grapefruit…

For the new book on the Kailasa Parampara we have commission art by S. Rajam for many of the stories. We have extracted vignettes of Yogaswami…

While Yogaswami was a great jnani and mystic… he was also a great bhaktar and exemplar of the path of Saiva Siddhanta wherein theistic worship continues to be part and parcel of religious life, even as we unfold into the celestial heights of advaitic realization. Here he is going to the temple, as he often did… He sang:

THE FLAWLESS WORSHIP.

Aloft on the ladder, the blooms I pluck from high,
And offer them in flawless worship, Thangam dear.
There is no before or after.
I give up the Yoga of eight and Yogic centres six,
In the symphony of Sakti, Thangam dear
I behold the subtle secrets all.
The fickle mind subdued, the life breath set flame,
Immersed in silence I become, Thangam dear
There is neither you nor I, my dear.
The goldsmith makes me a wedlock chain of gold,
I wear it without fastening, Thangam dear
The cause of it I do apprehend.
Unsupported is the stage of Nadantam that I climb,
And unto the wielder yielding, Thangam dear
The feast of communion do I become.
Enwrapped in silken skirt of God, soul and matter,
I don the veil alluring, Thangam dear,
All, all is Truth my dear.
The favour or not of those who give and give not,
I fling aside in flawless worship, Thangam dear.
The Three hath become One my dear.
Ineffable bliss doth engulf me fully,
Yet inscrutable; so touch not, Thangam dear.
But listen and rejoice in its glory.
See without seeing the form of Siva as Effulgence.
Even if it eludes thee, Thangam dear
Look not down my dear.
Ambrosial honey is in the bough far above.
Taste it with discretion, Thangam dear.
There’ll be none to equal thee.
Blessed are those who sing these verses ten,
Full of felicity on earth, Thangam dear,
Sivam art all they realise.

–Natchintanai. 245.

News from Bodhinatha in Chennai… monsoon rains cancelled the trip to Chidambaram, so the team is having an extra quiet day in Chennai, which is probably a good thing..

In this photo Bodhinatha is at the Palani Hills temple in South India on the last India Innersearch.

On the coming innersearch we will also be visiting temples in New Zealand and Australia. Please join us. Being with the guru’s entourage for temple events is always joyous and inspiring. It is satsang of the “sweetest” kind when devotees from far away come and meet with the Hindus locally in the celebration of Sanatana Dharma and worship of God, Gods and Guru…

Each morning of Skanda Shashti there has been a Muruga puja at 7:30am, conducted by a different monastic. Yesterday Yogi Japendranatha did the honors.

Abishekam

The Lord has his bath

Devotees singing Muruga bhajans and Natchintanai while the curtain is closed. Priya Alahan and her mother Isani sang beautifully.

Visitors from afar, and Kulapati Deva Seyon.

A songbird prances outside the temple path

Tandu Sivanathan has such a beautiful voice, we are always happy when he is there joining in the bhajans.

Dasan Mahadevan and Uma Sivanthan glowing after puja.

Lord Muruga is radiant

Visitors by the temple tank with Shama.

This is a wonderful man, currently residing on Kauai, who is from Bali. He is renting a place to our pilgrims and was delighted to learn they were Hindus and to find out about our temple. He’s been on Kauai since 1997…

His outfit was “stunning” from a men’s fashion point of view. Gurudeva would have loved it! It is traditional Balinese jacket and sarong, the headband is called an udang.

Kumara Veylan, originally from Malaysia, now living in New York, visited yesterday and was most impressed so he returned today to attend the 9am Siva puja. He enjoyed the tour of the grounds and of Iraivan. Happy to see Hinduism flourishing in the US.

Special work on a joint between the stones of Iraivan in progress.

Fine finishing on a west side Jalakam….

Rajendran.. with his safety glasses…