Bodhinatha is in transit today (September 9th) on his way back to Singapore for a one night stay before going on to Malaysia. We have a long series of photos today from the events of September 7-8 in Perth Australia. Here is Bodhinatah give a shawl to one of the priests at the end of the Kumbhabhishekam…

It was tour day 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 Navami Tithi, Sun One, Monday, September 12th.

.the crowd… watching a stone being carved…

A peek inside our Mini-Mela gift store… We want to thank especially Kulamata Isani Alahan for all the hard work and hours she puts into taking care of our guest needs here.

A portrait of Siva Yogaswami by Inder Sharma…

He sang:

“In the harmony of universal Oneness, realise that You and I–myself and Thyself–are knit in indissoluble union with the infinite Reality”:

“There is nothing wonderful nor irrelevant nor even discordant”:

“In bliss of harmony, in the supreme felicity of His will lies our Peace”

On the second day in Perth we had some darshan meetings with Bodhinatha. Here is the Satgunasingham family, who we have an extra special connection with because one of their three sons is Sadhaka Dandapani. His two brothers, Dharmaguhan and Arunachala, are on the right. Special thanks, by the way, to Arun, who thoughtfully shot TAKA photos of the temple events for us using our camera.

Krishnarajah family, also very involved in the temple from the beginning

Mrs. N Velupillay on the left is Sadhaka Dandapani’s grandmother. She has eight children.

Mrs. P. Rajendra on the left in this photo had the good fortune of meeting Yogaswami many times

Mr. P Sivapatham

We think this is Mrs. Uma Rajeswaran, however we might be incorrect…

This is one if Mrs. Velupillay’s eight children

Ramani and Prema Iyer, formal Master Course Correspondence students from Melbourne who flew in to meet Bodhinatha and attend the kumbhabhishekam

Outside the Annalakshmi restaurant on the riverfront with Mr. Satgunasingam. Another windy and rainy day…

The final big day has arrived! The Maha Kumbhabhishekam, when the kumbha water is poured over the vimanam of each shrine. Sri Sankaran Sivacharya explaining to us what is happening

First the priests are doing a homa in the yagnasala, during which they have to go back and forth three times between the yagnasala and Siva shrine. They explained this is because the Sivalingam contains Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra in three levels, so they enliven each section separately.

Chief kumbhabhishekam priest, from the Kandaswamy Temple in Kuala Lumpur, leads the way to carry the homa ghee offering into the Siva shrine to enliven one of the three sections of Sivalingam

Here they are offering the ghee from the homa to the Sivalingam

Sri Sankaran Sivacharya explaining more

The ladies created a beatiful rice flour kolam design at the entrance

Entering through the brick skeleton of future 14-meter-tall rajagopuram

Now the priests are coming back for the last time. You can’t see it in this photo, but there is a silver thread running from the yagnasala all the way to the Siva shrine. The chief priest is touching the thread all the way, to carry the power, and the thread is being wound up behind him

Here they are nearly finished winding the thread all the way

Various offerings are required during the final kumbhabhishekam morning, all leading up to the final pouring of kumbhas. Here is a short dance performance.

The time has come! There is lots of excitement in the air and the temple is packed with devotees, probably over 1000. Here the first kumbha is poured from a lift over the Vaishnava shrine

Now pouring kumbha water over Hanuman shrine, followed by the same over the Muruga shrine, the Navagraha shrine…

and the utsava murti shrine

And the big big moment has arrived, to go outside and climb up on the roof to pour kumbha water on the central shrine vimanams. The weather is an amazing story about this kumbhabhishekam. All the preceding days have been very cloudy and raining. However just for this morning, the clouds parted and we had beautiful sunlight, punctuated with a couple short drizzle blessings! You could see the dark clouds brewing all around, but the sunlight held just for this morning’s activities. Everyone could feel it was a really good sign of blessings being effected. Then after all that was over, the rain and clouds came back!

Getting ready to be hoisted up to the roof. The lift company was very strict and would only allow one priest to go up at a time

Here we are, up at the main sanctum vimanams, beautiful sunlit sky above.

And the long awaited moment…the kumbhas are poured simultaneously over all three towers for Ganesha, Siva and Devi

Here is a beautiful photo of kumbha water being poured over the vimanam tower for another Sivalingam in a side shrine. This is a Sivalingam at which devotees will be able to offer their own worship-abhishekam. In fact it is the original Sivalingam of the temple which Gurudeva gifted many years ago

We came back in evening for the kalyanam, or divine wedding, of Siva and Sakti which is traditionally done on the evening of the kumbhabhishekam day and during festivals

Musicians playing so well, uplifting the crowds

Beautiful images of Siva and Sakti

Watching the final ceremonies.

At the end, Bodhinatha blessed and honored each priest with a special shawl

Another priest…

It was the finale of a grand and auspicious series of events, something we could never imagined would happen. We want to thank all the devotees of Perth for inviting Bodhinatha and congratulate them all for this great achievement. Another Hindu holy center, planted in a far off country!

Another

The big excitement at the Aadheenam these past few days has been the long awaited heat treatment for termite control.

We thought about this for many years, as the termites continued to take up residence here and there, to the point of endangering the future of some of the structure.

Using toxic gases was out of the question, so we put if off, year after year. But then recently a new option was found: heat treatment. The buildings are tented and then hot air is blown into the building. The new technique was developed by scientist in California in the late 1980’s and patented as the “Thermal Pest Eradication” system.

At the end of the day there is no noxious, dangerous chemicals to cause any illness or long term side effects. The process also destroys molds, fungus, bacteria, mites, even anthrax! Some doctors are prescribing the system for asthma patients whose homes may have microbes that may trigger an attack. See http://www.thermpure.com for more info.

Hawaii home owners can contact the recently licensed Bob Madamba President of Fil-Am Termite Service on Oahu, ph 808-843-0884 or cell: 808-330-3440, for ThermPureHeat treatments in Hawaii. And Michael Linden, one of the originators of the TPE, is right here at the Aadheenam to make sure the job is properly done.

It is a bit of an adventure and commotion as these giant heaters and their fans are roaring all the day long. and we have to move out any and all items that might be affected by the heat and then move them all back in again..

Things get really “toasty” as temperatures rise to 160 degrees in order to make sure that even in the center of the largest wooden beams, temperatures rise to at least 120 degrees. One Giant Sauna…Bob Madamba and his team going inside until they are certain the entire structure has reached the correct temperatures.

But, the technology is very benign… it is after all, just a lot of hot air!

It was indeed like a sauna inside the temple for those vigilees on duty when the temple was being done…that was yesterday afternoon’s Ganesha puja and the evening Muruga puja. Kadavul was a sweat lodge for sure. But we maintaine
d our sacred vrata (vow) as we have done for over 30 years and the pujas went on, even inside the hot house!

At the Aadheenam, there are big tents covering Kadavul temple… we are heat treating the whole Aadheenam… more new on that tomorrow.

Here is Bodhinatha in Perth…

Ganesha Chaturthi photos are flowing in… This is from the Murugan temple in Bethesda Maryland.

This murthi was given to the community by Gurudeva and worship was performed in homes for many years.

He now live in the temple…

and has a magnificent royal golden, bejeweled crown…

Thamby Kumaran continues on here working on renovation architectural plans.

Lord Ganesha at Sivaram’s home in Malaysia…

On this 2005 Ganesha Chaturthi, Ganesha’s birthday, we received a drawing by 10-year-old Swathi in Michigan. She is the granddaughter of our own Tiru Nellaiappan in India. She based her work on the current cover of Hinduism Today which has a dancing Ganapati. Congratulations, Swathi.

Ganga Sivanathan sends us some excellent photos from Perth…a big team of priests were on hand…

Bodhinatha himself reported…

“This morning was the main ceremony of the kumbhabhishekasm. From about 8 – 1 PM. ”

It went very smoothly, the rainy, windy weather cooperating at the key times.

An interesting part of the ceremony for us was that they blessed the lingam four times with ghee. Each event required a ceremony in the yagnasala, parade to the temple and offering ghee with mantras.

It was explained that it was for the four parts of the lingam: first time was for Brahma, second for Vishnu, third for Rudra and fourth for the base, for Sakti.

The central Sivalingam shrine received a great deal more ceremonies than the other shrines.

Afterwards, we were part of a VIP lunch for local government dignitaries and heads of other Hindu groups.

In the evening it was time for Siva Kalyanam with parade around the temple plus honoring of the priests and the architect.

The priest overseeing the Kumbhabhishekam Visva Somasundara Kurukkal of Colombo, Sri Lanka was very friendly and helpful throughout.

Here is Bodhinatha in Perth, after the yagnasala ceremonies of the 7th… on his way to make a presentation to the devotees on Karma Management.

Meanwhile at the Aadheenam, we had a busy Ganesha Chaturthi and Chitra Puja day…

We started our “mangalam” (auspicious) day with a Chitra Pada puja for Gurudeva…

The sweet and profound aura of Gurudeva’s being always fills the room during these pujas…a silent blessing full of his love and infinite wisdom…

Later in the morning…. Thamby Kumaran on the right, a trained architect and adept in CAD programs (Computer Aided Design) with Sannyasin Arumugaswami and Yogi Japendranatha. He is working on plans to renovated our 50 year old kitchen area, which is badly in need of an upgrade.

The in the afternoon at 3 PM… the annual Ganesha Chaturthi Puja and abhishekam. This is the one time of year that Ganesha gets a complete bath with milk, yogust, honey, panchamritam and more…. We had quite a few devotees this year…

After the puja, one clay Ganesha murthi is placed on a palanquin, and the devotees carry their murthis with them down to the Wailua River…

Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar and his son Manas carry the palanquin. This is the his second year Manas has helped with this sacred task…

A long parade of devotees…

Down the path… thru the torch ginger flower patch…

It is one of those absolutely perfect Kauai days…

Moriya… Bapa! Mangalam Murthi!

Arriving at river’s edge…

Dr. Suhas’s daughter stand by as her brother prepares to swim out in the river. The devotees place their Ganesha’s on the palanquin

All ready to return to the Universal Mother….

Everyone comes forward to place flowers and put their prana into the murthis…

The sun is setting over the mountain and a bright light shines down the river valley, Manas, a good strong swimmer, guides the palanquin out to the center of the pool where the depth is 60 feet… there he over turns the palanquin and the murthis are returned to the great Ocean of Consciousness.

Mangala Murthi! Jai Ganesha!

September 7th, Perth, Australia…

Arriving for evening rituals during the Hindu Temple of Western Australia’s multi-day kumbhabhishekam ceremonies.

The entrance to the new temple building is behind Bodhinatha. He is first walking to the yagasala for an initial visit to all the kumbhas where the deity power is currently stored.

Gathering under the yagnasala tent. On the right is priest Somasundaram, who taught some parartha puja chants to Ceyonswami many years ago in Sri Lanka

Viewing the homas being done in the yagasala

Shiva is the main deity for the temple, and so He has the largest yagnasala space, with many homa pits surrounding the kumbha

Other deities of the temple have kumbhas next door to Siva kumbha in this yagnasala. On the left is Vishnu.

Space for Devi

Arati being performed by the head priest

Mr. Senathirajah, secretary of temple, gives some background to Bodhinatha. Gurudeva visited the temple group back in 1995 almost on the same day in September that Bodhinatha is currently visiting. Gurudeva gifted a Sivalingam to the temple.

Entering the new temple building to view the shrines. A lot of work is unfinished, many parts still under construction. Here we are walking through the initial brick structure of what will be the rajagopuram.

The building is large. Arun Garg, current president of temple management, is explaining to Bodhinatha how the temple is structured.

A side shrine for Hanuman. The temple serves both South and North Indian community.

Ganesha shrine on the left. Beautiful granite murthis were acquired through none other than our sishya Tiru Nellaiappan in Chennai

The main shrine, to Siva. Today is the day where all the devotees get to go into the shrines and personally apply oil to the murtis, as part of kumbhabhishekam preparations.

Head priest of kumbhabhishekam is on the right.

Nagaswaram and tavil players brought from India especially for this occassion.

An interesting design feature of temple: there is a wall of windows behind the main shrines so that you can see the gopurams rising up behind

Back in the yagnasala now, all the priests tended homas in the Siva section toward the end of evening rituals.

Receiving final arati…

The priest closest to the camera is from the Madurai Meenakshi temple and had met Bodhinatha there in January 04. He has a website

Entering the old temple hall. Now that the power of the deities has been moved into the kumbhas, it is amazing to note how the building now just feels like an empty hall. The power of the kumbhabhishekam rituals….

Setting up to give a Apple Keynote computer projected presentation on karma management. About halfway through we lost electric power which caused a loss of our projection. It has been stormy–windy, rainy and cold weather here, which is not an unusual for kumbhabhishekams when the energy is intense. The other night the wind was so strong that it ripped up part of yagnasala tent! Wild weather…

Audience for the computer presentation.

Bodhinatha was in Perth today… He writes:

“This morning the Singapore members and devotees sent us off at the Singapore airport and on arrival after a five hour flight we were greeted by some devotees of the Perth Hindu Temple at the Perth airport.

At the temple we attended the fifth yagna (out of 8) for Lord SIva which had about eleven priests participating. We knew many of them. The lead priest ‘s name I believe is Somaskanda. He is the priest that Ceyonswami took three classes from in the Alaveddy area long ago.

We toured the new temple which is quite large. Central shrine is a Sivalingam, To Siva’s left is Ganesha and right is Devi and Murugan. Two shrines on the far left are with marble Deities for Vishnu and Hanuman. Also a Bhairava near the front door for protector. The temple president said they have created a temple for all 6,400 Hindus in Western Australia.

After the Yagna we gave a talk on Karma Management in the old temple to a few hundred people. Some found it very helpful and asked good questions afterwards.”

Reverend Kosen Ishikawa from the Koloa Jodo Mission brought a group of Buddhist ministers from Japan this morning to visit our monastery.

Rev Ishikawa knows Bodhinatha from the Interfaith Alliance meeting that they both attend on the island.

Our guests were most fascinated with the temple and the uniqueness of the carvings.

We also showed them the sacred Bo tree.

And they each took a leaf for their worship.

Ashish Suresh Chitnis is on pilgrimage here from Michigan with his mother and father who have come over from Indore, India.

Ananth and Darcy, newlyweds from San Francisco, were among our visitors this morning.

Darcy operates a henna business and here she shares with Arumugaswami some information about her business http://www.hennalounge.com and how henna is also used by other cultures.

The Wailua Mission recently had one of their “Rudraksha Satsangs” which they call “Iraivan Evening” and sent us these photos… and captions…

“The Wailua Mission Rudraksha project reported an income this past July of $1,519.00! We appreciate the lead that Kulapati Durvasa & Kulamata Isani Alahan and their daughters have taken to keep the mission focused on this great seva and the many hours of drilling that Brahmachar Rajadeva does every month to keep us supplied with beads. Also a special thanks to Brahmacharini Lila Shakti Devi for the many hours she puts in between our family evenings to help keep the project moving.

Tandu & Uma Sivanathan hosted us this month in their beautiful home.

Uma kept everyone inspired by her very delicious special herb & black tea blend.

Not only Malas but jewelry, key chains, bracelets, ear rings and other innovative ideas have made this project a wonderful success for our small mission.

Tandu & Uma just returned from Bali, so they had many stories to tell.

Among many beautiful items they brought home, nothing could compare to this huge and beautifully carved wood Ganesha that Tandu carried in a large back pack all the way home – he wasn’t sure they would let them both on the plane in one seat but Ganesha must have really wanted to come to Kauai!

We offered the first Mala of the evening to Him with great joy!

Another Rudraksha masterpiece with bracelet to match. (Rudra means Shiva and Aksh means eye.)

A tray with malas, rudraksha ear-rings…and key chains

One of the benefits of rotating our family home evening is seeing the creative life of our members.

Tandu & Uma’s back yard is like a temple sanctuary for a bonsai collection that staggers the imagination

Rows and rows of these beautiful miniature trees must take hours of loving care.

Nothing goes to waste in Bali – here is what they do with their coconut shells! It’s a lamp!

It’s another quiet day on Kauai. We had several Hindu family guests… Ashish Chitnis is here with his mother and father. Thamby Kumaran is also here, drafting some sketches for some future Aadheenam renovations.

Meanwhile the big news is coming from Asia today… Saravananathaswami sent these photos from Singapore and then we follow with news from Mauritius…

“September 5, Singapore mission satsang with Bodhinatha at Kulapati Dohadeva Samugam’s home…”

Pada puja performed by Sambandan, left, and Bhani, right

Devotees singing Engal Gurunathan and other Natchintanai during pada puja

Going within during pada puja

Wall art in the home, depicting Gurudeva’s Sri Lanka nirvikalpa samadhi on the left, Iraivan Temple’s sphatika crystal Sivalinga in middle, and on the right, Gurudeva’s vision of Lord Murugan showing with his Vel where the Kadavul Temple Nataraja deity should be installed

Easan Saravan is the son of Sivakumar and Lavanya. He is half Tamil and half Chinese

Today happens to be Thamilmani’s birthday, so everyone sang Happy Birthday and she was given a gift by Bodhinatha

Saravananathaswami talking with Kulapati Dohadeva

Happy birthday to Thamilmani

Bhani

Easan Saravan

A sumptuous lunch served afterwards

Rema Devi

Kulapati Dohadeva

Our reporter from Mauritius writes:

“We are pleased to send a few photos/captions for TAKA. Here grand preparations are going on for Ganesha Chaturthi celebration at the Spiritual Park.

We are expecting thousands of devotees on that day. Sishyas are also giving a final touch to the preparations for Bodhinatha’s visit on September 14.

The worship of Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati at the Spiritual Park solace to hundreds of devotees attending the monthly Ganesha Homa there. Lord Ganesha is the unifying deity of all Hindu denominations.

Every month devotees gather to sing devotional songs to Lord Ganapati.

Hundred of written prayers are sent into the inner worlds through the sacred fire…

Devotees present during the last Homa ceremony…

Kulapati Manon Mardemootoo giving a talk on this occasion…

The ceremony over, devotees would leave the Mandapam to enjoy the sea breeze and have lunch under
shady trees

Devotees lined up at food stations …

Bon appetit!

Here is sishya Paramasiven Canagasaby, He is very active helping with the breaking of coconuts and arranging tray offerings during the ceremony.

The Jaddoo family. They are all enrolled in the Master Course program.

Other than organizing ceremonies local sishyas also take care themselves of minor constructions at the Park.

Here a group of devotees are getting a base ready for the installation of a little beautifully carved Pancha Mukha Ganapati from Mahabalipuram, India. Kumaren Moorooven is supervising the work.

The construction and the consecration ceremony are to happen on the same day. This special altar should be ready for Ganesha Chaturthi celebration.

A nice group of devotees are then to attend a simple consecration ceremony conducted by the kulapaties and other sishyas…

Kulapati Amba Valaytan, the priest of the day conducting the final arati.

The Aadheenam is quiet. We had our Sun One homa this morning as usual… Meanwhile, Bodhianatha has completed two days of his mission, beginning in Singapore and Saravananathaswami sends a report with photos…

“Arrival in Singapore with the bright faces of some SSC sishyas and students surrounding Bodhinatha…”

Stepping back in time… Saravanathaswami reports in from the journey…

“About to take off from Honolulu to Singapore via Taiwan. Due to the recent typhoon Talim in Taiwan this flight was delayed for about an hour and a half and we thought we might miss the connection in Taiwan and be late for the first part of the Understanding Saivism seminar in Singapore.

“However, Lord Ganesha must have decided that we should make it to the seminar on time, so we barely had time to transfer from this plane to the next and landed in Singapore according to schedule.”

Here we are beginning the Understanding Saivism seminar in Singapore, with participants being presented name tags by Bodhinatha. This is being held at the Legends Fort Canning Country Club, hear the sea in Singapore.

A small shrine set up on the seminar stage

Bodhinatha continuing to greet the participants

Participants listening attentively to the first session.

The other side of participants. Between 60-65 participants signed up.

The day opens with an arati…

And worship of the Satguru

“On the second day of the Understanding Saivism seminar, Bodhinatha and I continued the Apple Keynote computer presentation to present all the yamas and niyamas and the 12 beliefs of Saivism.

Seminar participants

Saravananathaswami’s presentation

Bodhinatha also included some sessions on Karma Management, Work is Worship, etc.

Participants enjoyed the computer presentation and it definitely helps everyone stay more attentive through a long day of sessions. It was about 5-5.5 hours of session time each day. As we progressed through the sessions into some easier, more practical topics, many good questions arose about karma, reincarnation, dharma, etc.

Partway through the morning, the Singapore Saiva Siddhanta Church members took photos of each participant which were developed later in the day and given to them as a gift.

Lunch each day in the cafe was a nice opportunity for participants to chat with us informally, as were the tea break times interspersed throughout the day.

Bodhinatha with Dohadeva

We also interspersed various short exercises like learning to chant Aum, pranayama, color visualization,
“I love you, you love me” mantra, etc., which provided variety and was enjoyed.

Pancha Ganapati presides over the event….

Bodhinatha reads a plaque given to him

At the end of the second day, another gift was given of the early Indian edition of Dancing with Siva, which Bodhinatha hand-signed and gave to each participant.

Our Singapore senior members Kulapati Dohadeva Samugam and Kulamata Nagavathy… their son, Girish is behind the camera today.

Pictures just in from India… These wooden sculptures will take the place of the “TIKI” torch lamps on the left and right of the temple doors of Kadavul… This is Lord Skanda….

Ganesha will be on the left and Skanda on the right.

Bodhinatha flew off from Honolulu this morning after some minor delays as China air waited for the typhoon in Taiwan to move along… as we write, he and Saravananathaswami have probably arrived and are preparing for a night’s rest before going on to Singapore.

END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming three-day retreat,
until Dvitiya Tithi, Sun One, Saturday, September 4th.

Of course we everything to our illustrious line of Gurus from Sri Lanka and back to India and back, back in time to the Himalayas…

Here is Siva Yogaswami who lives always in our hearts and minds. One of Gurudeva instructions to his devotees was to always learn and sing the songs of Siva Yogaswami. These songs, called Natchintanai, contain within them all the teachings of Saiva Siddhanta…

In fact, we are working on upgrading our Natchintanai booklets and if there is anyone who has a copy of Natchintanai, who would like to help by doing some data entry, please send a memo to studyhall@hindu.org

Being the last day of our phase, it was tour day… this visiting gentleman takes a try at stone carving. He really puts a firm hand to the task, which is exactly what it needs.

One of the silpis working on finishing ornamentation that crosses over a joint between two stones.

Our tour day visitors… for the first time in years, the entire tour group was caught in a Kauai shower blessing. Arriving at the Aadheenam, skies were bright and clear… then suddenly on the way out, it rained for 15 minutes… and everyone was drenched! But, it’s warm and fun and refreshing…

Checking out the Rudraksha trees next to the temple.

The thin fruit around the Rudraksha seed is astringent and slightly sweet, very unusual.

Later in the afternoon Sivakatirswami gives Brahmacharinis Shama Kumaran and Lila Shakti Devi, and Kulamata Isani Alahan an orientation to the transcription software that he has created to allow remote users to access our server, download talks from the GITA library (Gurudeva Inspired Talk Archives.

They will be joining our growing team of transcribers who are all working to bring the heritage of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami’s teachings, as-yet-unseen jewels “hidden” in sound files… forward for future generations.

Paramacharya Palaniswami is working on designs for Iraivan’s Namasivaya steps (into the main sanctum) which are carved in Bangalore and just waiting for the letters to be carved in.

For many years we have not had access to well designed Indian language font faces. But now, thanks to Mac OSX, we finally opened up our ISM-GIST CDCC package of ISCII fronts from India and found that we were able to load the Windows True type fonts without difficulty.

Of course the keyboard layout is different, but using glyph palettes we can pick and chose characters. There were 205 beautiful Tamil fonts in the package! Here is “Namasivaya” in several different Tamil fonts.

(If anyone can send us an ISCII Inscript Keyboard for the Mac, we could really use it. The “Indian Language Kit” that Apple used to sell, seems no longer available. Please write studyhall@hindu.orgif you have any information on where we can get this for OSX.

And for yet another look at innovations here… The monks have received some new software and are Beta testing it today. Click on this link to view a panorama… (Quicktime Required) This image is a panoramic 360 degree photo taken in front of the courtyard where the monks eat together each day at noon. You can click inside the image to pan and see the Wailua River below the monastery and the path leading to Iraivan Temple. It’s rough, but that’s what beta testing is all about. The Ganapati Kulam publications building is there, too, under the mango tree (just barely can see the roof and windows in all the foliage), where this photo was stitched this afternoon.

Bodhinatha departed today for his annual trip to Asia and Mauritius. Here we are at the car before leaving…

“Passport Check!” The mandatory call to show your passport and plane tickets, lest you arrive at the airport saying “Oh no… I left my passport at home…” (Smile — yes, it has happened…)

“OK… see, I have it…”

Saravananathaswami will be traveling with Bodhinatha on this mission. Their first night will be a stop over in Taipei as usual and then on to Singapore, Australia, Mauritius and Malaysia, August 31 thru September 22.

Those events open to the public are posted on the Guru Travels page

We close today with photos that tell their own story– the story of “Shortening the Sun Shade Stone….”

The Puvanendran family came again today, and met with Bodhinatha in the “Mahogony Room,” which is “command central” for the Guru Maha Sannidhanam.

A family from San Diego visited today. They came into the press and the 6-year-old Zion met an important person in her life, the creator of Mystic Mouse. She and her mother love this color-book and introduction to Saivism for kids. To meet the monk who created one of the characters of her young life was a precious, if intimidating, moment. Natarajnathaswami took the entire family online to show more of Mystic Mouse’s stories, many that have not been printed yet. But they were happy to learn these are all available, for free, online.

Little Zion, a bit shy, “also acts like this when she meets Santa Claus,” her mom confided. Zion wants all the little boys and girls around the world (and their parents) to know they can get all the Mystic Mouse stories on the web:

Just click here to get all the Mystic Mouse stories.

The pages are in PDF format, and can also be printed out for kids to color with crayons or chalk or paints. A wonderful resource for learning, at an early age, about the divine Self within us all. Oh, yes, Zion’s mom says hi to Dasan and Shakti in their home town of San Diego.

A small murthi of Gurudeva in the publications building… He greets everyone who enters.

After removing the honey bees from inside the wall of the Guru Peedam, we still saw them coming and going… So our team went into action again, this time on the roof.

“Look! Another colony is here under the tiles!” All morning was spent again for three of us, removing this second colony of bees….

The rest of today’s TAKA photos are nature visuals for you all to enjoy… Photos of Siva’s citadel in Hawaii taken this morning. The Mock Orange trees below, 200 of them, were brought from another island to be planted to form a living fence for the Rudraksha Forest.

It is a quiet day at the Aadheenam. Bodhinatha is editing today on the new book telling the story of our Parampara…

We also got 200 “Mock Orange” trees which will be used to create a very dense hedge around the Rudraksha forest in the future, shielding the view from the road and replacing the metal fencing, eventually.

For Inspired Talk Audio fans… a new talk is posted today…

Kanagasabai and Lakshimi Puvanendran, from the United Kingdom, returned today to continue their pilgrimage with their children, Aishaini, Kalaiyashni, Umashni and their niece, Nathikka.

It was Ardra nakshatra this morning so they enjoyed being here during this special time to witness the abhishegam of Lord Nataraja.

Then it was off to Muruga Hill where they sang a song to Muruga and then to the Swayambhu Lingam for worship and another song.

A visit to our pasture was also in this morning’s itinerary. Meeting Chathurthi…

and her daughter, Anuradha.

The children enjoyed feeding Anu grass. And Anu enjoyed being fed for a change.

Trying some Acerola berries… Wow that’s sour, but sooo good!

Banana trees don’t grow in the UK so it was something to look at over here.