It was tour day today and we had a huge group of visitors for the weekly tour…

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 Dasami Tithi, Sun One, Thursday, June 6th.

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Sadhaka Dandapani are working out all the details of the next Innersearch trip. Invitations from various temples in Australia and New Zealand are beginning to come in for Bodhinatha. He has also been invited to be the keynote speaker at the World Saiva Conference taking place in Sydney after the Innersearch.

The map shows the route the Innersearch program will take. Many are beginning to sign up now as we are only 7 months away. If you would like more information you can email Sadhaka Dandapani or visit the Innersearch website.

Over 80 souls had the good karma to come to Iraivan today. The guide books are really pulling in a lot of visitors from all walks of life

Sthapati talks with the guests…

He is always a wonderful host…

Silpis at work on the North Chinna Gopuram

Carving is non-stop at Iraivan…

The golden vimanam

Recently, the Golden Gate mission of California set up a table to offer free Hindu literature to attendees at the annual Himalayan Fair in Berkeley, not far from the University. Here is Chandran Param, the principal organizer, with his four children at the commands, welcoming browsers answering their questions and offering them free literature published by Himalayan Academy–Hinduism Today, Hindu teaching-tool booklets and more.

A Berkeley lady fills in a card to request some of the literature displayed, which will be sent to her promptly by the residents of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. Favorites are the teaching-tool booklets such as “Hindu Primer,” “Visiting a Hindu Temple,” “Raising Children as Good Hindus,” and more. The complete collection can be seen and ordered from at http://www.himalayanacademy.com/teachingtools/

Expert presenters of Hinduism, Deva and Gayatri Rajan, take their turn at handling the table. Several families took part.

Ganesha, Gurudeva and Bodhinatha decorate the table and invite sincere seekers to drop by and enjoy.

Here is the latest addition to the family of felines…. his name is “Pandian” and after a few months in a security safe kitty cage, we are finally letting him out to run around free during the day….

We put him on the back of one of our calves and he’s quite content to sit there… well, for a few moments at least.

We are entering a three-day retreat and will close this TAKA with a few shots from our the annual summer blooming of the Albezia trees. With their flower petals falling in the river, a swim in the Wailua is like swimming in Lord Siva’s sweet fragrant waters….

It’s Sun Five today and the Ganapati Kulam shared the list of things they are working on. Of course Hinduism Today articles are ever and always in preparation. A new color version of Lemurian Scrolls is being proof -read. Coding is going on for our in-house Hindu Press International software that will soon deliver the daily HPI as an HTML mail. Art work for future publications is being planned. We’ve sent off copies of Hinduism
Today for a professional critique by a high end design consultant in California. Our audio transcribers have been busy and we are receiving several transcripts a week from this dedicated team of sevaks. The Digital Version of Hinduism Today is in “beta” testing now.. and looking really fantastic. Book Four of the Children’s course is being edited daily by Bodhinatha…

Sadhaka Haranandinatha will be accompanying Bodhinatha to Orlando, Florida next phase… he’s getting ready by clearing his desk. He handles all the Iraivan fund-raising communications.. a big job!

Another Nandi who isn’t going anywhere! Why? because he is *always* continuously looking at Lord Siva and never wavers in his vision of God, even for a moment.

One of the powers of Kauai Aadheenam is the 24 hour vigil maintained in Kadavul temple. This is our anchor. Everyone is amazing that we have maintained this vrata without fail for over 30 years.

Today, Sannyasin Natarajnathaswami is on duty from 3 PM to 6 PM and begins his vigil with the afternoon puja to Lord Ganesha…

Looking out from the temple, down Tiruneri to the entrance at 107 Kaholalele Road.

The planets in their positions for today on the Jyotish board in Kadavul.

The photo above was taken at the library of a Saiva Siddhanta center in Chennai, in the early 1980s. Here Gurudeva is presenting newly published copies of his Hindu Catechism and Creed to the Saivites of South India. These texts would later evolve into his book, Dancing with Siva.

Back on Kauai, today was Narayana and Sarojini Rao’s 50th wedding anniversary. Thirteen members of the Rao family came today to join in the celebrations… meeting with Bodhinatha..

Yesterday, they all went out to see the temple

Narayana and Sarojini’s youngest son, Hari, tries his hand at carving on one of the granite blocks.

The family enjoyed a tour of the grounds and of Iraivan Temple.

We moved our Sun One homa over to this morning to bless the couple. …

Narayana and Sarojini make offerings….

After participating in the wonderful homa Bodhinatha blessed the couple with a shawl…

Then…..a shower of flowers. Congratulations to you both for setting a fine example of married life.

When the whole family came to meet Bodhinatha, a special presentation was made by their 5-year old grandson, Vinay

He presented Bodhinatha with the balance of the family’s contribution towards sponsoring 2 bronze Siva murthis that will reside on the east wall of Iraivan’s sanctum. Grandpa wanted the child to make the presentation, seeing in him the future of Hinduism and wanting him one day to say, “I came to Kauai as a child with my family. We all helped build this grand Siva Citadel.”

Rao’s with their eldest daughter, Vanaja.

Smita Joshi from London is here on pilgrimage… She met with Bodhinatha in the Guru Peedam this morning. Welcome, Smita.

It is a quiet day at the Aadheenam. All are focused on their duties moving one or another of the many mission projects forward. Here is a very short list of just a few things in the works:

• Preparations are going on for a very big Guru Purnima and Open House; we will have His Holiness Natchiappa Swamigal, the Aadheenam Kartar of an old monastery in Tamil Nadu with us. 14 silpis, musicians, task force…
• A number of young men are inquiring about monastic life…
• Plans are in the works for a big 300 page all color compilation of Insight Sections from Hinduism Today in a book called “What is Hinduism”
• Bodhinatha leaves for Orlando next phase.
• The full color version of Lemurian Scrolls in the works
• Our audio transcription team is moving forward with 3-4 transcripts from Gurudeva’s Inspired Talk Archives… code named “GITA” coming in each week… what a treasure!

The above is just the tip of the iceberg here on Kauai, where there are, of course, no icebergs! We have only the breadth and depth of the vision of the Satguru’s of the Kailasa Parampara…

“We’ll wear the badge of service in humility,
And shall never forget the Feet of the SatGuru.
The Law of the land shall we not violate,
Nor will we waste our moments idly……”

–Yogaswami’s Natchintanai. 255

Reverend Koho Takata of the Kapaa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple brought 45 fellow members of the Honpa Hongwanji Ministers’ Association (from 36 temples across the state of Hawaii) for a quick visit to the monastery today. They have conclaved on Kauai for alseminar under the direction of Bishop Chikai Yosemori of Honolulu. They are practitioners of the Jodo Shin school of Pure Land Buddhism founded in Kyoto, Japan in the 13th century. Here they are on the bus getting ready to return to their important work of helping to direct the future of Buddhism in the Hawaiian islands. They loved temple and some got “stuck in meditation” in Kadavul.

Lots of questions! “How does Sakyamuni Buddha fit into all this?”

Dr. Narayana Rao returned again today with his wife and daughter-in-law, Lakshmi, to attend this morning’s Ardra abhishekam and puja to Lord Nataraja. Never having witnessed this once-a-month ceremony they felt blessed to be here during this time.

Mary Beth Harnett, who was on our last Innersearch to India, visited us today. It’s her 5th visit to the Aadheenam since she discovered Gurudeva a few years ago but this is the first time she is seeing one of our rudraksha trees.

Isani Alahan explains to Mary Beth how she and some of the devotees process the fruits and beads to make beautiful jewelry.

We bring you more Iraivan photos that speak for themselves from today, looking around the side at the many pillars and more from yesterday’s lift….

We bring you a another series from Atlanta from Bodhinatha’s mission to the temple ceremonies there…. submitted by Jutikadevi who worked long hours helping to prepare for Bodhinatha’s arrival and during the events…. The homas were especially power and she excerpts the Vedas to accompany some of the photos…

The Priest Panit Kumar the head Saiva priest at the Siva temple and his entourage of helpers, chanted their hearts out while offering rice and ghee.

They arrived for a very special and most powerful homa welcoming the devas and Mahadevas to the Bhuloka. As this went on we felt that the weather was roaring outside, it was quite unusual to have our Sunday weather like this, the winds were blowing the tarps around the homas, the rain poured and poured, Sivaloka was sending their blessings to us.

With in the background, chanting, Aum Sivaya Svahaa, we all chanted along.

Then, the passing of the Poornahuti tray so everyone can put their prana into it.

“We call you, O vital powers come with your swift and sweet controlling power, like a wet whiplash to lead mankind to its ultimate destination. O vital powers, the innermost chamber of the prayerful devotee, to which you are proceeding in your car, is not far from you.”

Now for the grand Poornahuti, you could see it clearly from the events the devas and Mahadevas came from the Sivaloka from our calls to them and blessed us through the sacred homa fire.

All this time we have heavy pouring rain, Some of the fire went up higher than the tall priest who stood there.

Yea, jiva is actually Siva. The vedas explain, “As water poured into water, milk poured into milk, ghee into ghee become one without differentiation, even so the individual soul and the Supreme self become one.”

“We invoke the source of light, the divine Creator, bestower of a wonderful home full of wealth and wisdom.”

“May our friends assemble and sit down to pay homage to the divine creator, for only He can bestow divine wisdom.”

“O adorable God, may you depute all the vital virtues of cosmos and Nature’s bounties to embellish our devotional prayers.”

“For preservation, I invoke the divine Creator, imbued with golden radiance.”

“O adorable God, may you depute all the vital virtues of cosmos and Nature’s bounties to embellish our devotional prayers.”

“O adorable God, may you come to us with vital forces, brilliant, terrific and yet benevolent and protective. O Lord of spiritual fire, may you be with us with vital forces working behind the luminaries in the radiant celestial regions beyond the sun.”

“O adorable god, please be with us with vital forces; I pour out the devotional prayers, sweet like elixir, which may lovingly be accepted by you and enjoyed. We invoke the resplendent, adorable Lord, the preserver of the devotee’s spiritual fire, offering heartfelt expressions of devotion.”

As this went on we felt that the weather was roaring outside, it was quite unusual to have our Sunday weather like this, the winds were roaring blowing the tarps in the homas the rain poured and poured, Sivaloka was sending their blessings to us.

All this time we have heavy pouring rain, Some of the fire went up higher that the tall priest who stood there.

We all bowed and prayed to them to seek their blessings.

The devas loved us, they loved the chanting and that we invited them there, we were so happy to have their presence to grace the event there.

The environment and atmosphere, made it so easy to be in Satchidananda …the ever blissful permeating state.

Here we are back at the Aadheenam today… where the temple site was quite active today…

Mr. Jeyapalan and his wife are visiting us from Sydney, Australia. Their cousin had been here a couple of years ago and said that they should visit the Aadheenam if they are ever on Kauai. They enjoyed attending the 9am Siva puja and seeing Iraivan Temple. They head back home to Sydney tomorrow and are looking forward to meeting Bodhinatha there when he visits during the Innersearch in January 2006.

Dr. Narayana Rao and his wife, Sarojini arrived on Kauai last night from Illinois, and are on their 3rd pilgrimage to Kauai. This time they are here with their children and grandchildren to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary which will be in a few days. They stand in front if the east side of the sanctum where they have sponsored the 2 bronze Siva murthis that will
go on the sanctum walls.

Here is a sweet testimony from: “None of the professional accomplishments that I have to my credit would even come close to the significance of the moment when, during the visit to the Aadheenam, I will be holding my five-year old grandson in my arms and telling him, pointing to the Iraivan Temple from the high ground, “You know, Vinay, that is the beautiful Iraivan Temple that the monks are building here for you and children like you. You are going to come back here as you grow up and say, ‘My grandfather brought me here when I was five.’ ” 

Dr. Rao will be fulfilling this vision when he brings his grandson here in the days ahead.

The domes of the North Chinna Gopuram when up today…

Our pilgrims watch from a distance…

We will let the rest of the photos tell their own story….One more great day in the history of Iraivan!

In our newly restructured 14-day spiritual adventure Down Under Bodhinatha will share with us insights into Hinduism’s uniqueness, an in-depth look at karma and suggestions for refining our conduct to intensify our spiritual progress. It truly is a rare opportunity to be in the presence of a satguru so closely.

Photo shows Bodhinatha being blessed by the temple elephant at the Kamatchi temple in Kanchipuram during the Indian Odyssey Innersearch in January 2004.

Here’s the untold tale….

As many of you know, Himalayan Academy’s next Innersearch travel-study program was planned as a cruise from Australia to New Zealand in January of 2006. But at the beginning of May, Princess Cruise Lines, whom we were signed up with, called and informed us that they were invoking some small print in the contract and taking half of our reserved cabins back. We were forced to cancel our cruise program.

(Our journey begins in Sydney, pictured above, where we will invoke the blessings of Lord Muruga when we visit His Aussie abode before heading to the outback for some special time with Bodhinatha)

Keeping Gurudeva’s sweet teaching in mind of taking something negative and turning it into something positive, Bodhinatha masterfully recrafted our itinerary creating a more exotic, adventurous and spiritual journey. We will still be Innersearching in Australia and New Zealand but will be traversing these great southern lands this time by planes, trains and prairie schooners (known to city-dwellers as busses). Happily, the journey will be 2-days longer and will engage us far more with the local peoples, geography and culture than the ocean-based cruise would have. We will get to see the countryside and meet the people, take in the sights, sounds and smells from the Aussie outback (perhaps even meet this fellow on the left) to the heights of the mighty Kiwi alps–all along enjoying Bodhinatha’s sweet presence and teachings.

We would love to have you with us on this journey. Read all about it here at our Innersearch web site The 2006 Innersearch begins in Sydney on January 6th and ends in Auckland, New Zealand on January 19th. That’s only 7-months away (215 days!), so sign up soon.

From Australia we fly to Queenstown, New Zealand, via Christchurch. Then we take the legendary two-hour drive to Te Anau, our home for the next four nights, located in the heart of the mighty Southern Alps. Here, we will take a scenic drive to Milford Sound and then cruise the spectacular fiords of New Zealand’s south island, spend more precious time in classes with Bodhinatha and a few other things we can’t tell you about or we’d spoil the surprise.

Every day will be an opportunity to explore with a living satguru, through meditations, discourses and informal sharing, the day-to-day practicalities of living a dynamic Hindu life in a modern world. In towns and remote forests, on boats and a train, we will share two weeks of spiritual exploration together.

(Innersearchers being guided in meditation by Bodhinatha in Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 2004 Indian Odyssey)

Our journey ends here, in New Zealand’s most vibrant city. We will connect with the Hindu community of Auckland and visit Muruga’s temple which Gurudeva helped get started. Just as we began with Murugan’s darshan in Sydney, we end with His shakti in Auckland.

A joyous group from 16 countries sit on the steps of the famed Brihadishwarar temple in Thanjavur, South India, posing for the now famous Innersearch group photo.

Master Course student, Sarasvati Kumara with her daughter Pamela on their last day of their pilgrimage having darshan with Bodhinatha before leaving back for California.

Earlier in the morning at the Narmada lingam.

Aum Namasivaya…

A visit to Muruga Hill…

A few moments at the Wailua River.

End of phase day tour guests with Sadhaka Dandapani…

Himalayan Academy Programs are moving along in various countries… here is a report from Mauritius.

With the approval and Blessings of Satguru Bodhinatha, the Himalayan Academy Committee of the Spiritual Park of Mauritius is organized a mountain climbing for the enrolled Master Course students…

Le Pouce Mountain is one of the highest mountains in the island of Mauritius. ‘Le Pouce’ is a French word meaning thumb as the top part of this mountain looks like a thumb. The idea to have a seminar on the mountain came from Gurudeva’s teaching about the ‘mountaintop perspective’ in GD Trilogy. Some 40 Master Course participants climbed Le Pouce Mountain on Sunday 15th May on a cold windy morning.

A last important briefing and prayer to Lord Ganesha before the climb….The plan during the climbing was to get through the concepts of the four ‘padas’ as explained in Bodhinatha’s Talk “The Spiritual Practices of Saiva Siddhanta” in which Bodhinatha explains that Nalupadasaivam literally means Saivism of four stages and is an alternate name for Saiva Siddhanta.

The four padas are progressive in that in accomplishing each the soul prepares itself for the next. Nalupada Saivam, Saivism’s four stages, are what each human soul must pass through in many births to attain its final goal of moksha.

A little rest for everyone….

The group stopped at a four different places from the base to the top to go over each one of the padas in a practical manner.

It was real experience to make an adventurous climb with spiritual goals in mind.

The climb resumes. Here is Selvina…

Master Course students (from left) Poonam, Gooramah and Selvi listening to the wind blowing over..

Just about to climb the summit. The group is happy having climbed so far. Someone waves an orange flag with a beautiful Ganesha drawn on it. The summit is a now a few meters away. This spot is ideal for lunch and another practical teaching session.

Here is the summit…

The first group gets ready to go up…

The most challenging climb…getting up the peak. Kulapati Kulagan (second from right) giving a helping hand…

Our youngest climber Sivarathna, tucked in the huge boulders

The mountain top experience. The wind is blowing almost 100 km hour here. A group of students on the top of Le Pouce…space is limited here. Most of them are at their first experience in Mountain climbing…

The group seated for a guided meditation… Prior to this the MC students they were asked to look and concentrate on the quiet ocean below fading into the distant horizon. They were asked to visualize themselves on a small boat being tossed over the mighty waves and to think of all the emotions that this would bring up. Then They were asked to look again at the ocean below from the the mountain top and feel that everything is perfect as Gurudeva explains. Then they were asked to look at the houses, buildings, busy roads etc… to differentiate how their attitudes and feelings change when looking at the same thing from a bottom perspective and then from a mountaintop perspective….

Kulamata Premila Manick (right) with a group of students now getting ready to go down the slopes.

Here is Ariadasi Canagasaby happy having been on Le Pouce Mountain.

The finale installment of the Mother’s Day celebrations in Malaysia.

Childrens’ amazing performances uplifted everyone with joy and laughter.

All the husband show their love and appreciation for their wives… our mothers.

The grand finale of the day was the cake cutting ceremony. All ammas were requested to surround the cake table for the cake cutting ceremony. The mother s day theme song was played again, and all ammas joyfully cut the cake. Just as the cake cutting ceremony took place, mysterious bits of colorful crepe papers snowed down from the ceiling, thanks to Kulapati Dhasan. Everyone cheered and applauded loudly, and laughter filled the halls of Kulapati s home.

Then came the grand feast of the day! Since it was mothers  day, a special grand menu was prepared by all ammas (Unfortunately, we couldn’t relieve them off this duty!). Everyone tucked into a delicious meal of bhasmati ghee rice, delicious kurma, cucumber raita, stir-friend mix vegetables, tofu sambal, and spicy mealmakers. Of course, the guests of honor aka ammas, were served first, the waiters being appas and the children.

Yet, the day didn’t end just yet. With all the joy wafting through the air, one thing led to another, and before we knew it, the hall was transformed into a dance floor and everyone got on their feet for a dash of bhangra. There could never have been a better way to bring the curtains down on this marvelous day.

As I headed back home, the feeling of contentment filled my heart. It was, indeed,
another event that reached into the hearts of everyone present. And to all fathers in the church, worry no more. I heard from a little bird out there that the saga of father s day, is already taking its toll.

NOTICE: Bodhinatha’s darshan meeting in Maryland were some how missed because TAKA did not upload properly that day… please go here to view the meetings he had there. Or use the archive option to go to May 29th TAKA….

We continue with more reports on the Atlanta event from Jutikadiva Sivaraja…

May 29- Satguru Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami, presided over all the major events, and gave two talks today. One in the morning and one in the evening. Yes we are definitely very fortunate to have a living Satguru, come and give us some very important lessons, for us to advance in the path of dharma. Today’s talk by Bodhinatha was the the beauty of all the different sects in Hinduism, Bodhinatha mentioned that in the ancient Tamil scriptures there is a recording of the scriptures that within Hinduism itself there are at 11 major denominations, he gave us a brief introduction on the major beliefs of the Saiva, Vaishnava, Smarta and Shakta sects within Hinduism.

He stressed the major differences between the Vaishnava and Saiva traditions and the the importance of having a separate place of worship for each belief. Like in the Hindu Temple of Atlanta where we have two separate temples deedicate to the two separate Supreme Beings, one for Lord Venkatheswara and one for Lord Shiva. He further added that this allows for the preists to freely pratice their traditions in each temple, without restrcitions, limitations and fully according to it’s own traditions. This also helps children, who may be naturally confused when they see 2 gods- supreme being within the same temple. He also praised how both the Siva and Vaishnava priests for working so well together who help each other whenever the oppurtunity is there to help.

In the morning Daisy a beautiful calf was brought in for the ceremonies for the eye-opening ceremonies. She was rescued from a slaughterhouse and was just a love to have around, she loved the camera, not shy at all!!

As you can see she wanted to connect with all the cyber cadets out there.

One of the Siva priest is passing rice nd some gems for blessings by Bodhinatha.

Passing the rice and jewels to other devotees, passing it to the current temple president Mr. Aruna Prasad Kancherla, who gave a very insightful intoroduction of Bodhinatha the day before.

Placing of the gems under the murthi.

Bodhinatha places the rice inside the stone.

Mahadeva Kala Bhairava murti is invoked into his new home in the Siva temple.

All the devotees around Daisy, as she is the most enjoyable thing to have, in front of the Homa tent. Dr. Raghu the past temple president, guides Daisy as his wife Mrs. Raghu is holding the feeding bottle.

The eye opening ceremony where all the Utsava Murthis are lined up for their first contacts with the Bhuloka, so here is Daisy and Bodhinatha, the first auspicious things for them to see…

Passing of the Arathi.

Utsava Murthis which will find their new homes by Mahadeva Subramuniya in the inner sanctorum.

A very powerful presence was felt close to the murthis as the ceremonies occured.

Bodhinatha gives a talk shortly after the ceremonies.

Abhisekham is performed to the murthis, from the Kalasas charged at the temple.

This ceremony transforms the shakti and energy concentrated into the kalasas onto the murthis.

Bodhinatha performs the Abhisheka.

Shanmuganathaswami performs abhisheka.

All the Utsava Murthis after Abhisheka, devotees now come and pour the Kalasa charged water on the murthis.

Shortly after the talks the Vaishnava priests bring Lord Venkatheswara around the temple in a grand Ratha Yatra around the temple, just like in India, surely we all did tapas that day, as we walked around in the hot sun, on the tar road.

Mrs. Mangalam and her son, Surinder by Gurudeva’s picture. Mrs. Mangalam was one of the Ammas that cooked for Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami.

She sang a beautiful Natchintanai, as Bodhinatha was served lunch. Thank You Amma!

In the evening we all head back to yet another talk by Bodhinatha, this time Bodhinatha gives a talk on Siava Siddhanta apporach to sectanism, that is is to fully practise each sect within Hinduism and to have a broad minded approach to other sects within Hinduism. This allows for each individual to practise their beliefs fully and yet have a kind and compassion approach to others whose beliefs may not be of the same cultural and traditional background. Here is Dr. Raghu the past temple President who headed the temple during the construction of the Siva temple to where it is now. It is a beauty to watch how well the temple committee members get along and work so well together, it is a lesson for all of us. We won’t be here, with two beautiful maginificent temples, without the sacrifices and the dedication the temple commitee members and volunteers have showed us. Dr. Raghu also takes every oppurtunity he can to introduce the teachings and books by Guurdeva and especially the Hindu Heritage Endowments, he encouraged all of us to participate by giving even a small amount to start with to any Endowments which can earn income for perpetuity.

Temple devotees focused on Bodhinatha’s talk.

After the talk we head out to the around the clock homas that are being carried out by the priest.

Tyler meets with Bodhinatha, he came all the way from Tennessee and is interested in becoming a monk.

Bodhinatha, Shanmuganathaswami, to the right of Bodhinatha is Ganapati Sthapati who was the architect for the Siva temple, with Dr. Raghu on the left.

In the evening, Pradhyumna son of the head priest of the Balaji temple recites a verse from the Gita. He memorized many verses and chanted them lovingly with much devotion to Bodhinatha.

Saiva Siddhanta Church Malaysia Mother’s Day story continues….(some without captions as the picture speak for themselves…)

… more amma’s being garlanded

We will caption today’s photos with the story from Ratnavathy Sivalingam:

” It was a quaint Saturday weekend, the sun smiling warmly into all our homes, as each resident bustled busily with his/her own chores. Indeed, a very typical Malaysian weekend, to everyone’s eyes. But the devas, gazing at us from the inner worlds, beamed knowingly at the tinges of excitement brewing in each devotees’ homes. They saw all ammas preparing their ever-famous winning dishes for the night to come, and being totally unaware of the excited giggles and hushed whispers of their children who were, oh so busy, preparing for the night too!! Yes, the time of the year has come, and it’s yet again, another saga of the Malaysian SSC’s Mother’s Day Celebration!”

“As I stepped into Kulapati Dasan Sivananda’s home that evening, I couldn’t help noticing the party-like ambience surrounding me, and the air charging with so much energy. The first thing that stared right into my eyes was the large colorful poster flanking the wall, gleefully greeting me with “Happy Mother’s Day”. Balloons in hues of green, blue, white, pink, orange and silver arched the entrance, and strips of fuzzy crepe paper hung decoratively from the ceiling. The next person not failing to catch my attention was Bodhinatha, warmly smiling at me amidst the large garlands surrounding him. His eyes twinkled joyously, fully aware of the fabulous day ahead.”

“As the hour went by, more and more people kept filling Kulapathi Dasan’s home. All amma’s were dressed to befit a grand banquet. So lavish were their sarees, that it outshone the attires of others. The air was brimming with the promise of an amazing evening. It kicked of with a wonderful pada pooja performed by the host himself. Proceeding on after the pada pooja, each one of us took turns to prostrate to the tiruvadi whilst the rest sang natchinthanai, accompanied by our very own musicians, non-other than 12 year old Komal Deva, his 10 year old brother Lavanya Deva and their cousin, 13 year old Tirunyanam. ”

“The grand event of the day finally arrived. Everyone was rearranged to create a temporary performance area. Kulapathi Dhasan, being the MC, warmly welcomed and thanked all members for attending this special satsang in conjunction with mother’s day. All lights were then switched off, and all ammas were told to walk into the hall while a very famous song dedicated to mothers, was played on the radio. It was indeed, a scintillating moment to watch our hearts’ bevy of beauties taking the runway into their hands. As the lights were switched on again, each family came forward to pay homage to their mothers, by garlanding and presenting her with meticulously wrapped gifts. I could see the glee on some mothers’ faces as they received such special treatment. A short talk was then delivered by Kulapathi Appasamy, on the importance of a mother in our lives, and how she creates waves of changes in each individual. ”

“Next, was the time for performance and special respect by the husbands. This was the surprise of the day!!!!! All performances were interlaced with a special session for ammas and appas. Each appa was called forward to present amma with a card, a flower and, **ahem ahem**, a kiss on her forehead, or her cheek! The good natured Kulapathi Dhasan jokingly remarked that the choice of entirely theirs:). It was indeed, a very touching moment to watch all appas come forward to present the flower and card to the queen of their hearts. Indeed, the gentle hug and light kiss on the cheek spoke a thousand words of the intense love they’ve shared in all these years. I felt the lump rising in my throat when I saw appa fondly giving amma a peck on amma’s cheek. Each appa also spoke lovingly of his queen’s sacrifices in facing the challenges of raising a family. This was, indeed, the height of the event.”

Some very creative performances by the youth and children..

“The performances were no less, either. All children exuded an amassing amount of creative talents, ranging from son
gs, sketches, humor, and classical dance sequences.”

“It was just amazing watching all these little angels strut their stuff.”

Thambadigal Sivaram and Devika from Malaysia in the Easvan Param’s shrine room, being welcomed by the Golden Gate Mission.

Sivaram’s amma, Danalakshimi, and Devika, holding young Bodhi Param…

Raja Sivamani and the men get to know their new brother from Malaysia… Gurudeva’s vision of “Hands Across the Ocean” with cross-national marriages… manifesting…

Bodhinatha in Atlanta… giving a talk in the temple…Jutikadevi sends us photos and captions. For this one she writes:

On the first day of ceremonies in the evening after arriving and being introduced, Bodhinatha then gave us a beautiful talk on the importance of temple worship in Hinduism and how we use the Murthis to communicate to the devas. How real the inner beings are, as Gurudeva would see many of them, too many to tell us all about. Just we use the telephone to communicate. We aren’t really talking to the phone just as we are not praying to the stone murthi, but how we use the murthis to communicate to the devas. In addition he also talked about finding inner happiness, and that it is a false concept to look for happiness from others, that the truest happiness comes from within. That Gurudeva always said the best form of happiness is always to make others happy. He also shared with us how a devotee had challenges of taking care of their elder parent who was always very depressed. Bodhinatha said that the best way to care for an elderly parent like this is to our best in caring for them and to never expect anything in return. Gurudeva was always so happy, although he interacted with thousands of devotees from round the work, he found his inner happiness from within and never expected anything from anyone else, thus he could be happy all the time.

Jutika says:

Just wanted to write into TAKA and share the wonderful spiritual experiences we have had here with Satguru Bodhinatha at the Siva and Vishnu temple here in Atlanta Georgia.

As you all know the two temples are situated on top of a hill, they are two separate temples that each house Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva as the main murthis. They are both built in a traditional South Indian style temple.

Satguru Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami were here last year for the Kumbha Abhisekam and they were both back again from May 26- May 29 as the honorary guest for the one year temple celebrations.

Bodhinatha spent Friday morning giving individual darshan blessings to us, after that we took of in a Pathfinder SUV to the tallest Restaurant in the Western Hemisphere at the Westin in Atlanta for lunch. Here we took up the glass elevator, and went up to the 72nd floor for lunch.

Shanmuganathaswami, looking out into the Atlanta Skyline from the Westin Glass Elevators.

Present during lunch: Satguru Bodhinatha, sitting next to him, was Shankar Mallampali and hiw wife Lakshmi from Jacksonville Florida, Ravi Poonangi from the India Tribune magazine, Jutikadevi Sivaraja and Shanmuganathaswami who is managing the Hinduism Today subscriptions and the Hindu Heritage Endowment. The restaurant was special in the sense that it was revolving and you would end up an hour later at the same spot.

We could see the capital of the city where the dome was covered with gold, just like Iraivan.

Here is the CNN headquarters building.

Atlanta Skyline by 1-85 expressway.

We got to tour the whole city with a mountain top consciousness in the presence of an enlightened guru and finished the lunch with a delicious vegan raspberry chocolate mousse cake.

After getting our chocolate high we descended to the bottom floor again in the beautiful glass elevators. We saw Georgia Tech from here. Then we forgot to press the button, so we went up again before going down, but that was okay because I got to put my camera to good use!! The camera always likes to take Bodhinatha’s pictures.

We welcomed Bodhinatha at the temple in the evening where Satguru was honored at the inner sanctum sanctorum of both the Siva and Vishnu temples, by the temple’s Saiva and Vishnu priests. After the honorary ceremonies for the guru, the current temple president gave a very beautiful thoughtful introduction of Bodhinatha. He asked us to visualize as if we were there on the 10th day of Gurudeva’s pravopavesha fast when “�Gurudeva removed one of his rings and placed it on his successor’s finger stating that his name would be Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, ” Gurudeva placed the bracelet on Bodhinatha’s wrist and declared you are the Guru now!” This beautiful introduction by the temple president, gave a meaningful introduction that helped the devotees at the temple, who had very little exposure about Bodhinatha, as to his background and his lineage.

Bodhinatha on the podium…

Temple devotees listening to the talk by Bodhinatha

We then went outside for a series of homas that continued on with temple activities at the Vishnu and Siva temple till late night.

Poornahuti the finale of the ceremonies for Day 1- May 27…

more to come…

We received these pictures earlier but they were hiding on our hard drive until today. It is the always happy and joyful story of Mother’s Day celebrations in Malaysia… held on May 8th, last month…

This year the celebration to honor our mothers was held at the home of Kulapati Dhasan in a fabulously decorated hall.

The colorful poster by the children

Custom-made card for all ammas

“I’m all set to party!” – Little Shivani all geared for for the event

Event kicking off with the pooja.

The MC for the day (Kulapati Dhasan) launching the event

We had all 3 generations of families joining the celebrations

The queens excited waiting to be honored

Voila! The first “queen” to strut down the runway.

The eldest amma, Kulamata Rajaletchumi, being honored by her children.

The next amma, Kulamata Roobavathy Sivalingam with her 4 children.

Kulamata Lalitha Sivananda goes next.

Kulamata Amutha’s face speaks with emotions as the receives a peck from her daughter

Kulamata Shanthi is all smiles as she is garlanded by her angels….

more to come tomorrow…

Long time student of Gurudeva’s teachings, Sarasvati Kumara (Cristina Berisso) came on a pilgrimage with her elder daughter Pamela.

They pose at Iraivan as they both investigate the carved ball inside the lion pillars

Mother and daughter carving stone…

with Dakshinamoorthy

A visit with the publications team. Sarasvati is originally from Argentina, and she pledged to Gurudeva to translate the entire trilogy into Spanish. So far she has done Merging with Siva and is almost finished with Dancing with Siva. See the Spanish version of Merging with Siva here.

Our camera goes for walk out to the temple site… catching some nature shots on the way…

Amazing half white, half green philodendron (we think…)

Today’s photo vignettes of Iraivan… we will let the photos speak for themselves.

The monastery’s aviary in the back outside our kitchen…some of these birds are very tame and will come and sit on your shoulder.

Bodhinatha arrived home this afternoon after a successful journey…

Monks and devotees on Kauai come to greet him at the entrance…

It is a joyous moment to have out Satguru Bodhinatha home again.

And our brother Shanmuganathaswami

Monks observe the traditional pada puja at the temple entrance.

Jai Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswamiki Jai!

More new from the trip in the days ahead as photos start coming in….

This morning was Sun one… our homa was done as always.