Sri Sri Sri Trichy Mahaswamigal made his transition during dialysis at the hospital, from complications related to diabetes, at 1.30 pm Indian Standard Time on 14th January. He was 75 years young. Our prayers go out to all his devotees who must be now feeling their loss

In 2004, in anticipation of this day, Trichy Swami had designated Sri Jayendra Puri Swami as his successor and officially installed him as head of Kailasa Ashrama. We know Sri Jayendra Puri Swami to be a strong and able spiritual leader who will carry Trichy Swami’s mission forward to the next generation and he has all our support.

Trichy Swami was deeply connected with Gurudeva and Kauai Aadheenam, both inwardly and outwardly. He considered Gurudeva as a “Rishi,” and we all felt deeply about Trichy Swami. Gurudeva regarded him as one of the most illumined sages in all of India. Swami loved Kauai Aadheenam, and Gurudeva and his monks pilgrimaged many times to his pure and actinic Kailash Ashrama in Bangalore, near our worksite.

His Holiness was instrumental in acting as a spiritual guide and protector for the Iraivan Temple carving operations in Bangalore, along with Sri Sri Sri Balagangadharanatha Swami. It was at Trichy Swami’s ashram in December of 1990 that ceremonies were held for Gurudeva to chip the first stone of Iraivan Temple. Trichy Swami’s blessings and connections in the community were important elements in stabilizing the carving “village” which is the Bangalore work site.

Swamiji visited Kauai in the spring of 1991 and is here pictured with Gurudeva in Kadavul temple.

A beacon of spiritual purity, simplicity and renunciation, he championed and taught a traditional Hindu lifestyle centered on devotion through temple worship and was actively involved in temple building and priest training. He built a traditional temple for Goddess Rajarajeswari at his ashram, and interestingly its capstone was recently covered in gold, paralleling the gold leaf work we are doing recently, and even today, on Iraivan.

For those not familiar with the work of this great soul you can read the article which ran in Hinduism Today on the occasion of his receiving the Hindu Renaissance Award for 2003.

And visit our archive pages with photos with him in India. Our deepest love goes out to swamiji’s followers as they observe the days ahead and as they gather together to preserve their guru’s mission and spiritual goals.

On the Indian Odyssey I

On Indian Odyssey II

Bodhinatha’s eyes light up as he surveys the gold leaf work of the Chinna Gopuram at Iraivan:

Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam
Tsunami Update

Yesterday we finally managed to get through to the manager of the Thirunavukkarasu Gurukulam Orphanage Manager, Mr. Kanan Rajaratnam, to get a first hand account of what actually happened. Mr. Rajaratnam said there were 43 boys in the orphanage of which 1 died in the tsunami floods. 1 boy was also injured. Out of the 5 staff members only 1 survived. Mr. Rajaratnam received surgery for his injuries and is now recovering. But he is in good spirits and determined to put carry on. More news tomorrow. We have a new link on the side bar to the right where you can go for periodic updates on its progress.

Today was Thai Pongal, and what a beautiful, auspicious morning it was at Iraivan where the whole monastery went to join the silpis for the Pongal ceremony. The sun breaks over the eastern horizon, sparkling through light showers, blessing us with golden light and rainbows.

The silpis are at the patarai, dressed in new clothes, waiting for Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami to arrived and to greet him.

Bodhinatha is asked to start the ceremony by lighting the forge.

The silpis then add more charcoal to get the flame going.

Chinnu pours into a pot some milk,

Rice and some dal is added.

The pot is covered and taken around for everyone to touch.

Then, onto the fire…

While waiting for the pot to boil, Bodhinatha goes over to Iraivan to survey the progress of the gold-leaf work.

The top of the chinna gopuram looks incredible!

Small kalasam stones, which sit on top of the gopuram are also being gold leafed…

Back at the patarai…on a forge that can melt iron chisels, boiling the rice only take a very short time.

When the Sun enters Capricorn it begins the month of Thai and Thai Pongal is the festival held in South India, especially among the Tamils.

It is an offering of thanks to God made of pongal: which is a mixture of cooked rice and milk.

Newly harvested paddy is used. and the pot is boiled to overflowing on all sides, then the pongal is offered to Surya, the Sun, and shared as prasadam to all the devotees.

In North India, this day is also known as Makara (Capricorn) Sankranti (entrance) and celebrated as New Year’s day in some cultures there.

The pongal is placed on the altar next to Gurudeva’s photo and a simple puja is performed.

Sambrani incense is raised in a great wave of smoke, offered before the altar and then taken out and offered to the deity of the Sun, Lord Surya.

Next, Bodhinatha performs the arati….

which is taken to those in attendance…

The silpis make the final offering of broken coconuts…

Then Bodhinatha gives each silpis a fresh veshti and cash bonus….

And prasadam is served to all…

Gurudeva related: “One more thing comes to mind–this is that occasionally I have experienced being absolutely aware, fully conscious of the physical body, eyes closed, while simultaneously seeing through the eyes of the inner body and communicating through thought with astral people in my room. Sometimes when the mathavasis have been late to feed me because I was napping but fully conscious, the guardian devas would come before me with delicious food, nicely prepared, and with their astral hands spoon it into my mouth, and I actually smell and taste it. When the astral meal is over, I am not physically hungry anymore.”

It was a golden morning at the temple…
and we bring you a few large format photos that speak for themselves…

This temple pillar panel piece called “Anna Dana” — “Food Giving” — the charitable act of feeding those in need, shining with a yellow hue, tells the story:

Under the golden rays of sun from our Mother the earth, rises up Anna, the nourishment of life, symbolized by the golden grains of rice, cooked by our revered earthly mothers and given to the children of the earth.

A wonderful family came this morning on their first visit to the aadheenam. They are originally from Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh. Grandpa was celebrating his 80th birthday today. Here he is being blessed by Bodhinatha.

Though he has never visited here, he has been a long time subscriber to Hinduism Today and has read many of Gurudeva’s books and knew all about Gurudeva’s life and work.

When the time came for this important celebration in a long life, he asked his family to all come together to Kauai.

So his wife, daughters & son and their spouses and grandson all came to share in this special day. Here, they meet with Bodhinatha for 30 minutes and ask many insightful questions.

Three generations pose with Bodhinatha to capture this moment which they said was a rare meeting. The monks also want to thank them for the wonderful lunch that they made for all of us. It was so very delicious!

With Dakshinamurthi towering behind them.

Rishi Manepalli with his grandfather.

The whole family hugs a rudraksha tree.

The whole family is honored and delighted to be able to help with some of the gold leaf work… Grandpa, despite his advanced age is sharp and nimble and has no trouble

The ladies put their hands to it. This stone is quite smooth and the work is progressing quickly.

Our team is putting on the sizing (a kind of glue) around 7 am… letting it dry for 2 hours, then applying the gold leave from 9 am to noon, then another sizing in the early afternoon and another application later in the afternoon.

An uplifting, joyful moment.

After 4-6 months of rains, off and on, the winter season has sudden gone dry, and cool with brilliant sunshine and spectacular sunsets.

Temperatures are dropping as low as 55 degrees fahrenheit… and with barefeet and no central heating, that can be chilly!

Meanwhile we are continuing to try to get communications from Sri Lanka on the Tsunami disaster. For the most part, it seems that phase one: immediate relief medical, supplies, food and water is well in hand, but the fate of so many people in the future is uncertain. Many relief organizations come in just for 30-60 days and when they feel the populace is relatively stabilized, they leave. The challenge now is long term rehabilitation and restoration. Thousands of refugees are in camps whose homes were only 1000 meters away. A sad twist: you might have thought there would be so many more orphans, and, of course there are, but, because adults are stronger and able to stand up to the flow of water, the greatest loss was to parents whose babies and young children were taken out to sea. While young people in the wake of losing their parents have some resilience, all those mothers and fathers who have lost their children are deeply troubled. Our prayers go out to everyone.

It is Sun One again and Bodhinatha gave a talk today to Tamil temples with a message on the Tsunami.

Saravananathaswami performs the homa.

Two-year old Putrika Shaila Pushpa Sendan, all bundled up to keep her warm, worships with concentration during the final arati.

If you have not noticed it… see the side bar link to a message by Bodhinatha on the Tsunami.

After months of rain, we have had very bright dry clear weather. Iraivan looks wonderful

The gold leafing of the top of the East Chinna Gopuram began in earnest today.

With it’s flat smooth surface, it will be a much easier job than the Vimanam stone

Kulapati Deva Rajan is here with Kulamata Gayatri Rajan from California to help.

Hitesvara Saravan from the Big Island of Hawaii came over to assist.

Jothi Sendan also on the job.

We have this message from Patrick Harrigan who finally made it to Tambuvil in Batticaloa… where he got a first hand look at the Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam of Tambuvil. Here he is approaching the main building which is still standing in the distance. He writes:

“Yesterday we managed to get across the causeway and reach Tambiluvil, as well as Tirukkovil, Komari, Urani. We stayed the night in Pottuvil, where I could not get onto the Internet. I just returned to Colombo a few hours ago. I am in Colombo only tomorrow and then I head back to Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts.”

Back view:

“The main Gurukulam, a recently constructed building, appears to be structurally intact….”

“It was well built. There was little or nothing between it and the sea; …”

“And yet there appeared to be only superficial damage to outside walls, doors and windows.”

Main entrance with broken gate…

These boys who are now staying at the Swami Vipulananda children’s home did indeed come from the Tambiluvil Gurukulam. In response to Patrick’s earlier message about them being stuck with donated Western outfits we already have veshti’s being sent now from India.

“Inside everything is strewn about and there is this smell of dampness in all the buildings.”

“If I did not photograph a room, it means that that room is not too badly damaged.”

” I think that the whole structure could be repaired and occupied again in a matter of some few months only.”

Upstairs there is no sign of any damage; the shrine room is intact as though ready for puja. I have photographed the structure from all sides and many of the room interiors as well.

The original gurukulam is another story. The only intact structures were the memorial for Tambiah Swamigal and the water tower by the road. “

“Everything else has been reduced to rubble.”

“Only the foundations are perhaps still usable. But there is still a lot of uncertainty as to the Government’s policy about rebuilding structures in areas that are now considered as ‘unsafe’ (after first declaring that nothing like this ever happened in the island’s 2,500 year history, now they are afraid that this will be a regular occurrence). This would be a major concern to you, as without government permission no one can return and rebuild or reoccupy their shops and homes. I will, of course, let you know whatever I hear about this aspect of the story.”

“You will not be surprised to learn that Tirukkovil Chittira Velayudha Swami Kovil was hard hit by the tsunami. However it was not as hard hit as some temples such as Kalladi Tiruchendur Murugan Alayam which was complete
ly destroyed. The wife of one of the priests was confirmed killed; I do not know about the whereabouts or condition of the others. But there is definitely no puja being conducted at Tirukkovil or at many other kovils that were situated close to the beach.”

Patrick Harrigan

To contribute to the Tsunami Relief effort, go to:

http://www.hindu.org/aid-relief/

Ashok and Raziya Mallya visited today from Missouri with their family. It was their first visit to the island and they found out about us through the Kauai guidebook.

They met with Bodhinatha and asked him some wonderful questions. Ashok asked Bodhinatha for advice as to what a couple should focus on once they have raised their children and got them married. The younger ones also asked Bodhinatha some insightful questions.

Here they are hugging a rudraksha tree with their son Apoorva and his wife Smitha and their daughter Rohini and her husband Ajay.

As it was the last day of the phase, a sunny Saturday, we had a big group of visitors.

Chipping the stone….

About fifty people….

We have this report by email from Patrick Harrigan who is in Batticaloa today:

“Right now I am in Akkaraippattu Gurukulam. We are given to understand that the boys from the Thirunavukkarasu Orphanage are OK, except for one who perished, but they have been split up between families and some are here.

We would have reached Thambiluvil today, but the causeway had not yet been fully restored so motor traffic could cross. So we turned back and tracked down some survivors from the Pillaiyar Kovil Adi at Tambattai, a tiny coastal village that was hard hit.

By now they would have repaired the causeway, so tomorrow morning we will try to proceed to Thambiluvil to survey the damage to kovils and ashrams there. Taking photos is not a problem; only finding a phone line is a problem and then the line is usually so poor that it is hard to maintain a dial-up connection–even in the best of times. So at least you know that all but one of the boys escaped with their lives, and that they are now safe, if scattered. In the photo you notice that these orphan boys in front of the Akkaraippattu Gurukulam, are all wearing an odd assortment of clothes, since they lost everything and are now wearing whatever was donated. One item that should be donated soon is vettis, enough for all the boys to have two new vettis each, so they will not have to go about wearing these ridiculous donated street clothes, which are bad for their morale and discipline and sense of being representatives of their Hindu faith. You know, good cheap vettis come from India, so this donation ought to come from Indian devotees.

About foreign volunteers, you know that skilled people are needed here badly. But without language ability in Tamil their use would be limited. I met a whole team of foreign doctors today at Ramakrishna College, now a refugee camp until school starts on January 20. Those several foreign doctors are sharing a single translator–they simply cannot understand what their patients are saying. Perhaps from your side you could get the word out that Tamil-speaking volunteers are badly needed as adjuncts to foreign teams of doctors and engineers, etc. The foreign teams are badly hampered by shortage of Tamil interpreters. English speaking Tamils from India would be useful here.

Although there seems to be ample flow of relief supplies coming by land and by helicopter, coordination is challenging and it is hard to it is hard to obtain any information. So it is really hard for me sitting here in Akkaraippattu to answer general questions, apart from what I have seen with my own eyes.

I have been trying to publish photos of the East coast as often as I can. These can all be found on the Pada Yatra web site. http://www.padayatra.org.

Tsunami Update:

Until January 5th, direct communications from the Aadheenam with anyone on the ground in Batticaloa were impossible; but as of January 7th we were able to get some first hand reports. Only one boy of the Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam perished, but the orphanage was indeed demolished, as were many other charitable institutions in Batticaloa. The rest of the boys are receiving food, supplies and are being cared for in a temporary shelter. Many of you will have seen now on television, the extent of the destruction and the plight of so many children.

Mr. Swaminatha Thambiah, the deceased founder, had appointed one of the orphans to succeed him, Kannan who married and then became the manager. We are told that Kannan sustained serious injuries and is recovering in a Colombo hospital. We received our recent update in one very broken phone call with one of the senior staff of the orphanage who survived, and we are waiting to hear from them about how best to proceed.

Our flag is set to half mast for 30 days in remembrance of the victims of the Tsunami.

It was another quiet day at the Aadheenam… the silpis continue their work to fit the stones of one of the Chinna Gopurams at ground level. Here, two pieces of the top of the East gopuram are being put together.

The Sunshade edges of the roof.

These will fit into the top square holes that you saw in the previous picture.

The morning sun from the east on the Vimanam

Top of the northeast corner pillar.

This stone has been drawn out and carved right here at the site. Normally all this work is done in India.

Terry Parish, a professional arborist, has been cleaning the tops of coconut trees as a gift to the Aadheenam. He lives just a few doors away and today brought his children for a visit.

His daughter takes home a souvenir… a giant granite chip…all the way from India.

It won’t be long… and the scaffold will be down… and provide a magnificent view of Iraivan.

One of Gurudeva’s new “institutions” was the Hindu Renaissance of the Year award, which, for 2004 was given to Dr. Pichai Gurukkal of Pillaiyar Patti.

You can read about his work in Hinduism Today here.

The award, prepared in Hawaii and sent to India, was presented on behalf of Hinduism Today by Saiva Siddhanta Church India Liaison Officer, L. Nellaiappan, who is shown here making the presentation speech.

A beautiful plaque and shawl were given to the esteemed priest who has done so much for Hinduism in recent decades.

A crowd is on hand… and the padasala boys are all there. One day many of them will travel to temples in far off lands to carry the knowledge of the Saiva Agamas and temple worship to Hindus the world over.

These photos are from Mark Boyer and his wife Lindsey who went on the last innersearch and were so taken by South India that they went again on their own this year. Mark writes:

I attach a few very low res pictures from todays festivities at Pillaiyarpatti. We were so happy to be there on this occasion. Thanks to you all for helping us to be there.

We had such a nice time with Pichai, on both of our visits. He really is a quite amazing presence. Certainly Hindu of the Year material. We also were able to be there for the presentation of the curtains (which are incredibly beautiful) at both Pillaiyarpatti and at Thiruparankundrum. [That were donated to the temples by Kauai Aadheenam for the main sanctums] We’ve been spending lots of time at Thiruparankundrum – more than at the Meenakshi temple in fact, and are going back tomorrow for a ceremony, the name of which escapes me right now, but it involves a Nandi Abishekam….”

It is a quiet day at the Aadheenam. In fact, it was the first day in weeks there were no pilgrims. Though we did have a few people come by the temple.

Bodhinatha has been sharing his reflections on the Himalayan Academy Study Retreat and feels he wants to do more of these in the future, based on the success of the one he just held in Malaysia.

Our two hosts, Sannyasin Saravananathaswami and Sadhaka Dandapani after nearly three weeks of spending most of their time with guests have finally gotten back to their giant “in box” of things to do in the Ekadanta Kulam.

Today, being Sun Two, was the day for the Ekadanta Kulam report at lunch. Swami says he has completed the mailing out of the Samaya Diksha booklet on the performance of the Panchakshara Mantra to those who have yet to receive it.

He’s also one of the proof-reading team that reads all the pages of Hinduism Today and he completed his readings for the second monthly segment of editorial content of the next quarterly issue.

He also shared news from Mauritius where our center there is developing rapidly with efforts being made to accommodate the growing numbers of people attending our functions there.

Swami is also responsible for the Satellite News that is sent out by email to all the sishya and arul sishya of Saiva Siddhanta Church and Himalayan Academy. He’s catching up on a backlog of emails, many of them related to the Tsunami and its impact on all our friends and associates in Sri Lanka.

Sadhaka Dandapani has been working hard on a flyer for our Saiva Siddhanta Church of Mauritius center, also known variously as the “Spiritual Park” and “Saiva Dharmasala” of Mauritius.

We will be printing this along with the cover of the next issue of Hinduism Today to produce a very high-class informational brochure that can be distributed in Mauritius with information on location, functions and background on the center.

The main Aadheenam is a relatively old building and we keep renovating different areas as best we can. You will enjoy a look at the roof which was completed last month.

Most especially impressive has been…

… the clear skies and sunshine!

After the pada puja, Bodhinatha gave the annual State of the Church address, which Gurudeva traditionally gave at this time at the beginning of each new year.

Yogi Japendranatha and Sadhaka Jivanandanatha performed the puja today.

Yogurt abhishekam.

Yogaswami sang:

“”Transcending all mutations of form and attribute,
Surpassing all finite measure is the GURU,
An embodiment of the highest wisdom.”

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniayswami Jai!

Saint Tirumular wrote:

“He who is beyond the worlds, He dwells
In the hearts of the saints in benign grace
So that all may attain liberation.
He is the speechless Guru, the immaculate Sivam.”

“The Beauteous boon of ‘Siddhi and Mukti,’
The upright way of Grace and Truth,
The wealth of Wisdom and Bliss divine,
Can be attained by Grace of God with Form.”

Saint Manicavacagar sang:

“In grace, He came in humble human form to me,
That I may be rescued from fleeting pursuits.
Hail Luminous One who came down,
To dwell with me in meekness fine.”

The woman saint Auvaiyar wrote:

“The Sat Guru shows the true way and his presence is
your saving grace.”

“The SatGuru alone can show you the direct way to Siva, who is ever inseparable and yet veiled to others.”

We bring you first-hand photos from Batticaloa from the Murugan Bhaktar, and proponent Patrick Harrigan who writes to us by email today… with a focus on Kalladi which is about 80 miles from where our Thirunavukkarasu orphanage was:

As you probably do not have anyone reporting directly from the East Coast of Sri Lanka, perhaps it would interest you to view the photos and occasional reports I have been publishing from Galle and from Trincomalee district southwards (I am presently in Batticaloa). Just now I am uploading files to the Kataragama Pada Yatra web site http://padayatra.org taken today south of Batticaloa. I thought of you because I was anxious to see the condition of the Kalladi Tiruchendur Murugan Temple. The devastation in Kalladi is the worst I have seen anywhere on the east coast, perhaps because Kalladi is a densely populated suburb of Batticaloa, where houses and temples where built directly upon beach frontage facing the full brunt of the tsunami. The devastation at Kalladi is as though it was situated near ground zero of a watery nuclear bomb.

The Kalladi Tiruchendur Murugan Temple, I am sorry to say, has been completely destroyed. Fortunately, there was no loss of life within the temple premises, but I am told that 800 perished in Kalladi alone.

Presently communications are still very bad and we are unable to get any accurate information directly from the Batticaloa area. We have asked Patrick to see if he can get news on our orphanage there.

The Murugan temple Garbha griham (main sanctum) was completely severed from the main mandapam (worship hall)

Year 2005 started off auspiciously for all of our Malaysian members with a New Year Satsang at Kulapathi Murugesu’s residence on the evening of January 1st.

Kulapathi Silvaraju performed the Satguru Tiruvadi Puja at the Satsang. Abhishegam for Tiruvadi Puja included 7 items…

Vibhuthi abhisegam was one of them…It is always a nice sight to see Satguru’s Tiruvadi covered with vibhuti…

The crest of every puja is showing of the Aarti where Guru Mantra is chanted with intense vibration, invoking the lineage of Kailasa Parampara to be present at that moment..

Devotees takes the Arati then with the vibhuti prasadam and thirtham from Satguru’s tiruvadi abhishegam.

The puja is concluded and each devotee takes turns to prostrate on Satguru’s Tiruvadi….Natchinthai also is sung during the prostration session..

“Put the past behind and set a new resolution for the coming year…” Annual vasana daha tantra

Burn all your negative,disturbing or upsetting thoughts through Vasana Daha Tantra….Lets Begin the New Year with positive thoughts..”

Pushparajan, a participant of the recent Himalayan Academy Study Retreat who got to know Gurudeva through Kulapati Thanabalan from Sungai Petani, also joins u
s for satsang. He shares his experience of the recent Teluk Batik retreat he attended with Satguru Bodhinatha and how expresses his gladness in being with us today….

No satsang is Malaysia is complete without a great meal from our Amma’s!!! Renu Rai, soon mother to be, enjoying her meal with Lalitha Ponniah whom also gave birth to our little Parvathy recently..More souls are being born to continue serve our Guru Parampara… Quite Evident!!

Tsunami 2004
A Practical and Spiritual Response

By Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami

Kauai’s Hindu Monastery

OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, I HAVE BEEN ASKED BY A NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS TO SHARE some thoughts on the massive global death and destruction caused by the South Asia Tsunami that ravaged such a large part of the world in the last days of 2004. The first and foremost response, of course, is the need to awaken our compassion and offer our prayerful thoughts to those who have passed on and give expression, inwardly and outwardly, to our deep-felt sympathy for the relatives and friends who survived.

The natural second response is to provide practical help as millions face the challenges of the aftermath of this awesome natural catastrophe, the worst in our lifetime. I have noticed a remarkable welling up of such support among devotees of the monastery and the general public in many countries, and seen people go to extraordinary lengths to collect medical supplies, raise funds at work and even offer to fly to the affected areas to provide succor with their own hands. These are life-saving, life-affirming reactions, for without the generous financial and in-kind donations that reach the affected areas many more could die in the days ahead for lack of food, medical supplies and temporary shelter.

Medium term, communities need to be rebuilt and resources provided to individuals to enable them to resume supporting themselves through their chosen occupation. For the longer term, governments need to ponder the issues of providing effective warning systems, such as currently exist in the countries in the Pacific Ocean region, to protect their populations against future tsunamis, and to better prepare their populations for any large-scale disaster, whether from earthquakes, storms, droughts or other threats to security. On all levels, we need to learn from this experience so we face our next massive threat better.

On the personal level, major disasters in the world cause everyone to stop and think — think about ourselves, our family, friends, community, nation and the world itself. If our faith is not strong, our thoughts can be of a negative nature. You have heard people wondering aloud why God would allow such a thing to happen, why good people are suffering so, how can there even be a God if such tragedy can occur on Earth? However, if our faith is strong, then our reflections and our reactions remain positive.

From the Hindu point of view, our soul is eternal and through its many lives on Earth undergoes a variety of experiences, many joyful others sorrowful, but benefits spiritually from all experience, whether seemingly good or bad. Gurudeva, Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, boldly proclaimed that everything is as it should be, including the occurrence of major disasters: “When a large group of people pass on to the inner world, drop off their physical body unexpectedly through a natural disaster, it is called a group karma. They were all born to have this experience at the same time in togetherness.”

It is natural when confronting such a disaster for those with strong faith to step back from life’s daily routine and look more deeply at themselves to see if there are changes they could make to add deeper meaning to their life. The physical and psychic power of this tsunami offers such thoughtful people an opportunity to examine and change their own lives, for life-changing moments are rare and are often provoked by something bigger than us.

Perhaps there are changes you have been considering for years but always end up putting off. Now is the time to implement them. Perhaps there are new patterns of life, new habits, new commitments that can take root at this rare moment in our personal and global history. Perhaps our love for family members needs to be verbalized more often. Now is the moment to begin. Perhaps we have plans to improve our community. Now is the time to set these plans in motion. Perhaps we always wanted to deepen our spiritual efforts and expand our charitable work. Now is the time to make such ideals real. In all these ways, we can take the energy surrounding this catastrophe and transmute it into something that benefits our lives and our community, rather than diminishes them. As Gurudeva would often say, “It matters less what happens to you in life than how you react to all that happens.”

Though small when compared to Tsunami 2004, our experience of hurricane Iniki in 1992 brought much devastation to our island community of Kauai. It was a challenging and often life-changing experience for island residents. Many had to endure the loss of their homes, and parts of the island were without electricity for up to ten weeks. In the aftermath, one of the consequences was a closer working together of island residents, a pulling together to meet an urgent common need. Kauai has a wealth of ethnic diversities — Japanese, Filipino, Polynesian, Chinese, Portugese, newcomers from the mainland, Thais and, of course, a small Hindu community. During normal life, members of these ethnic groups keep to themselves a good deal. However, the need to rebuild the island after the hurricane brought them closer together, had them shoulder to shoulder as they rebuilt their lives and returned to normalcy. Fortunately, much of this greater closeness and cooperation has remained in place in the years since, even 12 years later.

Perhaps Tsunami 2004 will impact countries in Asia in a similar way, causing the factions in the countries that have civil wars — Sri Lanka and Indonesia — to soften their demands and seek greater compromise. For in times of major crisis, and the consequent struggle for survival, naturally the oneness of humanity comes to the forefront of consciousness and the differences caused by ethnic and religious identity fade into the background. At such moments, the truth that there is ultimately only one race, the human race, seems the right perspective to hold.

Saiva Siddhanta Church has close ties with Sri Lanka, where its founder Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami was initiated by Siva Yogaswami. Of its many activities there one was an orphanage in Batticaloa which was destroyed. Those wishing to make contributions, to the following links:

• Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam (orphanage)
• For general relief for Sri Lanka, India and other affected areas, please see our list of reliable organizations at: www.hindu.org/aid-relief/

The Manoharan Sangarapillai family from Southern California and originally from Sri Lanka, has been on Kauai for several days.

The family had a nice meeting with Bodhinatha and enjoyed establishing a connection with him as Gurudeva’s first successor.

Manoharan’s wife said that at Kauai Aadheenam she feels a similar tranquil, natural vibration as at Tiruketeeswaram Siva Temple in northern Sri Lanka. She also has many short stories of Yogaswami in her memory because her father used to visit Yogaswami’s hut frequently.

Finally, with a break in the weather, we had a chance to show them around Kauai Aadheenam. The last time they were here was shortly before Gurudeva passed on.

At the temple site we find Shanmugam Sthapathi working on a stone that needs a complete facelift. We don’t usually get to see his skills in action like this.

Sathya and Prashanthi are fascinated…

Shanmugam Sthapati even had Prashanthi help him draw a floral design on an official temple stone!

Later the family tried their hand at carving simple Aum symbol and flower designs on a sample stone.

After that the family enjoyed performing personal abhishekam to our Narmada Lingam.

Despite the surrounding ground being very muddy from the heavy rains yesterday…

They were moved to make their personal abhishekam to the Narmada Lingam.

Sathya…

and Prashanthi…

We take a moment to look back at the trip to Malaysia… Sannyasin Yoginathaswami shared with us a brief exchange he had with the Malaysian priest who did the archana at the orphanage when Bodhinatha arrived.

A Malaysian born student of Pitchai Gurukkal of Pillaiyarpatti, India, he is one of Malaysia’s few native born formally trained and initiated Sivachariyas. He has been serving at a Muniandy temple for sometime.

He related how, one day, several years ago, as he was looking at the image of Muniandy, a white face appeared over the murthi, a tall figure with white hair and white beard. It was a conscious vision of an inner being superimposed on the temple Deity. For weeks afterwards he asked people if they knew what it could mean. One day, someone showed him Gurudeva’s picture. He was shocked “That’s who I saw in the temple vision!” Then, recently when he heard that Bodhinatha was coming and was Gurudeva’s successor, he took a break from his temple and drove all the way to meet Bodhinatha and perform the archana.

We were blessed with clear skies today…

Iraivan looked magnificent in the morning sun…

Sadhaka Dandapani has brought out the wooden hundi (offering box) to give our tour day guests an opportunity to earn some punyam by donating to the temple.

About 30 bright souls today… the crowd is thinning as the holidays come to a close…

The ever fascinating rudraksha beads are picked up….

These newly weds live on our neighbor island, Oahu. The gentleman works as a mechanical engineer in a submarine for the US army. They decided to visit the monastery today and stumbled upon the tour so they joined in and had a great time.

Woody and Mila were among our guests today. They shared with us how much they enjoyed the tour this morning. What good timing – our first day of clear skies and sunshine for 2005.

Tsunami Relief Fund Established

As we mentioned before a new fund has been established for the Thirunavukkarasu Nayanar Gurukulam, the orphanage that was under Gurudeva’s loving hand for so many years in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Go here for more information, then scroll up the page for more widespread relief options.

At home, we don’t know, perhaps it was our focus on water… but nature brought one of those mini-tsunamis to the Aadheenam, drop by drop. It began early yesterday afternoon, the rain started.. again, but now… it didn’t stop. We went to bed as usual at nine PM… walking in the dark, in the rain to our guhas. The gentle showers continued… getting louder and louder and louder. It didn’t stop… all night long…

This morning after our meditation, the rain turned into one of those torrential down pours, so thick you cannot see clearly 3 yards ahead of you.

And then IT happened!

The land, fields and reservoir to the north east of the Aadheenam, acres and acres… took the water all night long… then about 7:45 am this morning IT happened:

SATURATION!

When the northeast sectors reach saturation, there is nowhere else for the water to go, all the land of our neighborhood, streets, home back yards: has become a giant lake… and there is one place to go: straight down to the Wailue River… and guess where it has to go to get there?

You guessed it: right through Kauai Aadheenam!

Fortunately we have been through this many times….

So, while our silpis are looking aghast as the water floods through the courtyard where we normally have our lunch. …

The monks are watching with amazement and wonder at the power of nature and how close we are to it.

We can’t resist but go to fetch Bodhinatha to show him what’s happening outside… we have set up a barrier on the left of the walk to prevent more water from flooding the inside of our publications building, meanwhile we are diverting the water down the stairway to the river.

Bodhinatha peers over the edge of the stairs….

“Would you like to go down and see the river up close?”

“MMM! Maybe not… I think I will stay up here for now!”

But, our intrepid photographer is already on his way down to witness the power of the Wailua Ganga.

Paramacharya Palaniswami and Sannyasin Saravananathaswami went down also. To be next to the river in spate is an awesome experience.

There is no more “falls” as such… the river and the pool have become one flat surface and the level of water has risen ten feet or more.

Those ecologically minded among us are wondering how many tons of top soil we lost today from areas we cleared but didn’t get planted in time?

Meanwhile, small trees on the edge of the river are ripped out and on their way to the ocean

We hear the giant logs rumble like thunder as they bounce over the rocks on their way to the sea.

Sivakatirswami mans the wet vac… we painstakingly vacuum up every square inch of the carpet and turn on the fans…

By 11:30 am, the rain stopped.

Another day in the foothills of the Waialeale mountain, the rainiest place on planet earth. Some people may think it a nuisance, but we like the attitude of one of the leaders of the agricultural community here on Kauai, the president of the East Kauai Co-op, Jerry Ornellas, who said with awe in his eyes the other day:

“Did you know, we may hit 800 inches on the top of the mountain for 2004. Isn’t that amazing! Are we not blessed! What a resource!”

On this very wet day, some brave families drove on up to our monastery anyway, to be at a Hindu temple on New Year’s day. This is the Nandiwada family and a friend, from New Jersey. They didn’t mind the wetness at all.

In fact they really enjoyed the “warm” rain compared to the coldness they get at home. They were very impressed with Iraivan Temple and also Dakshinamurthi. The mother is on the committee for constructing a new 20,000 square foot South Indian temple in New Jersey to Lord Venkateswara.

December 26th Final day of the Retreat..Book signing
session

and darshan with Satguru..

It was Arumugam Kavari’s birthday today…

Final session with Satguru on Maha Vasana Daha
Tantra

Group Photo…

Adjourning to Pangkor Island …At the Jetty for a break… little did we know that mother earth had just flexed her shoulders to the west of us, on the other side of Sumatra….

the view was Irresistible …..

But far away.. the ocean was moving at 500 miles an hour

View of the Kaliamman temple from the ferry…

This temple was located by the seaside, small yet
deemed to be very powerful.

Next destination…The Pangkor Beach..Beautiful…

We all intended to go for a swim, but, for some reason we changed our minds and just waded in the water.

Unaware of any problem, someone noticed “Look the water is going up… I guess the tide is coming in…”

But it kept coming up and up… in fact it went right up to the necks of a few who quickly go out… thinking “That’s very strange.”

Back at Teluk Batik Resort for a short farewell session for Satguru and the monks who had decided not to go to the shores, but take a rest at home.

A Gift from all the participants for Satguru, swami and yogi as a token of appreciation for making this retreat successful and memorable for all of us…

Bidding farewell ….Aum Namasivaya!!!

Teluk Batik is buffered on the west by Sumatra… so, other than the unusual rising of the water level, we knew nothing about what had just happened.

Only when we got back to “civilization” did the news come, and then we realized how fortunate we were!