On the weekend of December 22-23, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and Sannyasin Senthilnathaswami attended the inauguration of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills, near Los Angeles, California.

Saturday we toured the mandir and conducted a series of interviews for an article in Hinduism Today about the temple, followed by attending the first part of the Vishwa Shanti Maha Yagna. Finally, we met with Pujya Bhaktipriya Swami, known affectionately as Kotari Swami, one of six revered satgurus (the equivalent of the acharyas in our swami order) of the BAPS fellowship. Meeting with the BAPS swamis is always a special moment of satsang among brothers.

Sunday morning we arrived at the temple early to participate in the official inauguration, opening of the doors and then the Prana Pratishtha of the murtis inside. After the arati we were taken downstairs for abhishekam of Nilkanth Varni, the golden murti of Bhagwan Swaminarayan as a young boy traveling barefoot in the forests of India, then to the giant tent set up as an assembly hall for speeches, video presentations and cultural performances. There, several swamis of the BAPS order spoke, and Bodhinatha gave a wonderful speech, which we hope to post to YouTube soon. The whole of the morning's events was webcast live, and an edited version should be available soon at www.baps.org.

Jai Swaminarayan! Aum Namah Sivaya!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4mnAFwODOs

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami reads his editorial from the Jan/Feb/Mar 2013 edition of Hinduism Today magazine. Applying wisdom of ashrama dharma lends dignity and increasing purpose to every decade of life, but requires some new thinking.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9ju5nELN1M

Our November 2012 news video covers events in October 2012, including: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami's 70th jayanti; the land blessing for the Hindu Temple of Greater Fort Worth, Texas; an update about the casting and assembly of bronze statues of Gurudeva and Ganapati Sthapati; the Uberoi Foundation's Experts Meeting discussions on correcting distortions of Indic faiths in US school textbooks; and the visit by Sushma Parmar to shoot an intro video for the monastery's new website.

As part of Guruthondu day, Arumuganathaswami, Siddhanathaswami, Natyam Nandinatha and Sadaka Mayuranatha took 400 foxtail palm trees to Himalayan Acres for planting in a field which had been harrowed clean. It turned out to be harder work than expected as the loosened dirt wasn't deep enough for the pots and we had to dig each deeper by hand. But we still got 80% of the planting completed--you can see a few of the small trees in the foreground center of the photo. In three or four years these will be handsome trees!

Today is the monastary's first Guruthondun Day, when all the monks team up on one project. This time They are planting and potting hundreds of trees for Himalayan Acres and Wailua River Nursery, where the monastery grows hardwoods and a variety tropical plants.

Here are a few of the darshan meetings with Satguru Bodhinatha after the Gurudeva Mahasamadhi pujas were finished.

Today we celebrate the final day of Skanda Shasthi, honoring lord Kartikkeya, first renunciate and master of Kundalini yoga. A time to turn inward and connect with His powerful shakti.

Today we begin the new phase with an ancient fire ceremony, invoking the blessing of the gods and devas, that the three world can commune in harmony. We burn prayers to be read and carried out by the many innerworld beings that look after us as their own.

Yesterday we celebrated the final night of Gurudeva's 2012 Mahasamadhi Celebration. We had a beautiful Homa fire and Chitra puja.

The pilgrims got to enjoy several more days of classes with Satguru Bodhinatha. He covered many topics including an explaination of the four yogas, gratitude and appreciation, and insights into the Hindu views of the soul and humanities inherent goodness and divinity.