The last shipment of stones was huge. They were off loaded around the temple. Now comes the difficult, painstaking job of removing the crates, without damaging the stone. More perimeter stones along with the final course of the perimeter wall, and other wonders.

Three containers arrived at the dock in Nawiliwil with stones destined for Iraivan. Yoginathaswami visited the Garden Island Movers with the siplis on their outing day, where the stones where off-loaded, to be taken by truck up the monastery.

Yesterday was a marvelous day at Iraivan. The Kodi Maram was lifted by crane and four top roof stones of the Nandi Mandapam roof where placed around it. It was magical. It is really tall! Congratulations to the Siddhidata Kulam and especially the silpis and Sannyasin Yoginathaswami. The logistics of the operation was a "smooth as glass!"

Today the Kodi Maram was removed completely from its crate and prepared for Larry Conklin, our crane operator, to place it in the Nandi Mandapam. The bottom of the Kodi Maram is wrapped with lead sheets to preserve the wood. Brass screws are used to secure to lead sheets to the Kodi Maram.

To go to Himalayan Acres, which is what we call the agricultural endowment lands on the south side of the river across from Iraivan, requires that we drive one mile north of the Aadheenam and then take a left to go west and across the river.

To make that crossing we go over a ford that has about 10, two-foot culverts buried in concrete that take river water under the flat surface that provides a bridge over the rocky base of the river. Of course, when the river is in spate, then 5 feet or more of water flows above the ford, and we cannot makes the crossing.

Recent floods blocked the culvert with rocks and even when the river was low, we could not cross.

Acharya Arumugaswami, who heads the noni operation, was determined to clear the culverts which make ford crossable ever when the river is a little high. Off we went for adventure on dry, sunny day to see what could be done.

It was in 2009 that a giant tall teak tree was harvested and purchased in Karnataka. It came to our site for carving and arrived in Nawiliwili harbor on December the 17th, 2009. From there he was placed into hibernation, in the "Loha Guha" (a giant metal QUONSET HUT warehouse at the Aadheenam.) Today after ten years, the pole is on the move, soon to be the Dhvajasthambham or Kodimaram of Iraivan.

Jnanideva Cevvel came down from cold, cold, Edmonton, Canada to work with Acharya Kumarnathaswami on finising up the last corner of the media studio.

Aum Namah Sivaya As some of us know, the five niches that exist around Iraivan Temple's Vimanam will one day house five bronze statues of Siva. Recently we've installed posters in the niches which depict each Bronze for visiting pilgrims. As these won't be installed until we are closer to the temple's kumbhabhishekam, the poster boards act as a glimpse into what the bronzes will look like when placed. If you want an in-depth understanding of Siva's five powers, you can read our Hinduism Today insight here.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Today we look at the progress being made to place the initial layer of stones for Iraivan's Perimeter Wall. These are the sections and interlocking tower pieces which will display bronze panels that will offer pilgrims the temple's history, words of wisdom and scriptural verses. Today, Sannyasin Yoginathaswami and Natyam Dayanatha are working with the silpis to place more sections upon the foundation. Currently, just under half of these stones have been moved into location. They must be carefully adjusted and leveled in order to support the top sections which will eventually line the wall. Underneath the wall will be a section of lava rock which will slope down to the ground.

An introduction to the creation of Kauai Aadheenam's 13-foot-tall bronze Hanuman. Stay tuned for tomorrow's big news.