Here is the work in progress for the center portion of the perimeter wall, where the etching of the Vedas is inscribed. Very intricate carving is to be done for this section. Here we can see that the initial carving is in progress.

At the carving site in Bangalore, work is moving forward on the final batch of stone chains. As you can imagine, carving a chain from a single piece of stone is no easy task, but the carvers do it with incredible refinement and skill.

Over the last few days Holika and Paul have been working to complete the professional stone work which wraps around the building's main support columns. The stonework has had an instantly transformative effect on the space.

In our well-equipped woodshop, Paramacharya Sadasivanatha and Brahmanathaswami continue to mill mango wood for Media Studio window and vent frames. It's quite a time-consuming project but the careful work really shows in the final result. The last photo shows the beauty of the finished wood. Wow!

Over the past few days Bobby and his team have worked to complete the installation of the Media Studio's new roof. Several members of the Ganapati Kulam have been working to finish the mango window frames, which when installed, will allow for the next big step of finishing the exterior walls with stucco. The stucco will have a light adobe color which will nicely compliment the blue roof.

The next work is in the Colorado workshop. This Silpi Sharpening a chisel is the most recently (nearly) completed bronze and will soon be ready for the patina which will give it subtle tints of color.

Yesterday the Monks all joined together to uncrate and move the 5 satgurus and the 3 pithams which have recently arrived at the Iraivan Temple site. They will eventually be placed along the Path of the satgurus as it is landscaped within the next few years. For now the gurus are being temporarily placed in the Swayabhu Lingam square. The monks also uncrated the elephants which will ultimately be placed upon the main stairs leading up to the temple entrance. After years of carving and dedicated work, the satgurus are truly a site to behold as they sit in silence around the lingam.

About seven years ago we set out to have our main satgurus carved in India in Black granite. Our Selvanathansthapati advised that the murthis be 120% of human size, which is done traditionally to achieve a sense of divinity. He also designed eight Chola-style peedams on which the gurus will all sit, each a different style, and also each with a special symbol of Siva. Nataraja for Gurudeva, Tiruvadi for Yogaswami, Trimurthi for Bodhinatha, etc. See the map in the slideshow for the others.

Work began thanks to generous patrons who intuited the importance of the Satgurus in our sacred gardens. It was slow, and a couple of years back they statues were delivered to our worksite in Bangalore, from the site in Mahabalipuram where they were carved.

But our team there immediately saw there was room for refinement and perfection, and they went to work for more than a year to make the important changes. It was a long process.

We now have five of the statues and three of the pidam bases on the monastery grounds. The senior swamis decided to place them temporarily out near the Source of Envisionment, where Siva sat in Gurudeva's 1975 all-important vision.

Eventually, they will be placed around the Path of the Satgurus, a series of seven ponds, each representing a chakra, and pilgrims will walk that delightful 1400-foot path and meet each Guru in turn, starting with Maharishi Nandinatha and ending with Satguru Bodhiantha Veylanswami. See the map for the positions they will finally take.

Gurudeva has given a succinct introduction to the Nandinatha Satgurus in Dancing with Siva:

What Is the Lofty Kailasa Parampara?
Sloka 152
The Kailasa Parampara is a millennia-old guru lineage of the Nandin.tha Sampradaya. In this century it was embodied by Sage Yogaswami, who ordained me in Sri Lanka in 1949 to carry on the venerable tradition. Aum. bhashya

The authenticity of Hindu teachings is perpetuated by lineages, parampara, passed from gurus to their successors through ordination. The Kailasa Parampara extends back to, and far beyond, Maharishi Nandinatha. Our branch of this parampara is the line of Rishi Tirumular (ca 200 bce), of which the first known satguru in recent history was the Rishi from the Himalayas (ca 1770–1840). From him the power was passed to Siddha Kadaitswami of Bangalore (1804–1891), then to Satguru Chellappaswami (1840–1915), then to Sage Yogaswami (1872–1964) of Sri Lanka, and finally to myself, Sivaya Subramuniya swami (1927–). The Tirumantiram states, “Thus expounding, I bore His word down Kailasa’s unchanging path—the word of Him, the eternal, the truth effulgent, the limitless great, Nandinatha, the joyous one, He of the blissful dance that all impurity dispels.” Aum Namasivaya

This our new Anjaneya Peedam stone. We have been in the process of the rough work on it for sometime now. The blocks weighed 30 tons and had to be specially unload from the truck with a 50 ton heavy duty crane.

The first block was a little unsuitable and we have decided to use it for some other work. We were indeed very lucky to get this block at the correct time.

The media studio entryway has come a long way in the past few weeks. The more time consuming work of creating all the beams, rafters and sheathing is over and the team has moved ahead quickly with their installation. Here is a look at the roofs evolution from rafters to purlins to sheathing.