Construction finally wrapped up on what is affectionally known as the "Way Back Room," which is attached to the previously constructed "Back Room," which itself is attached to the longstanding Pillaiyar Kulam administrative desk space rooms. A few days ago they help a simple puja to sanctify the new spaces, wrapping up about six years of extending the original building to add storage rooms for holding most of our publications and Minimela inventory. Next they will begin moving items in here and reorganizing all the rooms to make everything categorized properly and easily accessible.

The new steel building has entered a new phase, with another team working on the framing of the interior office and equipment/storage spaces. A three-man carpentry crew is making progress with the walls, staircase and floors. This additional space, carefully designed to be super efficient, will help the monks to tackle land and construction projects into the far future. It has the additional benefit to the monastery of placing the sometimes noisy maintenance and building tasks far from the living quarters.

The path from rudraksha grove to Iraivan Temple is finally being paved so that pilgrims can walk safely. In between some rainouts and other responsibilities, our longtime earthworker Dennis Wong is making good progress with laying down rocks first, and then gravel on top. He is beginning with the most difficult section which stretches from the svayambhulingam (under white tent in photo), down the hill, through the rainbow eucalyptus grove, around a corner to the flight of steps leading up to Iraivan, and also a bit beyond that to a stream. After that, he will work backwards up the straight portion of San Marga path towards Muruga Hill and beyond.

After the rock and gravel is laid, the plastic grid will go down, which is then topped with soil and grass planted in it. It will look much prettier than a cement path, and also less expensive.

Four trucks pulled into the Rudraksha Forest parking area early on Friday morning, unannounced but most welcome. They were delivering 30,000 square feet of a black, hexagonal-grid made of a high-density polyethylene. These are strong-durable structures sometimes used for overflow parking at Super Bowls and large events, but also for paths and roads that want to look natural, but be able to support carts and trucks.

It's all part of the path-building we shared a few days back on TAKA. The arrival of so much material reminded us of the scale of the project which will take months to complete.

Some days back we officially began the construction of a new and improved Pilgrims' Path along San Marga. It will be a major upgrade to the visitor experience. The yellow line in the image above is the path of the path.

Following his 1975 visions of God Siva, Gurudeva created San Marga, naming it "the straight path to God." From then to now it has served well, but has never been civilized enough to make the walk to Iraivan Temple easy or pleasant. It is rough, full of harsh gravel, potholes and mud when it rains.

Under Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami's direction, the San Marga Pilgrims' Path is being properly repaired and upgraded. It will be raised with rock and gravel to assure that the almost-daily rains wash off and don't create puddles of water to wade through. After compacting, sand will be added, and a special eight-foot-wide polycarbonate landscaping grid, called EZ Roll Grass Pavers, will be laid for stability. The hexagonal cells of the pavers will be filled with rich compost into which grass seed will be sown. When mature, the grass will provide a soft green carpet on which pilgrims can walk, even bare-footed, along the entire 3,400-foot path--from the Rudraksha Forest, down San Marga to the Svayambhu Sivalingam, then continuing to the Wailua River and along the river road and up to the temple entry staircase.

It will take some months to complete. Yesterday a laser light was employed to survey the straight path, so it will be as straight as a photon's travels. In the slideshow you can see the beginnings of the project.

Before we begin the pool report, a sharing. When Shanmukha Sivacharyar was here in March left a bit of wisdom for all to ponder. He told all gathered for the Big Event:

When turbulence is experienced in our life (health, loss, career changes, karmic challenges, relationships), buckle up. Just pretend you are on a plane that has hit a some rough weather. What do you do? Reach for the seatbelt and buckle up. Then sit back, stay calm and let the pilot, who is Siva, do his duty.

A new project has begun, the renovation of the Kadavul Temple Tank. It is long overdue, and will bring new beauty and color for pilgrims to enjoy. The tank has been drained and now the old surface paint is being removed. Plumbing is being rerouted and improved to make maintenance work easier for the monks.

The pool with then be covered with deep blue, one-inch square tiles. The Tamil Aum, which has faded over the years, will now be remade in tile, never to fade again! The project will take 6-8 weeks.

When asked to explain the purpose of the Hindu temple tank, ChatGPT said: "The temple tank in a Hindu temple serves as a sacred water reservoir, symbolizing purity and spiritual cleansing. Here devotees perform ritualistic ablutions before entering, offering prayers and seeking blessings. It also facilitates religious ceremonies and plays a vital role in fostering a serene and divine atmosphere within the temple complex."

Progress is steady with the new Siddhidata Kulam office and machine maintenance shop. The contractors have covered part of the roof and outside walls with metal sheets, installed windows and doors. The walled section in the photo is where the new office will be. There will be two flloors--office on the upper floor and dehumidified storage on the lower floor. Today our longtime devotee Easvan Param and his team are installing wall boxes for receiving the new electrical power.

Every once in a while during a major storm on Kauai or for other reasons, we lose power to the Aadheenam buildings. For decades we've had a gas generator that automatically turns on 17 seconds after the regular power goes out and it provides electricity to our central building including Kadavul Temple and the kitchen. Then it automatically turns off when the regular power grid returns back to normal. The generator was getting old and not working as well, so a close sishya donated a new one and installed it over the past couple days. We appreciate this stability-enhancing equipment.

Through pouring abundance of rain, we see that the outside walls and roof of the Pillaiyar Kulam additional storage building are nearly finished. Now the contractors are framing inside and installing electrical connections

With the prana pratishtha ceremonies finished, the tents are going back up over the front section of Iraivan Temple around the Nandi Mandapam, and the tiling team is about to start laying down the red granite tiles. They expect to take six to eight weeks. They will take a break during the final big Mandala Pujas from May 8--11 so all the extra priests can move about and perform the rites undisturbed. Also, our employess Doug and Jim today are installing the roof of the Iraivan Temple shoe pavilion next to the entrance steps coming up from the river.