Yesterday afternoon, during the chitra nakshatra, we held our 226th monthly chitra padapuja to Gurudeva's tiruvadi in Kadavul Temple.

"The path of Saiva Siddhanta is worshiping God on the outside and realizing God on the inside, and when the two come together--transformation!" Gurudeva

A treat from our video archives in celebration of Guru Purnima

Several days ago an afternoon pada puja was performed at Gurudeva's shrine. Each month during the Chitra nakshatra this contemplative abhishekam is done by the monks, bathing Gurudeva's tiruvadi in prana-filled substances such as milk, yogurt and honey.

"Where do you get devotion? Not from the teacher. The teacher is only an awakener. He imparts knowledge to you, a vibration to you. He awakens you to the possibilities of the grandeur within yourself." - Gurudeva

As the busy week unfolds, the monastics and island members invoke and worship Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami for the May chitra puja. In a few days we will invoke Lord Muruga to end this dynamic phase.

Jai Gurudeva!

Today in our early morning hours here on Kauai, our monks and several local members gathered in Kadvul Temple to worship Gurudeva's holy feet. Nirvani Tejadevanatha and Yogi Rajanatha performed the abhishekam while other monks chanted Sri Rudram and meditated on Gurudeva's grace. This is the one time of the year that the chitra nakshatra lands on a full moon, just opposite of our Mahasamadhi celebrations--celebrated six months later on the new moon. It was a sublime, peaceful and love-filled morning for all. Over on the mainland, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami attended a satsang at Easvan and Devi Param's home in California. The padapuja to Satguru and the satsang began just at Gurudeva's padapuja in Kauai concluded. Aum Namah Sivaya.

Over the retreat we had our monthly padapuja for Gurudeva with our local devotees and pilgrims from afar.

The monks have just received a new painting of Gurudeva from one of our artist devotees in Arizona. *Edit! There's actually a lot more to this painting then we were aware of yesterday. The monks talked with the artist this morning and found out it was our dear friend Natalie Levin from Tucson, Arizona. The original painting goes back a few years and a number of prints were made, we received one of those prints back from someone recently. The photos below share the 2004 unboxing and presentation from Natalie to monks: And here is and earlier photo of Gurudeva with Jim Levin, Natalie's husband:

Natyam Jayanatha and Yogi Adinatha perform today's contemplative puja rites to Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Gurudeva’s Russian follower, Dinanatha, is touring India with a group of Russian Saivites, and in a shop in the temple town of Somanath ran into this advertisement. Seems Gurudeva has become an icon of Rudraksha sanctity.