After a fruitful visit to the island of Mauritius, meeting sishyas and paying courtesy visits to various Hindu religious organisations and Government representatives, Satguru Bodhinatha left the island after a short seven day visit. On the departure day, sishyas met in Mahebourg to say farewell to Bodhinatha.

The residence of Brah Vel Mahalingum served as a meeting point for that occasion.

Brah. Vel performing arati in his home shrine to welcome the Guru.

Brahmachari Vel Receiving the holy ash from the Guru.

Everyone made it a must to be a Mahebourg in the far south of the island to listen to Bodhinatha last message.

Before Bodhinatha's talk sishays happily sung natchintanaii as a one minded group focussed on the greatness of the the SivaGuru.

Somandiren led the group…

In His brief talk Boddhinatha showed appreciation for the warm welcome of Mauritius sishyas during this 2010 visit. Regarding plans for 2011, Bodhinatha says one main activity will be focussed on the children of sishyas who are growing so fast and need to be nurtured, as well as other activities for members and regular Master Course students studying with Bodhinatha.

Jai Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami!

Sishyas coming forward to Bodhinatha for Blessings.

Kulapati SK Moorghen….

Awaiting for their turn to meet the Satguru for the holy ash and Blessings…

Ananda Mootoocurpen…..

A souvenir shield was presented to Bodhinatha by the Mauritius Tamil Temples Federation.

Goodbye to all, says smilingly Beloved Bodhinatha. … Thank you Bodhinatha. Aum.

This beautiful photo of Gurudeva was unearthed from our photo archives.

Jai Pancha Mukha Ganapati! Despite the heavy rain that first Sunday of March a large crowd was present at the Spiritual Park to attend the Ganesha Homa ceremony. Flowers and garlands lovingly offered by devotees adorn the huge granite murthi.

Everyone would squeeze inside the Mandapam, and as usual the ladies are always there early…

The Ganesha Homa has now become a very popular ceremony for the Hindus of the island.

Singing bhajans to Lord Ganapati until the ceremony starts…

Outside, every centimeter of ground space is occupied

This is what you see when you go up the steps of the Mandapam. Lord Ganapati is beautifully garlanded.

The ceremony begins. The sacred fire in the large Homa pit attracts the devas of the inner worlds.

Kulapatis officiating the ceremony.

Kulapati Manon giving a talk on the Dasama Bhaga, an old Hindu tradition stating the need to give one tenth of one's income to support religion. Kulapati also invited members of the public to be present at the Park on Friday 12th to meet Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and have an opportunity to touch the Guru's Feet.

The small Ganapati Shrine where archanas are conducted

At the Himalayan Academy Booth, our HA staff are enrolling participants who are attending Bodhinatha's Seminar on Saivism on Sunday 14th March at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Center at Pailles.

The last Ganesha Homa for year 2009 at the Spiritual Park of Mauritius attracted as usual thousands of dedicated souls from all over the island. Traffic is always held up down the road leading to the Park and one see devotees walking into the property with a loving offering of fruits and flowers in their hands for Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati.

Devotees singing praises to Lord Ganapati inside the mandapam…

Today bajan is led by Adi Shankara accompanied by Sivarathna Manick on the mrdangam.

Huge basket of written prayers to be sent into the sacred Homa fire.

Devotees seated on the steps of the Mandapam.

Worshipping Lord Siva Dakshina…

Collecting water down the water edge for the Sivalingum..

Devout worshippers at the Sivalingum…

The big crowd inside the tarpaulin tent outside.

Our ladies managing the trays of offerings brought by devotees.

The homa ceremony is at its peak, while the whole crowd of devotees chant the Ganesha mantra.

Some of our Kulamatas…

This is what you see when you stand inside the Ganesha mandapam facing east.

At the small pancha Mukha Ganapati Shrine offerings keep flowing every minute…

One devotee giving a testimony about how one her nephew was helped by Lord Ganapati to obtain his Permanent Resident Permit in Australia.

Kulapati Manon's talk today was from rom Living With Siva Page 162-163 Questions and challenges- Chapter on "Discipline for Self Transformation".

Kulamata Selvon Mardemootoo talked about Pancha Ganapati celebration in the home. Pancha Ganapati is a modern Hindu festival of the Five-Faced (pancha means "five") Maha Ganapati — Lord of Categories. This festival falls during the thirty days of the Markali Pillaiyar home festival and lasts for five days — from December 21 through 25. For more information kindly surf on: http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/lg/lg_ch-15.html

The big news is from Mauritius where a record number of people came to receive Ganesha’s blessings. At that event, Bodhinatha’s talk was read out to over 6,000 people. We have two reports below and we give you the text of Bodhinatha’s message to the huge crowd here:

The Gods Are Real Beings, Not Mere Symbols

Many people look at the Gods as mere symbols, representations of forces or mind areas. Actually, the Gods are beings, and down through the ages ordinary men and women, great saints and sages, prophets and mystics in all cultures have inwardly seen, heard and been profoundly influenced by these superconscious, inner-plane, inner-galactic beings. Lord Ganesha is just such a being. He can think just as we can think. He can see and understand and make decisions — decisions so vast in their implications and complexity that we could never comprehend them with our human faculties of limited understanding.

In recent history, missionaries and others from the Western religions have told the Indian people over and over again that their Gods are not real beings, but merely symbols of spiritual matters — and unfortunately many have begun to believe this and look at their Gods in this way. Even among Hindus there are quite a few who don’t believe in inner-world beings. Their belief is restricted to the people they see in the physical world, and that is all. You dare not tell them differently. It is very difficult, but not impossible, to introduce them to the grand philosophy which is based solely on worship, meditation, inner discipline and the search for Absolute Truth. But this is too high-minded for those living in the everyday materialistic consciousness. For the knowledge of inner worlds to become accepted, a personal realization has to occur. This is a slow process for the materialist, a very slow process, and only Lord Ganesha can help it along. To contact Lord Ganesha, it is imperative that the materialist visit one of His temples or shrines, to make initial contact. It only takes one meeting.

How to Approach the Deity

When you approach the Deity, you should believe that Ganesha feels your presence, that He sees you just as you see Him. In thus seeing Him in very human terms, you will get to know Him better. You will develop a very human relationship with Him. It is especially important that you develop this relationship with Lord Ganesha. It will not be difficult to nurture a friendly feeling for Him, because Ganesha is the Deity who governs our instinctive-intellectual state of mind. He governs the instinctive mind of all the animals, the insects, the birds and the fish, and governs, as well, all the forces of prakriti, nature. Lord Ganesha is also the Deity who governs the higher intellectual mind, of science and profound knowledge. This is why they call Him Lord of Categories. As Lord of Categories, He organizes and clears the intellectual mind so that individual awareness can flow unhindered in the many areas of developing thought. As Lord of Obstacles, He creates and removes obstacles so that karma becomes more and more perfect as the refinement process of living through the experiences of life continues.

Aum Namasivaya,

Prostrations to the holy feet of our great Lord Shiva!

hope all is well in Kauai! I want to start by saying that I have received several gifts recently. One was a new camera. This I brought to the Spiritual Park today and wanted to share the experience with you.

What a day it was! As we do every year, there is a special prayer done for children, students to help them have success in the upcoming exams. But this year was astounding! The number of children, people, that attended was staggering to say the least. My guess is 6,000 but I really have no idea. I tried to capture it in the pictures as best as I could. The gifts of flowers were in abundance and you will see how even the large size of our Pancha Ganapati looked laden with offerings.

The energy was so high that the hanging lamp above Ganesha’s head was swinging as if there was a strong breeze, although there was none where the light hung. Now let me tell you about the letters to be burnt in the homa, although the pictures tell the story. Simply said, I have NEVER seen that many.

The meditation was amazing in the sound of silence that a body of people that size created. Besides a few babies, you would think there were only around 10 people on the property.

The day was one I will never forget, nor will I ever take for granted my blessed karma of sitting at the feet of Ganesha on this life changing day.

We are pleased to share with you our last series of photos for the Ganesha Homa dedicated to all students taking part in their school and university exams.

An elaborate homa with several items sent into the fire.

The traditional pouring of ghee into the homa by the Sivacharya.

Thousands of prayers were burnt on that day. There were so many written prayers that the large homa pit was over filled up.

Kulapati SK Moorghen, jubilated by the devotional singing inside the Mandapam, was instrumental in the coordination of this ceremony, especially taking care of having the exercise books designed and printed.

Kulapati Siven Koothan gave talk on Lord Ganesha.

A little rush at the start, during the distribution of the Ganapati copybooks, but finally all the youth with happy faces left the Mandapam.

No one wants to miss this exercise book.

So many youth waiting patiently on the Ganesha Bridge to receive their blessed copy book.

(Left) Kulapati Mougam Periatumbee and Jis Chenngana offering the sacred flame.

Our staff at the Himalayan Academy booth outside. The crowd is almost dispersed by that time. A busy Sunday, leaving everyone blessed and uplifted. Our next Mauritius event coming is Guru Jayanthi on October 15. Members and students are enthusiastic to organize this evening event.

The presiding Deity in the Spiritual Park is the eight-foot-tall granite Panchamukha Ganapati. This majestic five-faced, ten-armed Ganapati looks over azure blue seas facing India–a towering reminder of the original home of the nation's Hindus and of the importance of harmony in life.

The September Ganesha Homa is as usual a great encounter for thousands, with Lord Ganesha at the Park.

Singing devotional songs to build up the spiritual vibration.

At 9.00 AM a large crowd is already at the Park.

The ceremony starts with a an arati to Lord Ganapati.

Our ladies handling flowers brought by devotees.

Whether seated or standing devotion is high everywhere.

The monthly public talk from Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami's teachings.

The teachings are spiritual food for the devotees who listen attentively.

It is tradition for many devotees to bring a lighted clay lamp with their offerings. Hundreds of these small lamps are placed near the Pancha Mukha Ganapati shrine.

Inside the shrine….

This what you see when standing at the Ganapati shrine and looking at the Mandapam.

Himalayan Academy sales booth is another busy spot.

Devotees seated in the shade along the gravel path leading to the Mandapam…

Sanjeeva (left) was one of those first young men to be on Task Force for several months at the Spiritual Park when it was created in 1986. Now Sanjeeva is settled in California, USA. He and his family are very impressed by the recent infra-structural developments at the Park.

After Ganesha Chaturthi celebration things get back to normal at the Spiritual Park of Mauritius. We bring you photos of a few happenings at the Park recently.

Our new lady catalyst trainees having a coffee break during their monthly August 'Saivite Hindu Religion' and 'PParenting With Love' training session at the Park. They are all three now conducting youth classes on Bodhinatha's teachings.

Kulapati Amba (right) is a good support for the catalysts in Flacq area.

Some 100 youth are actually attending Saivite Hindu Religion classes in different places of Mauritius and the Himalayan Academy is updating another list of newcomers soon.

Parents in Mauritius wishing to enroll their youth in one of the classes of the island should email the Himalayan Academy at spark@hindu.org

The next catalyst trainee session will be held on Saturday 19th September at the Spiritual Park.

Back to our religious activities…. The Sivalingum is now the "not to miss" place of worship at the Park.

A happy family of our membership on Ganesha Chaturthi. Mrs Doorghiat and her three sons.

Kulamatas Manick, Koothan and Magadevi helping at the Mandapam after visarjana.

Another event has been the visit of swami Ramdev from India to the Park. Swami was on a three day visit to Mauritius.

Swami Ramdev is well known for his efforts in popularizing Hatha Yoga. During his visit to the island he has been holding yoga sessions in Goodlands and attended a few religious functions organised by Hindu organisations of the island.

Swami left after a very short visit at the Park.

A little crowd was there to welcome swami Ramdev at the Park.

On Ganesha Chaturthi the Himalayan Academy released this poster to the public. Hundreds of devotees bought one to keep in their home shrine.

The back of the poster is informative about Gurudeva's Ganesha vision of the Park.