After a grueling series of flights, from Malaysia to Singapore to Dubai to Mauritius in one lone 25-hour day of airports and long flights, Paramacharya and Tillainathaswami arrived on the island of Mauritius. Senior sishyas greeted us with affection and drove us to a remote cottage right on the beach. It had been nine years since our last visit (delays caused by COVID), so there was much to catch up on. A short rest, then off to an Indian restaurant to share a welcoming meal. Then sleep. Ah, sleep.

Mauritius is an island off the coast of Africa, about 50% larger than Kauai, but with 1.5 million people, 52% being Hindu. It is renowned for its lush forests, white sandy beaches, and volcanic mountain ranges. Notably, it has a significant Hindu population, constituting nearly half of the total residents. This Hindu community profoundly influences the island's culture, festivals and architecture.

Our wandering monks held a Malaysian youth day in Klang, fully orchestrated by Sivajnani Nagappan. It was a sweet event, conducted at the Iraivan Illam (home), a Saiva sanctuary and cultural center dedicated completely to Gurudeva's mission. It contains shrines, meeting halls, classrooms, kitchen, offices, and more. After an arti by Tillainathaswami, the youth gathered. Parents were sitting at the back, expecting to observe, but Paramacharya (in consultation with the young men and women) excused the parents, explaining that this way the questions for the swamis would be more open and uncensored. Big smiles illumined the faces of the fifteen participants as their parents, with great understanding, left the room.

The program was officially titled "The Power of You." Paramacharya told a few stories and offered some empowering tools for their teen life, based on Gurudeva's life and teachings. These, he said, were divine arrows in their quiver, to be used to face challenges, resolve issues, and meet the craziness of life with joy and wisdom. Many present were involved in sports and dance, so Paramacharya shared insights into how they could develop a core strength of spirituality, just as great athletes follow regimens to strengthen their core muscles. He also stressed ways to awaken and use intuition in life.

Questions followed, with some being shy and others eager to challenge the swamis with tough questions. The two swamis took turns answering. At noon, lunch was served followed by a break.
After the break, things changed. The once-reserved youth came alive with questions, courageously asking about stress in their life, verbal abuse, gaming habits, smut (their word for porn), the value of virginity, how to deal with criticism, and friendships gone wrong. They seemed to enjoy the answers, loudly applauding the swamis if some real insight was offered. Tillainathaswami took them through a simple Shum preparation for meditation session.

To conclude, four sweet Tirumurai songs were sung by one of the girls. The parents were invited back into the room and came forward for vibuthi prasadam, short personal discussions, and photos with the sannyasins.

In his opening statements, Paramachaya read the following poem, written in lesss than a tenth of a second by ChatGPT and untouched by human hands:



In Hawaii's sunny, palm-sway groove,
Two swamis live, always on the move.
They teach of yoga, karma, and love,
In their peaceful monastery, skies above.

"You know," said Swami One with a grin,
"It's time to pack; a journey's to begin!"
Swami Two nodded, "Let's take our show
To lands afar, where oil palms grow."

With orange robes and beads, they flew through sky,
Landing in Malaysia with a heartfelt sigh.
Kids gathered round, a youthful, eager crew,
"Teach us," they said, "what the power of 'you' can do!"

Swami One spoke first, "Harness your will!
Like surfers ride the waves, with skill to instill.
Your life force is sacred, let it not drift away,
Control it, and watch your troubles go way."

"Karma is but energy, your actions make it so,"
Swami Two added, "Learn this and you'll glow.
Use your intuition, be wise and be free,
And you'll float through life like a leaf on the sea."

Boys and girls listened, their eyes shining bright,
Playing soccer later, but now with more insight.
Acing exams, with focus so fine,
Singing hymns of love to God Siva, divine.

Relationships flourished, friendships grew pure,
Each little squabble, they'd easily cure.
"The power of you' is the power of me,"
They chanted in chorus, as grateful as could be.

Swami One and Swami Two, mission achieved, took to the sky,
Off to Mauritius shores, waving Malaysia goodbye.
Yet the tale's not over, for this much is true,
The power of "you" is a magical key that turns every lock you pursue.

Saturday morning was a full and fulfilling time with our Malaysian members. All gathered in the home of Rishipati Murugesu and Rishimata Valliamma. Traditional preparations would have made Gurudeva proud, complete with a Tamil-style welcome. Padapuja for Bodhinatha was conducted jointly by Tillainathaswami and the senior kulapatis of the country. There followed stories by Sadasivanathaswami about our beloved Gurudeva, a talk about the chakras, and singing of Natchintanai. Importantly and auspiciously, Poongkodi Vellasamy came forward to become a Vrata Shishya in Saiva Siddhanta Church. It is a deep spiritual commitment, and she had worked hard for years to qualify, bringing her ever closer to the Satguru and the paramparai. A feast followed, and all gathered at the home's entrance for this family photo.

Off the visiting swamis went to a marvelous temple famed for being in an area with lots of judges and lawyers who would go to Ganesha's shrine before their cases to get blessings and guidance.

One of the remarkable thing here is they do 108 or 1008 conch abhishekam everyday! Morning and afternoon! On this day it was 1008. They say there is a siddhar interred beneath a bilva tree trunk that sits right in the temple chamber (it was there before the temple was built and they did not want to remove it, though it is no longer living).

We had been told to expect a small surprise, but it turned out to not be small at all, as you will see in the slide show.

Paramacharya and Tillainathaswami held a long morning session with the Malaysian ladiesl It was a time of stories (some never told), sharing, questions and a great Thai veggie lunch at the end. The written questions were anonymous and so all felt free to ask some tough ones: about the karmic implications of imperfect japa (what if I left out one of the 108 names?), how to reincarnate in Hawaii, dealing with difficult people and situations.

As a fun beginning, Paramacharya read a little poem written by ChatGPT with a simple prompt (untouched by human hands):



In Hawaii, two swamis did dwell,
Who knew the ways of Siva quite well.
In Kuala Lumpur, they found women so grand,
With wisdom and power, they took a strong stand.
In worship they did so excel.

Their love for Siva and guru so true,
Brought them together, a spiritually rich crew.
In stories and questions, they all took part,
With devotion and love, they spoke from the heart.
"Blessed are we," they sang, "for this path we pursue."

The Malaysian members were eager to take Paramacharya and Tillainathaswami to a famed temple, one Gurudeva visited often.

The Bricksfield Temple is known for its intricate architecture and lively festivals, a spiritual retreat amidst some serious urban chaos. It offers locals and tourists an intimate glimpse into the soul of the city.

The manager took the swamis around the shrines, and then a puja was performed. One of the main purposes of the visit was then quietly performed (without photography) over near a remote pillar. It was the signing of the "Solemn Aspirations," the first and simplest vows of a monastic candidate. Kodiswara read aloud his pledge to follow the monastic path, and then signed the bookss in the presence of the swamis. The kulapatis then took the monks to a special restaurant, Annalakshmi, run by devotees of the Temple of Fine Arts, which has a section downstairs where food is served and you only pay what you can or want to pay.

A short flight from Singapore brought our swamis to Malaysia to be met by senior kulapatis at the airport. Paramacharya had not visited for several years, and Tillainathaswami had only been inside the airport, not in the country. After a happy reuniion, off we were swept to our hotel which looks out over the city which has about 8 million citizens. We will be here for five days, with opportunities to be with members as our primary goal. Gurudeva came here often and it is easy to feel his presence in the faces of the shishyas who want to talk about Gurudeva, listen to Gurudeva stories and be with other Gurudeva devotees. So we feel right at home.

Towards the end of the recent Singapore/Malaysia ladies sadhana retreat here on Kauai, Satguru gave a presentation on progressive levels of personal spiritual practice. Here is a summary of the contents-- Satguru's presentation is drawn from Gurudeva's teachings on daily practice and is entitled "Six Levels of Practice". In this presentation, Satguru explores each of the six practices, namely (1) Making Dharma Your Own; (2) Pancha Nitya Karmas which is comprised of worship, observing holy days, pilgrimage, virtuous living and rites of passage]; (3) ten-minute spiritual workout; (4) sadhana and daily vigil; (5) extending daily vigil to an hour; (6) vigil in sannyasa ashrama.

On this India pilgrimage the monks are being guided through the locations by our sishyas Thuraisingam and his wife Swapna.
After Tiruvanaikovil Jambukeswarar, our monks visited the Uchi Pillaiyar temple, a great walk up steep stairs. Beforehand, at the base, they visited Thayumanavar Temple which has a massive Sivalingam. The bottom part of the Sivalingam is enclosed by four walls which you can walk around.

Afterwards they drove to Pillaiyarpatti Ganesha Temple which is also home to Pitchai Gurukkal and his priest training school. Our current Iraivan Temple priest, Pravin Kumar, was trained there. It was a happy meeting with Pitchai Gurukkal just before he was leaving for Chennai and then to Canada (he travels often to officiate at temple kumbhabhishekams). He gave them a room to rest and also see other visitors.

Later on the way to Madurai, they visited Thirumarainathar Temple which is in the birthplace town of Manickavasagar. It is a very quiet place.

At the Madurai Meenakshi/Sundareswara temple, no phones, electronics, smart watches etc were allowed inside the temple due to bomb threat. They were shown around by Chellappa Baktar who was one of the priests at our Iraivan Temple crystal Sivalinga installation. They visited his home and presented a certificate for having officiated at our Iraivan Temple ceremonies.

After Madurai they drove to Maruthamalai Murugan Temple on a hilltop. It was crowded and they could only see Murugan from a distance. Yogi Dayanatha said He was covered with vibhuti and looked like a king. Afterwards they visited the beautiful Perur Pateeswarar Temple.

Arriving in Kumbhakonam, they first visited Dharasuram Airavatesvara Temple, another ancient Chola Siva temple. It feels like a tourist attraction at the moment.

Next they met with Muruga Sthapati to plan for making a swarnabandanam, gold band, to be placed around the base of the Iraivan Temple Mahalingeswara crystal Sivalinga as the focal point of the public Kumbhabhishekam in several years.

After that meeting, they drove an hour to visit the Chola Thanjavur Brihadeeswara Temple, famous for the really tall vimanam/capstone and huge Sivalinga.

Next on the itinerary was to visit the water element Siva temple, Tiruvanaikovil Jambukeswarar temple in Trichy. It has amazing carvings, huge pillars and constant water flow in front of the Sivalinga that no one can explain.