One of the requirements for a new monk is to learn and then perform the Saiva Atmartha Puja (home shrine puja) in front of Satguru and all the monks. Sadhaka Vatshalanatha recently did this at 5:30am in place of our normal puja for the monks. This accomplishment is a stepping stone towards him next learning the parartha puja (established temple puja), which he will eventually perform for Ganesha and Murugan Deities in Kadavul Temple.

On the auspicious full moon day of Guru Purnima, Gunamaya Sivananda from Tijuana, Mexico, received mantra diksha from Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami after several years of study and sadhanas. She now joins the fellowship of Dikshasishyas in Saiva Siddhanta Church. Mantra Diksha is formal blessings from Satguru for "Aum Namasivaya" to become the mantra used for performing daily japa-- chanting a mantra 108 times. A summary explanation from Dancing with Siva book-- Is Initiation Necessary to Perform Japa? LOKA 138 The most precious of all aivitemantras,Nama ivya is freely sung and chanted by one and all.Mantra dkshbestows the permission and power forjapa yoga.Without this initiation, its repetition bears lesser fruit. Aum. BHSHYA The Pachkshara Mantra is the word of God, the name and total essence of iva. But to chant Nama ivya and to be empowered to chant Nama ivya is likened to the difference between writing a check without money in the bank and writing a check with money in the bank. Nama ivya is the gateway toyoga. Initiation from an orthodoxguruis given after preparation, training and attaining a certain level of purity and dedication. Thegurubestows the authority to chant Nama ivya. After initiation, the devotee is obligated to intone it regularly as instructed. This forges theishya'spermanent bond with theguruand his spiritual lineage,sampradya,and fires the process of inner unfoldment. From the lips of my Satguruntha I learned Nama ivya, and it has been the central core of my life, strength and fulfillment of destiny. The secret of Nama ivya is to hear it from the right lips at the right time. Then, and only then, is it the most powerful mantra for you. Theiva Sahitaffirms, "Only the knowledge imparted by aguru,through his lips, is powerful and useful; otherwise it becomes fruitless, weak and very painful." Aum Nama ivya.

After finishing in India, our team visited Malaysia for a couple days to have satsang with Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas and informal Kauai Aadheenam devotees, and visit a few temples including the famous Batu Caves. Yogi Dayanatha mentioned that a lot of tourists come to Batu Caves after 9am, so they were glad to have visited earlier in the morning. Then, on the way home to Kauai, they made another short stop in Singapore to meet a few families and visit a huge indoor tropical garden.

It's been two or three years since Saiva Siddhanta Church sishyas and well-wishers in Singapore and Malaysia could visit with Satguru, so that was nearly the sole focus of his recent week spent there, minus one day due to a flight cancellation from Honolulu.

Malaysia was the first stop, with multiple padapujas. Satguru met with many families individually, presided over some brahmacharya vratas, held a group satsang at the Iraivan Illam center, met with current leadership at the Malaysia Hindu Sangam, and stopped by longtime supporter Dr. Arjunan's home where he also touched base with the current Swami posted at the local Divine Life Society branch.

Singapore was the second stop, with padapuja satsang at Dohadeva and Nagavathy's home and another satsang at the hotel complete with a dance offering.

Earlier this month, Saiva Siddhanta Church longtime sishya, Sivajani Nagappan, had darshan with Satguru before completing his several-week taskforce stay and returning home to Malaysia, where the rest of his family will see Satguru shortly. Sivajnani was very helpful to the Aadheenam during the intense period of preparing for the final Iraivan Temple Mandala Pujas. He also enjoyed quiet "recharging" time sadhanas on the grounds.

This morning, Vani, who visiting here from London, took her vrata shishya vows with the blessings from Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. She's here with her parents who are on pilgrimage to Kauai Aadheenam for the first time from Mauritius. The family gathered in the Guru Pitam following the morning's Siva Puja in Kadavul Temple. Vani read from her new vows and signed them, as did her parents and Satguru. Many blessings from the Kailasa Parampara for this new stage on the path! Aum Namah Shivaya

Multiple concrete trucks arrived in the early morning and Ryan's team went about vigorously guiding the concrete pump and smoothing it out. After the concrete cooled for several days, the team returned to lay a cement block partial wall (see last photo), which they did quickly with a couple days. The next stage is to level adjacent ground and pour a concrete foundation for the new machinery maintenance shop.

Many years ago a family commissioned these black granite murtis for placing outside their home. Years later plans changed and they no longer needed the murtis, deciding to donate them to our monastery. In discussing where these murtis could call home--at least for the time being--we noted than many general visitors stop by during our closed hours, so enriching the experience at our very front entrance (outside the gate) was felt to be most appropriate. A granite Sivalingam is already there, so now Ganesha and Murugan join Siva. A couple weeks ago when SSC sishya Gaurav and Ripla Malhotra family was here on pilgrimage, they and two Pillaiyar Kulam construction crew, Raymond and Kawika, helped to installed the two Deities.

Happy monthly Ardra nakshatra abhishekam today! The evening before Ardra, the Nataraja murti is cleaned and polished with tamarind paste and vibhuti. Speaking of cleaning, while our SSC sishyas--Sivaram Eswaran family--were here on pilgrimage, Sivaram cleaned the Ganesha and Muruga murtis who bless the entrance to our Svayambhulingam area at the end of San Marga path.

In our monastic order, a monk can only take lifetime vows once he becomes a sannyasin. Until then he is under short term vows that must be renewed every two years on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima. He is known as a "Postulant" monastic. Some days ago our postulants all gathered in the Guru Temple to renew their four vows of Humility, Purity, Obedience and Confidence. Below are the introductions to each vow.

HUMILITY IS THE STATE OF profound maturity in which the soul, immersed in the depths of understanding and compassion, radiates the qualities of mildness, modesty, reverent obeisance and unpretentiousness. There is an analogy in the Saivite tradition that compares the unfolding soul to wheat. When young and growing, the stalks of wheat stand tall and proud, but when mature their heads bend low under the weight of the grains they yield. Similarly, man is self-assertive, arrogant and vain only in the early stages of his spiritual growth. As he matures and yields the harvest of divine knowledge, he too bends his head. In the Tamil language this absence of pride or self-assertion is known as pannivu. Pannivu also means "jewel." In the Tirukural it is said that "Humility and pleasant words are the jewels that adorn a man; there are none other."

PURITY IS THE PRISTINE and natural state of the soul. It is not something which the monastic attains as much as that which he already is, and which becomes evident as the layers of adulterating experience and beclouding conceptions are dissipated. Purity is clarity and clearness in all dimensions of being. It is innocence as opposed to familiarity with the ways of the world. It is for monastics the observance of chastity, called brahmacharya. In Tamil purity is given its fullest expression in the term tirikarannasutti, which means "purity in mind, speech and body." These three--also called thought, word and deed--convey the fullness of the ideal of purity.

OBEDIENCE IS THE STATE OF willingness and cooperation in which the soul remains open and amenable to enlightened direction. For the monastic it is an unbroken pledge of trust in and surrender to the satguru, the guru parampara and the mystic process of spiritual evolution. In the Tamil language this definition of obedience is expressed in the term taalvu enum tanmai, which denotes "the quality or state of humble submission." Obedience does not consist in blind submission and yielding to authority, nor in weakening our own will that it may be dominated by the will of another. Yet it is, in another sense, submission to a sacred purpose and the divine authority of the Second and Third Worlds. It is, for the monastic, an inner quality that allows him to remain consciously tractable and responsive.

CONFIDENCE IS THE STATE of trust in which the sacred teachings and sensitive or personal matters are not divulged to others. Spiritual matters must be protected and preserved by those to whom they are entrusted, never wantonly or indiscriminately revealed. When we confide in another, we do so with the assurance that sensitive and serious information will not be inappropriately disclosed. In the Tamil language confidence is known as rahasiyam, meaning "secret or mystery." Confidence as applied to these Sacred Vows does not mean "certainty," "a belief in one's abilities" or "self-confidence." Rather it is a confiding, a trusting and a relying upon. It is the controlled sharing of privileged teachings or information that should not be disclosed, but held in confidentiality. In its most simple form it is the keeping of a secret. Confidence for the monastic may be defined as wisdom in handling information.