On July 17th, the California Gold Gate Mission members of Saiva Siddhanta Church held Guru Purnima in the downstairs hall of the Concord, Shiva Murugan temple. The event was presided over by resident priests, Ananth Sivachariar, and Sathish Gurukkal who are now serving at the temple.

Devotees performed the pada puja, chanted Gurudeva's names, bhajans and Natchintanai. The priest guided the puja with their powerful chants.

The two priests are disciples of Sr. Dr. K. Pitchai Sivachariar from Pilliyar Patti. Ananth Sivachariar knew Gurudeva well and attributes his service now in this temple to Gurudeva's vision and support for the Sivachariar priests.

As most watching TAKA know, this temple was migrated from Gurudeva's original Palaniswami Sivan temple in San Francisco. It was later managed as Himalayan Academy, California branch, by our monks and devotees and then given over to the Hindu community when Gurudeva consolidated all his teaching activities at Kauai Aadheenam.

Ananth Sivachariar gave a short talk at the event recognizing the work of all the devotees who were the "original founders of this temple" and urged everyone to come and participate more. It was inspiring to see the spirit of the Kailasa Paramapara honored here on this day.

You can read about the priests here at this temple web page

We present photos from Satguru's recently completed visit to the United Kingdom from start to finish. Our full story today was written by Arulsishya Ramai Santhirapala of London.

Ramai's summary:


Between 28th June and 5th July, London had the immense boon of welcoming Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami. This was His first official visit since 2005 and one that was much anticipated. London has been gently walking towards Satguru's Holy Feet over the past decade, and inner doors opened as Hinduism Today reported on London's Saivite temples last year. A somewhat unanticipated and delightful sequelae of reporting this article were the many stories which emerged from those who had met Paramaguru Siva Yogaswami , Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami and Satguru Bodhinatha Himself. In short invites were aplenty requesting earnestly for the presence of Satguru in London bringing joy to the hearts of the Saivite community and beyond.

The visit was a gracious opportunity to visit a selection of London's Saivite Temples whilst spending time with the growing Europe satsang group of Himalayan Academy students and sishyas. Cordially Kulapati and Kulamata Veeragethiyar, London's only kulapati, held a satsang at their home to commence this blessed visit. The pada puja was vibrant and Satguru's talk on our Saiva Samayam was enjoyed by all. That evening heralded the start of the temple tour across London, first being London Sri Murugan. Satguru and Shanmuganathaswami received a warm vanakkam with a powerful Guru mantra chant with good friend Pitchai Kurukkral in attendance. Sri Murugan Temple and the close by Saiva Munetta Sangam have previously received Satguru Bodhinatha and Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in the past and this was a beautiful moment to build on this acquaintance. Satguru Bodhinatha's talk on ‘Saivism is Not Well Understood' was received with immense thanks from devotees, especially as it was read out in English and Tamil.

The next morning the Europe satsang group organized a visit to Kew Royal Botanical Gardens which provided an opportunity to stroll through the tree-lined vistas, find a little Kauai in London in the Palm House and visit the newest feature entitled ‘The Hive', the latter being an educational and audio-visual delight mirroring a real beehive at Kew. That evening Satguru and Shanmuganathaswami visited Enfield Nagapoosani Amman Temple where currently in construction is London's first all granite temple to which Satguru has been invited to its Mahakumbhabhishekam next year.

Continuing on this journey the following morning was a visit to ‘Shanti Nilayam'; a small building dedicated to Siva Yogaswami established by long term devotees. The owners sought Yogaswami's tiruvadi and most humbled as Satguru blessed them with a wonderful puja. Natchinthinai were sang and we heard a beautiful poem from an elder, now in his 80s, who spoke of the wonders of our Guru parampara. Lunch was served at the Jananayagam home, most well known for their multiple generation association with Siva Yogaswami. Yogaswami seemed the common thread as that evening, Highgate Hill Murugan celebrated its monthly katthigai puja in Satguru's presence ending with an auspicious inauguration of a picture of Paramaguru Siva Yogaswami. The Ganesha murti at this temple was gifted by Gurudeva and it was interesting to hear of devotees connection with Gurudeva, Satguru Bodhinatha and Kauai Aadheenam.

The unique and boon of a workshop on Saivism was held at Shree Ghanapathy Temple on the third day of the visit. This was immensely well received as Satguru Bodhinatha gave a talk he has written on ‘What is Saivism?', Participants found it very useful to flow from the mystical aspects of Lord Siva and Saivism through to pragmatic wisdom on implementing this to everyday life in a city. We flowed onto visit the home of London's Thiruchendur Murugan, the first Hindu murti in London, at Sri Rajarajeswari Amman Temple that evening where we witnessed a wonderful abhishekam, violin and mridangam recital.

The musical theme continued as the next morning Satguru was invited to London Sivan Kovil. London's othuvar, Samy Thandapani, amazed us with his precise recitals of Tamil thevarans and songs dedicated to Lord Siva and the Nayanmars. Interspersed were recitals by London's Pan Asai group alongside a flute recital. All the while Lord Siva received a wonderful abhishekam. This was a suitable close to the temple visits, all of which received a beautifully worded upadesha on Saivism by Satguru Bodhinatha and gifted with gems from the writings of our our beloved Gurudeva. To close five days of dynamic travel across London filled with activities, a satsang was held at the Santhirapala home where vratas were taken under Satguru's brilliant radiance. Prior to departing London, Satguru and Shamuganathaswami blessed the satsang group with an Aloha Dinner which took place in the riverside and greener side of London, Richmond-Upon-Thames.

Overall a blessed and vibrant time as all felt immensely grateful and blissful in the light of Satguru's grace. His words of wisdom and joy in His smile captured the hearts of many who look ahead to the next visit whilst also planning a visit to Siva's little island of Kauai. It is with the humblest of nandris to the love and dharsan from Kauai Aadheenam that this visit manifested and we very much felt the love from the international family; Siva's Sambandham. All is indeed His Dance.

Aum Namah Sivaya

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEoH5m6TrNk

During Satguru's time in London, he visited the Shree Ghanapathy Temple in London where he gave a presentation he created entitled, "What is Saivism?" The purpose of the presentation is to clarify Saivism's uniqueness from other Hindu schools of thought, mostly in an effort to have the distinction between it and the prevailing idea of Sankaracarya's Advaita Vedanta clear in the mind of practicing Saivas. Part One of Five is embedded above, which shows the heartfelt welcoming of Satguru at the temple. Below, we offer links to the remaining four sections in which the actual presentation is contained. The YouTube channel on which these videos are posted is London Hindu Temples, which hosts a collection of beautiful videos of the many festivals and other events happening in and around London's Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu community. We encourage you to watch other videos on their channel and subscribe. Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSW_r9hFg_4 Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gNVEjpsOn4 Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ5i6UJdyZc Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDd4_nzHsso

On the evening of June 30, Satguru attended the Sri Nagapooshani Ambal Temple in Enfield, a borough of London. The head priest, Kamala Sivacariyar, is a friend to Kaua`i Aadheenam and is grateful for the work done here. Photos in this slideshow include current construction of the garbha griha (innermost sanctum) which is in black granite, along with black granite pillars in the main structure's hall. When completed, it will be an impressive sight. The temple is scheduled next year to have its kumbhabhishekam, to which Satguru has already been invited.

Some additional background:
The Enfield temple is of the Sri Lankan Tamil tradition, and is very much actively involved in giving back to that community back in their homeland. The amount of charity that is performed, administered, and overseen is nothing short of impressive. Please visit their website here: www.ambaal.org
The temple owes its origins to the famous Nagapooshani Amman Temple on Nainativu island, just off the coast of northern Sri Lanka, which is a highly significant temple for Sri Lankan Tamils. It is mentioned in Tamil texts from over 1,500 years ago as well as being dubbed one of the 64 Shakti Peethams by Adi Sankaracarya in the 6th century C.E. The original temple suffered the fate of many temples in the nation, having been completely destroyed by the Portuguese in the 17th century. The current temple is from the mid-18th century. For example, the Nalloor Kandaswamy Temple, the majorly significant temple in Yogaswami and Chellappaswami's lives, was built, destroyed, and rebuilt four times over its history. Such is the tenacity of the Hindu spirit. Despite a multitude of powerful and negative forces, Hindu temple culture persists.

We conclude with this quote by Gurudeva from Living with Siva:

"If all the temples were destroyed, the gurus would come forth and rebuild them. If all the scriptures were destroyed, the rishis would reincarnate and rewrite them. If all the gurus, swamis, rishis, sadhus, saints and sages were systematically destroyed, they would take births here and there around the globe and continue as if nothing had ever happened. So secure is the Eternal Truth on the planet, so unshakable, that it forges ahead undaunted through the mouths of many. It forges ahead undaunted through the temples' open doors. It forges ahead undaunted in scriptures now lodged in nearly every library in the world. It forges ahead undaunted, mystically hidden from the unworthy, revealed only to the worthy, who restrain themselves by observing some or all of the yamas and who practice a few niyamas."

Bodhinatha's Latest Upadeshas:"Temples, Monasteries, Peace" (June 22,2016)

A temple helps you be a more peaceful person, live more deeply inside and into our soul nature. Harmony in the home leads to greater tolerance in the community. The emanation of darshan from the aadheenam creates an inner vibration, radiates out, uplifts those who are connected to the monastery. And, their karmas go more smoothly.

Master Course, Dancing with Siva, Sloka 70.

The Guru Chronicles, Chapter 17.

Saivite Shastras (Ref. Saiva Dharma Shastras, Chapter 1:26)



Click here to go to an index of all of Bodhinatha's and Gurudeva's online audio.

Each month the Wailua Mission members here on Kauai gather together for their Iraivan Day. Their contribution to the temple building project is to create lovely jewelry and rudraksha malas for sale at the Mini Mela gift shop. Their work has raised a great deal of funds for the temple. This month they were joined by Swami Ramana Swaroopananda, Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan and by our two taskforcers.

Today we were honored to have Dr. Padma Sugavanam visit the monastery. Dr. Sugavanam is a professional Carnatic vocalist from Chennai presently touring across the US. She was able to visit us since she's currently invited to present a lecture-demonstration at the University of Hawaii on O`ahu. For the last decade, Dr. Sugavanam has been lecturing at the Sri Venkateswara College of Music and Dance in Tirupati, India. Her Ph.D.'s are both in Sanskrit and musicology from the University of Madras.
Do yourself a big favor and listen to her sing "Ananda Natamaduvar Thillai" by clicking the play button on the audio file below. This Tamil piece is on Lord Siva in the form of Ananda Nataraja at Chidambaram (Thillai). It was composed by nineteenth century Carnatic composer, Neelakanta Sivan. Click here for transliterated lyrics.

Here are some recent images from Jiva and Thurai in Begnaluru. Here they are loading four more containers destined for Kauai. These stones here are mainly for the perimeter wall around Iraivan Temple's foundation.

As a container is slowly being loaded for shipping to Kauai, the Rajasankaras snapped some close-up shots of the carving detail.

Aum Sivaya everyone, we have just received these photos from Iraivan's carving site in India. The silpis are working hard to finish the perimeter wall and Nandi Mandapam stone pieces.