After years of writing text that would last a thousand years (no pressure, right?) and sculpting and casting, nine of the 35 panels are being shipped today from Loveland, Colorado, to be installed on the perimeter wall.

The shipper sent some (not so great) photos. The actual panels are works of art. As CyberCadets know, they give the history, philosophy and beliefs of monistic Saiva Siddhanta. Pilgrims of the future will use them like a bronze illustrated library to understand the temple, how and by whom it was built, and of course lots about its founder, Gurudeva. Stay tuned for the installation in the weeks ahead.

Today we received project update photos from the two teams in Honolulu who are working to gild the five Panchabrahma murtis. The transformation is awesome as you will see in the slideshow below. But the work has been arduous and far more complex and time-consuming than we thought. This is due to the unusual mix of metals in the original casting in India. But with days and days of light sand blasting, filling of pits, removal of corrosion, priming and sanding, the masterful sculptures, just 36" tall, are ready for the gilder's mastery. Thor Minnick is is Hawaii's foremost gilder, working with his equally competent wife, Diane. They are spending late night hours struggling with weather/humidity issues, but it is coming together marvelously. The gold they are applying is 23 karat, super pure.

Ready for some interesting facts about gold?

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79, it is the only metal that is yellow.
Gold is one of the most ductile and malleable elements, making it easy to shape and work with.
Gold is a good conductor of electricity and does not corrode, providing a sustainable store of value and a material for coinage and jewelry for thousands of years. India is the world's largest user of gold.
The total amount of gold ever mined is estimated to be around 165,000 tons, with the largest gold producing country being China. That is said to be the volume of a cube just over sixty feet on a side, not that much for millennia of human effort.

A small Ganesha made of turmeric is worshipped first. In the corner of the yagasala with pots of earth, Kumar Gurukkal performed the pancha kavya puja, which honors the widely used substances produced by cows. After that, we moved to another corner for Surya kumbha puja, which is why Gurukkal offered only red flowers, symbolizing the sun's heat.

The first few photos below show some of the preparations in the days before events began.
After that, are photos of the Bhumi Puja under the bilva tree, during which Mother Earth was honored for providing abundance.
The rest of the photos show the process of transferring the shakti from the wood replica of Nandi, Bali Peedam and Dhvajasthambha back into kumbhas and bring the kumbhas to the yagasala for multiple homas to energize them.

Good day fine citizens of Siva's perfect universe, We hope you all excited for Thai Pusam coming up February 4th! In this regard we have produced two audio files today containing Gurudeva chanting Aum Saravanabava. An audio clip was taken from an inspired upadesha Gurudeva gave after Skanda Shasti 23 years ago and repeated 108 times to create a guided japa.   Version with background sound- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VroAKbfzkAPTmjONYvoOi6arm1vDe1op/view?usp=sharing Version without background music- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HDKuWXA3pWaPWosZQc0W9_pSp8rethAK/view?usp=share_link     2000 Skanda Shasti Inspired Talk- https://www.himalayanacademy.com/view/gr_2000-11-01_worship-of-lord-murugan   Emjoy, Aum Namah Sivaya!

For those new to our story, years back, around 1984, we installed a 9-foot-long black granite Nandi in front of Kadavul Temple. Gurudeva loved the sculpture, but was disappointed in the rough unfinished stones they provided for the base. He called it "A pile of rocks." That sentence lived in our minds all these years and finally we set about to make it right. New cladding was designed in Chola empire style and carved in India and the silpis spent all of November and December and part of January installing and refining it. Here we present some historic photos along with a BEFORE and AFTER slider that tells its own story.

Today's ceremony will reintroduce the energies into Kadavul Temple's Kodimaram, Bali Pitam and Nandi, which had been extracted for construction.