Makilzhan and Priyabala Shanmugam with their cousin visited this morning from Ohio. They are on the island to attend a wedding. They were last here a few years ago, and before that had the opportunity to attend our late Gurudeva's final Guru Purnima padapuja before his mahasamadhi in 2001.
In the remaining photos are Somalay and Soundaram Somasundaram visiting for the first time from Pennsylvania. They are involved with Tamil Nadu Foundation humanitarian activities as well as the Rajaganapathy temple in New Jersey whose priest, Sivaguru Dikshitar, performed our Kadavul Temple kumbhabhishekam in 1985.

On May 29, 1997, there was a grand celebration held at the Kauai Adheenam of Hawaii, USA to commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of Sri Lanka's Sage Yogaswami. Disciple of Yogaswami,  Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (founder of Kauai Adheenam), performed the culminating puja of the event to a small bronze statue of Yogaswami. It was a powerful puja to be witnessed.  After the ceremony, Gurudeva inaugurated and blessed a world tour for the Yogaswami Murthi (icon). Gurudeva sent the great sage on a mission tracing the diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamils throughout the world. 

Gurudeva instructed that no plans or schedules should be devised for the spiritual odyssey; everything should unfold according to the "in the moment" inspiration and devotion of devotees along the way, until Yogaswami finally returned to rest in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. 

So far, the tour has traversed half the globe. Moving from Hawaii, through Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver in Canada; then on to Maryland, New York and Los Angeles in the USA before crossing the Atlantic for Europe. Wonderful pujas and cultural events have greeted the sage at every port of call. For the past twelve years, Yogaswami was in Europe.

In December of 2013, Yogaswami left Europe for Sri Lanka. Perhaps, it's his wish to be in Jaffna for his 50th Maha Samadhi Guru Puja on April 10th of this year. We are eagerly waiting for his arrival here in Jaffna. Pilgrimage was an important component of Yogaswami's life. After his initiation from his Guru Chellappawami in Nallur, Yogaswami went on a Patha Yathrai (foot Pilgrimage) to all  the local holy places in Sri Lanka. On his Golden Jubilee Year, Yogaswami may continue his Yatra all through Sri Lanka. 

As Gurudeva had instructed, no plans or schedules have made for his travel within Sri Lanka. One thing we are sure: it is a great blessing to have Yogaswami ending his world tour in Sri Lanka on his Golden Jubilee Year.

Aum Shanthi,

Rishi Thondunathan

After a three day retreat, which was full of festival celebrations, the monastery returns to another phase. Today's Siva homa was quite powerful, as the the temple's atmosphere was still scintillating with the energy from Lord Siva's Ardra abhishekam and Lord Skanda's Tai Pusam invocation.

Following the havana, Satguru Bodhinatha gave a talk about the importance of the Gods on the spiritual path. Emphasizing, in particular, Lord Muruga's ability to raise us up into the realms of willpower, direct cognition and divine love. Aum Namah Sivaya.

Today we celebrate Tai Pusam, a festival for fasting and performing public penance, by which we seek Karttikeya's blessings to dispel our selfishness, pride and vanity.

From Dancing with Siva:

What Is the Nature of Lord Karttikeya?

Lord Karttikeya, Murugan, first guru and Pleiadean master of kundalini yoga, was born of God Siva's mind. His dynamic power awakens spiritual cognition to propel souls onward in their evolution to Siva's feet. Lord Karttikeya flies through the mind's vast substance from planet to planet. He could well be called the Emancipator, ever available to the call of those in distress. Lord Karttikeya, God of will, direct cognition and the purest, child-like divine love, propels us onward on the righteous way through religion, His Father's law. Majestically seated on the manipura chakra, this scarlet-hued God blesses mankind and strengthens our will when we lift to the inner sky through sadhana and yoga. The yoga pada begins with the worship of Him. The yogi, locked in meditation, venerates Karttikeya, Skanda, as his mind becomes as calm as Saravana, the lake of Divine Essence. The kundalini force within everyone is held and controlled by this powerful God, first among renunciates, dear to all sannyasins. Revered as Murugan in the South, He is commander in chief of the great devonic army, a fine, dynamic soldier of the within, a fearless defender of righteousness. He is Divinity emulated in form. The Vedas say, "To such a one who has his stains wiped away, the venerable Sanatkumara shows the further shore of darkness. Him they call Skanda."

Today is Ardra Dashanam and the monastery is observing an abishekam to Lord Nataraja in Kadavul temple, bathing Him in water, milk, yogurt, vibuthi, honey, chandana, citrus and more.
Our Gurudeva had many wonderful words to say about our beloved God, here are just a few taken from Merging with Siva:

"Of course, if you love Siva, obviously you have to love everyone else. Love brings forgiveness. Love brings understanding. Love brings feeling. All Saivites of the world love Siva. They love each other, and they love the Vaishnavites, the Shaktas, the Smartas, the tribal Hindus and everyone in the world, because Siva's energy is working through everyone in the entire world--plants, trees, animals, fish, birds. It's so simple. The object of the lesson is to make yourself a very simple, uncomplicated person. Aum Namah Sivaya."
- Gurudeva

Yesterday the monks enjoyed Thai Pongal. Boiling a pot of sweet rice in the morning, and savoring a delicious lunch together, the monks celebrated the consistent harvest of fresh fruits and vegetables that the monastic gardens produce.

KURAL 1032
Farmers are the linchpin of the world, for they support all who take up other work, not having the strength to plow.

KURAL 1033
Those who live by the plow live in self-sufficiency. All others lean on them to simply subsist.

Today the monastery celebrated Thai Pongal, and sure enough the morning started out with an incredible rainbow. We get a lot of these, but this one was particularly full and stretched from Iraivan temple all the way to the cow barn, where our cows were munching down on their breakfast.