Yesterday the monastery celebrated the chitra nakshatra with a padapuja, connecting with our beloved Gurudeva. Natyam Nandinatha and Natyam Rajanatha performed the puja, which was scintillating with Gurudeva's pervasive love and his roaring silence.

Our July 2013 news video covers events in June 2013 including: Satguru Bodhinatha'a trip to Washington DC and his opening prayer to the US House of Representatives, the arrival of stones from bangalore, including Hanuman, the completion of the monastery's new solar panel array and Sadasivanathaswami's and Senthinathaswami's trip to Europe.

One of the truly delightful surprises of our swamis' trip in Europe came when meeting members of the Balinese community in Cologne. We connected with Made Sukasta, a German man who took a Hindu name, married a Balinese woman when he was living in Bali decades ago and is now a key part of a dance and cultural group in Germany. A bit like our unrealistic expectations with the Afghan group in the same city, we thought that a minor community with a small story was what we would find. Not aware of any temples, we assumed their part of our Hinduism Today article would be solely about their unique music and dance. After all, we were meeting them in a private home. Again and again, it is clear that such expectations are made to be shattered, and hence the need for this story to be told in the magazine.

As it turns out, there are 250 Balinese Hindus in Germany and about 80 in Belgium, three full-fledged temples, spread out across half a dozen major metropolitan areas (one of the temples is apparently giant, in Belgium). While the sub-groups gather on a regular basis to practice and perform gamelan (traditional drums) and dance, worship and the preservation of their religious tradition for the next generation is foremost, just like at home in Bali. In fact, they have done an amazing job at keeping their manifold tradition alive). 

And unlike the other immigrant communities from war-torn countries like Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, the Balinese maintain homes in Europe and back in Bali and travel frequently between them, as their connections to their home temples, as they call them, are of crucial importance to maintaining their ancestral connections that are such a part of their tradition. This is easy because Bali is a peaceful place. In Europe and in Bali, these are happy, comfortable, free people.

Each year they celebrate major festivals, like Sarasvati Puja, picking another group in the country to host the event. By rotating like this they can have larger gatherings and give prominence to the far-flung family groups. 

One woman, Luh Gede Juli Wirahmini Bisterfeld, took the trouble to take  a train 4.5 hours from Hamburg just to speak with us that day. She is the head (she is president, but thinks of it as just a humble leadership role) of the Balinese group there, which has a fully functioning temple built for them in and by a prominent cultural museum. This is without a doubt one of the most articulate, eloquent, insightful people we have ever interviewed, her story (full of love of her people and her land and her religion) and all the rest will be presented in our feature article about Hinduism and Europe in the Jan/Feb/Mar 2014 edition of Hinduism Today. So, stay tuned! It's going to be fascinating and informative.

This lovely and informal band made us all feel like we were a part of the Balinese family, such rich smiles on their faces, such devotion to God in everything and everyone they meet. Others have much to learn about hospitality.

The room was filled with members of the local community in and around Cologne, all friends and all gathered in Made's little townhouse to greet and speak with us. We were traveling in a large group for these three days in North Rhein-Westphalia. Not only had Kulapati E. Veeragathiyar and Kulamata Puvanesam joined us from Berlin, also Niraj Thaker from London (to learn the art of interviewing and then travel to other parts of Germany, Austria and Czech Republic on our behalf to report on the Hindus there in the coming days), Clive and Puvaneswary Roberts from nearby Netherlands, Vasaant Krishnan from Singapore (who is doing Ph.D. research at the university in Bonn) and Purushottama Dasa (a young man from Cologne whom we met at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 2009, now the United Religion Initiative's representative to the UN). 

After passing umpteen kilometers of farm fields, quaint villages, solar fields and wind farms that ran to both horizons, our swamis' train from Berlin stopped in Hamm, just next door to the Sri Sithivinayakar Temple, which Gurudeva had given the murti for decades ago. This little temple inside a capacious warehouse was a sweet space for the first of several interviews that day. 

After learning about the trials and tribulations of this community of families, we were regaled with a story about Gurudeva (and you know how much we love Gurudeva stories). They explained that when he and Paramacharya Sivanatha visited in 1995, Gurudeva told them that this temple was the spiritual satellite that would radiate down to all the other Sri Lankan temples in Europe. He said it would be famed one day. They all took the Guru's words to heart and have cultivated Ganesha's stabilizing vibration here quite well over the years. They brought out photos of Gurudeva's and Sivanathaswami's visit, so naturally we confiscated them for our historical archives (promising to send them digital copies).

Next stop was the renowned Sri Kamadchi Ampal Temple in Hamm-Uentrop, a few miles away--the other of three temples in this town that we would visit. This beautiful temple (which nearly every other temple head in Europe spoke of, so well-known it has become) perched in an industrial area, but surrounded by beautifully kept gardens, is owned and operated solely by its head priest, Sri Paskara Gurukkal. He is one of the rare Adisaivas we ran into who has such a strong vibration from so much personal sadhana that he is like a walking temple himself.

Deservedly famous throughout Europe, Gurukkal and his temple draw tens of thousands from across the continent for the annual festival, with massive parades in the streets and devotees rolling around the temple as tapas. It was a little hard to imagine that on this quiet day when we had all the darshan of the Goddess that we could enjoy and a long interview with Gurukkal in his private temple office. He spoke of his dream of a cultural center, his next mountain to climb.

In Cologne the following day, we visited the Hari Om Temple of the Afghan Hindu Kultur Verein. It was a little bit hard to find because an enormous building was being constructed right next door to it in this slightly remote suburban location. It was funny. We expected it to be a small shrine in a basement, and it sort of was, though on the second or third floor of a building. Half way through our interview, we innocently asked, "Does the community have any plans to expand to a larger facility." 

With a look of surprise on their faces, they all pointed out the window to the huge structure just a couple meters away. Turns out that giant building obstructing our view of the temple, is the temple! A tour was in order. And wow! This new three-story building will have a huge hall, a cultural hall, classrooms, kitchen and dining area and all the other necessities to serve the community.

Quite well deserved, we thought, by this group of people who have struggled so much, being strangers in their own homeland and having to literally escape with their lives in their hands to Germany and other countries when it became clear that they were really, really no longer welcome back home and that they would perish if they didn't get out. The leaders are all seniors, and professionals and have done something marvelous here. They asked Paramacharya where to place the shrine for the scriptures and after some discussions about direction a corner in the north was decided upon. Did you know there are fully 15,000 Afgan Hindus in Germany?

Guru Purnima will be celebrated at Saiva Siddhanta Church's Spiritual Park in Mauritius on Monday, July 22nd. Join us to celebrate the blessings of Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and the Kailasa Parampara. Events begin at 5 PM.

• 5.00 PM: Natchintanai
• 5.30: Pada puja
• 6.30: Meditation
• 6.40: Guru Purnima Message 2013 from Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami
• 7.10: Movie presentation from Bodhinatha
• 7.30: Ceremony concludes with final arati and prostration to the Holy Tiruvadi

A meal will be served to all present.

You are kindly invited to bring flowers, garlands, fruits, cakes and Indian sweets to be offered to the Tiruvadi. We would appreciate if you are able to come a little earlier to help with the setting up of the Guru Peedam and decorations. Thank you. Aum.

Saiva Siddhanta Church - Mauritius Mission

Our visitors were in for a big surprise this past week. The new shipment from India has arrived and it was like Pancha Ganapati looking at all the new crates and treasures.

From our traveling Swamis:

To be filed under true, but unbelievable….

Swami and I had as last dinner in Europe last night, so walked the cobblestone passages (too narrow to call them roads), continuing to be amazed (and exhausted) by the street energy of Paris, like the most intense human gathering you have ever been in, except it does not end either with trying to walk through it (it goes for miles in every direction) or with time (it's the same at midnight as at 4pm). 
We saw this one small restaurant that seemed so typical and kind of clean and French, but walked past looking for something maybe larger, which we did not find.  So back we went to La Escrin, a bistro that reeked of France.
Service: exquisite. Food, inexpensive and yet elegant. So authentic, we agree. Only the French can cook like this. Ah, France, we thought. How great to say good-bye to you in this traditionally gastronomic way. 
But then we noted the staff were not all French. There was an Indian woman serving tables (her 3-year-old daughter tugging at her skirt) and what seemed like her husband at the counter. Hmmm!
He asked across the room where his saffron-clad customers were from and soon we discovered he is the owner. Been in Paris for 26 years. His right foot is disabled, but he he bright and curious.
Do you know Mauritius? I asked. No, but I do know Sri Lanka. Really? we resounded, which part? Jaffna, near Alaveddy. Soon we are talking about Nallur Temple, Erlalai Aadheenam, Mavidapuram, Columbuthurai, Keeramalai and more. He grew up a block from Kumbalavalai Ganesha Temple, near the ashram. He would go there every day as a boy. He shows us a Ganesha on a shelf above him. He is amazed, but no more than we. 
His chef peeks out from the kitchen, "I'm from Manaitivu," all smiles to hear us rattle off a few of the villages in the North and a bit about Yogaswami. We finish and the owner, Mutthukumar, covers our check and wishes us Bon Voyage. 
What a clear final message from Europe that we have done our work, perhaps well, and can fly home to Kauai soon.