Bodhinatha departed for Canada today with Yoginathaswami. They will be holding a book launching of the Guru Chronicles there and meeting with devotees.

Temperatures are between 20 and 40 degree F... something that Yoginathaswami has not experience "in depth" but he is prepared with a warm heavy vest.

Have a great trip Bodhinatha!

Meanwhile... Bodhinatha writes today from Toronto that the arrived safe and sound with a half day off to adjust and event begin tomorrow.

"

For those who have not heard yet, a few days ago the April issue of Hinduism Today was released. See: http://www.hinduismtoday.com

As always, the Global Dharma pages have some interesting small stories from around the world.

The world continues to "wake up" to the huge legacy that Hinduism left throughout Southeast Asia. Here is a little known story from Vietnam:

UNESCO Protects My Son

In 1999 unesco designated the My Son sanctuary in Vietnam a World Heritage site. This is good news for Hindus, who can now rest assured that this treasure will be preserved. The site represents an ancient settlement and sanctuary area; eight groups of tower temples have been singled out. All are constructed in fired brick with stone pillars.

The Hindu architecture of Cambodia and Indonesia are well known, but not many know that a Hindu kingdom also reigned along the Vietnamese coast from the 4th to the 13th centuries. My Son, a small valley flanked by mountains, was the capital and religious center of the Champa Kingdom, which originated in 192 ce and was deeply influenced by the Saiva Agama tradition. Between the sixth and tenth centuries, fine temples were built for Krishna and Vishnu, but above all for Siva. Champa was eventually absorbed by the growing power of Vietnam to the North. Read more at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/949

This is Dharma Senathiraja (center) with her brother and mother on left and daughter Yaamini on right. They are visiting from Toronto for the first time.

Kumar Sinnadurai family (wife not in photo) is visiting Kauai for the first time from Edmonton, Canada. His parents recently visited with our sishyas Jai and Ganga Murugan. Kumar and his wife were the first marriage to be solemnized at the Mahaganapati Temple in Edmonton. Kumar recalls our late Gurudeva visiting his home when he was only age 16.

Another photo from the other day when we hosted local Kauai residents in an interfaith gathering here at the monastery

The whole monastery gathered yesterday afternoon as Sannyasin Senthilnathaswami gave everyone a tour of our Google Apps web space.

Our goal was to educate everyone today in the use of Google Calendar and Google docs which will help everyone in the coordination of our Sivathondu in serving the mission.

It was very useful and also great fun as the monks do no often gather as a one group like this.