Today was the auspicious day of Skanda Shashthi puja. The homa and abhishekam for Lord Murugan were powerful and uplifting as ever this year.

Lord Muruga’s actinic electric presence poured through the inner atmosphere to bless us all. See the slide show for more.

Our guests today (all visiting for the first time) include -- Ravi Aithal and Shubha Maiya (originally from Karnataka), who now reside in Reston, VA. Also Nalini (previously from Tamil Nadu) and Debrarata (from Orissa) current residents of Los Angeles. All of our guests attended the morning puja and were moved by the powerful darshan of the Kadavul Shiva Temple. Pujas have continued in this beautiful Shiva Temple every three hours, twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year since the temple was established by the Founder and geat visionary, Sat Siva Guru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami over three and a half decades ago.

Visitors in front of the Temple tank (L/R) are Helen Goodman and Leo Gulko, (previously from Kiev, Russia), now longtime residents of San Francisco, CA.; and Lyn and Gary Earp from Kennewick, WA. all enjoying the peace, beauty, and wonder of this blessed spiritual paradise.

The weekly public tour always brings a sense of triumph of the human spirit. From every possible walk of life and religious background they come so open and willing to listen and understand the ways of others. Not only listen but empathize and reach for a oneness of spirit and common ground.

Today we also had a special class called “Akamai Learning Center” taught by Felicia Cowden. These fortunate children are “taught by doing” and experience a field trip every week. They are currently studying India and are reading Hinduism Today’s publication for this age group.  They are learning about yoga, ayurveda, Indian cooking, Indian history, Ghandi, and have a student whose grandparents were born and raised in India. 

Kandan was gracious enough to give two demonstrations today.

They couldn’t wait to touch everything.

Future carvers . . .

Artists . . .

And leaders . . .

Learn by doing is the theme of their school.

Small home study learning groups on Kauai will certainly produce some remarkable leaders for our future.

After hearing about the radiant soul within they all sat down in Kadavul after the tour and went on an innersearch.