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Sun Five – Chitra Puja

Today was the monthly Chitra Puja for Gurudeva. Bodhinatha here chants Sri Rudram along with all the other monks.

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END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming two-day retreat,
until Dasami Tithi, Sun One, Thursday, July 30th.

Sadhaka Nilakantha is one of the pujaris today.

Along with Sadhaka Satyanatha

The monks have made careful preparations the night before and early in the morning.

Bodhinatha arrives and all the monks prostrate to him as we do every day.

Then our devotees

Chanting Sri Rudram

Chitra Puja is always a mystical time full of the love of the Guru and a powerful renewal of Gurudeva’s presence in our lives. Gurudeva is with us all the time on the inside.

Sadhaka Nandinatha

Darshan with Bodhinatha

Asha Bhachandani and her sister from near Toronto, Canada, visited for the first time. They asked Bodhinatha questions about health, mitigating karma, family harmony.

Shivani Takes Her Vratas

Shivani Vinayaga today solemnly spoke out her Arul Sishya vows today in Kadavul Temple. Sitting before Lord Ganesha, with mother Shama behind her (as she always is), Shivani vowed officially to do what she has been doing for a long time: to be a vegetarian, to accept Bodhinatha and the Kailasa Parampara as her spiritual authority and a third vow to tithe ten percent of her income to her religion. Church members witness this profound moment.

Sri Subramuniya Kottam's Educational Project

Life in Sri Lanka after the war has ended is difficult for all the Tamils there, but good things are still happening.

In Sri Lanka when children reach grade 6 one of the school items that is needed is a math/compass set (ruler, pencil, compass, eraser, sharpener in a box). Many families are not able to purchase this small item (valued at $1US) so the children need to use each other’s set which is very inconvenient during exam times. This math/compass set is used by the students from grade 6 to grade 10 and is a valued part of their instruction supplies.

One of the current projects of the Sri Subramuniya Kottam of Kopay is providing a math/compass set to all the less fortunate students who do not have the set. Last May, the first school in Kopay received 65 math/compass sets. The Kottam’s goal is to provide sets to all the schools in Kopay Village and eventually, with the Grace of God, expand to all the schools in the Jaffna district. This small gift was very much appreciated by the students, their parents and their teachers.

Rishimatha Sivalosani Kanagaratnam ceremoniously handed over the math sets to deserving students at the Kopay Navalar School.

In Sri Lanka most of the rural schools do not have an assembly hall so children gather on the ground under the trees.

Aums and a Lesson on Money

Dr. Narayana Rao and his wife met with Hinduism Today Indian correspondent Rajiv Malik in New Delhi to discuss their collaborations with the monastery.

Each year Palaniswami creates four new graphic AUMs for the covers of Hinduism Today. Today we get a glimpse of his work.

This is a photo from the Big Island from Holly Young. She is an amazing bronze sculptor. We have commissioned her to do our very first bronze. This is a preliminary crafting of it. It is 30 inches long, 18 inches wide and 15 inches high, and is destined to be held in the giant hand of Lord Hanuman when he arrives from India. You will see more of this project as it evolves.

The Hanuman is even bigger than the Dakshinamurthi we have in the gardens!

Today we bring you a special treat. A series of stunning island photos.

But the real savory is a lesson from our beloved Gurudeva. He often counseled families from his Guru Peedam seat, and sometimes the subject of money came up. If you ever suffered from a lack of money, you will love this slideshow, with its practical and mystical advice and amazing photographs. Click here for the show and click the thumbnails to see the full sized images and captions.

Nallur Festival at Murugan Temple of North America

Nigel Siva sent us this announcement about the upcoming Ilankai Nallur Kathirkama Kanthan festival to be held on August 7th and 8th at the Murugan Temple of North America in Lanham, Maryland. Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami will be attending this event, an annual pilgrimage they have both been making since 2004. The devotees of the temple are quite excited with this year's festival as they have a beautiful new chariot to take Lord Murugan around the temple. This Murugan temple is one of few in North American where devotees carry kavadi with spears. To see last year's 2008 Nallur Festival see the YouTube Nallur Festival Video

Silent Sages

The first two granite pieces to ever be made for Gurudeva are Saint Tirumular and Saint Tiruvalluvar, whose statues grace the entrance to the Aadheenam courtyard. Here is Tirumular who is said to have stayed deep in meditation for 3000 years only to come into the conscious mind once a year to write one verse.

Tiruvalluvar, the weaver, busy writing the masterpiece of on human ethics and conduct, The Tirukural

And evening shot of Iraivan as the sun drops over the mountain to the west. The gilded towers glisten magically in the distance.

Archives are now available through 2001. Light colored days have no posts. 1998-2001 coming later.

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