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Monastery Twitter Updates for 2010-11-09

  • The silpis moved into place the ornate drain pot that goes beneath the Iraivan gomugai this morning. http://twitpic.com/35ep2s #
  • At our Himalayan Acres agricultural parcel across the Wailua River, specimen areca palms are being planted. http://twitpic.com/35gyz1 #

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Sun Three

Satguru Speaks fans can check out the link to the recent talk we just uploaded yesterday, in the side bar on the right.

The Siddhidata Kulam reported on their work today. Yoginathaswami continues working on advance architectural plans for drainage and earth work around the temple. He hopes to have these plans finalized by the end of the year so that we can get bids on the constructions which involved and intricate installation of drains, piping and the lava rock wall around the edge of Iraivan. The rest of his team has been focused on ground maintenance which was set aside for many moons because they had other projects. Meanwhile the “jungle” never stops and invasive species of weeds and “weed trees” need to be taken care of.

More News From Trinidad Himalayan Academy Booth

Here we have the President of the National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) Mr. Deokienanan Sharam (left), his son Dr. Pravin Sharma, his grand sons Arvinda(back) and Akshay(front), sister Shanti(in saree) and daughter in law Rachael(extreme right). Mr. Sharma is responsible every year for choosing the theme for the Diwali Nagar. Diwali Nagar started in 1986 and since then has grown into a national event.

The festival is now over and Ashwinee shares this report with us. “In the final analysis, this was our most successful year at the Diwali Nagar. We shared knowledge of Hinduism through Himalayan Academy publications, we showed many what is available from the monastery’s website, we introduced people to Gurudeva and Bodhinatha,  showed them the making of Iraivan temple, and distributed a lot of free literature. Visitors numbered between 200 – 500 each night and at least 1000 on the last night.” Here we have a family that isn’t Hindu, but was so impressed with the literature that they bought Dancing with Siva, What is Hinduism? Mystic Mouse, and were given various booklets. They were so enthusiastic, we are sure they will be back.

Here, dedicated volunteers Keith and his son, Dharma (in their Hinduism Today t-shirts), explain the contents of Himalayan Academy’s Mystic Mouse to some youth. “Our staff learned more than the visitors. It was a most successful project,” concluded Ashwinee.

Mahasamadhi Observances in Malaysia

Photos are from the new center in Kuala Lumpur.

Kulapati’s Sivajnani Nagappan and Dhasan Sivananda performed the puja for Gurudeva.

Making Our Own Tongue and Grove Lumber

Not long ago in a monastery not far, far away, a lot of milling of redwood took place. Yes, machines were involved, but people (monks) too, as the monastery machines, most of them at least, don’t run by themselves. In this case there was a lot of cutting on the bandsaw. Followed by a whole lot of hand planing (on the show-side only). In this photo you can see some of the wood in its milled stage.

Here, now, is the big Mini-Max combination machine that Kumarswami used to make the tongue-and-grove profile on each board. Sorry, he didn’t get photos of that process.

Here is some of the wood after the t&g process. The destiny of this wood, which amounts to about 900 linear feet, it the ceiling of the soffits for the three art display pavilions that Deva Rajan is building during visits to the monastery. Kumarswami took time to help out with this process to push the job ahead a bit. Deva’s next visit is near the end of this year.

Finished pieces. There are numerous lengths, all carefully calculated so that the joints are staggered and waste is minimal. This is extraordinarily rare wood these days, old growth redwood from California that Deva and his Canyon Construction Company crew salvaged from a huge water tower that was being decommissioned. Deva shipped the redwood to the monastery about 12 years ago. It is all clear number 1 stock.

This wood has been oiled and is being stickered to allow the oil to dry before stacking for storage until it is needed for the project.

Oiling in progress, after final hand planing. Very pretty wood indeed.

After allowing plenty of time for it to dry, Acharya has it neatly stacked in the lumber rack. Pau (finished in Hawaiian) for now!

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

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