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Monastery Twitter Updates for 2011-08-11

  • The physical proofs (a mighty stack!) for final checking of The Guru Chronicles before it goes to the printer. http://twitpic.com/64o3j9 #

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Retrospective Report on Bodhinatha's Trinidad Mission, Part 1

Immediately after arriving in Trinidad, Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami settle in at their quarters at the Chinmaya Mission which will be their home base for the next three days. Within minutes or their arrival, Bodhinatha gives a live radio interview with Kiran Maharaj of Radio 90.5 fm.

Both swamis are being welcomed to the Hari Mandir by Pundit and other devotees

Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami meet revered elder, Pundit Lutchmee Persad, sitting right, Pundit Narendra, sitting left, and a few of the Hinduism Today sadhakas as they arrived at the Hari Mandir. The Hinduism Today sadhakas are Ashwinee Ragoonanan’s dedicated distribution team.

Bodhinatha giving a talk/slide show at Chinmaya Mission’s hall.

Hinduism Today sadhaka, George, getting ready for a visit by Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami.

Shanmuganathaswami with Hinduism Today sadhakas at Chinmaya Mission. After the talk by Bodhinatha, the sadhakas will present, give and sell Hinduism Today and other publications from Kauai’s Hindu Monastery. From left to right, Keith, Girish, Sarah, Pinkey. Standing from left to right, Kerri, Kevin Shanmuganathaswami, Kashika, Pundit Narendra and Ashwinee. Upon landing in Trinidad at 5 am, after an all night flight, Shanmuganathaswami said he and Bodhinatha were delighted by the warm welcome and Ashwinee’s enthusiasm and energy. She and her sadhakas worked tirelessly for months preparing for this visit, seeing to thousands of details.

Hinduism Today sadhaka, Kali, welcoming swamis to Queen’s hall where Bodhinatha will make an important presentation.

Then Bodhinatha and Shanmuganatha are welcomed by Pundit Narendra

Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami visit the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Freeport, central Trinidad.
There they met with the resident Pundit and founder of the Temple, Pundit Gajendra Kumar, from India.
Here they are looking at the model for the new temple, which is a mix of north and south temple styles. The temple is being carved in India and brought to Trinidad. Much like our own Iraivan temple.

Bodhinatha and Shanmuganathaswami with Pundit Kumar outside the Siva temple.

Karnakoodu for Iraivan's Nandi Mandapam

More work continuing on the karnakoodu

Here is Silpi Kannan, a excellent ornamental carver working on the intricate nasikoodu on the karnakoodu. He is till date on of the best guys we ever had.

Advanced tooling systems like this carbide tipped chisel has really boosted the detail quality of the Nadi Mandapam

The Guru Chronicles Goes Into Production!

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It is an exciting day at the Ganapati Kulam Media Studio. After years of work by our editorial and design team, “The Guru Chronicles” officially closed yesterday and today Sivakatirswami and Senthilnathaswami are preparing the files for the press as we head into the pre-press and printing phase of this important new book.

Senthilnathaswami is proofing the hi-resolution PDF’s that are prepared to go to the printer.

Sivakatirswami is processing files for Senthilnathaswami to proof at our “Mushika Workstation” which is a fast desktop machine which is all set up to process files and send them off to Kentucky where the book will be printed.

Senthilnathaswami who is also on the editing team of the book with Acharya Kumarswami and headed by Paramacharya Sadasivanathswami, is not even trying to control his bliss. He says, “It’s almost surreal; I can barely believe it is actually happening. We are going to print this book, finally!”

Meanwhile, the printer has sent us a “dummy” bound book, to help us make sure our cover file template is precisely designed to fit the book. It is 832 pages on Orion 60 pound matte text stock. It weighs 1.94kg or 4 pounds 4.5 ounces without ink.

The book will be printed by Quad Graphics, (http://www.qg.com) America’s second largest and one of the world’s “greenest” printing companies.

The plant that will produce the book is in Versailles, Kentucky, and also does work for Rand McNally, Encyclopedia Britanica and Time Warner Books.

Sivakatirswami asks, “Do they call it a dummy because there are no words inside it? This book seems to be all about the clear white light.”

But it won’t be long before these pages will be filled and thrilled with the remarkable story of the Kailasa Guru Parampara, written in a contemporary engaging style. From fabulous tales of ancient times all the way through to the 21st century with much of the narrative in Gurudeva’s own words, it fires the heart and mind with spiritual aspiration and will carry the story and message of our Paramapara to the world and coming generations.

You won’t be able to put it down.

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

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