Our Mahasivaratri night was powerful and profound as it is every year. There is always a great feeling of renewal, as if we are being spiritually reborn for another year of walking on the straight path of San Marga, the Saiva Neri, every onwards and upwards to merge with God Siva. The night began with beautiful bhajans and flute led and performed by devotees from Chicago, followed by Homa and then the incredible abhishekam and puja to Lord Nataraja. Of course photos of Natarajas are not allowed, so we bring you images from the beginning of the evening ceremonies

We are back after a two-day retreat with our last day of last phase being Mahasivaratri. We catch up here with photos of pilgrims.

Many visitors this Mahasivaratri morning, prior to evening ceremonies. Ganesan and Raja Bala, are lifetime Hinduism Today subscribers from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Ganesan visited way back in 1983 and met Gurudeva at that time. At that time he was part of the group in Chicago that received a Ganesha murti gift from Gurudeva to start a temple.

It is his wife's first visit. He is on the construction committee for building a large new temple in Indianapolis. The main shrine will house a Sivalingam, which is rare in the USA.

Jagdish and Namrata Ragade with here with their two children Anusha and Shreya. They are here on pilgrimage from Portland, Oregon.

Umapathi and Geetha Cattamanchi and friends are from Chicago area. Maragatham is the sister of Pandit Ravichandran, a priest who helped train some of our monks with Sanskrit chanting.

Mrs. Maragatham is Hindu music teacher, and supplicated Bodhinatha's blessings to be as successful as possible in teaching at her local temple.

After we explained to the group that devotees are encouraged to bring pots of water and perform their own abhishekam to the svayambhu Sivalingam at the end of San Marga path, the group noticed a series of pots at the edge of the tent which had been filled naturally by rainwater They got into a devotional spirit and quickly grabbed all the pots and each performed abhishekam.