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End of Phase – Thai Pusam is Here!

We have come to the end of another dynamic phase with one team back from India and another team off to India. Bodhinatha report he and Arumuganathaswami and Yoginathaswami have made it safely to Chennai. The swamis went off to Mahabalipuram to check on carving work for the Aadheenam.

We are headed into a powerful three-day retreat with a full moon in the the month of Thai. Tomorrow is the powerful day of worship of Lord Muruga. The day he received the Vel from Shakti. Join us on the inside as we ascend into Lord Murugan’s actinic akashic blue realm beyond this world! [While we may make posts during the retreat, TAKA officially resumes on the 9th]

Visitors from Fiji and Toronto


Vel Alahan hosted two familes today. On the right Mylvaganam Kathirgamanathan (he calls himself Kathirgamanathan) and his wife Sarathadevi are from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, now living in Toronto, Canada. Kathirgamanathan is a surgeon and attending a conference on Kauai. He has memories of the days when Siva Yogaswami was alive. In fact his whole family were devotees of St Yogaswami.

On the left The family from Queensland, Australia originally from Fiji: Priya Ayesha Sinh (daughter), Mrs. Sushila Sinh, Ravi Sinh (son), Vinod Sinh (father). They follow the Aadheenam closely on line and are donors of the gilding of Iraivan Temple.

Bodhinatha, Monks, Members, Students Singapore Seminar


Saturday was an all-day seminar for Singapore members and students. Bodhinatha covered a wide range of topics including character development, practical mysticism and applying Gurudeva's teachings to your life. For one session Yoginathaswami gave a in-depth explanation of the Siva puja while Arumuganathaswami introduced our next story book for youth.

Recent Wood Work



Large photo alert! Pan and Use the pop-out or full screen option to see some marvelous wood grain.

A few recent projects in from the woodshop. First, a redwood batton door, similar to the style on the original aadheenam building from 1929, but here we used tapered sliding dovetail crossmembers, inspired by work at the Russian Fort in California. Second, three photos of some window frames using drawbore pins; and third, a look at the lathe corner.

Sadasivanathaswami and Sadhaka Satyanatha Bangalore Final Hours


Back again at the Iraivan carving site in Bengaluru. Every corner of the expansive shed has one or another of our projects displayed.

In one corner the team has taken apart the Satguru statues and their massive Chola bases (each of the eight bases is of a different design). Turns out the carvers in Mahabalipluram were not so careful about the squareness of the pithams, and our team is eager to make them perfect, knowing they will be done only once and there is no option once they reach Kauai for improvements.

There are also changes to be made on the faces of the satgurus. Yogaswami's head was made oddly large, and much discussion surrounds how best to make it right. Bodhinatha's murthi was shipped back to the original carver, after it developed a crack that could not be repaired. Gurudeva's robes seem too well polished, giving them an almost metallic feel, so there will be some effort to soften that texture. Also, his beard is somewhat too square and will be fixed.

We spent a long time discussing the Perimeter Wall details. This is one of the major yet-to-be-done Iraivan projects and will take some 2 years or so to complete. This wall surrounds the temple, and is almost 500 feet long in all.

There will be 48 selections of text etched in white on polished black granite panels, telling of the story of Iraivan, of the visions that lead up to it, and some of the philosophy the monastery represents.

We examined the completed steps that take the pilgrim up to the iraivan floor level at the rajagopuram. We also had a chance to chat with Dr. Mohan, a marvelous writer whose trek to Mount Kailash was our Insight Section in the last magazine. He may be doing additional features for us in the future.

One of our great joys was to be with the Rajasankaran family, to talk informally, get to know the 18-month old Chinmayee. It was Svapna's mother's birthday, so we sang Happy Birthday and gave her some small gifts.

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

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