Recently the monastery observed its weekly homa. The sacred fire ceremony is a wonderful way to start off each new phase. The monks and any guests can write notes to the devas, which are burned during the ceremony. The paper then become visible in the inner Lokas for the devas to read and act upon. The act of prayer writing is a very important way to keep communications with the inner worlds strong, creating a smooth and successful flow of projects and personal growth throughout the monastery and in other people's lives. This phase is a short one, of just four days. On Sun 3 the monks have Ashram Sadhana Day, for which their time is spent cleaning the monastery. This coming retreat will be Iraivan Day, when the monks work to mail the aadheenam newsletter, write the next one, as well as create the monthly news video and a variety of other Iraivan, mail-related projects.

We keep a record of the weight of our garden harvests and how much we use. Our daily monastic consumption of vegetables has been increasing while the consumption of rice and other starches and carbohydrates has decreased. We find that often people who eat a lot of processed food and starches will not appreciate the taste of the vegetables, but as they switch over to eating fresh vegetables the more they discover and appreciate the rich taste.


This Day's Harvest:
Swiss chard 16 lbs
Green beans 16 lbs
Chaote 39 lbs
Purple long eggplant 48
White eggplant 9
Luffa gourds 8
Kang kong  6 lbs
Pakwan 9 lbs
Broccoli 2 lbs
Cabbage 10 lbs