Yesterday the monks began the new phase. Yoginathaswami conducted the weekly, Sun One homa which begins first with short pujas to Ganesha and Hanuman. Upon lighting the flame, Sri Rudram is chanted by the monks, while Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami burns the written prayers that have been submitted by monks and devotees. These burned prayers are then readable to the devas and mahadevas in the inner worlds. It was a very uplifting event, as usual, and afterwards, Satguru gave an inspired talk to start the day. Aum Namah Sivaya.

"The presence or absence of spiritual surrender and willingness to serve shows whether a person is on the anava marga or on the charya marga. Devotees on the charya marga are striving to unfold spiritually and reach the kriya marga. People on the anava marga are not striving at all. They are their own self-appointed teachers and proceed at their own pace. When we are on the charya marga, we have a lot of help from family, friends and our entire religious community. When we are on the kriya marga, the entire Hindu community, the elders and others all get behind us to help us along our way. Then when we are finally on the yoga marga, we have all the saptha rishis helping us. The satgurus are helping, too, and all three million swamis and sadhus in the world are helping us along the path at this stage. When we have entered the jnana marga, we are bringing forth new knowledge, giving forth blessings and meeting the karmas that unwind until mukti." Gurudeva

The latest addition to the shilpi memorial arrived a last week and the monks uncrated the piece and delivered it for display in the Banyan Mandapam. Artist Holly Young has again done one of her incredibly beautiful and accurate-to-life master pieces.