This morning the swamis and sadhaka began a new phase following a two day retreat. This will be a six day phase and will include ashram sadhana day on Sun 2 and a padapuja to Gurudeva on Sun 6. We began this Sun 1 morning with a Siva homa. At around 5:30, the monks all file into Kadavul Temple for a short arati, first to Ganesha, then Murugan and Lord Nataraja. Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami then took his seat near the homa kunda and each monk took their turn to offer him a flower and prostrate. Sannyasin Saravananathaswami was today's pujari and began with a short Ganesha and Hanuman puja before invoking Siva's grace and lighting the sacred flames. As some of the monks went within themselves to enjoy Siva's darshan, others began chanting Sri Rudram. By this time the guests and devotees had arrived and had a chance to greet Satguru. During the chanting, Satguru burns the submitted written prayers in the fire to be read by the devas and mahadevas in the inner worlds. As Sri Rudram came to a close, the mantra "Aum Ham Haum Sivaya Namah" was chanted 108 times by everyone present. Following the final arati, Satguru gave his Sun 1 talk, emphasizing the importance of the moment and the nature of the past and future. As Yogaswami said: "The past created the present, and man is the architect of his future."