Led by Kumar Gurukal, nine Sivacharya priests arrived yesterday and today, bringing the total to eleven who are now performing the last of the 45-day Mandala Pujas post installation of the sphatika Mahalingeswara. Of the priests is Anand Sivacharya who officiates at the Concord, California Murugan Temple that we used to own and run. He has wanted to come here for so long, never having visited before.

They began yesterday afternoon, May 8th, with a beautiful Ganesha puja and homa, replete with vigorous chanting.

This morning, May 9th, consisted of the Vastu Shanti pujas to purify all the spaces. It included Panchakavya puja which honors all the substances produced by the cow, and a Bhumi puja which was performed in front of Dakshinamurti and honors Mother Earth.
While all this was happening, many of the devotees were helping with a huge task of preparing 1008 kumbhas to be offered in abhishekam on the final morning, May 11th. We couldn't husk that many coconuts, so we are using oranges instead.

This group of priests have formed the "United States Sivachariyars Association" and created a printed shawl to honor their coming here to perform Mandalabhishekam.

We have just six days before the final Iraivan Temple Mandala Pujas are performed by Kumar Gurukal and many accompanying priests. In the first two photos, Sivanadiyar Vatshalan and Malaysian taskforcer Sivajnani Nagappan work together on setup of the yagasala and audience tent.

Aum Namah Sivaya

We hope you enjoy these belated photos from the March Iraivan Event! As you can imagine we have a large amount of photos from the crystal installation. This collection is from Rajkumar Manickam. The live stream videos of the event can be seen on our youtube channel, but this is the first large batch of still photos we've released.

We're thankful to have had such a successful and historical event take place with the aid of the Shivacharya community and with help from many volunteers.

"Through temple worship, the three worlds become open to one another, and the beings within them are able to communicate. By means of the mystical arts of puja, the worlds act in concert, and prayers are received." - Gurudeva

Jai Gurudeva!
Jai Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami!
Jai Kailasa Parampara!

After husking around 330 cocos for the Iraivan Pranapratishtha last month, the husking party took a break, but now we're back to husk another 250 or so for the final days of Mandala Puja from May 8--11.

For 48 days after a prana pratishtha, "Mandala Pujas" are performed to stabilize the newly created vibration. The final three days worth of pujas from May 8th afternoon through May 11th morning are more elaborate and preparations are in full swing for them. Ten priests will be here to perform them. New homa kundas are needed for those pujas, and a retired plaster specialist was sponsored to fly to Kauai and guide the process. He and our resident silpis are creating five new homa pits, each in a different shape and having a naga serpent slithering up the side, the head of which serves to hold the ghee container!

After the monthly Ardra abhishekam and about ten days of slowly recovering and cleaning up from the Iraivan Sivalinga prana pratishtha, we held the monthly padapuja on the nakshatra of Gurudeva's mahasamadhi. Gurudeva quote from today's Master Course lesson--  

"All things in life must be centered around religion. Only the spiritual matters of life live on. Everything else in life is destined to perish. This body will perish. This personality will perish. But our religion will live on and grow inside of us as we evolve from life to life. It is the duty of each Hindu, young or old, to help the religion progress from generation to generation. We help Hinduism live on by serving and guiding others. For true and lasting happiness, religion must be the basis of everything in life, around which all other interests and desires revolve. So many people are against religion these days. It is up to religious people to make it popular again."

Following the Kadavul Temple kumbhabhishekam to mark the stone upgrades to Nandi, Balipeetam and dhvajastambha, another homa and abhishekam must be performed 48 days later as a vibrational completion to the intensity of a kumbhabhishekam. March 12th was the 48th day, which also just happened to be the 50th anniversary of Kadavul Nataraja Deity installation.

The ceremonies began with a homa at 8am, including five kumbhas to represent Siva, Varuna, Nandi, Balipeetam and Dhvajastambha. After the homa we paraded the kumbhas outside, broke a coconut and returned inside for abhishekam of Nataraja and Sivalingam. After Nataraja's kumbha was poured we returned outside to pour the kumbhas over Nandi, balipeetam and dhvajastambha. Thereafter we closed the curtain to decorate Nataraja. Some temple visitors led vigorous bhajans during this time. Then we completed our normal routine for morning Siva puja, albeit with extra monks present as happens at monthly Ardra puja.
Enjoy the photo collection.

Aum Namah Shivaya

Please enjoy this video made by Indivar Sivanathan from Oregon.

Description: “Final day of the reinstallation of the energies into Kadavul Temple's Kodimaram, Bali Pittam (Peedam), and Nandi facing the temple entrance. Three priests performed consecration ceremonies for three days invoking the powers of the earth and inner realms. Concluding, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gives an easy-to-understand explanation of the complex and intricate ceremonies.“

It is the Great Night of Siva. Enjoy a four minute slide show Rajkumar Manickam made, and enjoy the silence within. As Tayumanavar wrote:

"It is easy to tame an elephant in musth and bind the mouth of the bear or ferocious tiger, it's easy to ride the back of a lion. It is easy to hold a cobra in your hand and make it dance. It is easy to sit in a blazing fire, alchemize the five base metals into gold and sell them for a living. It is easy to roam about the worlds that are invisible to others, to live young eternally, command the celestial devas, enter another's body and walk on water. What is difficult is to control the mind and remain still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AQzlU035Ks

Compilation by By Rajkumar Manickam