Our island is a bit overcast today, with nice light rain giving life to all that is green and lush in the tropics.

This morning Gurudeva gave a most wonderful talk, speaking directly to the manager of the Chicago temple who is here on pilgrimage, and whose photo you say yesterday in the Mahogany Room.

The talk was full of the wisdom fire that can flow from the Satguru now and again, the purificatory grace of truth and unrestrained vision from above. Gurudeva started with a history of Hinduism in America, of how Americans were first shunned and then later accepted into the temples. He emphasized the importance of the management getting along, not arguing in an office while at the same moment priests in the sanctum were calling the Gods to Earth. Respect for our priests was stressed, and the wearing of Hindu clothing within the temple. He told the story of how a temple manager in Toronto, originally from Trinidad, has disciplined his group to all wear traditional clothing, and of how that has woven them together. They sit, for a full hour, in silent meditation before each puja!

We couldn't choose a photo today--our new digital camera, a gift from a noble soul--is producing too many sweet images. So we made a film strip of four of them. Here is what they are:

1. Gurudeva seated at the homa fire, offering akshatam, uncooked rice into the flames.

2. Behind Gurudeva the swamis chant Sri Rudram as Tyaganatha tends the sacred fire of consciousness, witness that is Agni.

3. Midway in the morning worship, Gurudeva called Jnanadeva Shanmuganatha to sit before the crystal Sivalingam, and gave him Mantram Diksha. Here he is whispering holy instructions on how to properly chant AUM NAMASIVAYA in the right ear, as is the Hindu tradition of this initiation.

4. See the fire in Gurudeva's eyes? Moments before he began the morning upadesha. Thank you, Gurudeva, for those precious words. By the way, that is Nilakantha Veylan to to left behind Gurudeva. he arrived last night from a month in Wisconsin, here to begin his life as a monk. Today he will be transcribing the talk so we can share with all of you. Welcome home, Nilakantha!