Yesterday and today Gurudeva surprised us all by sitting down with some special watercolor paper and brushes and producing some intuitive art for his new metaphysical masterpiece, Merging with Siva. Instead of working on white paper with colors, Gurudeva asked the monks to find him some soft, textured black paper. Then he brought out his supply of sacred vibuthi, holy ash. Mixing it in water, he created a paintable mixture and proceeded to draw dozens and dozens of symbols and forms, seated on the floor in his Mahogany Room.

Today he continues to surprise, adding to his repertoire other media, grains, rice, millet and quinua (the South American grain). Using these, he continued to bring forth the symbols for the book. We are all loving the fact that not only will this legacy masterpiece be his words and teachings, but also his art! As the young brahmacharis say, Cool!

Today was Sun three, and on this day each phase we have our Publisher's Desk meeting. Gurudeva met at 9am with all the editors and writers of the magazine, planning future articles, reviewing photo options and tasks for our correspondents in various nations. It's a dynamic hour-long meeting that defines and redefines the magazine each month, carving out from the massive raw materials we receive that best part that you see in ther printed edition.

A big MAHALO NUI LOA! (that's our Hawaiian way of saying thank you) from the publications team and indeed all readers of Hinduism Today to our generous lifetime subscriber in California who bought us a FlexTight Precision Scanner, that just arrived. For those who are into techy things, this is a digital device that is about to change our life as we seek to give a grace and beauty to Sanatana Dharma. For years we have had to send all our quality slides to New York to have them scanned on VERY EXPENSIVE machines, to assure the quality of the magazine that everyone enjoys so. We could never afford the $150,000 that such a scanner costs, but have been fortunate that Vikram Patel has helped us each month as a service. He loves the magazine, and takes great joy in bringing his great color capabilities to bear on the product.

Now, with the arrival of this strange-looking gift we can produce worldclass graphics for our various media needs. Not that Vikram will be abandoned. We still can't match his work, but we can get pretty close and will be able to turn the work of our teams of photographers around in hours instead of days.

Our web diary of which this page is a part is working well. The selfless team that produces it each day is enjoying it immensely, and we are still evolving the way it looks and happens. Our first video will be coming on line in a week or so. There are eight of us, and we each have a task, photo, editing, writing, coding the html, etc. Here is one voice of appreciation that we appreciated today.

I want to let you all know how much I am enjoying your Today at Kauai Aadheenam web site. It's the next best thing to being there! When the fake world starts getting on my nerves, I hit my "Today" bookmark and take a refreshing dip in the real world and restore my soul. Thanks so much for making this possible. Blessings to you all.
Virginia Overholt

Quotes and Quips page for the December issue of Hinduism Today is fun, so we thought you might like a preview.

1) "Worry is like a rocking chair‹there is movement but it doesn't take you anywhere." Indian artist V. Balu, talking about his One Man Global Peace Mission which he pursues through collage.

2) "Americans are hungry for rituals involving fire, flowers, tiny lamps, which Hinduism provides. Christianity, especially the Protestant faith, is bereft of it." Tony, an American lawyer in Los Angeles who frequents the Malibu Venkateswara temple. He says he likes Hindus' personal approach to God, treating Him like a family member.