The Tokyo airport was spotless and the skyline in the distance was completely blanketed in smog. Funny that the ground kept so neatly swept but the air outside, well, leaves a lot to be desired by the Kauai resident. Gurudeva enjoyed walking back and forth in the transit lounge...

In Taipei we were treated very nicely and ushered to the Chiang Kai-Shek Airport Hotel where we had a nice dinner and a great rest. The next morning as we arrived back at the airport two hours prior to our flight to Singapore, we stopped in an airport coffee shop for some coffee. We happened to meet Mr. V. Selvarajoo there who is a devotee of Gurudeva's from Singapore.

Title: Yoga is the Last Step Category: Meditation and Yoga Duration: 1 min., 13 seconds

Cybertalk: E-devotee Frank from Austin Texas has been practicing meditation for 28 years and asks Gurudeva how to deepen his experience. Gurudeva stresses the need for a firm foundation of commitment and culture, and he reminds that the practice of yoga is the last step, not the first.

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From the eyes of one Western monk, Singapore is a delightful, beautiful city. Monkey Pod trees everywhere, fantastic gardens and parks, enormous trees lining every road and between the lanes of all the expressways. This is really quite a contrast from the truly concrete jungle Western cities with which we are more familiar.

Before dinner we met a man visiting from Arizona in the Atrium, here in the blue shirt; he's part of the Ganesha temple project there. Gurudeva remarked at the heartwarming Asian hospitality of Dohadeva and his wife. They heard this man was in town and took him into their home, brought him to the hotel to meet Gurudeva...and he's a stranger! Many people don't help their associates like that.

Dohadeva's Internet connection is working out really well here. The modem dials and connects straight away, just like America! They even have dial-up ISDN lines (about two to three times the speed of a regular modem) right in the hotel rooms here at the Holiday Inn. Amazing. I don't think they even have services like that in most American hotels.

In-ing cha-aw cha-ka (here we go!)

Now we move to gurudeva's carving village in India. An eleven-acre site in Bangalore where 75 Indian families live and daily carve the sacred white granite edifice of Iraivan Temple which will soon begin to be assembled on the island of Kauai

During his college vacations, he comes and helps me with my work. I teach him and guide him to carve. Besides this, he also helps in drawing the temple plans. I am sure he will be able to pick up once he works with me. He knows my expectations and how hard I have worked over the decades to be what I am.

PERUMAL: I was assigned by Ganapathi Sthapati to initially recruit the craftsmen for Iraivan project. I was involved for over a year at the beginning. I will work on the first few of all the intricate ornamental carvings which were designed by Ganapathi Sthapati . I used to show the other silpis how to carve them and then do the follow up . My special assignments are the carving of over 200 bhutas that appear on the Kandam course number 3, Gomukai (water sprout), Menehune, four Tara Stambham, Musical pillar to mention a few. I have a lot of affection and bhakti towards Gurudeva. After Raja Raja Cholan, Gurudeva is the only one who is carving a totally hand made granite temple.

PERUMAL: I would like to take this oppunity to thank His Holiness Sivaya Subramuniyaswami to take up the San Marga Iraivan Temple Project . Gurudeva allows us to work carefully on all the intricate designs. He insists on quality and wants to bring the intricate works on stone to the West. People these days do not have the patience, money and time to wait 12 to 15 years to complete a temple.

Gurudeva has uplifted our Viswakarma community to the world by writing several articles in Hinduism Today on our temple and stone works. One of the latest publication is the article on Tiruvalluvar in the May/June issue of Hinduism Today. At his carving site in Bangalore, he has provided several benefits for the stone carvers. It is the only temple project in India which is run like a gurukulam. All the silpis assemble at 7.30 am for a puja and sing some bhajans. Then he go off to work. I really like that. The silpis are insured, they have a retirement benefit plan and are paid bonus annually. We need spiritual leaders like Gurudeva to promote our heritage in stone. Thank you for giving me an oppunity to share my experiances . Nandri.

Jiva Rajasankara.

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