A Joyous Final Day of Gurudeva Mahasamadhi Observances

Our final day began with the early morning small Guru puja at the samadhi shrine, followed by satsang with Satguru Bodhinatha in the late morning in the Guru Peedam room. Then at 3:30, Kumar Gurukkal, assisted by Pravin Kumar Gurukkal, began a nearly five-hour process of sankalpa, purification of self and surroundings, invoking Ganesha and Varuna to bless the proceedings and honoring Siva’s abundant provision through the substances produced by the cow. This was followed by a homa to honor and invoke Gurudeva’s presence through Agni and a blessed khumba, after which abhishekam was performed to Gurudeva’s paduka, granite holy sandals, at the samadhi shrine. Everyone enjoyed prasadam at the end, prepared devotedly by our resident cook, Mani.

The last two images in the gallery tell a piece of monastery grounds history. In the early years of the monastery, the front, Tiruneri path leading up to Kadavul Temple was planted on both sides with plumerias and hybrid varieties of hibiscus. As the rains fell abundantly, the nearby banyan tree got larger and additional trees were planted in the area, the plumeria and hibiscus suffered and slowly withered, starting to die off in the early 1990s. We were able to successfully save several by transplanting them out to the other side of the property where there was more sun at the time, near the current rainbow eucalyptus grove beyond Iraivan Temple. They did okay for a while, but surrounding trees slowly got taller, shading them out, leading to a slow demise.

After some unsuccessful attempts with obtaining cuttings, we were able to get one viable cutting from a hibiscus through air layering on a branch for a couple months, just before the entire plant died, as shown in the first photo. After transplanting to the more recently acquired 17 acres, which gets more sunlight and had enough space to establish more rows of hibiscus, the plant is doing very well and producing its first flowers!