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August 8, 2005What Happened Today at the Monastery?
At home today the big news is the arrival of the new silpi team of six men. Meanwhile, Bodhinatha has left for Edmonton.
Thiru Satkunendran writes from Toronto:
"Vanakkam... Bodhinatha's visit was a success in every way. I just saw them-off at Toronto Airport, leaving to Edmonton."
Photos are flowing in... Sadhaka Dandapani was able to send off an update from August 6th and 7th activities... on the seventh he writes, for this picture:
"Bodhinatha's day was filled with lectures and question and answer sessions."
[back on Kauai] At the Lihue airport, Kulapati Deva Seyon behind the camera to greet the new team of silpis...
They were delighted with a quick passage through immigration in Honolulu. Boxes and boxes of supplies for homa offerings came along with them.
Bodhinatha in Toronto, Aug. 6-7
August 6th: Narayandas and Sangeetha Kamath who visited us this past Maha Sivaratri met with Bodhinatha this evening. They expressed how much they love Kauai Aadheenam and the experience they had during Sivaratri. Narayandas also is a great Ganesha devotee and has about 80 Ganesha's in his home.
Wigneswaran who met Gurudeva many years ago when he lived in Jaffna came to meet with Bodhinatha. A wonderfully devoted man to our parampara, he now lives in Toronto with his wife and child. On the floor you will note a brand new towel which he bought so that Bodhinatha could place his feet on and Wigneswaran would be able to forever cherish that blessed piece of cloth which Bodhinatha's feet touched.
Dharmalingam Siddhan and his wife, Courtney, and children Dhara and Nira drove up from Pittsburg just to meet with Bodhinatha.
Maiga Rungapen, a master course student, and her parents, Sadaseeven and Soopamah, migrated to Canada from Mauritius about 3 weeks ago. She felt sad that she would not get to see Bodhinatha in Mauritius this September but when she heard he was going to be in Toronto she was overjoyed.
August 7th: This 96 year old Amma is the sister of Ma Navaratnam, a devout disciple of Satguru Yogaswami.
Here is Amma's family who she visited with. Her 3 daughters, Jayanthi, Sri Devi and Bhawani, and their husbands and sons. They had a wonderful meeting with Bodhinatha sharing stories of Yogaswami and Ma Navaratnam.
Bodhinatha arrives this morning at the Lakshmi Narayanan Mandir.
He is welcomed by the very learned pundit who even has a Phd in his priestly teachings.
Bodhinatha performs an abhishekam to a beautiful Siva Lingam.
The statue of Goddess Durga is elaborately decorated.
Bodhinatha with some guests at the Mandir.
Ashok Kaushal garlands Bodhinatha.
In this North Indian temple devotees are allowed to go up to the Siva Lingam and perform their own abhishekam.
Bodhinatha addressed a crowd of over 300 people today. They also had the opportunity to ask him some questions.
The large crowd attentively listening to Bodhinatha's talk on Lord Siva.
This morning's ceremony ended with all present devotionally singing the arati song while taking turns to wave the arati. It created a very high vibration.
Punditji does an arati to Lord Siva.
All the deities are made out of marble and beautifully decorated.
Devotees come up to Bodhinatha to receive his blessings. The photos taken at the Laksmi Narayanan Mandir were taken by Sri Sivayogapathy and yesterday's photos at the Varasithi Vinayagar temple were taken by his son, Thillaichelvan. Thank you to you both for helping with our Canadian TAKA report.
After the Lakshmi Narayanan Mandir we headed straight for the Swami Narayanan center. The entrance to the building is spectacular looking with intricately carved wood motifs.
TAKA photographer experimenting with black and white photos.
Sadhu Gnanpriya Swami (seen in photo) and Sadhu Nityavivek Swami lovingly welcomed Bodhinatha.
The abhishekam in color.
Sadhu Gnanpriya Swami.
Bodhinatha spent the period of his visit answering questions by the youth only. No adults were present and the youth asked excellent questions for a full hour. Bodhinatha was equal to the task and responded with very insightful answers.
A few questions were about Bodhinatha's life so we got the rare opportunity to hear unheard things about Bodhinatha.
A very bright looking group of young adults with well thought out questions.
After the session with the youth Bodhinatha addressed the adults. Seven to eight hundred people were present.
Among the things that Bodhinatha talked about was stories of interactions of himself and Gurudeva with Sri Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
Sadhu Gnanpriya Swami expressed his great joy in having Bodhinatha visit.
The temple complex from the outside.
Photos from August 5
Besides Sadhaka Dandapani's photos, devotees in Toronto also took photos and are sending them. These are from the 5th... Bodhinatha at the Sri Nagapooshani Amman temple...
Greeted in the traditional manner...
2004 Innersearcher Tyler Andrew Pearson who lives in St. George, Ontario, came and brought flowers for Bodhinatha.
Many more photos coming in the days ahead...