Blog Archives
October 10, 2002 
Gurudeva does abhishekam over the Iraivan foundation.
"As we look at this great line of satgurus--coming from Lord Siva Himself through Nandinatha and countless ones before Nandinatha, to Rishi Tirumular and countless rishis after him to the Rishi of Bangalore, to Kadaitswami, Chellappaguru and Yogaswami--we see the same spiritual force flowing. We see an undaunted, rare succession of individuals who considered adversity as a boon from the Gods, wherein all the accumulated karmas to be wiped away come together in one place to be taken care of all at once. Nathas don't run from adversity; nor do they resent it. They take it within themselves in meditation and deal with it, dissolve it in the clear white light within themselves, every tiny little bit of it. "
Our Beloved and Revered Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Attained Maha Samadhi on November 12th, 2001
Click to read for Details.
Mystic Mouse Coloring Book Now available
Today's sample page. ----- Click here to get your copy today!
It was a quiet day today, everyone busy with their usual service to Lord Siva.
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Title: Bodhinatha's Travels to Mauritius part 3 |
Cybertalk: Bodhinatha continues his narrative of his visit to Asia (part 4), ending in Malaysia and Singapore. There was a grand booksigning at the Kandaswami Temple, inspiring coordination with our youth group forming in Malaysia and Bodhinatha's first public talk in Singapore. Bodhinatha finishes with a beautiful upadesha on Perceptive Self-Correction, one of the Nine Qualities to Cultivate in Children, emphasizing that if we can replace the attitude that mistakes are bad with the attitude that they are wonderful opportunities to learn, children will naturally be perceptively self-corrective when they grow up.
Cybertalk Ends"
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Three weeks away from our Hindusm Today deadline, Natarajnathaswami works on an article for Hinduism Today based on interviews from India. Rajiv Malik in New Delhi, who now works full time for Hinduism Today and Saiva Siddhanta Church, was sent on assignment to Bombay to interview leaders in a new movement of TV shows that carry religious programming. This is something new, but is proving to be quite popular. Rajiv is really good at digging in, getting people to open up and share. Now swami has the work of editing back reams of interviews and crafting a layout.
Here is our new lightbox of Gurudeva which will hang in Kadavul temple in his shrine. Surya Kumar of Ford Graphics in California was generous enough to make 24 transparencies from his company's very high end large format printers. This photo doesn't do justice to the effect which is surprisingly lifelike.
Exotic plants in bloom...
Other happenings:
The "Tongan tribe" is here, working on clearing Hau bush over growth by the stream that passes down into Rishii Valley. a very big job.
Sadhaka Thondunatha is in Toronto now visiting with various Tamil families and relatives there.
We have begun to go through our video archives. Palaniswami is reviewing some select tapes from which we hope to prepare a movie of Gurudeva that we can show when guests come.
Meanwhile there has been a lot of action in India.
 The Remarkable Vision |
Iraivan Temple Progress Update |
Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! |
| Order Sacred Rudrakshas or Gorgeous 2003 Iraivan Calendars with Hindu festival days on them. Great for Gifts! All proceeds go to the building fund. | ||
Wood cut according to the required sizes in one of the sheds..
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About a decade ago, Gurudeva asked the Rajasankara family, if they would like to go to india and be the managers of the Iraivan temple carving site. They are one of Gurudeva's strong and trusted and dedicated families, but they also had a well settled life in Malaysia. But they put their faith in their Guru and took offf fo the unknown.... here is a testimony from their youngest son, Thuraisingam, who has since graduated from University in India at the top of his class in Fine Arts in Bangalore. During those years in India, he also came to Kauai for a period on task force. He has these wonderful thoughts to offer:
"WELCOMING US TO IRAIVAN was the most beautiful gift of Gurudeva to our family. Everything happened so fast. Days later, we were standing in the airport to board the flight to Bangalore. Well, I sure knew my heart was not beating properly. There was an initiall reluctance by my High School teachers in Malaysia to send me to India. I was the best student and about a month before we left, I was selected to head the inter-college Science Competition. Loved to be with wires, circuits and tiny components. It was a great credit to be chosen from the 9th Standard and head the project when there were many more students right up to to 12th Standard......
Sections of the wood stacked up , ready for crating.
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"Being at the core of Iraivan is a beautiful experience. Red soil, stones, chisels and the chipping sound of about 75 carvers ...... a world of its own. New obstacles and experiences evolved as the clock ticked day after day. But Gurudeva was always there with us, his mission was our mission, a resounding thought in our hearts. Completing high school was another interesting part of this new world. I had a wonderful opportunity to learn Sanskrit and did very well in the final exam......
Crating continues.. These beams will form the ceiling of the temple.
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"Then the gates of college life opened. I was just walking like any other student to the Electronics Dept. of my college, something that I was always interested in. Not even in my dreams did I think that one day I will be sketching a portrait and working with brush and paint. Well it happened about 8 months later and today I am doing my last few months of a Bachelor�s Degree in Fine Arts at one of the most prestigious colleges in the country.....
Photos shows pillars that were crated and placed on a red carpet,
ready for loading.
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"This is how the story goes. I was asked by Gurudeva to come and stay at the Kauai Adheenam for 6 months on task force after attending about two weeks of my diploma. Trust His decisions and opted for the break. The next couple of months still shine like the morning sun in my thoughts, a time much cherished in my heart. Being at Kauai with the whole team of Saiva Saints, laughter, thoughts, discussions, meditation, designing, cooking, yoga, gardening, puja, Powermacs and Gurudeva�s brilliant smiling face is certainly an unforgetable experience. Learnt many things new, updated the old ones and the experience, uplifting many arears into mature heights of perfection. This was when Gurudeva sent me back with a mission to learn Photography which I cover now in my Degree Course. Its interesting, very much a thought process, an art itself than just letting the camera click at every frame of interest that the eyes perceive.....
Beams washed and shifted to a new place under some granite dust. This will prevent further dirt from accumulating. Wooden planks after the first pesticide treatment are drying in the sun.
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"Gurudeva has always set perfect guidelines for his shishyas and one among them is to create a traditional Hindu environment at home. Accomplishing the basics of Classical Music and Mridanga was the outcome of this. �"Dance is the highest perfection of art", are not mere words, but a move from every ion of the body that can bring such contemplative words, definitely a part of Gurudeva. Even when I was with him in Kauai, Manipuri dance was taught by Gurudeva. ....
The beam is lifted by crane onto the lorry to get the net
weight of the beam for calculating the weight of all the stones going into a container. along with their crating materials
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"The adheenam itself with all the cultural elements, art forms, the environment, the music, everything was a brush stroke of Gurudeva, perfectly perfect, to be precise. Hinduism Today magazine for an example has inspired many of my college mates with its design and artworks. Iraivan Temple not to be left out is a magnificent form itself. Traditional, intricate and ornamental, its coming up as a beautiful masterpiece, thanks to Gurudeva the world should say. It really inspires me everyday to leave to college hearing the sounds of a great master piece under production......
more weight assessment....
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"Today, looking back at every stage of my life, I can see my parents guided by the Guru have paved a wonderful future for me. The field of designing is such an interesting subject. Even my brother is a designer himself working on multimedia and web. In this world, things get elevated to a new dimension every second. But certainly those few months in Kauai in front of the Apple Macs did give me a clear picture of how interesting Fine Arts could be. Today, much updated with the tech, I am letting these thoughts flow into a form through a Powermac G4, pretty advanced for an Indian home. Well what can inspire me more than those wonderful souls sitting and designing the Hinduism Today with such advanced technology powered by the clear white light."
THE END
These beams will form the roof of the temple.
Pillars being packed with rubberised coir around the ornamental
works to protect them from any damage.
Another check for weight on the truck
Soon ready for its trip to Kauai.
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MORE UPLIFTING THINGS |
Innersearch 2003-4 in India!
We just completed the July 17-23 Kauai Innersearch, 2002. Bodhinatha will lead the next Innersearch to India, between Dec 2003 and Jan 2004. We will visit Bangalore and the Iraivan Carving Village, and settle in the South in Tamil Nadu, Click on the above for details on what will be an inspiring journey to our holy land of Bharat! |
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