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Bodhinatha sits quietly observing the puja that was held today to bless the newly energized, staffed and renovated Pilliyar Kulam offices in the blue building at the front entrance of the monastery.

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We started at 9am at Kadavul and paraded a small granite Ganesha that has been in the temple for many months, on a palanquin down to the PK (Pilliyar Kulam).

Natyam Tyaganatha does a short arati with a coconut at the entrance.

As Bodhinatha related in his recent talk, our Saivite Creed says we should worship Lord Ganesha before beginning any task or worship. The monks take this very seriously and we have small images of Lord Ganesha everywhere to invoke throughout the day.

Bodhinatha breaks the coconut.

Then we go into the offices. the front room has been opened up with fewer desks and it is much more spacious now. The Ganesha Deity will preside in the Eastern corner of the room.

Natyam takes his time prepare for the puja, decorating the Deity.

We feel a Lord Ganesha's gentle all-encompassing presence as we wait quietly during the preparations.

Putting three stripes of ash on the deity...

Bringing your Hindu culture into your lifestyle is very easy and so uplifting.

Bodhinatha and the new Pilliyar Kulam Talaivar come forward to offer rice during the sankalpam -- the declaration of intention.

Meanwhile, Yogi Japendranatha takes incense around to all the corners of the renovated and re-arranged rooms.

The puja continues.

Bodhinatha offers the final arati.

Jai Ganesha!

A fresh new beginning. Gurudeva writes in Living with Siva:

"To know one's dharma is a clear path. To be uncertain is a path of confusion. There is one God who knows the patterns of all humankind, whose superconscious mind is so intricate, encompassing and spanning the yugas of time, that each path for each individual is known, memorized and recorded indelibly in the inner ether of the akashic matter of His mind. Through the worship of this God, Lord Ganesha, the venerable pope of the Hindu religion, the individual's dharmic pattern in this life is unfolded from within. It becomes clear. It becomes known. It is difficult for the modern, twenty-first-century Hindu to consciously know the correct dharma, but this can be made known to him through the worship of Lord Ganesha. "

Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami receives the flame.

Then all the other monks from the other kulams who have come for the event.

Here is our new team. Left to right: Sannyasin Sivadevanathaswami, Sadhaka Haranandinatha, Sadhaka Jivanandanatha, Sannyasin Shanmuganathaswami, Sadhaka Jothinatha and Sannyasin Muruganathaswami. A really strong team!

Wow the back guest rooms are completely gone. Shanmuganathaswami and Sadhaka Jivanandanatha did a great job.... all sparkily and new.

Sannyasin Muruganathaswami who has been working in cramped quarters for a long time can really spread his deva wings now!

Shanmuganathaswami our new Talaivar sits in the eastern corner of the front room with Lord Ganesha overseeing everyone.

Swami is really enthused about his new Sivathondu and has big plans for more outreach which is one of the commissions of the Pilliyar Kulam.

Sadhaka Jivanandanatha is our new Information Manager and will also be trained in the high level accounting that Bodhinatha has been doing for decades, and will also be bringing his wizard brilliance to the area of our data base management.

Between the Pilliyar Kulam and the rest of the monastery along the Tiruneri path up to Kadavul temple is the banyan tree that Gurudeva loved so much and which is always an awesome experience for visitors.

Gurudeva had asked the monks over the years to carefully nurture the tendrils coming down from the tree. He himself would see to the rooting of these

Overtime they have grown thick and sturdy making a magical labyrinth under the tree.

99 percent of the visitors have never seen such a phenomenon, and are always amazed.

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The front of Iraivan Temple. The top of the entrance to the Garba Griham, the "Womb Chamber" where the Maha Spatika Crystal Sivalingam will be installed, is just peaking out above the platform, high above the foundation.

A look at the northwest corner of courses 11 through 13.

The Southwest corner.

The sun reveals the artistry of the silpis and the Vastu tradition of stone sculpture.

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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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