Blog Archives

Only about 1 month left before the departure to India for the Innersearch. Our two main coordinators will be going to California in advance:

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It is not often that Gurudeva's swamis are in California, but this will happen briefly on January 15. Paramacharya Palaniswami is flying there with Sadhaka Dandapani to lead the main Innersearch Indian Odyssey group on the flight to Malaysia.

All TAKA cyber-cadets and family and friends are warmly invited to take part in a special function to welcome Paramacharya Palaniswami, one of Gurudeva's most senior monks and editor-in-chief of Hinduism Today magazine, on the occasion of his visit to the San Francisco area.

Palaniswami will present the fascinating story of the fully hand-carved, granite San Marga Iraivan Temple on Hawaii's island paradise--an icon of Hinduism's beauty and strength. It is also an
opportunity for all students and cyber-cadets who visit our daily "Today at
Kauai's Hindu Monastery" chronicle website to share your questions, thoughts
and inspirations with us. Your presence is indispensable, and we look
forward to seeing you there. If you are nearby, put this on your calendar. Aum Namasivaya!

Date: Thursday, January 15th, 2004
Time: between 6:00pm - 8:30pm
Venue: Solano Room
Embassy Suites Burlingame
150 Anza Blvd,
Burlingame, CA 94010

Join Bodhinatha in Malaysia!

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami will be traveling through Malaysia on his pilgrimage to India in 2004. Please join him and his devotees for a gala event in KL.

Monday, Jan 19th, 2004
Kalamandapam, Sri Kandaswamy Temple
Scott Road, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.
7:30pm to 9pm

Bodhinatha will be giving vibhuthi blessings after the event. Those who attend will also receive a free copy of the new Island Temple magazine.

Bodhinatha is following Gurudeva's pattern of editing the publications in the afternoon. The new booklet "Know ThySelf" is completed and will go to press soon. Today Bodhinatha worked on an important statement about caste for our next issue of Hinduism Today. It's an issue often confronted, seldom really understood. Bodhinatha is bringing new clarity to the matter.

Bodhinatha's Sun One Video. Most Recent update: September 12, 2003. Bodhinatha speaks on Ahimsa, noninjury, yama #1, which is noninjury in thought, word and deed. The law of karma decrees that it is wise not to harm or hurt others, for we will then receive harm and hurt in exchange in the future. 12 minutes, 29 seconds.

				Live Web Cam Pix!

In the publications office the team watches as Yogi Japendranatha scans through the hi-resolution PDF's for the Innersearch Study Guide. We are out-sourcing the printing of this to MJA Graphics in Michigan. Tonight we sent them a single 350-megabyte file by internet to their server. Ah, the efficiencies of serving dharma through the web!

Our 15-year-old Singaporean Thambynathan Girish was behind the TAKA camera today. He took this picture of another Jyotisha display of the Earth surrounded by planets placed in their positions for the astrology of the day, in the Siddhidata Kulam office.

This morning he helped prepare luggage tags for the Innersearch Indian Odyssey. In the afternoons Girish puts on his work clothes and helps outside with Siddhidata Kulam on the grounds and in the garden. He really enjoys being active. Here he is scanning a garden catalog in the Siddhidata Kulam office before the afternoon staff meeting.

The Remarkable Vision	Iraivan Temple Progress Update	Join this historic undertaking. Please contribute generously. Sponsor a stone today! Monthly Report Sponsor a stone Iraivan Wonders
	Order Rudraksha Malas from Siva's sacred Hawaiian groves; and also single rudraksha beads ready to put on a chain around your neck. Great for Gifts! All proceeds go to the building fund.
Current Overview

The exciting news is the arrival of five containers from India that have been in Honolulu for several days. Two arrived at the Iraivan site this morning. Here's the view when we opened the first one, nicely crated for protection of the delicate sculptures.

Stones all the way from Bangalore.

The forklift makes easy work of the job of unloading.

Saiva Siddhanta Church
Singapore Mission

Our Singapore Mission does a wonderful job in making the small but dynamic fellowship a joyful time for all. More photos from another recent retreat. Here is a report from the main organizer: Sergeant Thamilmani Visakan (she is a sergeant in the Singapore Army in charge of troop training.)

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As the exams fever came to an end in Singapore, the school holidays broke in. Youth and parents needed a break from the hectic lifestyle. Nandinatha Sangam organised a 3 days 2 nights Youth Retreat from 27th Nov to 29th at Fairy Point Chalet.
Facing the sea, the location was surrounded by trees and plants. The programme was churned with spiritual, cultural and fun activities.

27th Nov 03 evening, Sornavanita lighted up the event with Ganesha Arathi followed by Guru Salutation and the singing of Yogaswami's sacred hymmns, Natchintanai, and Bhajans.

Myself presented welcome note with inputs about the Youth Retreat. Both youth and adults were divided into 3 groups with 3 little angels as the team leaders.
Saranamutha Pareatumbee, faithful follower of Gurudeva's teachings and one of our pioneer member of Singapore Saiva Siddhanta Church (SSC) Mission, currently member of Mauritius Flacq mission, arrived Singapore with her 2 little angels--Bijamati and Padmini from Mauritius --gave a lovely surprise for all our Singapore SSC members and friends. There were lots of updates and chats exchanged throughout dinner by all of us.

After dinner, we had an icebreaker game, for all the beautiful souls to get introduced with one another.

Adding to the event was a surprise birthday celebration for Sornavanita. Thank you to the magicians who brought the birthday cake. After a nighttime walk, all of us retired to bed.

28th November morning broke with a Ganesha Arathi and Guru Salutation by Sornavanita and followed by Yoga Treat by Mr Umamaheswaran who covered the Benefits of Yoga and Pranayama with practical session. He introduced the sun salutation which all enjoyed.

Seen here is Bijamati Pareatumbee from Mauritius, aged 9. She woke up very early to do yoga. She enjoyed herself and was very happy that she was here on time to participate in the retreat. She is one of the team leaders who was chalking up points for her team.

After yoga, we had our breakfast and before the start of the next activity, everyone had an area to tidy up. A game titled - What's My Story related to puja was conducted. Every team had their chance to present their story and did it very well. Ganesha Puja --the next activity was lead by Sornavanita.
All the youth (participants) were given a copy of Ganesha Puja guide and instructions and a pen with Gurudeva's web address as souvenirs.

First the Ganesha Puja CD was played for everyone to listen to the pronunciation of the mantra. Next, going through the mantra without the CD and finally performing the puja. Most our youth brought their own Ganesha and puja items for the practical session.

While the youth performed the puja, their parents guided them along. It was very uplifting to see all of them performing the puja at the same time. The chanting of the mantra, the ringing of the bells and the aroma of the incenses and flowers, created a wonderful and energized environment.

Young Eshwaris shown lost in bliss as he enjoyed doing the puja. He requested to be invited for our future activities

A sharing session about how each one felt when performing Ganesha puja concluded the activity.
After the puja, all the youth humbly placed their beloved Ganesha at the altar.

Padmini Pareatumbee from Mauritius, aged 7, participated actively in the programme. She was concentrating in writing her Maha Vasana Daha Tantra. She enjoyed herself very much and was busy counting points for her team.

Vasaant, he found himself a quiet corner to write Maha Vasana Daha Tantra. After a short break, another game titled "See No Touch" was introduced and I took over the presenter stand for the third activity--Maha Vasana Daha Tantra. I shared my knowledge about the importance of Maha Vasana Daha Tantra and how it guides us in our daily life. A sharing session gave a greater insight of Maha Vasana Daha Tantra and the activity was wind up with a practical session. Everyone was given papers and told to write down all their feelings - regrets, doubts, confusions, pains and fears in as much detail as possible and burn them. Empty tins were provided for this activity to burn up the pages and everyone participated very actively.

Goodies games ended the morning activity and made way for lunch. The programme continued with a game - Show Me the Way, for the kids in the evening. ShantaDevi Periasamy presented the last spiritual based activity - Color Meditation. She shared her knowledge, views and her experiences of color meditation. She also touched on areas such as posture, environment and the best time for meditation. The floor was opened to take in the views from the rest of them.

Following that was the final game - Treasure Hunt. Adults, youth and kids were moving and running all over the chalet.

Bijamati, Anusha, Kavitha, Eshwar, Kasturi and Padmini, prepared for the cultural activities, singing and dancing and enjoy singing Karaoke.

Here, Darshan and Aishwariya were having their own activity

All of us enjoyed the vegetarian BBQ dinner.
The night ended with a briefing for the following day programme.

The final day came, and once again the morning was broke with Ganesha Arathi and Guru Salutation. Mr Umamaheswaran conducted the Yoga and Pranayama, this time on the porch.

Anusha Samugam enjoyed Yoga and had a great time during the retreat

Mr Umamaheswaran leads us.

He currently conducts full time Yoga classes in temples, community centers and health clubs.

After breakfast we had a parting session and everyone gave their views of the programme in the survey form. Their take away - Yoga and Pranayama, Ganesha Puja, Maha Vasana Daha Tantra and Color Meditation are the wonderful tools that our beloved Guru Gurudeva has given us. Let's make use of them to have a wonderful and joyous life.

At this junction Sornavanita and I, Tamilmani, would like to thank everyone for the wonderful card given to us. Thank You.

The seekers' group. In my opinion, I feel the objectives set for this retreat: To introduce basic leadership qualities among the kids, To introduce the wonderful tools we can use to improve our daily life, To have a common understanding and sharing session between parents (adults) and youth were all achieved.

Being the organiser of various activities for Nandinatha Sangam, this was the first programme that was planned with practical session after every presentation. It created a channel for everyone to practice what they learned which will give them the confidence to perform on their own. They cleared their doubts and took part in the sharing sessions. Practice makes perfect. Let's move ahead with positive thoughts and energy!

After the final area cleaning, we pack up and headed to the Changi beach for a swim.

At the beach, we had a great time and returned home with lots of memories

Back home at Kauai Aadheenam, we continue with our bee removal photo documentary 🙂

Here is a photo of the former location of the bee colony in our publications building... after several days we are quite certain all the bees are out.

And, this is the new home where we moved them into a proper bee hive box and put that box outside in the same location where they were coming and going into the attic. After a week or so we will come early in the morning when it is still pitch dark outside, and put a screen on the entrance... all the bees will be inside and we will take them away to a new location somewhere on the island.

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MORE UPLIFTING THINGS		2004 Indian Odyssey Join Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami on an 18 day Innersearch to South India, from Jan 19 to Feb 5, as we pilgrimage to ancient monasteries, magnificent 1,000 plus year old sacred temples and meet with India's holy men in a life-transforming adventure. Click on the above link for more details.
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