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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.

The past few days have all been focused on Iraivan as the, Iraivan day has been shifted to fall on the second retreat day of any given month.

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.

The monks gathered early this morning for Chitra puja instead of the usual Sun One Homa. Rudram is chanted first.

Sadhaka Jivanandanatha and Sadhaka Dandapani assisting on the right. They sit quietly at the beginning of the puja.

Yogaswami sang: "Bow to the sacred Feet of the Guru whose holy utterance--the Mahavakiam ("Great Sayings" --points the Way to everlasting bliss."

"The Lord manifests as Father, Mother and Teacher,
This is how He has made me His own."

"I want to sing and dance
And serve Him who is manifest in all.
There is then no night nor day
And duality yields to Oneness infinite."

--Siva Yogaswami

Stepping back to yesterday's Iraivan day activities. Mr. Thomas Hackett (on the left), nephew of Dr. Devananda Tandavan, came to bring Dr. Tandavan's ashes to Kauai. Our beloved "Dr. T", who recently made his transition to inner worlds. "Tom" came with his friend, Don Wiener.

Earlier in the morning, Tom was hosted by our family members who performed the ceremony of putting Dr. Tandavan's ashes into the ocean where the Wailua River meets the sea.

Sivakatirswami hosting.... Tom shares with us his experiences taking care of Dr. Tandavan, during the difficult last four years of his life in Chicago.

Dr. Tandavan was one of Gurudeva's oldest devotees, he had been a strong financial supporter of the Iraivan project throughout his later life. He had many deep inner experiences and once had a vision of Lord Muruga chanting the Vedas on an innersearch to India at the Tiruchendur temple. Always the wise elder Dr. Tandavan, was beloved by all of Gurudeva's sishya, and Gurudeva used to often advise his devotees to get counsel from him on various matters in their lives. Sivakatirswami tells how he knew Dr. T. since he was a "little keki monk."

All the monks are very grateful to Mr. Thomas Hackett for the great sacrifice he made to see to Dr. Tandavan's care over the past few years.

Dr. Tandavan, nine years ago had established a Charitable Remainder Trust, with the Iraivan temple as beneficiary. which simply means a trust made during your lifetime, whose funds will go to a charity at the time of your passing. Thomas was the trustee for Dr. Tandavan's estate and he had the pleasant duty of delivering the check to Lord Siva's feet. Here we are at the Iraivan temple symbolically receiving Dr. Tandavan's gift. Undoubtedly he and Gurudeva were from the inner worlds and watching the event. It will be deposited entirely into the Iraivan Temple Endowment. Click here to find out how to do the same thing yourself.

Thomas and Don were amazed at the temple and also the peace of the San Marga land. We gave them an extended tour and told all the stories of the temple from it's beginning.

Meanwhile the monks were busy with the monthly news letter. We are now using a variable data print process to merge the names of donors from the data base into individual PDF's which are printed on our copier with the name and address, automatically stapled and folder.

The newsletter work having been much reduced, the monks can do other important tasks. Here are personalized thank you notes being sent to donors.

Aside from the Charitable Remainder Trust, Dr. Tandavan also left four rings which are to be sold for Iraivan. Three beautiful opals and a diamond....

Sadhaka Tejadeva working on thank you notes.

As is Natarajnathaswami who designed the card being used today.

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 temple has been very active the past 4-5 days. Our silpis and Siddhidata team have been very busy unloading tw containers. Here is the first one, almost cleared out.

Stones everywhere. Those needed for the next course, #21 were uncrated right away.

Nearly empty

And this empty one drives away....

And the second container pulls in...

Opening the container

We use our large fan to air out the fumigants used to assure that no beetles from India are introduced to Kauai.

Teddy stands by as the silpis work.

Clearing the supports at the end of the container.

The silpis move crates away from the doors edge.

Teddy goes to work with our fork lift.

Inside... for some really big beams...

Our team handles the logistics inside.

A few big beams left.

OK, where we go...

There were some really big crates. One had two beams in it and we could barely move it.

Smaller items can be picked up with chain on a single fork.

Another chitra pillar

The temple foundation once again crowded with stones.

Stone everywhere.

We were fortunate to have some clear dry days for this work.

Here is the top of one of the side gopurams

A full load!

Finally our crane man came late in the day.

As the afternoon drew to a close the team had lowered half of the stones for course 22 into the temple. It has been a full two days of steady work by the whole team.

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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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