Trinidad Calls

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami and Sannyasin Senthilnathaswami arrived in Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday night to a warm greeting by hosts Pandit Narendra and Ashwinee Ragoonanan and family. Friday was a full day of calls to local organizations, including the Chinmaya Mission ashram in McBean Village in Couva, in the central part of the island, Dattatreya Yoga Center in Carapichima, Ashwinee's mother's ancestral home in San Juan, and the 90.5 FM radio station facility in the St. Clair district of the capital, Port of Spain.

Due to the great work of Ashwinee Ragoonanan and her husband Pandit Narendra and daughter Kashika over the years, Gurudeva's teachings and Hinduism Today magazine have a strong presence in this country, slowly bolstering the large Hindu population's understanding of and pride in their religion.

Bodhinatha is introduced to brahmacharis in the 19-month residential training program at Chinmaya Mission

Bodhinatha gave a wonderful, informal talk to the brahmacharis and students of the ashram\

s school'

Swami Prakashananda, front left, gave such a warm welcome to our visiting swamis

Next stop was for a live interview on radio 90.5 FM to discuss and promote the upcoming weekend workshop

Our intrepid host, Ashwinee Ragoonanan, who is also quite well spoken on the radio

Kavita, an anchor for 90.5 FM, conducted the interview with such intelligence and poise

Ashwinee\

s mother (center, below Gurudeva), hosted us at her home and explained that it is 108 years old and has been home to seven generations of her family since they arrived from India in the 19th century'

On the compound is Ashwinee\

s formal Hinduism Today office and storehouse for Hinduism Today and Himalayan Academy Publications, which she distributes in Trinidad and Tobago'

A giant Hanuman statue beckons all from the nearby village of Carapichima to the Dattatreya Yoga Center

A traditional Agamic temple to Rajarajeshvari is the main powerhouse of Swami Ganapati Sachchidananda\

s place here'

Pandit Ramesh Persad (center) enjoyed hosting Bodhinatha

It happened to be the evening for Satyanarayana homa, so Bodhinatha was invited to attend and speak to the group

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