Atritex & Our Special Visitors

Yoginathaswami and I were a bit amazed at the level of technology here in India. Our room, for instance, is run entirely from an iPad, everything from lights and sounds, room service, laundry, every single thing that happens in the room is on the iPad. In this, India is far ahead of the US. 

Our room boy was enamored by the Gurudeva shrine we keep in the room, and said he would offer a surprise. When we returned from the temple, we found he had made an elephant out of two towels!

Ponni Selvanathan, wife of our Sthapati, came to meet with us along with her younger son Raja Ganapathy and her nephew, who is a marking silpi. Her son is being groomed to become a sthapati.  So encouraging to see that young men still are dedicated to the ancient arts. Even his older brother, now an airline pilot, plans to do the same after he has seen the world.

Details of the Temple Builders' bronze Memorial were worked out and we asked Pooni about the idea of having cows present at the opening of temples and homes (for our article in the magazine on cows). She is enormously knowledgeable and offered many insights to us.

Around 10:30 am we were met by the founder/owner of Atritex, Mr. Satya Narayanan and his partner, Srini, and together the four of us drove to their offices. Atritex has been instrumental in working with the Ganapati Kulam on transferring all of our books and resources into ePub formats. This is the first time we are meeting them in person. 

Satya is a PhD in technology and a brilliant head of this small but innovative company. Yoginathaswami said: "He is one of the most intelligent, eloquent and ethical businessmen I've ever met."

We were introduced to his team of 25 youthful nerds, all amazingly focused. Satya has intentionally kept them close, in two rooms working side by side in a home, not a corporate office, so their culture would be that of a family.  

He showed us an incredible tool they use for creating ePub files from PDFs, something they have cobbled together from various sources. It's a game-changer in the digital publishing industry and you will be hearing more and more about them in the future. I am under confidentiality vows to say no more!

That afternoon we met with Kulapati Ramesh Sivanathan and his family who are on a 21-day pilgrimage to all the major temples of South India and then spent a valuable hour with our respected  Sabarathnam Sivacharyar, who guides us on all matters regarding Vedas, Agamas and vastu tradition.

We told Sivachariya about our cow article in the magazine and he offered to give relevant references from the Agamas which have much to say on the subject. 

The towel Ganesha greets us when we return from the temple

The iPad that runs the show in our room

Atritex headquarters

So focused so skilled

Satya shows us his newest tools

We share a photo of the monks on our iPad

Priya is our prime mover here, responsible for the files that come from Hawaii

She shows us today\

s work, the January issue of Hinduism Today'

The team is young and gifted

Yoginathaswami likes their motto...

Ponni with her son on the far left

Ramesh and family regale us with tales of their travels in India

Nandidevi in a quiet moment

Potrian

Ganeshkant

Saraswati is in a good mood this morning, feeling Siva everywhere

Sabharathnam Sivachariyar is a vast ocean of knowledge

The simplest query will evoke the most profound response

To have such a resource to call on is one of our many blessings

Thank you for being there to guide us...

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