Here is Bodhinatha with the young Swami Nithyananda at the opening of his new Siva temple in California. This is the first Hindu temple in the Montclair.

Here is Bodhinatha and Saravananathaswami seated next to a giant Sivalingam. Swami Nithyananada was raised and did much of his sadhana at Arunachala, in South India.

A local newspaper writes:

“The Montclair site originally was a six-theater United Artists cinema before housing the Rock of Life Community Church, which sold the building last month to the Duarte-based Life Bliss Foundation, a Hindu organization running the new temple.”

Swami follows the Smarta Vedanta tradition.

Back at home we had our homa this morning.

Mahasamadhi high-resolution photos online!

For those who missed it, we now have a simple catalog of the images in their original format. It’s a great opportunity to take a closer look into this joyous celebration of Gurudeva’s life. Click here.

Thinks are quiet now after the Maha Samadhi observances with most pilgrims having returned home. But Kadavul Temple is still scintillating with a high actinic energy, flooding out through time from the earlier ceremonies to today.

This morning’s homa witnessed the Karnaveda, ear-boring of Saroja Devi Manickam from Colorado.

She is a brave little lady and took the boring with equinimity.

First the left…

Then the right

Palaniswami gave a talk this morning in Bodhinatha’s absence. He spoke about the on-going research into Gurudeva’s time in Sri Lanka. He read parts of a letter from Gurudeva to a friend in America sent in March, 1947, in which Gurudeva describes how wonderful Sri Lanka is. The letter included a poem by Gurudeva which said, “boiling down the mind, boiling down the mind, boiling down the mind, until only the aum remains.”

He also quoted parts of a 1958 letter from Kandiah Chettiar whom Gurudeva spent a long time with in Alaveddy Sri Lanka. In it Kandiah describes how he met Gurudeva in Colombo and later how Gurudeva met Yogaswami.

Out at Iraivan, stones on top of the temple…raised up by yesterdays’ stone lift.

Another Jalakam was placed

Our team is doing a great job.

Rudi and Dora, Master Course students and innersearchers are here from Boston.

A visit to the cows. Little Veda is trying to see if he can extract some milk from Dora’s hands…

Rudi at for a few minutes with Palaniswami and Arumugaswami discussing how Hindus might augment Hindu studies in the academic world through grants, scholarships and funding of university chairs.