All is well at home today. The sun came out, more stones were lifted up to Iraivan and we had a tour group this morning.

After days of heavy rain the devas were cooperating today with the schedule crane stone lift at Iraivan temple

Sixteen stones were put up for the third course of the Rajagopuram

The ground team rigs the next stone to go up. These are mostly small pieces.

Also, today we loaded up sand, gravel and a cement mixer to stay on top of the temple roof. This will save the silpis many hours of lifting cement by the old bucket and pulley method.

Today we also wanted to bring you a special presentation from Skanda Shashti day that was lost on our server… (some may have noticed a few days of TAKA missing after November 2nd…)

It was a most auspicious day for the monastic order because three new Sadhaka took their vows after several years of dedicated study, preparation and begging by our monastery wall. From left to right our three new monks are Sadhaka Nandinatha, Sadhaka Tandavanatha in the middle and Sadhaka Rajanatha.

Please
click here for a slide show of the Vow ceremony.

On November 16, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami presided at satsang at the home of Easvan and Devi Param, one of our Church families in Walnut Creek, Northern California. The traditional pada puja was performed, this time by Easvan and Devi’s son, Chandran, and his sons, Bhajana and Jeyendra.

After the pada puja, Bodhinatha gave upadesha.

Everyone felt unlimited blessings flowing forth from the satguru. It was a beautiful day, inside and out, for all who came. Aum Namah Sivaya.

On November 15 we had our Northern California Donor Appreciation Reception. Here, K. Suriyakumar (left), a long-time devotee and donor to Iraivan Temple, talks to Deva Rajan, one of our senior members in Northern California.

Left to right: Sahana Devi Param, Adi Alahan, Thamby Kumaran and Satya Palani, all long-time devotees of Gurudeva.

To begin the event, Bodhinatha lighted the kuttuvilakku and Senthilnathaswami performed a short arati to Lord Ganesha, praying for the removal of obstacles so that the event would go smoothly.

The event was held at Dinah’s Garden Hotel and Trader Vic’s in Palo Alto, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was a great venue, with a large built-in screen and projector. Senthilnathaswami gave a modified version of the same presentation he gave at our reception the previous weekend in Anaheim, Southern California.

Easan Katir spoke about the Pittsburgh Venkateswara Temple summer camps he has been teaching at. He uses What Is Hinduism? for all his classes, and he considers it a great textbook for all ages.

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami gave a marvelous presentation to the group, teaching about the four purusharthas–dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Instead of boring everyone speaking about moksha at length, he said, instead he focused on the path leading to moksha. He gave practical advice about how to fulfill the other three goals of life in such a way that produces progress on the path toward moksha, liberation.

Half-way through the program we had a catered lunch from Trader Vic’s. The staff did a marvelous job serving everyone.

At the end of the program, devotees streamed through to have Bodhinatha’s darshan, receive blessings and talk about what was on their mind. Here are Chandra and Easan Sankara.