In front of the Iraivan Temple sanctum, in orange, is Parankusah Hanumath Prasad who is one of the priests from the Baloji Temple in Aurora, a suburb of Chicago. Accompanying him from Chicago are Lingahneni Jagan Mohan Rao, Lingammenu Uma, and Akkineni Sudarsana Rao, all devotees of Sri Ganapathi Sachidananda Swamiji of the Mysore Datta Peetham.

After enjoying a wonderful morning puja in the Kadavul Temple our guests then toured the grounds. Shaded under the canopy they pause beside the sacred swayambu lingam where Gurudeva experienced his threefold vision of God Siva.

Following the path around the lotus ponds which honor the sixty-three South Indian Nayanar Saints, Prasad stops to perform abishekam at the sacred Narmada Lingam.

Thondunatha brings news from Jaffna:

“I am enclosing few photos which were taken at our Pasupathiswarar Temple on January 1st, 2009, the first day of Thiruvembavai.

“Left to right is Mrs. Pathmanathan our new trustee of the Ashram, Amma Sivayogam Vinayagamurthy, temple priest, Rishi Thondunathan and Rishimata Sivalosani Kanagaratnam.”

Left to right is Amma Sivayogam Vinayagamurthy, temple priest and the caretaker of the temple Mr. Ganesh.

Devotees at the temple.

Puja at the temple.

From the big island Hitesvara Saravan observes a very tropical Thai Pusam. He writes:

“May the Holy Vel of Lord Murugan (Hawaiian God Ku-mara) in His Grace on this most auspicious day remove all bondages of ignorance.”

This is our Murugan Hill outdoor shrine in the Summa Iru Walking Meditation Gardens on the healing island of Hawaii, Ola’a Aina O Kane.

Beautifully decked with several garlands lovingly woven by devotees, Lord Pancha Mukha Ganapati welcomes all to the Spiritual Park of Mauritius for the first Sunday Homa of February 2009.

Offerings brought are being taken care of by our ladies.

Devotees coming over the Ganesha Bridge with their offerings…

Meanwhile other devotees are worshipping at the Narmada Lingum.

Some progress down the river where the steps are being built. This is actually a major project at the Spiritual Park.

One of the favorite viewpoints of the Spiritual Park overlooking the river merging into the ocean, reminding everyone of the soul merging into its creator, God Siva.

The small Pancha Mukha Ganapati is beautifully decorated too.

Hundreds of earthen lamps are offered to Lord Ganapati by ladies coming to the small Ganesha Pavilion.

A small poster of Satguru Bodhinatha's Seminar in Mauritius in April next displayed among Himalayan Academy publications in the HA outside Sales Both.

The Homa ceremony is at its peak. Every month hundreds of written prayers are burnt to the devas and the number of prayers brought by devotees keep increasing every month.

A lady from the north giving a testimony on Lord Ganesha.

Kulapati Manon Mardemootoo giving the usual monthly talk to the public on penance as explained in our Trilogy.

Some new participants for Satguru Bodhinatha's Sminar on April 11, signing up at the HA Booth.

Others are buying books and Hinduism Today magazines.

A group leading the bhajans …The ceremony is now almost over at the Spiritual Park.

Another dynamic day at the Aadheenam, to finish our short, but very productive 4-day phase.

~~~~~~~~~~~
END OF PHASE
Today is the last day of our phase.
This edition of TAKA will remain posted
over our coming three-day retreat,
until Dvitya Tithi, Sun One, Wednesday, February 11th.

Tomorrow is the holy day of Thai Pusam. The full moon in the month of Thai, dedicated to Lord Murugan. Here a devotee in Jaffna has a vision of Yogaswami at the holy temple of Nallur in Jaffna, where the presiding Deity is just a Vel in the inner sanctum.

Tomorrow morning at 6:00 we will hold our own Thai Pusam celebration with a homa and abhishekam to Lord Murugan in Kadavul Temple.

The Ganapati Kulam gave their report for the phase today. The whole team has been working on the installation of the new floor. Today they completed the last installation of the floor pieces and continued work on the baseboards around the edge of the walls. And lots and lots and lots of cleaning! Concrete dust everywhere!

Sivakatirswami also wrapped up the post-editorial production of Hinduism Today, making the high-resolution PDF’s and sending these off to our printer RR Donnelly in the Mid-West. It is another fascinating issue of the world’s finest Hindu publication.

The front hall way with Kumarswami’s station at the end and counters in front of the windows that look out to Iraivan and Mount Waialeale was finished and counters were reinstalled.

If you want to clean your house, just take it completely apart inside. Next install a new floor and then clean every single wall, surface and object as you put it all back together again!

It is Saturday so the crew working on the new Visitor Info and Library Center are off today. We can see they made good progress yesterday completing the installation of the rafters of the roof.

This new minimela is destined to be the greenest building we have, with solar panels, a small wind mill and other super energy efficient features.

We had a magnificent Ardra Puja this morning. Meanwhile we bring you and extra long TAKA today where the spirit of the documentary is the power of Agni–God of Fire.