Sri Ravi Sankar paid a whirlwind 18-hour visit to his devotees on Kauai, arriving last night, giving a program this morning and dropping by kauai Aadheenam on his way to the airport, he had just enough time for darshan in the Kadavul and a quick drive around.

Srinivas (“Sri”) and Padma Mandalaparthy who follow TAKA regularly noted the Ganapati’s Kulams work on digital publications and decided to make a gift of an iPad to the Aadheenam. Today they joined the Ganapati Kulam to make their presentation. Their two sons were already avid users! A wonderful and timely gift to the team that is working tirelessly to get Gurudeva lifelong legacy online, and the iPad is our next platform to conquer.

Thank you Sri and Padma!

They are working daily with the trilogy, and love to find moments in life which they describe (a paraphrase of Gurudeva) moments where Siva is in all and all is Siva.

The Sri Subramuniya Kottam organized the Maha Sivaratri celebration this year. The celebrations began on the morning before the great night of Lord Siva. Devotees assembled at the Katpaga Pillaiyar Temple in Kopay at 9:00 am for puja.

After the puja, devotees carried paal kudam (milk pots) with the sacred bilva leaves in a procession lead by a Naathaswaram and Thavil musical ensemble to the Sri Shanti Lingam temple.

The devotees’ paal kudams were used for the abhishekam of Sri Shanti Lingam which Gurudeva had installed. The Sivachariyas have performed a Rudra Homam and Sangabishekam to Sri Shanthi Lingam. The ceremonies ended at 2:30 pm. After that the lunch (Anna Dhanam) was served to all the devotees. Then pujas resumed again in the evening, all through the night until early next morning.

While attending the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia, last December, Palaniswami and Senthilnathaswami interviewed Amma Sri Karunamayi of Penusila Ashram in Andhra Pradesh, South India. (At left is Swami Amarananda from the Ramakrishna Mission, Geneva, Switzerland, who was also interviewed.)

Amma had this to say about Hinduism Today: “It is a beautiful, beautiful magazine. It is a total mirror for Hindu Sanatana Dharma. We love the magazine so much. You introduce so many holy souls to the real souls through that magazine. You do a great job. I have been to Hawaii and seen all of you there, the beautiful gardens, a very sacred place, the Siva temple. Very beautiful, what you have done is so great, I have a lot of respect for your magazine. You mentioned Hinduism Today is not your life history, not your book. It is all of the saints, great teachings, their life and the essence of what they are giving through their meditations, through their life essence, their teachings are the essence of their life. So every holy person’s essence of their truth is in your Hinduism Today magazine. So, it is not just like any printed matter, it gives a sense of all the holy people, holy sages, great souls. That is why what you are doing is so great, the unbelievably great things you are doing through the magazine to share with all the people who love the Sanatana Dharma, the Hindu dharma, which is Sanatana Dharma. They love the magazine so much, they feel it belongs to their soul.”

Today the monastery received an e-mail from Jeyendrapuriswami of Kailash Ashram in Bengaluru, India, with his blessings and a story. The story speaks to Gurudeva's important message that there is a one life flooding through all creatures, all that lives. "Two blind persons wanted to drink water at the RagiGudda temple, Bangalore. When they were unable to operate the tap, this mother monkey opened the tap for them, allowed them to drink water, drank some water herself and then closed the tap before leaving the scene."