Our employee and longtime friend Dennis Wong has finished laying rock and gravel in the lower section of the official pilgrims' path to Iraivan Temple, and now he is heading up the straight San Marga path, from the svayambhulingam heading backwards.

The electricians team from California finished installing lighting and fans. Another team of monks and employee Doug installed insulation in the walls of all downstairs storage rooms, and another hired team has just installed sheet rock on all those walls.

Some days ago, our silpis installed hanging stone chains in the four corners of the Iraivan Temple mahamandapam roof. This constituted the final pieces of the temple to be assembled. Worthy of celebration! The silpis will return to India at year's end.

Five electricians from California have begun the process of installing wiring, fans and power outlets throughout the new Siddhidata Kulam metal building, courtesy of our SSC sishya Easvan Param, a longtime electrican.

Three scissor lifts are rented for the project, which will last around a couple weeks.

Now that the new metal building is finished on the outside, including gutters and drain pipes to move rainwater away from the building, the Siddhidata Kulam is adjusting the surroundings. The ground is now sloped away on three sides, with a slightly lower pathway cut to channel water further away. Narrow concrete pipes already in our possession were laid next to each other to form a wide culvert for diverting a large amount of water out into the nearby orchard. The road over this culvert is the main route for coming to and from the new building. A round catchment tank is being installed as another source of rainwater storage for emergency use, and we also just purchased a used, large, stainless steel tanker as another source of backup water. A mound of dirt and mulch is established around the south side of the building to grow plants for a visual barrier.

As part of the amazing Satgurus Meditation Mandapam in Alaveddy, the team also just completed a guesthouse for the Kauai monks and other special visitors to Sri Lanka. Dr. Ganapatipillai Shanmugasundaram and his wife Tillaka were there from California for the official opening and blessing. Congratulations to all who made this happen so swiftly. It will be a welcome retreat far into the future.

With some helpful dry weather in the last week, our big equipment operator and engineer Dennis Wong was able to complete the process of laying down rocks and gravel for the farthest section of the Iraivan Temple pilgrims' path. This portion is the most challenging because of longer distance for transporting the material, and susceptibility to muddiness in wet weather. He will move on to the flatter sections in the weeks ahead. The rocks and gravel were laid a bit further than the temple entrance hill steps, over to a picturesque stream. Next, Dennis is working backwards, currently around the svayambhulingam area.

Construction finally wrapped up on what is affectionally known as the "Way Back Room," which is attached to the previously constructed "Back Room," which itself is attached to the longstanding Pillaiyar Kulam administrative desk space rooms. A few days ago they help a simple puja to sanctify the new spaces, wrapping up about six years of extending the original building to add storage rooms for holding most of our publications and Minimela inventory. Next they will begin moving items in here and reorganizing all the rooms to make everything categorized properly and easily accessible.

The new steel building has entered a new phase, with another team working on the framing of the interior office and equipment/storage spaces. A three-man carpentry crew is making progress with the walls, staircase and floors. This additional space, carefully designed to be super efficient, will help the monks to tackle land and construction projects into the far future. It has the additional benefit to the monastery of placing the sometimes noisy maintenance and building tasks far from the living quarters.

The path from rudraksha grove to Iraivan Temple is finally being paved so that pilgrims can walk safely. In between some rainouts and other responsibilities, our longtime earthworker Dennis Wong is making good progress with laying down rocks first, and then gravel on top. He is beginning with the most difficult section which stretches from the svayambhulingam (under white tent in photo), down the hill, through the rainbow eucalyptus grove, around a corner to the flight of steps leading up to Iraivan, and also a bit beyond that to a stream. After that, he will work backwards up the straight portion of San Marga path towards Muruga Hill and beyond.

After the rock and gravel is laid, the plastic grid will go down, which is then topped with soil and grass planted in it. It will look much prettier than a cement path, and also less expensive.