Employee John is nearly finished placing the two rows of paver stones next to the seashore paspalum grass sprigs popping up. Underneath the grass is the geotile, and this will constitute the ground pradakshina path around Iraivan. Below the front of Iraivan Temple, employees Doug and Jim are nearly finished creating this lava rock pony wall around the steps up the hill.

Three silpi craftsmen from India were supposed to return to Kauai a couple months ago, but could not due to visa issues. The issues have now been resolved and we expect them here shortly, so a team headed today to the house where they stay, for a second round of cleaning and food supplies preparation.

We mentioned him briefly in the last post about visiting Waimea Canyon, but here's a bit more. Lucas Brzozowski, age 18, arrived from Massachusetts just days ago to begin a six-month resident visit because he is interested in monastic life. He also briefly stopped by a couple months ago for one morning while he was visiting from Maui island. Here he is helping Shanmuganathaswami and Vatshalan unpack MC trilogy books to store in the new back room of the Pillaiyar Kulam building. This back room is the more affordable replacement for the warehouse space we were renting on the mainland.

Future pilgrims will climb this small hill which begins at the Wailua River, passes through a jungle of tropical plants and the three granite elephants and ends at the temple entry staircase. Doug has returned from a three-month stay with family in Michigan, and is continuing on the building of the two small lava rock pony walls, one on either side, to better define the staircase.

It is hard work, but he is a master mason (among his many talents) and so the work moves along swiftly. We are glad to see him push toward the top. Two arial drone photos in the slideshow are especially revealing.

We are getting ready to attach granite ornamentation to the base of the Kadavul Nandi and adjacent flagpole. In order to do this work, the shakti needs to be removed and stored temporarily in kumbhas through a special homa/puja. The Agamas prescribe a yagasala structure to contain the shakti until the work is done and we are ready to reactivate the area. Priests are being flown in to perform the pujas on Sept 11 and 12. Here are some photos of progress in the yagasala construction by the Siddhidata Kulam in our Banyan Mandapam. The kumbhas will be stored in the central platform. In the last photo they are preparing to paint red stripes.

This morning we received these photos from Thondunathan showing the amazing progress of the Paramparai Mandapam. You will recall that Gurudeva stayed in the home of Kandiah Chettiar in 1948-49. He later was given the land and built a small Siva Temple on the site, which functioned for some 30 years. That was eventually decommissioned and with Bodhinatha's blessings (he was there on Innersearch to bless the ground breaking) the local community designed a meditation mandapam on the land. It will have a Sivalingam at the center and four of our Satgurus, one in each corner: Yogaswami, Gurudeva, Chellappaswami and Kadaitswami.

The elders have added a Ganesha and Murugan shrine at the front. Here you can see the amazing progress. Shows how quickly such things go when you work with bricks and mortar instead of granite! We send our congratulations to all who are manifesting this sweet shrine which will inspire thousands to find summa, to touch the feet of the Kailasa Paramparai, to deepen their spiritual life and consciousness. Aum Namasivaya!

The Pillaiyar Kulam is adding to their existing building at our front entrance so they can store most of our printed publications, as they are shutting down the expensive storage space on the mainland US. The new area is taking shape more quickly now, with extra workers on the job. Here are some images of the progress.

This was a special Satguru Purnima padapuja at our Spiritual Park because it was the first to be held since lockdowns were ended. A new addition to the Spiritual Park made it extra special. We now have a beautiful new pavilion to honor Gurudeva, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami as the founder. It is in a appropriately prominent position, just across from the front entrance gate and very close to the Panchamukha Ganapati Mandapam. With a oval wood floor and water tank/fountain wrapping around Gurudeva's photo, the design is elegant. Click here for many more photos of the opening ceremony followed by padapuja to the paduka of Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami.

For quite some time there's been a blank space on the four, flat, bottom faces of the wooden dhvajastambha ("flagpole") in the Nandi Mandapam at Iraivan Temple. Blank no more! The gold-plated copper plates arrived in the recent (and final) container shipment, along with the gold-plated Tiruvasi (brass arch) Which will rise behind the Sphatika Sivalinga.

All the items were installed just days ago and are exquisite, as you'll see in this photo collection. Beautiful miniature yallis (guardian figures) mount on the four corners of the dhvajastambha panels.

In the photos the tiruvasi is still wrapped in plastic, which will be removed a bit later.