In a magical and mystical intersection of events, Gurudeva's wooden sculpture ended a 3-month journey from India yesterday, arriving at the monastery on Yogaswami's 50th Mahasamadhi anniversary. What are the chances?
Actually, two wooden masterpieces arrived. Their story begins about two years ago, when Bhani Karthigesu of Singapore heard about the renovation of the Media Studio and offered to have some wooden work done for it. That evolved into having Ganapati and Gurudeva carved in north India in the traditionally style. There were delays when the craftsman's family fell ill, but those delays were required to make today happen so magically.
These sculptures will adorn the entry cave of the Media Studio, the first thing visitors will encounter upon entering, Ganesha on the left wall and Gurudeva on the right, gracing the visitor's arrival.
The monks instructed the artist to carve Ganesha in His pose of writing the sacred texts. After all, this is the building from which all of the monastery's writings, books and magazine and art, have taken birth, and it will be the space where that continues for another 1000 years as the monks fulfill Gurudeva's commission and command.
The art on these two wooden sculptures is remarkably detailed, and several monks have commented that the Ganesha especially may well be the best ever seen of this form of sacred art. Thank you, Bhani, and all who have helped with this marvelous project. Not too many days now before the floor will be installed and the monks will move back into the new space. 

"You can go to the top by climbing up step by step. But exceptionally there are some who, with the help of Sruitis, the guru, and their own understanding and experience, can fly like birds." - Yogaswami

Jai Siva Yogaswami!

Today we celebrate Satguru Yogaswami's 50th Mahasamdhi Anniversary. At Kauai Aadheenam, an early morning puja was held to Yogaswami's Murti. The small shrine was beautifully decorated. Monks and local members came with offerings and the puja was performed with intermittent singing of Yogaswami's Natchintanai. All and all it was a beautiful and powerful celebration of this great sage.

On May 29, 1997, the monastery celebrated the 125th Birth Anniversary of Sri Lanka's Sage Yogaswami. After Guru Purnima, in late July, Gurudeva performed the final arati to a 20-inch-tall, gold-leafed, bronze statue of Yogaswami and sent it off on a tour tracing the diaspora of Sri Lankan Tamils throughout the world. He instructed that no plans or schedules should be devised. Everything should unfold according to the inspiration of devotees along the way. In the past 17 years, the tour has traversed half the globe. Moving from Hawaii, through Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver in Canada; then on to Maryland, New York and Los Angeles in the USA before crossing the Atlantic for Europe, spending most of the ensuing decade in Germany. Wonderful pujas and cultural events have greeted the statue of the sage at every stop. Last December, Yogaswami arrived in Colombo to visit groups of devotees across Sri Lanka. Today, on his 50th mahasamadhi, Yogaswami has found his way back to Jaffna.

The following excerpt from The Guru Chronicles presents a glimpse into Yogaswami's teachings:
Whenever people were unduly hard on themselves, undertaking disciplines that were too severe, Swami would stop them. "The body is a temple, the mind is a sanctum. You must keep them pure and clear. You need them to do your work. Do not destroy them or harm them." Turning to a devotee sitting at his feet, he said:

"As you walked into the room, it felt cool and fresh because you are on the path and have begun to feel the presence of the atma. Some people come and I feel hot, and there is no air in the room. That is because they are here to trick me and think they can cheat me out of something. You are searching and have no selfish motives. You come just to sit here. You can feel the same peace from me. That is why you come. It is good for people on the path to sit with one another.
More often than not I feel I am in the presence of God. You must treat that feeling you have of the presence of God as you would a little child. Nurture it. Give it everything it needs. If you see it as a child, you become helpless. You must obey its every wish and do exactly as it bids you. Just as a mother knows in every instance what to do for her child, knows the meaning of its cries and gives it what it needs, so does the Presence make itself felt to the devotee. You must carefully nurture the awareness of God that is growing within you. If you do, it will grow and grow, and without your knowing it, you will have disappeared and only That will be."

Click here to watch a wonderful video Interview about Yogaswami, with Dr. James George, who met Yogaswami on several occasions.

Jiva writes to us from the carving site in Bangaluru:

We are almost near perfecting the face of Gurudeva. We  have reduced the original hair with the Rudraksha Malas by over 5 inches. We are comparing the face to the face sculpted by a Holly Young and refining it.
I've been spending a lot of time to get the special features in Gurudeva's nose right, along with his cheeks. Please burn some prayers in the homa fire since we are working on these two very important works and need a lot of blessings from the inner worlds.

The photos are a little blury because of the granite dust floating around by others using the machines.

The granite model of Bodhinatha arrived a couple of days ago. As usual, the initial carvers only bring it about half way to perfection. We have started working on it and will ensure that anyone who sees the model will know for sure who He is. Very detailed measurements are taken and transferred the same to the granite model and then we begin the long process of bringing forth the artistic talent, so that at the end of the day, we have Bodhinatha with us. I am personally spending hours with the carvers working on every detail. -Jiva.

Click here for more photos and description of our April Spiritual Park Homa

Also, the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation came recently to the Spiritual Park to film our SSC sishyas singing some Natchintanai for an upcoming television special to commemorate Satguru Yogaswami's 50th Mahasamadhi anniversary.
Click here for a few photos of the filming

My God is the melter of my heart of love. Let all adore my God, the Lord of primal love, first of beings, my Siva, who again and again melts my heart. May He render me His love in foremost measure! Praise Him but once, the Pure and Holy One, and He will be your escort to heaven. He, Lord Siva, decked in honeyed konrai blooms, sits enthroned in my love, steadfast and free.
Tirumantiram 274-275

Tomorrow is Ardra Nakshatra, an auspicious and powerful time to worship Lord Siva and receive his bountiful grace. We would like to share a recent Sun 1 talk that Satguru Bodhinatha gave in Kadavul Temple. In it He discusses the inner importance of temple worship, something to remember when we sit before Siva tomorrow. Aum Namah Sivaya

Click Play to Listen

They have done it again. The Malaysian members have pushed through a strategic project that would warm Gurudeva's heart and is dear to Bodhinatha's educational outreach initiatives.

They designed and printed the famous Four Facts of Hinduism in Tamil and Malay. Today a small package with several dozen of each reached Kauai's shore and were offered to Bodhinatha for his blessings. They printed 15,000 of each of the pamphlets, under the guidance of Maruthu Dharmilingam.

The plan is to distribute them around the nation, to educate the public about the shared beliefs of all Hindu lineages and traditions: karma, reincarnation, all-pervasive divinity and dharma. The sweet paintings of S. Rajam sit like little gems on the pages, and a Vedic quote is offered to show the original scriptural source.

Great job, everyone!

The final stretch of Bodhinatha's and Senthilnathaswami's recent visit to Texas took place in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, a vast area with several major cities, dozens of suburbs and a large Hindu population spread throughout.

The first stop was the new temple that is currently under construction in the southwest corner of Fort Worth, the only temple in the DFW Metroplex east of Irving. This location will be crucial, offering a major place of worship that isn't an hour's drive for those who live in this area. The temple's murtis are about to be shipped from Chennai, and the mahakumbhabhishekam date has been set for early June. Bodhinatha will be back then to preside at the event.

An outing to the Dallas World Aquarium with the Param family was great fun, complete with crocodiles, toucans, sloths, exotic amphibians, sharks and a giant manatee, among other attractions.

In Irving, Bodhinatha was the honored guest at the home of Srinivas Bhamidhipaty, a key leader of the Sivam Group, which meets regularly to chant Sri Rudram and perform elaborate Linga puja. The family visited Kauai Aadheenam last year and extended the invitation, and the date happened to be their wedding anniversary. Blessings were flowing strong in Irving!

The last event was a lecture at the Sri Ganesha Temple in Plano. This is also a new temple, currently operating out of a modified house, with a double-wide trailer for classrooms. They broke ground for the building of the new temple structure recently, but currently struggle, as many projects are these days, with raising enough funds. In an area that already has a couple dozen temples, the challenge is understandable. Bodhinatha continued blessings are a boon for their success.

Adoration to the Remover of Obstacles
Written by Auvaiyar Ma
Translated from Tamil by Tiru K. Swaminathan
(From Om Ganesa, the Peace of God)

O king, is there anything unattainable
To them who intensely contemplate
On the fragrant feet of the son
Of Ummaiyal, of sweet and comely speech?
The thunderous thud of the swift elephant
And that of the agile horse must give place
To that of the rider of this old dame!
He is none other than the mighty Mahāgaṇapati.
Cool, fragrant lotus feet
with anklets tinkling sweet,
gold girdle, flower-soft garment
setting off the comely hips,
pot-belly and big, heavy tusk,
elephant-face with the bright red mark,
five hands, the goad, the noose,
blue body dwelling in the heart,
pendulous jaws, four mighty shoulders,
three eyes and the three required marks,
two ears, the gold crown gleaming,
the breast aglow with the triple thread,
O Being, bright and beautiful!
Wish-yielding elephant, born of the
Master of Mystery in Mount Kailasa,
mouse-rider, fond of the three famed fruits,
desiring to make me yours this instant,
you like a mother have appeared before me
and cut the delusion of unending births.
You have come and entered my heart,
imprinting clear the five prime letters,
set foot in the world in the form of a guru, 
declared the final truth is this, gladly,
graciously shown the way of life unfading.
With that unfailing weapon, your glance,
you have put an end to my heinous sins,
poured in my ear uncloying precepts,
laid bare for me the clarity
of ever-fresh awareness,
sweetly given me your sweet grace
for firm control of the senses five,
taught how to still the organs of action;
snapped my two-fold karma and dispelled
my darkness, giving, out of grace,
a place for me in all four states;
dissolved the illusion of triple filth,
taught me how to shut the five
sense gates of the nine-door temple,
fixed me firm in the six yogic centers,
stilled my speech, taught me
the writ of ida and pingala, 
shown me at last the head of sushumna. 
To the tongue of the serpent that sinks and soars
you have brought the force sustaining the three
bright spheres of sun, moon and fire--
the mantra unspoken asleep in the snake--
and explicitly uttered it;
imparted the skill of raising by breath
the raging flame of muladhara; 
explained the secret of immortality,
the sun's movement and the charm
of the moon; the water lily's friend,
the sixteen states of the prasada mantra;
revealed to me in thoughtful wisdom
the six-faced form and the meanings four;
disclosed to me the subtle body
and the eight separate modes of being;
the orifice of Brahman opened,
giving me miraculous powers,
by your sweet grace, and mukti, too;
revealed my Self to me and by your grace
swept away accumulated karma, 
stilled my mind in tranquil calm
beyond speech and thought;
clarified my intellect, plunged me
in bliss which is the common ground
of light and darkness.
Boundless beatitude you have given me,
ended all affliction, shown the way of grace:
Siva eternal at the core of sound,
Sivalinga within the heart,
atom within atom, vast beyond all vastness,
sweetness hid in the hardened node.
You have steadied me clear in human form
all besmeared with holy ashes;
added me to the congregation
of your servants true and trusty;
made me experience in my heart
the inmost meaning of the five letters;
restored my real state to me;
and rule me now, O Master of Wisdom,
Vinayaka. Your feet alone,
O Master of Wisdom, Vinayaka,
your feet alone, are my sole refuge.