Festivals

We began the day with a short puja at Gurudeva’s samadhi shrine. Later in the morning, Satguru gave a presentation on the Klesha section of the Yoga Sutras to assembled pilgrims and gifted a copy of our new Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras book to each household.

This is the 24th anniversary of Gurudeva’s samadhi, so it carries the 12-year-Jupiter-cycle significance. Sivasri Kumar Gurukkal arrived yesterday and will perform the mahasamadhi pujas tomorrow. He is accompanied by a special guest priest on his first visit, Sivasri Rajashanmugam Gurukkal who serves at the Palani Hills Murugan temple in Tamil Nadu and is visiting California to participate in the Shiva-Murugan Temple’s first Skanda Shashthi celebration in their new premises.

Fifty-four small kumbhas are being prepared today to accompany the main kumbha. A couple of sevakas are here from Malaysia and USA to help out. They are cutting many banana leaves into small strips that serve as mats for the kumbhas to rest on.

We were blessed to have back-to-back special events– Gurudeva Chitra puja in the afternoon, and Ganesha Chaturthi abhishekam the next morning. Here are still photos from both.

Here are some words from Gurudeva on Lord Ganesha