Temples

Iraivan Northwest Corner Buildup

The ground-level perimeter of Iraivan is planted with two types of grass, separated in the middle by paver stones that form a pradakshina path. One can perform the circumambulation walking on the stones or on the light green short grass next to them. For a while now, the northwest corner of this grassy area and paver stones has been sunken, accumulating mud and standing water. We are now in process of rectifying this. Paver stones in the corner were removed and dirt brought in to raise the area. A pipe was placed under the new dirt to help channel water around the corner and away. When our employee returns to work, he’ll finish re-installing the paver stones.

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Kadavul Guestbook, and Sadhu Paksha begins

Morning sunrise at Shanmuga Banyan

The first two weeks of April, August and December are called Sadhu Paksha here in the Aadheenam, during which the monks have a individualized early morning routine. We can do personal sadhanas on various parts of the grounds, and catch up on extra rest if needed.

For many years we had a handwritten guestbook in Kadavul Temple for visitors to leave their contact information if they wished. We consider the email address as the most useful information, as we can conveniently send a followup note sharing our services some time after they visit. While handwriting is consider quaint these days, we often find the letters written to be questionable at best, and illegible at worst. Too much time was spent trying to decipher email addresses, not to mention typing them into a computer list in the first place. Also, many people did not leave a email address at all. We finally decided to switch to a digital guestbook, which not only encourages correct spelling and is fully legible, but allows us to simply copy all the email addresses for a given period and paste into a followup note.

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Kadavul Temple Reroofing Begins

After protecting Kadavul Temple’s wooden roof from the elements for about 40 years, it’s finally time to remove the monier tiles, which had begun to crack here and there, causing some water damage underneath. They will be replaced with shingle tiles after conducting any necessary repairs of the wood ceiling beams underneath and placing a new layer of thick plywood and tar paper. As can be imagined, this project causes quite a disruption to the flow of visitors who normally attend puja and mill about throughout the mornings. To be fully on the safe side, we have shut down public access to the temple and surrounding area for the duration of the project.

Yesterday was the first day of work for the contracted team. The first photo shows how much tile they have removed from one side (under the blue tarp). The job is estimated to last a couple weeks or longer, pending discovery of needed repairs or weather issues. Just today, it rained a fair amount (needed by plants after a dry spell), so the workers can only resume when that stops.

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Artists We Work With Receive Award in Tamil Nadu

Over the decades we have commissioned a large amount of artwork by painter A. Manivelu for our publications, and we also hired sculptor L. Balachander to create the five forms of Siva placed in the niches around Iraivan Temple’s mukhapandam. These two artists are among six being honored by the Tamil Nadu government’s Art and Culture Department, Fine Arts Committee. They are receiving the Kalaichemmal Award for 2024-2025, which annually recognizes both traditional and contemporary artists in the field of fine arts for their exemplary achievements and contributions. The artists each receive a cash prices of Rs.100,000.

Here is a page of A Manivelu’s artwork.

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Satguru Back in State of Missouri

Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami has returned to the St. Louis metro area on a short trip. He is chief guest for the prana pratishtha of the utsava murtis at the Murugan Temple of St. Louis. Flights were delayed, but he was able to attend the main event on Sept 15 from about 9am to 2:30pm. The event was the second yagashala puja followed by abhishekam of the utsava murtis. In the middle Satguru gave his talk on “Why Do We Need Hindu Temples?” About eight hundred devotees in attendance—they had expected five hundred.

There were three priests involved. One of them, Sivasri Muralidharan Bharadhwaj Gurukkal, had participated in Iraivan Temple’s prana pratishtha events last year.

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