Below are some of the final descriptions by the traveling team for their days in Malaysia and Singapore. Day 14–
Today, we traveled to the Sri Subramaniya Swami Temple in Kajang for the Path to Siva workshop. We had a wonderful turnout of 35 students and received an incredibly positive response from the participants.
Although the students were quite shy at the beginning, they warmed up beautifully as the session progressed. It was a huge help to have several of our own young sishyas present to support Swami; they did a fantastic job of explaining questions and encouraging the youth to actively participate. By the end of the workshop, several students even approached Swami to ask personal questions.
Day 16-17
Today was a day of travel and teaching. We arrived at the airport four hours early due to the festive holiday season. Swami utilized this extra time to prepare for the upcoming Singapore Path to Siva workshops. After a quick 50-minute flight, we were warmly greeted at the airport by several sishyas, followed by a wonderful meal at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant filled with lively discussion about our travels and the Monastery.
That evening, Swami conducted a workshop at Sudha’s home, with 25 adults and youth in attendance. The core focus of the session was managing stress.
Key teachings from the workshop included:
The Three States of mind
Our True Identity: Remembering that you are not the instinctive mind; you are the soul.
Spiritual Practice: Swami introduced the practice of Vasana Daha Tantra
Day 18–
Singapore day 2 was a full four-hour Path to Siva workshop, 35 in attendance. Focused group with a lot of questions. Swami followed the standard workshop format.
Later went to the home of Trishna for a Satsang. Modest group of 20. Young families and single adults were in attendance. Great questions were asked about parenting and how to encourage the youth to go to the temple and continue to practice our religion. Swami talked about our amazing religion, sadhana, our mission in Malaysia, and monastic life.
Day 19–
We had a 6:30 departure from Singapore traveling to Johor. We arrived at the Arulmigu Sithi Vinayagar Temple around 8:15, had a nice darshan of Ganesha, then set up for the workshop. Just before 9 am, Swami performed an arati to Ganesha, Gurudeva, and Satguru Bodhinatha. 39 students were in attendance. Swami starts each event by saying this workshop is for the youth; if there are any adults in the back, refrain from asking questions. This workshop was entirely in Tamil. At the end several youth stood up and asked questions. Home satsang in the afternoon. Swami went back to the importance of a daily sadhana practice and how to best encourage youth.
